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My panel write-ups are very note-like and not structured, but I figure they're better than nothing. Hopefully someone else will write up this panel! My short-term memory is already extremely bad, but due to dealing with a family death during/since WisCon, I literally cannot remember things that were/weren't said. So if I got it wrong, call me out!
If I have identified a person with a name they don't want to be identified online, please tell me. You can tell me even if you are not that person, but you know that I've used the incorrect preferred name. I respect pseudonyms and I would like to use them. I've tried to include links to people's blogs because it makes it easier for the n00bs to become familiar with who people are.
In the same vein...if you know of someone who doesn't mind being linked with their LJ name, let me know that, too.
Safe Space at Cons: What it Is, What it Isn't, and How to Create it Effectively
Panel Description: The OSBP. Women of size being mocked online after WisCon '08. The continuing need for PoC to feel at home in fandom. Obviously, we as a community haven't completely succeeded in creating safe space at our cons. Is completely safe space even possible? What can we do to improve efforts to create safe space? What can we do to clarify safe space so people don't think it means "freedom to not be called on my own issues?"
Panelists: Carole Breakstone, Heather E Beatty, Jacqueline A. Gross [![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ladyjax], Betsy Lundsten, Julia Sparkymonster [sparkymonster]
JG: There is a need for physical space: needing to step away from, and later come back to, white people. At her first WisCon, she was called the n-word on the streets of Madison by someone driving by in a car. Nobody on the street responded. Now, at WisCon, and when away from home, she's careful who she's with, and where she is.
HB: She was on one of the panels mocked online (I think The Joys of Fat Sex panel from WisCon 32). Being mocked is a part of being "out," and being in public. Safe spaces have a place, but it doesn't mean that people can't still be bold in public.
JS: Found participants of the panel she moderated that was mocked online during WisCon 32 and told them about it. There are different things that need to be said in separate spaces versus mixed spaces. White people have things to say to other white people.
BL: There is no safe space, only "safer" space. She [Rachel Moss?] neither trusted nor respected the rest of the community.
JG: There's a clear difference between hanging out with friends, and working. For a lot of people of color, hanging out with clueless white people is like working.
Comic-Con is full of people of color, as opposed to WisCon, where when walking down State Street, black people will maintain eye-contact with Jackie until she nods back at them.
When not in a safe space, you have to stay where you don't feel comfortable, teach other people, and then in the future, they will have your back ad it won't be as hard for you (the PoC, or the non-privileged person, as the case may be).
JS: There are books from the 1980s, encountering the same things.
A lot of people say, "We don't know how!" She asks: Did you DO anything?
When a person of color (/etc.) checks somebody else's privilege, it's because they care.
Initially, getting called on your privilege will make you feel angry and stompy, but as you begin to sort out your shit, you will feel better.
Also, for people not in power, it is sometimes impossible to separate fandom from real-life issues. For example, talking about Battlestar Galactica and gender: Everyone on BSG has a gender.
BL: Work is not a safe space. There's offhand sexism.
What do you take out of spaces, and what do you leave in them?
HB: Family is not a safe space.
Safe spaces don't have anything to do with those who are locked out, but are instead about nurturing those inside of them (which might be why those who are "locked out" get so pissed - it's not about them).
JS: When a fandom/trope gets dissected, people will ask, "Why are you harshing my squee?" She would LIKE to enjoy it, too!
As an ally, the ally should help do the heavy-lifting of educating others about their privilege, so that PoC/etc. don't have to carry that burden alone all the time.
JG: Put your stuff aside, and actually DO things: others will follow you.
HB: Called a teacher on his shit in high school for telling a girl that only "loose" girls chew gum (I think? Something derogatory). She called him on it, and doesn't think she would have done such a thing if she hadn't had three years of all-girls schooling before that.
JS: There are levels of how to respond to an issue. That's why there are always mods/organizers.
Even if somebody brings a lot to a community, you want them to feel safe first; it's okay for someone to step away for a while.
BL: Found out about the WisCon troll right after the fat sex panels; someone came to her saying that a woman in the audience was taking pictures and it felt really weird.
On Sunday, Moss decided to leave on her own, but had already posted images online. She can't come to WisCon any more. The ConCom has rewritten its policies on privacy/posting pictures.
In the future, they would like to respond even more quickly.
JS: OSBP. At conventions, people are sexualized. Some women feel that they have to wear corsets or cute costumes, etc. to be noticed. But there are sexual predators at cons! People who are grabby, or who make lewd comments.
There are girls who are 16 being photographed in their outfits, who feel that they have to let men hug them.
It's not sex-positive, it's sex-negative.
I'm not 100% sure what happened, but I wrote in my notebook, "And then there was audience participation, and I was sad."
JG: You can't race-train in one day. You need to work on it for an entire weekend. People need to get together in different groups, break away into other groups, and then come back, etc.
If you're looking for more information, I'd suggest readingbadger2305's Undoing Oppression 101: first in an on-going series
or this post
If I have identified a person with a name they don't want to be identified online, please tell me. You can tell me even if you are not that person, but you know that I've used the incorrect preferred name. I respect pseudonyms and I would like to use them. I've tried to include links to people's blogs because it makes it easier for the n00bs to become familiar with who people are.
In the same vein...if you know of someone who doesn't mind being linked with their LJ name, let me know that, too.
Safe Space at Cons: What it Is, What it Isn't, and How to Create it Effectively
Panel Description: The OSBP. Women of size being mocked online after WisCon '08. The continuing need for PoC to feel at home in fandom. Obviously, we as a community haven't completely succeeded in creating safe space at our cons. Is completely safe space even possible? What can we do to improve efforts to create safe space? What can we do to clarify safe space so people don't think it means "freedom to not be called on my own issues?"
Panelists: Carole Breakstone, Heather E Beatty, Jacqueline A. Gross [
ladyjax], Betsy Lundsten, Julia Sparkymonster [sparkymonster]JG: There is a need for physical space: needing to step away from, and later come back to, white people. At her first WisCon, she was called the n-word on the streets of Madison by someone driving by in a car. Nobody on the street responded. Now, at WisCon, and when away from home, she's careful who she's with, and where she is.
HB: She was on one of the panels mocked online (I think The Joys of Fat Sex panel from WisCon 32). Being mocked is a part of being "out," and being in public. Safe spaces have a place, but it doesn't mean that people can't still be bold in public.
JS: Found participants of the panel she moderated that was mocked online during WisCon 32 and told them about it. There are different things that need to be said in separate spaces versus mixed spaces. White people have things to say to other white people.
BL: There is no safe space, only "safer" space. She [Rachel Moss?] neither trusted nor respected the rest of the community.
JG: There's a clear difference between hanging out with friends, and working. For a lot of people of color, hanging out with clueless white people is like working.
Comic-Con is full of people of color, as opposed to WisCon, where when walking down State Street, black people will maintain eye-contact with Jackie until she nods back at them.
When not in a safe space, you have to stay where you don't feel comfortable, teach other people, and then in the future, they will have your back ad it won't be as hard for you (the PoC, or the non-privileged person, as the case may be).
JS: There are books from the 1980s, encountering the same things.
A lot of people say, "We don't know how!" She asks: Did you DO anything?
When a person of color (/etc.) checks somebody else's privilege, it's because they care.
Initially, getting called on your privilege will make you feel angry and stompy, but as you begin to sort out your shit, you will feel better.
Also, for people not in power, it is sometimes impossible to separate fandom from real-life issues. For example, talking about Battlestar Galactica and gender: Everyone on BSG has a gender.
BL: Work is not a safe space. There's offhand sexism.
What do you take out of spaces, and what do you leave in them?
HB: Family is not a safe space.
Safe spaces don't have anything to do with those who are locked out, but are instead about nurturing those inside of them (which might be why those who are "locked out" get so pissed - it's not about them).
JS: When a fandom/trope gets dissected, people will ask, "Why are you harshing my squee?" She would LIKE to enjoy it, too!
As an ally, the ally should help do the heavy-lifting of educating others about their privilege, so that PoC/etc. don't have to carry that burden alone all the time.
JG: Put your stuff aside, and actually DO things: others will follow you.
HB: Called a teacher on his shit in high school for telling a girl that only "loose" girls chew gum (I think? Something derogatory). She called him on it, and doesn't think she would have done such a thing if she hadn't had three years of all-girls schooling before that.
JS: There are levels of how to respond to an issue. That's why there are always mods/organizers.
Even if somebody brings a lot to a community, you want them to feel safe first; it's okay for someone to step away for a while.
BL: Found out about the WisCon troll right after the fat sex panels; someone came to her saying that a woman in the audience was taking pictures and it felt really weird.
On Sunday, Moss decided to leave on her own, but had already posted images online. She can't come to WisCon any more. The ConCom has rewritten its policies on privacy/posting pictures.
In the future, they would like to respond even more quickly.
JS: OSBP. At conventions, people are sexualized. Some women feel that they have to wear corsets or cute costumes, etc. to be noticed. But there are sexual predators at cons! People who are grabby, or who make lewd comments.
There are girls who are 16 being photographed in their outfits, who feel that they have to let men hug them.
It's not sex-positive, it's sex-negative.
I'm not 100% sure what happened, but I wrote in my notebook, "And then there was audience participation, and I was sad."
JG: You can't race-train in one day. You need to work on it for an entire weekend. People need to get together in different groups, break away into other groups, and then come back, etc.
If you're looking for more information, I'd suggest reading
badger2305's Undoing Oppression 101: first in an on-going seriesor this post
