Writercon 2009: -ism in Fandom

[rahirah]

At Writercon 2009 this last weekend, I was on a panel entitled "Evil In Our Midst: Racism, Sexism, and Homophobia in Fandom." And before I start talking about it, I want to give some background, because as I discovered through some conversations at the con, some of the people who attended weren't aware of why the convention decided to host this

Comments

[shiverelectric]

This was a totally needed post. Thank you.

[rahirah]

:)

[nikitangel]

Another audience member called them on it, and it stopped there.

She didn't just "call them on it" - she interrupted to ask if the speaker was "nuts" and declared, "You don't get to say that at this panel." I was shocked at the way the conversation was shut down, after an hour and a half of discussing the importance of communication and dialogue.

I agree with you that it was not the right venue for Group A discussion, but I had expected it to be a venue that treated all members with respect. That's what was disappointing to me in the end. I understand the importance of not derailing the discussion, but I hope we can deal with it a little differently next time.

[rahirah]

I had expected it to be a venue that treated all members with respect.

I agree. But I think the point I'm trying to make here is that whether she realized it or not, the first speaker was perceived as being disrespectful, too. I'm not trying to pass judgement on what anyone should have done, but to provide some context and shed some light (I hope) on why people reacted as they did.

[nikitangel]

I can understand that, and I definitely appreciated getting a little more context. I heard bits and pieces of RaceFail over time, but didn't know exactly how it related to this panel.

[popelizbet]

If it were a venue that treated all members with respect, no one would have had to call the first speaker on "I'm not gay enough or fucked up enough for fandom." Because that is an inherently disrespectful statement and deserves a quick and brutal response.

[kurukami]

That was a brilliant and insightful post. As a member of pretty much every privileged group out there (white, male, straight, not born into poverty, etc.) it is quite true that the realization of those small yet vital advantages never really occurs on a fully conscious level in day-to-day life. Reading a post like this is illuminating.

Thank you!

[rahirah]

You're welcome. :)

[lilachigh]

I've been trying to get my thoughts about this into some sort of order. My initial reaction was indeed one of anger that, after an hour of being told that we all should listen to each other and try and understand different points of view, the speaker was shouted (make that screamed) down with such venom. And then people applauded

[amaresu]

The thing is that the phrase "I am a white, thirty something mother and feel I am marginalized in fandom" is dripping in derailment. I heard later that she wanted to talk about ageism in fandom, something that would've been very appropriate, but the way she started was not appropriate. She should've said something about ageism straight up.

For the people that have been following Facefail, or more importantly participating in it, a statement that basically screamed derailment was not something to be respected. They have been dealing with derailment on a regular basis for months. Derailment doesn't need to be discussed. Derailment needs to be shot down and the conversation brought back to the point. It's called derailment for a reason.

[rahirah]

It's not just a year of history behind a panel like this, unfortunately - it's hundreds and thousands of years of history. I'm going to refer you to the replies to slaymesoftly below, because I think it covers a lot of the same territory as your questions here.

As for nothing being discussed - I have a sore throat to attest to the fact that we discussed something for an hour and a half. *g* And we're still discussing it here - that's why I made this post, because there wasn't time to go into this at the panel, and in retrospect I think we made an error in assuming that the majority of the audience would be familiar with the basics of this stuff. This really isn't a subject that can be boxed into an hour and a half at a convention. This is a conversation that needs to keep happening every day, in all our lives, until the day that things change. And if we don't keep having it, that day won't come.

[rm]

I'm doing a write-up soon about all the stuff that was awesome about WriterCon, but my own comments related to this topic (and thanks for your post, it's exceptionally well done) are here:

http://rm.livejournal.com/1680386.html

I also see from the other comments that someone is going to have to sit down and explain the problem with the tone argument.

[rahirah]

Thanks for the link. And for the responses here; it's much appreciated.