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Thursday night just one week ago, I got a phone call. It was a friend telling me that something big was about to happen on the Internet, and she thought I ought to know. As it turned out, I did want to know, and I thanked her for sharing the info with me. We had a very good discussion, and I felt better for her telling me about the Big Deal in advance. The next morning, I discovered the following blog entries: You see, I was the Safety co-chair for WisCon 37, so I was directly involved in all of this. I've worked on SF&F conventions for over thirty years, and I have seen the culture of fandom change over time. There are now more people of color, more LGBTQ people, more people with disabilities, and more women - which is an a priori Good Thing. But fandom's sub-cultural antecedents get in the way of social progress, sometimes, and the current example is now here in front of us. SF&F fandom has often been described as a place for social misfits and outcasts - "it's a proud and lonely thing to be a fan" - but that tolerance of difference has now been used as an excuse to tolerate socially unacceptable behavior. This has to stop. There's a clear difference between being a guy who is completely consumed with Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's TV series UFO, right down to liking the metallic purple wigs and silver jumpsuits of the female crew of Moonbase - but that's not the same as fondling the hair (or other body parts) of a young woman doing that in costume without her permission. As the poster neatly sums it up, "Costumes Do Not Equal Consent."
By this point, you've probably noticed that I think that sexism, homophobia and racism are all intertwined, perhaps even intersectional. You would be right. This is a dynamic struggle, one that won't be finished if we ignore one oppressed group in favor of another. This is just the latest front in an on-going battle for the soul of science fiction, and it's one where we can't let the nay-sayers continue to make excuses for bad behavior and broken stairs. With that in mind, here are some further links to read:
This entry was originally posted at http://badger2305.dreamwidth.org/8365.ht
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I don't know if you got to read Genevieve Valentine's post about the aftermath of the Readercon harassment for her? If not, it's really worth reading as a narrative of the cumulative effect of this kind of crap over one's lifetime. |
