Maker Faire
So, Maker Faire... much more fun the day before it officially opens, when a) there is free food, b) you don't have to tend to your exhibit, and c) fewer people!
A few short observations: Maker Faire is incredibly White. There have been a scattering visibly identifiable Asian people, but not much of other POC, with the caveat that I am probably misidentifying people. This year, there's a steampunk section. I haven't seen it live yet, but it looks like much of the white-ified steampunk when I checked it over before the fair opened. There are also way too many geek fallacy people who try to explain your own project to you under the guise of asking questions. I am sure there would be a lot of mansplaining going on as well, but I am antisocial and therefore sit in the back and run the computer or fix things with (a lot of) tape. I have definitely noticed more men doing geek fallacy and explaining the project even to my male project partners than women doing so. It's also been sad to see the young boys who want to try out our project go up and basically push their way into line while the young girls hang back and don't answer our questions and only talk to their parents. The kids only look 6 or 7 or so, and yet, gendered socialization has already set in.
Also, I probably could have worn my new corsets, courtesy of
daedala, here, but that would be detrimental to the avoidance of mansplaining, the ability to crawl beneath things to slap on more duct tape, and in general trying not to call attention to myself.
Comment | Read Comments (
) | Link
A few short observations: Maker Faire is incredibly White. There have been a scattering visibly identifiable Asian people, but not much of other POC, with the caveat that I am probably misidentifying people. This year, there's a steampunk section. I haven't seen it live yet, but it looks like much of the white-ified steampunk when I checked it over before the fair opened. There are also way too many geek fallacy people who try to explain your own project to you under the guise of asking questions. I am sure there would be a lot of mansplaining going on as well, but I am antisocial and therefore sit in the back and run the computer or fix things with (a lot of) tape. I have definitely noticed more men doing geek fallacy and explaining the project even to my male project partners than women doing so. It's also been sad to see the young boys who want to try out our project go up and basically push their way into line while the young girls hang back and don't answer our questions and only talk to their parents. The kids only look 6 or 7 or so, and yet, gendered socialization has already set in.
Also, I probably could have worn my new corsets, courtesy of
daedala, here, but that would be detrimental to the avoidance of mansplaining, the ability to crawl beneath things to slap on more duct tape, and in general trying not to call attention to myself.
Comment | Read Comments (
) | Link