Wiscon

[firecat]

Claimer: I have a small role working on Wiscon.

I think people who run Wiscon did a right thing by withdrawing Elizabeth Moon's GOH invitation, as a result of her writing a post that showed intolerance of Muslims, and then deleting all the comments on the post.

I disagree with the people who think it was unforgivable that the decision was not made instantaneously.

I don't disagree with the people who think it took too long. I also have sympathy for the amount of time it took, because the decision-makers were trying to deal with a situation they haven't handled before, and that's hard for a sizable group of humans.

I disagree with the people who think it is unforgivable for Wiscon's public communications to have waffled (the initial message was that we would not withdraw the invitation, then we did). It would have been better if that hadn't happened, but see above.

I agree with the people who point out that the length of time the decision took caused practical and emotional hardship for potential Wiscon attendees who felt unsafe as a result of EM's remarks.

I agree that the waffling and the delay made it look like the people who put on Wiscon might not be committed to creating a convention welcoming to people of color and third-wave feminists.

I think almost all the people who put on Wiscon are committed to creating a convention with a social justice focus. Also, we may not be working hard enough on it and may not be sufficiently well educated on social justice issues.

Comments

[aquaeri]

I agree with pretty much everything you say here. To me, the problem wasn't lack of a snap decision to withdraw her GoH invitation, but that we got something that looked rather like a snap decision to not withdraw. If you're dealing with a large body of people who have a complicated decision to make, the first thing isn't to say something that sounds like a decision has already been made. There's a significant connotational difference between "we are still deciding what to do" and "we've not decided to withdraw her GoH", if you follow.

(I was also rather disappointed by the committee's apparent obliviousness to the existence of Muslim women SF fans, even feminist Muslim women SF fans. But that could be the eduction on social justice thing.)

[firecat]

Yes, the apparent snap decision not to withdraw didn't look good.

Many people on the committee do know (there are) feminist Muslim women SF fans but I can see how it might not have looked like that.

[aquaeri]

Many people on the committee do know (there are) feminist Muslim women SF fans but I can see how it might not have looked like that.

I just find it really hard to imagine that the reaction would have been the same if EM (or another GoH) had made similarly-bigotted statements against fat people, or those with mental illness, or as others have pointed out, Jews. They're also groups that overlap with feminism, but more obviously with what I thought of as the "Nice White Lady" feminism on display.

(And this isn't intended as criticism, other than in the sense of "here's what it looked like to one observer, maybe it'll help prevent problems or clarify policy for the future".)

[firecat]

That makes sense. I agree.

More data

[aquaeri]

Posts like this, from actual PoC who have or want to attend WisCon, are part of a steady drip that contribute to my impression that WisCon is a Nice White Lady con, and thus unlikely to be Muslim-friendly. It's very rare I can recall a PoC saying unreservedly that WisCon got something right, the most positive they get seem to get is "well-intentioned".

Re: More data

[firecat]

I sent you a PM about this.