![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I thought about posting this to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
gynaecon but I feel my ideas are still too brainstormy and vague at this stage, also there's just not many people on that comm! I'm definitely not meaning to talk about them behind their backs, what with all but three of them being on my friends list :D1. If I feel like I've poked at the idea enough to make a coherent point I'll post it.
For those who haven't heard of Gynaecon: it's a "guerilla feminist con", run during the local sf con Swancon, and consists of everything from impromptu room conversations and clothes swaps to official items on the main program. A lot of events are somewhere between those two extremes and are publicised in semi-pubic ways eg word of mouth, flyers inside the women's toilets etc. EDIT: it's been pointed out that stuff is often advertised in the lifts and men's toilets too.
I think Gynaecon does a fantastic job of creating a safe space for talking about gender at Swancon, and making sure those conversations happen, and in a constructive way (which is definitely not a given otherwise) They're also pretty good at intersections between gender and race, sexuality etc.
I'm less sure that it's as inclusive as it could be: I realise that it's impossible to create a safe space without making some people or behaviours feel unwelcome, but I think it can end up being a rather cliquey collection of the same group of women which feels unwelcoming not only to those who have an issue with feminism etc2 but anyone who doesn't feel like they're friends with the right people. I felt that way myself for many years, and while my becoming comfortable with going to Gynaecon did coincide with me becoming more feminist I think it had more to do with me getting to know everyone socially and feeling like I'd be welcome as a friend rather than because of my political beliefs (which were always pretty feminist). And even now that I'm entirely comfortable going to, and being involved in Gynaecon, I ended up missing a panel last year because it was only advertised in the women's toilets and I never ended up using them. (EDIT: As has been pointed out, this is a serious issue for trans etc people) But this is a complicated issue, I'd be curious to hear suggestions from people who are interested in and supportive of the content of Gynaecon but feel uncomfortable attending. Also I think Gynaecon has become much more welcoming (and mainstreamed) than it used to be.
What's really bothering me at the moment is the way Gynaecon has in some ways become the gatekeeper for all conversations about social justice, including those other than gender, and the limits this puts on the dialogue. Now I don't think Gynaecon can be blamed for the fact that non-Gynaecon Swancon culture doesn't have a space for this sort of conversation, so this isn't a criticism of Gynaecon so much as it is pointing out a problem with the situation.
The situation that's got me thinking about this is that I'm pondering doing a panel about disability in sff for Swancon. I was thinking about how to run this so it didn't turn into an ableist trainwreck, and I pondered doing it as a more controlled, smaller, informal Gynaecon discussion. But the problem with that is you end up with the same 19 people turning up as always3, plus a few extra, and as much as I have a huge amount of respect and trust in those 19 people that means that the conversation will be more controlled by, and welcoming to, the able-bodied members of that group than it would be to a disabled man, or even disabled woman4 outside the Gynaecon circle.
I'm pretty sure that my conviction that everyone on this hypothetical panel should be disabled would be more welcomed by Gynaecon than general Swancon, and I could probably find a panel's worth of disabled Gynaecon people (assuming there was a formal panel structure at all). But I'm less sure that the Gynaecon system is flexible enough to easily allow for a panel talking about a social justice issue other than gender which generally privileged the voices of, eg, non-Gynaecon disabled people above non-disabled Gynaecon people. And that makes me uncomfortable.
Do other Swancon-types agree with my take on things? I'm not sure how to fix it, obviously I could just make my own disability panel/discussion without recourse to Gynaecon but that feels like reinventing the wheel. I feel like there should be a way to expand the more gender-focussed Gynaecon approach into a toolkit and intersecting safe spaces for dealing with diverse social justice issues.
1)Admittedly, that's my lj friends list. But the intersection on dw is pretty big too *waves*
2)EDIT: Also men. Whether or not those sorts of people should feel welcome too is a more complicated question. There's always a play off between becoming bogged down in social justice 101 "Prejudice is bad mmkay?" and preaching to the choir, and while that's a valid thing to discuss it's not what this post is about.
3)The edges of Gynaecon are obviously a lot fuzzier and amorphous than that of the lj community, it just make a a nice symbolic number
4)Or someone who identified as neither etc.
gynaecon but I feel my ideas are still too brainstormy and vague at this stage, also there's just not many people on that comm! I'm definitely not meaning to talk about them behind their backs, what with all but three of them being on my friends list :D1. If I feel like I've poked at the idea enough to make a coherent point I'll post it.For those who haven't heard of Gynaecon: it's a "guerilla feminist con", run during the local sf con Swancon, and consists of everything from impromptu room conversations and clothes swaps to official items on the main program. A lot of events are somewhere between those two extremes and are publicised in semi-pubic ways eg word of mouth, flyers inside the women's toilets etc. EDIT: it's been pointed out that stuff is often advertised in the lifts and men's toilets too.
I think Gynaecon does a fantastic job of creating a safe space for talking about gender at Swancon, and making sure those conversations happen, and in a constructive way (which is definitely not a given otherwise) They're also pretty good at intersections between gender and race, sexuality etc.
I'm less sure that it's as inclusive as it could be: I realise that it's impossible to create a safe space without making some people or behaviours feel unwelcome, but I think it can end up being a rather cliquey collection of the same group of women which feels unwelcoming not only to those who have an issue with feminism etc2 but anyone who doesn't feel like they're friends with the right people. I felt that way myself for many years, and while my becoming comfortable with going to Gynaecon did coincide with me becoming more feminist I think it had more to do with me getting to know everyone socially and feeling like I'd be welcome as a friend rather than because of my political beliefs (which were always pretty feminist). And even now that I'm entirely comfortable going to, and being involved in Gynaecon, I ended up missing a panel last year because it was only advertised in the women's toilets and I never ended up using them. (EDIT: As has been pointed out, this is a serious issue for trans etc people) But this is a complicated issue, I'd be curious to hear suggestions from people who are interested in and supportive of the content of Gynaecon but feel uncomfortable attending. Also I think Gynaecon has become much more welcoming (and mainstreamed) than it used to be.
What's really bothering me at the moment is the way Gynaecon has in some ways become the gatekeeper for all conversations about social justice, including those other than gender, and the limits this puts on the dialogue. Now I don't think Gynaecon can be blamed for the fact that non-Gynaecon Swancon culture doesn't have a space for this sort of conversation, so this isn't a criticism of Gynaecon so much as it is pointing out a problem with the situation.
The situation that's got me thinking about this is that I'm pondering doing a panel about disability in sff for Swancon. I was thinking about how to run this so it didn't turn into an ableist trainwreck, and I pondered doing it as a more controlled, smaller, informal Gynaecon discussion. But the problem with that is you end up with the same 19 people turning up as always3, plus a few extra, and as much as I have a huge amount of respect and trust in those 19 people that means that the conversation will be more controlled by, and welcoming to, the able-bodied members of that group than it would be to a disabled man, or even disabled woman4 outside the Gynaecon circle.
I'm pretty sure that my conviction that everyone on this hypothetical panel should be disabled would be more welcomed by Gynaecon than general Swancon, and I could probably find a panel's worth of disabled Gynaecon people (assuming there was a formal panel structure at all). But I'm less sure that the Gynaecon system is flexible enough to easily allow for a panel talking about a social justice issue other than gender which generally privileged the voices of, eg, non-Gynaecon disabled people above non-disabled Gynaecon people. And that makes me uncomfortable.
Do other Swancon-types agree with my take on things? I'm not sure how to fix it, obviously I could just make my own disability panel/discussion without recourse to Gynaecon but that feels like reinventing the wheel. I feel like there should be a way to expand the more gender-focussed Gynaecon approach into a toolkit and intersecting safe spaces for dealing with diverse social justice issues.
1)Admittedly, that's my lj friends list. But the intersection on dw is pretty big too *waves*
2)EDIT: Also men. Whether or not those sorts of people should feel welcome too is a more complicated question. There's always a play off between becoming bogged down in social justice 101 "Prejudice is bad mmkay?" and preaching to the choir, and while that's a valid thing to discuss it's not what this post is about.
3)The edges of Gynaecon are obviously a lot fuzzier and amorphous than that of the lj community, it just make a a nice symbolic number
4)Or someone who identified as neither etc.
Tags:
no subject
"Prejudice is bad mmkay?" is something I totally agree with and try to live, but it seems to me there should be some way to make/have/announce a Gender-A-only space/event without making Gender-B feel like they are unwanted/insulted/less 'worthy' than Gender-A.
And yes, I know in the real world there can be breakdowns in even the best communication and some people will get their undies in a twist no matter how hard you try not to, but I* really feel that, for at least the Swancons in the current hotel, Gynaecon has totally failed to manage that. (Not least with the Gynaecon flyers posted in/on the door to the Men's toilets.)
(*) Yeah, the white, straight male is complaining that his privilege is being ever-so-slightly damaged. Which is why I haven't said anything about this before, because there's enough sexist bullshit in the world without me adding to it anymore than I can't possibly avoid, but "Prejudice is bad mmkay?" pretty much sums it up.
And I'm pretty sure I've made a complete mess of expressing this without offending someone, but I felt it was time I finally said something. If all this achieves is someone successfully applies the Mallet of Loving Correction to my prejudices, then I'll call it a win. If I manage to inspire some-one to re-examine their own prejudices, then that'll be a major win.
no subject
I think "Should men feel more welcome at discussions of gender at Gynaecon, and if so how do we fix it?" is a valid question (and one I've discussed with Cam), but the problem is that discussing it gets into all these complex issues about men in women's spaces etc, and I know from past experience that that can just lead to circular arguments and Drama, and the the much less fraught question of "How do we make Gynaecon more welcoming to the people we definitely do want to feel welcome?" could be derailed. And I'm pretty sure once you answer that question you'll almost certainly fix a lot of the "men feel unwelcome" thing, and it'll be a lot easier to untangle what's going on with any remaining unwelcomeness felt by men.
That said: I think discussions of Xism need as much as possible to be controlled by and centered on people who experience oppression X. But I think men should be as welcome at discussions of gender as, say, white people at discussions of race, and since I have run panels on race (and there were issues around that, but in one case at least I think it was better I ran it than it didn't happen at all) I can hardly object to men being heavily involved in stuff like Gynaecon assuming they approach it the right way.
Also, I think it's important to have a variety of types of discussion. There should be a place for women(*)-only discussions of gender AND a place for much more broad open ones.
(*)Or "not cis men", etc, as relevant