Wiscon panel report: Queer frontiers

Queer frontiers: Topics from the far reaches of gender and sexuality

Track(s): Feminism and Other Social Change Movements
Description: Does drag appropriate the trans experience? Is legal recognition of a third gender a step in the right direction? Are "bisexual" and "pansexual" really the same thing? Are we headed to a post-gender future? In Queer Frontiers, we're leaving the 101 conversation behind and blasting ahead to the very edge of queer theory. Let's talk about things we don't even have language for yet and write the theses that will be published in 20 years!

[My comments are in [italic brackets]. My notes aren't a complete transcription and may represent my own language rather than the actual words of the panelists. I welcome corrections. I did not identify audience commenters by name. If you said something I paraphrased here and want your name to be used, please comment or send me a private message.]

This panel was ASL-interpreted and also simulcast onto a screen so everyone could have a good look at the person who was speaking. The panelists repeated/summarized comments from the audience. I really appreciated this.

Panelists:

AM - Allison Moon (moderator; proposed panel): Author, sex-educator. http://GirlSex101.com & http://TalesofthePack.com
AL - Alexis Lothian: Professor, teaches queer theory and LGBT studies. http://queergeektheory.org
GT - Gretchen T.: Bookseller from Madison. Identifies as genderqueer. Pronouns: "they/them". @gretchening http://gretchening.dreamwidth.org/
NC - Nino Cipri: Writer. Identifies as queer, genderqueer. Pronouns: "they/them". https://twitter.com/nicolecipri

What's starting to happen, what do we need to create language for?
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So this panel wandered pretty far into queer theory. Queer theory was developed after I left school, so I'm not sure I followed all of it. And I was kind of sad it didn't address most of the topics in the description. But I found it interesting anyway.

Panel report: Social Isolation and Wiscon

Social isolation and Wiscon

Description: For many of us, WisCon can be a magical bastion of cluefulness in an expanse of oppression. Yet even at the best WisCon, we can have internalized phobias, impostor syndrome and geek self-loathing. And when we're not here, we may not have access to the social support we need. How do we support ourselves when the world doesn't do it for us?

Panelists:
Moderator: Kimberly Gonzalez. firecat, Janice Mynchenberg, Susan Ramirez, Elena Tabachnick

[My comments are in [italic brackets]. My notes aren't a complete transcription, especially because I was a panelist. I welcome corrections. I did not identify audience commenters by name. If you said something I paraphrased here and want your name to be used, please comment or send me a private message.]

Why did you want to be on this panel?
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Here is a really great writeup of the panel by an audience member.
http://www.bladeandcrown.com/blog/2014/05/30/wiscon-part-1-social-isolation/

I liked the camaraderie that developed during this panel. I would have liked there to be more political analysis of why some people are more isolated, or isolated more often, than others. But there was plenty of political analysis at other panels so maybe it's OK to have one that's just people trying to brainstorm and problem-solve our social stuff.