https://wiki.feministsf.net/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=NetmouseFeminist SF Wiki - User contributions [en]2026-04-15T11:34:19ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.41.0https://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Anne_Gray&diff=46502Anne Gray2011-10-05T05:07:31Z<p>Netmouse: updated info in addition to name</p>
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<div>'''Anne Gray''' (formerly Anne KG Murphy) has been [http://www.conrunner.net/wiki/index.php?title=Smof smoffing] (con-running & related activities) since approximately 1995. She was born in 1974 and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The first con she attended was Marcon, in 1992. Her primary mentor has been [[Geri Sullivan]], though she has also worked closely with [[Tammy Coxen]] and [[Katherine Becker]] as well as [[Cheryl Morgan]]. Anne and her husband Brian Gray were the 2010 [http://taff.org.uk TAFF] delegates. They have a daughter, Rosalind, with whom Anne was pregnant when they took their TAFF trip, earning her a designation as "The littlest TAFFling".<br />
<br />
Anne has a BA in History and an MASc in Systems Design Engineering.<br />
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==Conrunning==<br />
Anne has run Information Desk and the Publications Department for Minicon, been Programming Wrangler and ConChair (2004, 2005, 2009) for ConFusion, served as Guest Liaison/Head of Guest liasons for Penguicons 2.0-5.0, and worked on proofreading and producing publications and websites for countless clubs and conventions, including Worldcon (ConJose, Noreascon IV). She has also staffed Program Ops, Registration, Hospitality and ConSuite, hosted Room Parties and participated in Programming at various conventions. In 2009 she was Guest of Honor Liaison to Neil Gaiman for Anticipation (the Worldcon in Montreal), and in 2011 she was head of the [http://renovationsf.org/art.php Art @ Renovation] project, coordinating art outreach and activities, including the art program, special art exhibits, and the artist showcase, at the Worldcon in Reno. <br />
<br />
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==Clubs/Organizations==<br />
Anne has served on the Board of Directors of the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association (AASFA/[http://www.stilyagi.org Stilyagi]), Midwest Fannish Conventions, Inc. ([http://www.midfan.org Midfan]), and the [http://www.sfoha.org Science Fiction Oral History Association]. She was also President of the science fiction club at Grinnell College from 1995-1996.<br />
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==Fanzines==<br />
Anne was the regular proofreader and a sometime short fiction reviewer for the Hugo Award-winning 'zine, ''[http://www.emcit.com Emerald City]'' from 2001 to 2006, when the 'zine retired. For Midfan she also edited ''MidFanzine'' for two years, took a break, and is currently the editor once more. She has also written for ''Journey Planet'' and ''Drink Tank'', and she blogs and tweets, but irregularly.<br />
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==Online resources==<br />
Anne is a contributor to sf and conrunning-related articles on [http://www.wikipedia.org wikipedia], wikiquotes, [http://www.conrunner.net Conrunner.net], and the [http://www.carlbrandon.org/wiki/ Carl Brandon Society Wiki]. She also manages the [http://sfeditorwatch.com/ SF Editors Wiki] and the [http://sfartistwatch.com/ SF Artists Wiki]. <br />
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Her username in these and other places online is usually Netmouse. Anne is also a sporadic participant on the smofs and timebinders lists and other discussion forums. Her online essay on [http://www.netmouse.com/neil/neil_handling.html being a liaison/con assistant to Neil Gaiman] has been widely read.<br />
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==External links==<br />
* [http://www.netmouse.com Anne's website, netmouse.com]<br />
* [http://www.livejournal.com/users/netmouse Anne's LiveJournal]<br />
* [http://twitter.com/zer_netmouse Anne on Twitter]<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Anne}}<br />
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[[Category:Living people]]<br />
[[Category:Fans]]<br />
[[Category:1974 births]]</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Anne_KG_Murphy&diff=46501Anne KG Murphy2011-10-05T04:50:59Z<p>Netmouse: moved Anne KG Murphy to Anne Gray: Anne changed her name (again) with her second marriage.</p>
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<div>#REDIRECT [[Anne Gray]]</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Anne_Gray&diff=46500Anne Gray2011-10-05T04:50:59Z<p>Netmouse: moved Anne KG Murphy to Anne Gray: Anne changed her name (again) with her second marriage.</p>
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<div>'''Anne KG Murphy''' has been [http://www.conrunner.net/wiki/index.php?title=Smof smoffing] (con-running & related activities) since approximately 1995. She was born in 1974 and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The first con she attended was Marcon, in 1992. Her primary mentor has been [[Geri Sullivan]], though she has also worked closely with [[Tammy Coxen]] and [[Katherine Becker]] as well as [[Cheryl Morgan]].<br />
<br />
==Conrunning==<br />
Anne has run Information Desk and the Publications Department for Minicon, been Programming Wrangler and ConChair (2004, 2005) for ConFusion, served as Guest Liaison/Head of Guest liasons for Penguicons 2.0-5.0, and worked on proofreading and producing publications and websites for countless clubs and conventions, including Worldcon (ConJose, Noreascon IV). She has also staffed Program Ops, Registration, Hospitality and ConSuite, hosted Room Parties and participated in Programming at various conventions. <br />
<br />
<br />
==Clubs/Organizations==<br />
Anne is or has been on the Board of Directors of the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association (AASFA/[http://www.stilyagi.org Stilyagi]), Midwest Fannish Conventions, Inc. ([http://www.midfan.org Midfan]), and the [http://www.sfoha.org Science Fiction Oral History Association]. She was also President of the science fiction club at Grinnell College from 1995-1996.<br />
<br />
<br />
==Fanzines==<br />
Anne was the regular proofreader and a sometime short fiction reviewer for the Hugo Award-winning 'zine, ''[http://www.emcit.com Emerald City]'' from 2001 to 2006, when the 'zine retired. For Midfan she also edited ''MidFanzine'' for two years. <br />
<br />
<br />
==Online resources==<br />
Anne is a contributor to sf and conrunning-related articles on [http://www.wikipedia.org wikipedia], wikiquotes, and [http://www.conrunner.net Conrunner.net]. Her username in these and other places online is usually Netmouse. Anne is also a sporadic participant on the smofs and timebinders lists and other discussion forums. Her online essay on [http://www.netmouse.com/neil/neil_handling.html being a liaison/con assistant to Neil Gaiman] has been widely read.<br />
<br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
* [http://www.netmouse.com Anne's website, netmouse.com]<br />
* [http://www.livejournal.com/users/netmouse Anne's LiveJournal]<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Anne KG}}<br />
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[[Category:Living people]]<br />
[[category:Fans]]<br />
[[Category:1974 births]]</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Open_Source_Boob_Project&diff=29761Open Source Boob Project2008-04-26T16:49:45Z<p>Netmouse: adding a reference to the ribbons given out, a detail usually ommitted from descriptions of the project</p>
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<div>The '''Open Source Boob Project''' (OSBP) was a brief project held at Penguicon in April of 2008, stemming from an even smaller experiment among friends that proceeded it at ConFusion. It was followed by a short-lived online proposal by one of the male participants (TheFerrett) for other people to repeat and promote the project at other conventions. The project involved men and women wearing buttons; either a green button that read "[http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/74043718/5200595 Yes you may]" or a red button, "No you may not", referring to whether or not the button wearer was giving permission for other people to ask if they may touch their breasts or butt. (The proposal as written by TheFerrett focused on women's breasts.) At Penguicon it was a small project involving perhaps 40 people out of a 1000+-person con. Anyone who took a button, green or red, got to put on a ribbon saying "I participated in SCIENCE!" celebrating the originators' view of it as a social science experiment [http://arctangent.livejournal.com/183931.html].<br />
<br />
TheFerrett's proposal for the project to spread was aptly described as "an aborted convention meme purporting to be a movement towards increased sexual liberation".<ref>[http://perpetual-lent.livejournal.com/187893.html Boob Project?! YOU'RE a Boob Project!], ''Perpetual Lent'', 4/23 (linked and discussed with other posts in the general summary).</ref> Furor ensued; poster recanted in the name of [[con safety]]. <br />
<br />
Interesting discussions that came out of the furor:<br />
* [[sexism]] and [[male privilege]] and whether or not women can truly consent to things in the face of male privilege (of course) - many, many posts<br />
* [[geek male psychology]] - many posts<br />
* [[geek female psychology]] - some posts<br />
* [[con safety]] > '''[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173664.html Project Back Up: Women Defending Women]''' (vito excalibur); see also LJ community belweather_talk<br />
* definitions of [[feminism]] - some posts<br />
<br />
==A history in links==<br />
The proposal and much of the initial blogstorm happened on [[LiveJournal]], so some links may have been originally or subsequently closed to the public. If a posted link here is to an private/unpublic post, please feel free to note that it's closed, or remove it as appropriate.<br />
<br />
===The proposal (4/21) and original incident===<br />
<br />
April 21, TheFerrett proposes repetitions of the "Open Source Boob Project" based on an experience he had at [[Penguicon]] (an open source/SF/geek con) and the experiment that started it all at ConFusion. At ConFusion, they had an impromptu exploration of what various women's breasts felt like after a discussion about the fact that it was not polite to vocally appreciate or ask to touch breasts resulted in one woman declaring "You can touch mine" and another woman's taking her up on her offer, followed by a cascading effect and more people getting involved; they thought this was such a good idea that they made buttons to institute it at Penguicon. Men and women involved in the OSBP wore the buttons and explained the project to people who asked about them, giving out buttons to people who inquired, seemed to understand, and wanted to be part of it.<br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html The Open-Source Boob Project], theferrett (4/21): Ferrett puts his foot in it. (Original post is below the cut. And there are lengthy, lengthy, really really lengthy comment threads to go with it.)<br />
:: TheFerrett's description of the project:<br />
::: At Penguicon, we had buttons to give away. There were two small buttons, one for each camp: A green button that said, "YES, you may" and a red button that said "NO, you may not." And anyone who had those buttons on, whether you knew them or not, was someone you could approach and ask: "Excuse me, but may I touch your breasts?" <br />
:: Some of the choice excerpts from his write-up and proposal include:<br />
::: [T]he women retained their right to say no, of course[.]<br />
:<br />
::: That exchange of happiness where one person are told with gropes and touches that they are desirable and the other is someone who's allowed to desire.<br />
:<br />
::: For a moment, everything that was awkward about high school would fade away and you could just say what was on your mind. It was as though parts of me were being healed whenever I did it, and I touched at least fifteen sets of boobs at Penguicon.<br />
:<br />
::: "My breasts," they asked shyly, having heard about the project. "Are they... are they good enough to be touched?" And lo, we showed them how beautiful their bodies were without turning it into something tawdry."<br />
<br />
====Original incident: Other voices====<br />
Most of the outrage was over the concept of the "project" as TheFerrett expressed it: a concept that could or should be exported to other Cons, carrying the baggage of the way he described it. However, some of the outrage spilled over into comments on the original incidents, the original participants, cons, and TheFerrett himself. <br />
<br />
In particular, some of the outrage also focused on the fact that, whatever this incident was at the time, the export-proposal was packaged by TheFerrett, as was the description of the original incident. TheFerrett, in one of his comment threads, explained that he did not attempt to represent the female participants' views, or any view other than his own. (It was pointed out to him that his description was not, in fact, so carefully worded to be clear that it was only his perspective, and that the way he described the event, he [[universalized]] his (straight male) experience to all participants. <br />
<br />
Thus, we include here below a selection of links to the comments and descriptions of other participants. Many (or most) of the participants reframed the original incident, while qualifying its exportability to general cons or distinguishing their experience of the original incident from TheFerrett's proposal. <br />
<br />
Other voices: <br />
* [http://novapsyche.livejournal.com/1996568.html NovaPsyche, 4/22 1:43pm]<br />
* [http://netmouse.livejournal.com/488735.html Anne, 4/23 11:50am]<br />
* [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147655 Dawn, 4/23 10:28pm] <br />
* [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147673 Dawn, 4/24 12:07am]<br />
* [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147714 Ellalthea, 4/24 10:23am]<br />
<br />
===Outrage quickly follows (4/21)===<br />
*[http://the-red-shoes.livejournal.com/1263869.html Is this truly the only world I can live in?] @ the red shoes, 4/21 19:05<br />
*[http://sinboy.livejournal.com/871986.html some mature non directly sexual content WRT touching and consent], sinboy LJ, 4/21 20:54: <br />
:: comment threads elucidate the way that the proposal frames women only as potential touchees who are either prudish or have an unhealthy desire for attention; difference between touching by men and by women; notice that this is in a public space & is nonconsensual to observers<br />
*[http://springheel-jack.livejournal.com/2504302.html open source male assholes], springheel_jack (4/21 22:56) -- the basic libertarian fallacy<br />
*[http://glvalentine.livejournal.com/68505.html GLValentine], 4/21 23:19:<br />
:: ''I finally found the shortest way to sum up my feelings that don't involve punching someone: My body does not exist in the binary of SOME GUY'S ACCESS TO IT.''<br />
<br />
===... including on TheFerrett's LJ thread===<br />
Lots of the very interesting discussion across all the days occurred on TheFerrett's LJ thread itself, which was at one point briefly disappeared, then reappeared but closed to further comment. Below are selections of comments from the threads:<br />
<br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54722758#t54722758 tablesaw]<br />
:: A close reading in three parts of TheFerrett's original post that point out <br />
::: (a) how the description of the event created the impression of a [[Tailhook]]-like situation: the implied domination of the scene by multiple men, the highly sexualized language, and the descriptions of multiple (impliedly) men accosting random women; <br />
::: (b) how the [[male gaze]] was used throughout TheFerrett's descriptions of the event; <br />
::: (c) how the [[objectification]] placed women and men in traditional sexist patterns of the object and the subject, the observed/acted upon and the observer/actor.<br />
::: (d) appropriation of the voice of women such that only one voice (assent) was heard from women, and only one reaction was depicted; (ed.: Note in passing that this was also a universalization of individual women's experience.). <br />
:: TheFerrett responds and that response, too, is fisked: <br />
::: ''This isn't the language you used, which means that it may have been what you intended, but it isn't what you said. Part of the purpose of long exercise was to show how a lot of little mistakes, a lot of tone-deaf phrases, on top of a whole bunch of privilege combine to turn a reader away from giving you the benefit of the doubt.''<br />
:: and:<br />
::: ''Could you have written it in a way that was ideally feminist? Probably not. That's really frickin' hard, especially for us as men. But could you have described this progressive, body-positive movement in a way that didn't keep me choked with rage all day and make my fiancee cry? <U>Yes, I think you fucking could have.</U>'''<br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54853830#t54853830 mswyrr]<br />
:: <small>I'm not trying to be adversarial here, I'm just confused. Many people seem to be upset by this, but if you were uncomfortable with the idea wouldn't it be refreshing to be able to just put on a red button to keep the annoying men away?</small><br />
:: Sometimes, I like to enjoy the delusion of living in a world where what a woman has on her chest isn't the primarily important thing about her, whether it be buttons or shirts or what-have-you. I'd like to live in a society where my bodily autonomy is the default and not something I or any other woman is required to indicate by a pin, or drive myself crazy trying to make the "right" clothing choices to indicate. <br />
<br />
*[http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54773190#t54773190 tablesaw, 4/22]: <br />
:: ''Women's breasts are not magical devices for healing straight men's psyches. Women's bodies do not exist to make straight men feel better about themselves. Women have their own shit to deal with, and a lot of the time, that shit is us, even (sometimes especially) when we're trying to do better. And trying to be the spokesperson for a movement without acknowledging, accepting, and fucking dealing with your position of power is just working at crosspurposes to that same movement.''<br />
<br />
<br />
===... and continues (4/22)===<br />
*[http://kate-nepveu.livejournal.com/323736.html On asking to touch the breasts of a stranger], Kate Nepveu, 4/22 07:41: <br />
:: ''If you are a stranger, especially a man, perhaps especially in a group of other strangers who are men, and you come up to me and say, "You're very beautiful. I'd like to touch your breasts. Would you mind if I did?": You will put me in fear.''<br />
* [http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808826.html CoffeeAndInk], 4/22 08:48: <br />
:: ''Because the way to an egalitarian and less body-conscious utopia is for women's bodies to default to public space. We just don't have enough sexualized treatment of women as bodies instead of whole social persons in public spaces!''<br />
:*Comment thread: [http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808826.html?thread=9929338#t9929338 Inhammer] (4/22) rechristens it the "public domain boob project"<br />
*[http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/605708.html A proposal to crush the button-enabled sexual harassment proposal], Rachel Manija, 4/22 09:23: <br />
:: ''if I hear that this button scheme is likely to go on at any con I would like to attend, I will contact the management for the hotel in which it takes place, inform them of it, point out the danger of sexual harassment lawsuits, and further inform them that if they do not get the con organizers to ban the buttons from public spaces at the con, and someone gropes me, I will sue the hotel and call the police. And that I will also encourage anyone else who is groped without their consent to sue the hotel and call the police.''<br />
*[http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/1229281.html Welcome to the Harlan Ellison Memorial Personal Boundaries Club], James Nicoll, 4/22, 10:34:<br />
:: Originally linked to the initial proposal with "Sad male fan invents way to be even more creepy to female fans." Eventually corrected by enough people that it was invented by other people, mainly women that author changed link to "Sad male fan capitalizes on way to be even more creepy to female fans."<br />
*[http://ojouchan.livejournal.com/182207.html You Can Not HAZ!], ''No No Ojou-chan!'', 4/22 11:36: <br />
:: Notes the pressure placed by requests from [[celebrities]]; [[body issues]] and [[con culture]]; [[male gaze]] and [[privilege]].<br />
*[http://desdenova.livejournal.com/281813.html Open source WHAT??? (or, a policy statement that should not be necessary)], ''cooler by the lake'', 4/22 11:46: <br />
:: ''For the record: my boobies--like the rest of my body parts--are proprietary.''<br />
<br />
===the clarification (4/22)===<br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1088382.html Clarification], theferrett: Ferrett tries to explain (4/22 12:21)<br />
:: Yeah, that didn't help.<br />
<br />
=== ... discussion continues (4/22)===<br />
*[http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=650 Open Source Boobs], John Scalzi, 4/22 1:33pm<br />
:: Contextualizing it as an attempt to demystify breasts to help eliminate objectification of women. Also, noting that "context is <I>extremely</I> important for something like this."<br />
* [http://misia.livejournal.com/1055120.html A Modest Proposal], aka the '''Open Source Swift Kick in the Balls Project''', Misia, 4/22 13:58<br />
*[http://ladyjax.livejournal.com/575119.html A proposal], LadyJax, Subtle, Yet Effective Mood Adjustment, 4/22 3:10 pm:<br />
:: ''Touch your own damn self.''<br />
*[http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/161643.html I find it highly amusing that his username is "ferret."], MysticKeeper, 4/22 5:11<br />
:: Summary with good quotes and excerpts.<br />
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/9338.html OH JOHN RINGO NO], melannen in unfunnybusiness JournalFen community, 4/22 17:40<br />
*[http://hahathor.livejournal.com/120502.html The OSKSP], hahathor, 4/22: "The Open Source Knuckle Sandwich Project": <br />
:: ''The idea behind the OSKSP is to break down the societal barriers against punching strangers in the face. It's something many of us want to do - it's an empowering and liberating act. I wish this was the kind of world where say, 'Wow, I'd like to punch you in the face,' and people would understand that it's not a way of reducing you to a set of bruises and ignoring the rest of you, but rather a way of saying that I may not yet know your mind, but your face inspires passion.''<br />
*[http://novapsyche.livejournal.com/1996568.html My brief thoughts on the Open Source Boob Project], The Eye of Nova's Mind, 4/22: <br />
:: A woman who participated notes that ''I do have to say, however, that if I'd read theferrett's post about OSBP before someone offered me the pin, I would have turned it down, and perhaps gone into feminist reasons why I was declining. ... I have to say that I didn't feel honored to be part of the group once my body had been reduced to "gropes". Sorry, but word choice matters.''<br />
*[http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/1229281.html Welcome to the Harlan Ellison Memorial Personal Boundaries Club], [[James Nicoll]], 4/22: <br />
:: ''I have to say there's a clear consensus on the idea of treating women's bodies as public commons and it's not heading in the direction of commutarian touching.''<br />
*[http://naamenblog.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/tuesday-quick-postrage/ Tuesday Quick Post/Rage: Open-Source Boob Project, really? REALLY?!?], Naamen / Words from the Center, Words from the Edge, 4/22:<br />
:: ''DAMN! This is some privileged BULLSHIT! ... Let me say it loud so that it might -might- penetrate your skull: WOMYN’S BODIES ARE NOT A PUBLIC SPACE!''<br />
*[http://cynthia1960.livejournal.com/165099.html Just what I needed for a rage-honing morning jolt...], Cynthia1960, 4/22 - Great threaded discussion<br />
*[http://ladyjax.livejournal.com/574671.html Steaming bowl of hot mess] (4/22), ladyjax<br />
<br />
*[http://badgerbag.livejournal.com/96182.html The open source groper project], ''badgerbag'', 4/22: <br />
:: ''How about some buttons to pass out for men to wear, buttons that say "GROPER", "CREEP", or "OGLER"? I'd love to know who to stay the hell away from.''<br />
:: Also, ruminations on the [[hanky code]].<br />
*[http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808967.html coffeeandink] (4/22): <br />
:: ''What people are saying is: Women spend THEIR ENTIRE LIVES IN SEXUALIZED SPACES. All of us. ...What you're suggesting is that instead of the default being "No, you may not touch my body", you want to turn cons -- large public spaces -- into spaces where women have to repeatedly and loudly say no in order to be heard.''<br />
*[http://serenejournal.livejournal.com/948058.html?thread=5702234#t5702234%22 pleonastic], 4/22<br />
*[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173519.html wrapping up] (4/22) vito excalibur explains how he succeeded in his goal in bringing all of fandom together united with a common purpose.<br />
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/wank_report/518.html?thread=2021382#t2021382 Wank Report] (4/22), JournalFen.net<br />
<br />
===the apology===<br />
Ferrett sort of apologizes: (4/22): <br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html The Open-Source Boob Project], TheFerrett: Ferrett recants on his original post with a long preface at the top. Ferrett removes the 1300 comments, then puts them back. This was deemed a [[faux-pology]] or [http://wiki.fandomwank.com/index.php/Heidipology heidipology] by some.<br />
<br />
===... discussion ''still'' continues (4/22) ===<br />
; fandom outrage continues apace: <br />
* [http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=340 The Internets work how they’re supposed to], [[Liz Henry]], 4/22, [[Feminist SF blog]]<br />
:: Describing her process through the day, with key links, and an analysis of the apologies and their intent and how they did and did not measure up.<br />
<br />
===... and continues (4/23) === <br />
* [http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173664.html This is not a joke.], ''Vito Excalibur'', 4/23:<br />
:: Vito proposes the "[[Open Source Women Back Each Other Up Program]]"<br />
:::''Here's my pledge: if I see somebody groping you in public, and you're not moaning Yes! Yes! Yes!, I will break through your Somebody Else's Problem invisibility field and come over and ask if you're okay. If your situation looks dangerous enough I can't help on my own, I will call over friends or, if it's a situation in which I think the cops would be on your side, I will call the cops. If you're being harassed by a guy, you can say so to me, even if you don't know me. I pledge I will distract him so you can get away, or I will tell him that he needs to leave, or whatever I can do to the best of my ability. I pledge that yes, actually, because you are a woman I will give you the benefit of the doubt. If you tell me that a guy just did something shitty to you I will not refuse to look at any evidence and tell you that I know him and he's a great guy and you must have been imagining things. I have great loyalty to my male friends but I will not allow that to blind me to the fact that none of us are saints and even my best friends can screw up and may need to be called on it. I pledge that I will walk you to your car if you don't feel safe walking alone at night, and then you can drive me to mine.''<br />
<br />
:::''Yes, even at Wiscon. I pledge that even if I don't know you, if there is a creepy guy following you around, you can say so, and I will not say to you go hide in your room; I will say to him go find another party, or if necessary, go home. I will come with you if you need to talk to the con organizers. I will not make you feel like your right to control over your own body is not a big deal.''<br />
<br />
:::''And I will do this whether or not I like you, or even know you. It's not about liking you. It's about the fact that we need to back each other up, and I will need you to do this for me some day.''<br />
<br />
*[http://ktempest.livejournal.com/292271.html Oh Boob Grab, We’ll Miss Thee (actually, we won’t, but…)], K. Tempest Bradford, 4/23<br />
* [http://rivkat.livejournal.com/189290.html The right of making available]:<br />
:: A patent/trademark/copyright lawyer explains how "Open Source" is a fallacy in this case, 4/23<br />
*[http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=656 A bit more on OSB], John Scalzi, 4/23<br />
*[http://netmouse.livejournal.com/ The Open Source Boob Project and subsequent stoning], ''NetMouse'' 4/23 <br />
:: NetMouse (one of the female participants) found the original incidents at the Con feminist: ''To me this was really about gender-nonspecific personal connection and permission-granting (or not granting), not women caving to the male power or notions of body-rightness. ...Society has been telling us women all our lives that our breasts are not our own to make decisions about--that they are inherently only for certain approved purposes and we must otherwise cover them and protect them from detailed touch or inspection with things like bras and clothing and moats and lions and tigers, if necessary, because the only person who is allowed to see and touch them is YOUR MAN and you aren't allowed to assert a non-standard set of access permissions yourself. This project stood that on its head. It was in fact a fine case of feminist rebellion, combined with general rebellion against socially defined rules and toward opt-in interpersonal intimacy and appreciation. ... I think it was a good thing, and I admire my friends who started it, and I stand by them, and I am not ashamed that I was pleased to take part.''<br />
*[http://sandrewswann.blogspot.com/2008/04/internet-is-stupid-place.html Andrew Swann] (4/23): <br />
:: Struck by the out-of-proportionality (and decontextualization) of the Internet.<br />
*[http://vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com/594784.html Why women need mace at cons.], VulgarCriminal, 4/23 9:42<br />
*[http://community.livejournal.com/sf_drama/835072.html SF_Drama] (4/23) highlights Ferrett's apology, then [http://community.livejournal.com/sf_drama/835072.html?thread=78931968#t78931968 this thread] highlights some of TheFerrett's other writings. Commenters were not impressed. <br />
*[http://emmelinemay.livejournal.com/1009295.html Breast drama!], 4/23, Adventures of the Dread Pirate Emmeline May!<br />
:: ''Geek guy suggests an 'Open Source Boob Project¹, based on the premise that women like to have their boobs touched as a compliment, and therefore it will be empowering for the women if men go up and ask if they can touch their boobs at geek conventions. In a totally non creepy, non sexual way, of course. It's <U>spiritual</U>.'' <br />
:: ''It's NOT a compliment. It's CREEPY. It's not a compliment when people whistle at me in the street, slap my arse when I'm cycling, yell 'OI DARLING' as I'm walking home, try to chat me up on the night bus.'' ...<br />
:: ''Women are not going to throw off the shackles of media-influenced low self-esteem, body issues and centuries of sexual repression by having a bunch of desperate geeks ask to grab their knockers.''<br />
<br />
=== ... hits the mainstream (4/23) ... ===<br />
; and the whole thing breaks the fandom atmospheric barriers on 4/23: <br />
*[http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#more Women's bodies: Just like open-source software!], [[Feministing]], 4/23<br />
:: [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147612 Comment by Roni], 4/23 6:02pm, attempting to shed some light on apparent and likely intentions of the project, and experiences at the original cons: <br />
::: ''This was a completely bone-headed, offensive, objectifying thing to post, but from what I gather, the reality was far less alarming. ... When Ferrett wrote it up in his blog he imposed a very het male, very sexualized, very privileged perspective on it. ... His write up made the whole experience sound much more prevalent, creepy, entitled and objectifying then what seems most people involved took as a warm fuzzy experience. To be clear, his post described a terrible, ill-conceived, solipsistic, misogynistic idea and I argued with him vehemently in half a dozen comments. I think initially they really did mean well. In my experience, Ferrett's not good at looking at things from the perspectives of others and is rather oblivious to male privlege. I'm sure he had no idea his post would paint such a sinister and alarming picture of something he thought was positive, and wouldn't in his wildest dreams predict the shitstorm this has caused. However, while this was a horrendous idea, it's not an actively malicious one. There were never any hordes of drooling booby-grabbing nerds.''<br />
:: [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147622 Comment by Loriet], 4/23 6:50pm:<br />
::: ''It's a little ironic that this debacle cropped up during Sexual Assault Awareness month...very timely, if you ask me.''' <br />
:: Commenter Dawn, participant in the original "mini-event", weighs in: [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147655 4/23 10:28pm] and [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147673 4/24 12:07am]<br />
::: ''This is just what Ferrett said it was - an attempt to take, even if for a brief moment, some of the shame and politics out of sexuality and attraction. While his description may have been clumsy, I stand behind him and the whole "mini-event." ... [S]o far, the only virulent complaints I've read or heard regarding this have been from people who weren't even there. That's the part that angers me, because it feels as though those posters are judging me and my experience. How dare someone say she is ashamed of me for "allowing" this to happen, as though I lacked the judgment to make this decision for myself? ... Now, was Ferrett's public post a bad idea? Definitely. In other words, you're absolutely right - this kind of thing is Not Good as a public activity, precisely because of all of the sexism - and the understandable backlash to it - in our screwed up, poor excuse for a Western culture.''<br />
:: Vodalus comments ([http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147672 4/24 12:05am]) on the "My breasts ... are they good enough to be touched" quote that bugged a lot of people:<br />
:::''Women "willing[ly]" participate in many sexist, misogynistic activities. It is fairly common for insecure (socially, financially, etc.) women to be consensually exploited. '''That does not alter the nature of the act.''''' ("ly" added by ed. for clarity)<br />
:: Anna comments ([http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147705 4/24 8:08am]), quoted in full below: <br />
::: Sapian, if it were as simple as touching, then it wouldn't either need to be breasts, or need to be written up by theferret as either using the power of teh_boobies to heal his teenaged-angst or as his mastubatory fantasy. <br />
::: Touching and being touched is great. Why don't we start with all the guys at Cons who want to break down sexual taboos start encouraging and participating in non-sexual touching between men? <br />
::: When theferret argues that having folks who are willing to do the touching wear buttons indicating their willingness (instead of having folks who are willing to be touched indicate *theirs*) as "a passive system" instead of an "active" one... well, he's showing his hand.<br />
::: This, for him, was about being the active touching person, going up to women whose breasts he found attractive and "groping" them. ("Grope" is not a word without conotation. I've been groped in public more than once. It is gross. I have no doubt theferret is aware of the conotation of the word because I do not doubt his intelligence.)<br />
::: Going up to a guy and saying "Hey, I have breasts, wanna touch them!" would be an *active* thing for me, and a passive thing for theferret - and theferret doesn't want to be in the passive role.<br />
::: Or, more likely to me, he doesn't want women he finds unattractive approaching him, asking him to touch them, and being put in the position of saying "no".<br />
::: Either way, he frames this as being all about him, his comfort levels, his sexual-healing, his wants.<br />
::: When folks come out and say "But that's not what it was!" I don't doubt them - I do not think for a moment that Dawn is lying about her experiences.<br />
::: But Dawn wasn't the one who wrote up the original post, and she wasn't the one whose words are now being used to champion or denegrade this stuff around the internet.<br />
::: Theferret's are.<br />
::: Words ''matter''.<br />
:: Ed.: Damn. Yeah, they do.<br />
<br />
:: Commenter Pengo suggests there are more important things to be bothered about ("Um, yeah, there's this election and this war... I'm not saying your reactions are unwarranted so much as... Come ON, it's a stupid idea, right from the get-go. Ain't like this shit has legs. If anything I'm in a much better to be pissed off position because douchebags like this make respectable progressive chick-positive meganerds like myself have to do an awful-lot of apologizing." [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147744 4/24 1:45pm]), to which exelizabeth kindly takes time and cogently explains where he has fucked up ([http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147754 4/24 2:45pm]):<br />
::: Pengo, you are not a respectable progressive chick-positive meganerd if you deign to tell women what should and should not matter to them. It is a huge anti-feminist straw-man to say, "You shouldn't care about X issue because Y and Z exists!" You're trying to impose your opinion of what is most important on us. That's anti-feminist. Also, and this might be hard to understand, but ''we can care about more than one issue at once''. THIS thread is about this issue. Shall we direct you to other threads about the war and the economy? If you took two second to look through this site, you would find them.<br />
<br />
*[http://jezebel.com/383321/open-source-boob-project-the-true-story-of-one-epic-day-nerds-groped-free Open Source Boob Project: The True Story Of One Epic Day Nerds Groped Free], ''Jezebel''<br />
:: -- and now another perspective, with commentary about "[[booth babes]]"<br />
*[http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project metafilter], 4/23<br />
:: I do think there's an underlying assumption that the people who were doing this are idiots/oversexed dweebs/socially horribly maladapted/variously clueless, and alternately, that Penguicon was a nipple flash away from becoming some horrible spring break scenario in which howling bands of boys terrorized unsuspecting women. The reality of the situation is that neither of these is the case: The women I know who participated are accomplished and intelligent women who had a point they wanted to make about touching and intimacy, and who have been regular attendees of Penguicon over the years; the vast majority of Penguicon attendees, as far as I could see, were extremely well-behaved. The male Penguicon attendees might be geeks, but they're generally not dicks. There's a lot of arrogation of perspective going on, and people having a hard time imagining a brace of smart, well-adapted and, yes, feminist women doing something like this. Well, guess what: Smart, well-adapted and, yes, feminist women did something like this, and did it in a place where it could work like they wanted it to. [http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project#2091014 Scalzi]<br />
*[http://blogsisters.blogspot.com/2008/04/feminism-and-two-trainwrecks-on.html Feminism and Two Trainwrecks on the Interwebs], ''BlogSisters'', 4/23: <br />
:: ''[W]hen random men start championing these kinds of things, I can't help but feel a little skeeved about it all. Do men only sit up and notice if there are breasts involved?''<br />
*[http://viv.id.au/blog/?p=1640 “Open Source Boob Project”: Around the blogs], ''Hoyden About Town'', 4/24<br />
*[http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/?p=3414 “Women’s bodies: Just like open-source software!”], [[Ann Bartow]], ''Feminist Law Professors'', 4/25<br />
<br />
=== ... fandom keeps on churning (4/24) ===<br />
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/otf_wank/595129.html May I grope your breasts? It's liberating!], (4/23) Rowanberries Wank Report @ otf_wank LJ<br />
*[http://perpetual-lent.livejournal.com/187893.html Previous Entry Boob project?! YOU'RE a boob project!], ''Perpetual Lent'', 4/24: <br />
:: ''The ... proposer (or, perhaps, propositioner) describes it as a utopian dream: "I wish this was the kind of world where say, 'Wow, I'd like to touch your breasts,' and people would understand that it's not a way of reducing you to a set of nipples and ignoring the rest of you, but rather a way of saying that I may not yet know your mind, but your body is beautiful." Nevermind, of course, that wanting to grope someone's boobies despite not knowing them is the exact process by which the person is reduced to a set of nipples.'' - Analysis of the controversy, some analysis from a religious viewpoint, and pointing out that it would be nice to have some non-sexualized environments. (Ed: Word. But then, that's what we feminists have been arguing for: When we're not having sex, treat us like people who have purposes and value other than sex.)<br />
*[[Designated Sidekick]] at [[girl-wonder.org]] [http://www.girl-wonder.org/designatedsidekick/2008/04/23/closed-source-misogyny Closed Source Misogyny] (4/24): <br />
:: Extending the "open source" metaphor to "closed source misogyny" and suggesting ''Let’s put our male entitled view of women’s bodies as our property to use, modify, open source and otherwise interact with into a neatly closed source wrapper, bundle it in DRM, load it on an iPod and repeatedly strike our narrow minded selves in the face until the bleeding starts, and continue until the ability to stand upright stops.'' (Ed: Hear, hear.)<br />
*[http://vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com/595965.html Update on gross con guys feeling breasts posts], ''Vulgar Criminal'' (4/24)<br />
<br />
==Summaries, wrap-ups, and linkfests==<br />
* [http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=340 Liz Henry, 4/22], [[Feminist SF blog]] - Summary of the blogstorm at 36 hours<br />
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/9338.html journalfen] massive link roundup<br />
*[http://lauredhel.livejournal.com/233281.html Selective and Arbitrary: - "Open Source Boob Project": Around the blogs], lauredhel's journal, 4/24<br />
*[http://the-red-shoes.livejournal.com/1265051.html hell, people got rich selling itty bitty pieces of the Berlin Wall....], Red Shoes, 4/23 -- An awesome collection of t-shirt-worthy soundbites from the blogospheric outrage.<br />
*[http://viv.id.au/blog/?p=1640 “Open Source Boob Project”: Around the blogs], ''Hoyden About Town'', 4/24<br />
<br />
<br />
==assorted unsorted links==<br />
*[http://community.livejournal.com/metafandom/187521.html metafandom]<br />
<br />
==outcomes==<br />
* TheFerrett says he won't be going back to these cons; he acknowledges the Project is a Bad Idea and apologizes for putting women in fear; he closes some threads.<br />
<br />
*[http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/606344.html Back Up], Manijia, 4/24: <br />
:: ''It makes me sad to see that a venue that is already male-dominated will now become even more male-dominated, when I would like to see more women get involved and so make it more friendly to women. But I also can't dismiss their concerns, or promise them that nothing will happen. '''For one thing, people are already posting to the [[Dragon Con]] comm under the assumption that now that public button-enabled sexual harrassment has been described and advocated, it will happen as a matter of course.''' ...But I hope that what will come out of this is a movement to make cons more safe and fun for everyone except those who want to grope freely in public spaces, sorry guys; room parties only. One is that we press conventions and the venues that host them to create and enforce sexual harassment policies. '''The other is the brilliant plan invented by vito_excalibur, Back Up: Women Defending Women.''' Yes, there is a gentleman's auxiliary. '''[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173664.html Project Back Up]''' '''I intend to wear my Back Up badge to A-Kon and every other con I go to in the future. If you need assistance of any kind, I pledge to help you out as you wish and to the best of my ability.''''' (bold added)<br />
<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
* [[Harlan Ellison Breast Grab Incident]] (2006) - seriously, what is it with guys & women's breasts?<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:2008 events]]<br />
[[Category:Sexism incidents and controversies]]<br />
[[Category:Fandom]]<br />
[[Category:SF conventions]]<br />
<br />
{{seed}}</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Open_Source_Boob_Project&diff=29756Open Source Boob Project2008-04-26T15:35:45Z<p>Netmouse: /* ... hits the mainstream (4/23) ... */ adding quote from the metafilter discussion by scalzi</p>
<hr />
<div>The '''Open Source Boob Project''' (OSBP) was a brief project held at Penguicon in April of 2008, stemming from an even smaller experiment among friends that proceeded it at ConFusion. It was followed by a short-lived online proposal by one of the male participants (TheFerrett) for other people to repeat and promote the project at other conventions. The project involved men and women wearing buttons signaling "[http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/74043718/5200595 Yes you may]" or "No you may not", referring to whether or not the button wearer was giving permission for other people to ask if they may touch their breasts or butt. At Penguicon it was a small project involving perhaps 40 people out of a 1000-person con.<br />
<br />
TheFerrett's proposal for the project to spread was aptly described as "an aborted convention meme purporting to be a movement towards increased sexual liberation".<ref>[http://perpetual-lent.livejournal.com/187893.html Boob Project?! YOU'RE a Boob Project!], ''Perpetual Lent'', 4/23 (linked and discussed with other posts in the general summary).</ref> Furor ensued; poster recanted in the name of [[con safety]]. <br />
<br />
Interesting discussions that came out of the furor:<br />
* [[sexism]] and [[male privilege]] and whether or not women can truly consent to things in the face of male privilege (of course) - many, many posts<br />
* [[geek male psychology]] - many posts<br />
* [[geek female psychology]] - some posts<br />
* [[con safety]] > '''[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173664.html Project Back Up: Women Defending Women]''' (vito excalibur); see also LJ community belweather_talk<br />
* definitions of [[feminism]] - some posts<br />
<br />
==A history in links==<br />
The proposal and much of the initial blogstorm happened on [[LiveJournal]], so some links may have been originally or subsequently closed to the public. If a posted link here is to an private/unpublic post, please feel free to note that it's closed, or remove it as appropriate.<br />
<br />
===The proposal (4/21) and original incident===<br />
<br />
April 21, TheFerrett proposes repetitions of the "Open Source Boob Project" based on an experience he had at [[Penguicon]] (an open source/SF/geek con) and the experiment that started it all at ConFusion. At ConFusion, they had an impromptu exploration of what various women's breasts felt like after a discussion about the fact that it was not polite to vocally appreciate or ask to touch breasts resulted in one woman declaring "You can touch mine" and another woman's taking her up on her offer, followed by a cascading effect and more people getting involved; they thought this was such a good idea that they made buttons to institute it at Penguicon. Men and women involved in the OSBP wore the buttons and explained the project to people who asked about them, giving out buttons to people who inquired, seemed to understand, and wanted to be part of it.<br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html The Open-Source Boob Project], theferrett (4/21): Ferrett puts his foot in it. (Original post is below the cut. And there are lengthy, lengthy, really really lengthy comment threads to go with it.)<br />
:: Some choice excerpts include:<br />
::: [T]he women retained their right to say no, of course[.]<br />
:<br />
::: That exchange of happiness where one person are told with gropes and touches that they are desirable and the other is someone who's allowed to desire.<br />
:<br />
::: For a moment, everything that was awkward about high school would fade away and you could just say what was on your mind. It was as though parts of me were being healed whenever I did it, and I touched at least fifteen sets of boobs at Penguicon.<br />
:<br />
::: "My breasts," they asked shyly, having heard about the project. "Are they... are they good enough to be touched?" And lo, we showed them how beautiful their bodies were without turning it into something tawdry."<br />
<br />
====Original incident: Other voices====<br />
Most of the outrage was over the concept of the "project" as TheFerrett expressed it: a concept that could or should be exported to other Cons, carrying the baggage of the way he described it. However, some of the outrage spilled over into comments on the original incidents, the original participants, cons, and TheFerrett himself. <br />
<br />
In particular, some of the outrage also focused on the fact that, whatever this incident was at the time, the export-proposal was packaged by TheFerrett, as was the description of the original incident. TheFerrett, in one of his comment threads, explained that he did not attempt to represent the female participants' views, or any view other than his own. (It was pointed out to him that his description was not, in fact, so carefully worded to be clear that it was only his perspective, and that the way he described the event, he [[universalized]] his (straight male) experience to all participants. <br />
<br />
Thus, we include here below a selection of links to the comments and descriptions of other participants. Many (or most) of the participants reframed the original incident, while qualifying its exportability to general cons or distinguishing their experience of the original incident from TheFerrett's proposal. <br />
<br />
Other voices: <br />
* [http://novapsyche.livejournal.com/1996568.html NovaPsyche, 4/22 1:43pm]<br />
* [http://netmouse.livejournal.com/488735.html Anne, 4/23 11:50am]<br />
* [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147655 Dawn, 4/23 10:28pm] <br />
* [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147673 Dawn, 4/24 12:07am]<br />
* [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147714 Ellalthea, 4/24 10:23am]<br />
<br />
===Outrage quickly follows (4/21)===<br />
*[http://the-red-shoes.livejournal.com/1263869.html Is this truly the only world I can live in?] @ the red shoes, 4/21 19:05<br />
*[http://sinboy.livejournal.com/871986.html some mature non directly sexual content WRT touching and consent], sinboy LJ, 4/21 20:54: <br />
:: comment threads elucidate the way that the proposal frames women only as potential touchees who are either prudish or have an unhealthy desire for attention; difference between touching by men and by women; notice that this is in a public space & is nonconsensual to observers<br />
*[http://springheel-jack.livejournal.com/2504302.html open source male assholes], springheel_jack (4/21 22:56) -- the basic libertarian fallacy<br />
*[http://glvalentine.livejournal.com/68505.html GLValentine], 4/21 23:19:<br />
:: ''I finally found the shortest way to sum up my feelings that don't involve punching someone: My body does not exist in the binary of SOME GUY'S ACCESS TO IT.''<br />
<br />
===... including on TheFerrett's LJ thread===<br />
Lots of the very interesting discussion across all the days occurred on TheFerrett's LJ thread itself, which was at one point briefly disappeared, then reappeared but closed to further comment. Below are selections of comments from the threads:<br />
<br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54722758#t54722758 tablesaw]<br />
:: A close reading in three parts of TheFerrett's original post that point out <br />
::: (a) how the description of the event created the impression of a [[Tailhook]]-like situation: the implied domination of the scene by multiple men, the highly sexualized language, and the descriptions of multiple (impliedly) men accosting random women; <br />
::: (b) how the [[male gaze]] was used throughout TheFerrett's descriptions of the event; <br />
::: (c) how the [[objectification]] placed women and men in traditional sexist patterns of the object and the subject, the observed/acted upon and the observer/actor.<br />
::: (d) appropriation of the voice of women such that only one voice (assent) was heard from women, and only one reaction was depicted; (ed.: Note in passing that this was also a universalization of individual women's experience.). <br />
:: TheFerrett responds and that response, too, is fisked: <br />
::: ''This isn't the language you used, which means that it may have been what you intended, but it isn't what you said. Part of the purpose of long exercise was to show how a lot of little mistakes, a lot of tone-deaf phrases, on top of a whole bunch of privilege combine to turn a reader away from giving you the benefit of the doubt.''<br />
:: and:<br />
::: ''Could you have written it in a way that was ideally feminist? Probably not. That's really frickin' hard, especially for us as men. But could you have described this progressive, body-positive movement in a way that didn't keep me choked with rage all day and make my fiancee cry? <U>Yes, I think you fucking could have.</U>'''<br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54853830#t54853830 mswyrr]<br />
:: <small>I'm not trying to be adversarial here, I'm just confused. Many people seem to be upset by this, but if you were uncomfortable with the idea wouldn't it be refreshing to be able to just put on a red button to keep the annoying men away?</small><br />
:: Sometimes, I like to enjoy the delusion of living in a world where what a woman has on her chest isn't the primarily important thing about her, whether it be buttons or shirts or what-have-you. I'd like to live in a society where my bodily autonomy is the default and not something I or any other woman is required to indicate by a pin, or drive myself crazy trying to make the "right" clothing choices to indicate. <br />
<br />
*[http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54773190#t54773190 tablesaw, 4/22]: <br />
:: ''Women's breasts are not magical devices for healing straight men's psyches. Women's bodies do not exist to make straight men feel better about themselves. Women have their own shit to deal with, and a lot of the time, that shit is us, even (sometimes especially) when we're trying to do better. And trying to be the spokesperson for a movement without acknowledging, accepting, and fucking dealing with your position of power is just working at crosspurposes to that same movement.''<br />
<br />
<br />
===... and continues (4/22)===<br />
*[http://kate-nepveu.livejournal.com/323736.html On asking to touch the breasts of a stranger], Kate Nepveu, 4/22 07:41: <br />
:: ''If you are a stranger, especially a man, perhaps especially in a group of other strangers who are men, and you come up to me and say, "You're very beautiful. I'd like to touch your breasts. Would you mind if I did?": You will put me in fear.''<br />
* [http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808826.html CoffeeAndInk], 4/22 08:48: <br />
:: ''Because the way to an egalitarian and less body-conscious utopia is for women's bodies to default to public space. We just don't have enough sexualized treatment of women as bodies instead of whole social persons in public spaces!''<br />
:*Comment thread: [http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808826.html?thread=9929338#t9929338 Inhammer] (4/22) rechristens it the "public domain boob project"<br />
*[http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/605708.html A proposal to crush the button-enabled sexual harassment proposal], Rachel Manija, 4/22 09:23: <br />
:: ''if I hear that this button scheme is likely to go on at any con I would like to attend, I will contact the management for the hotel in which it takes place, inform them of it, point out the danger of sexual harassment lawsuits, and further inform them that if they do not get the con organizers to ban the buttons from public spaces at the con, and someone gropes me, I will sue the hotel and call the police. And that I will also encourage anyone else who is groped without their consent to sue the hotel and call the police.''<br />
*[http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/1229281.html Welcome to the Harlan Ellison Memorial Personal Boundaries Club], James Nicoll, 4/22, 10:34:<br />
:: Originally linked to the initial proposal with "Sad male fan invents way to be even more creepy to female fans." Eventually corrected by enough people that it was invented by other people, mainly women that author changed link to "Sad male fan capitalizes on way to be even more creepy to female fans."<br />
*[http://ojouchan.livejournal.com/182207.html You Can Not HAZ!], ''No No Ojou-chan!'', 4/22 11:36: <br />
:: Notes the pressure placed by requests from [[celebrities]]; [[body issues]] and [[con culture]]; [[male gaze]] and [[privilege]].<br />
*[http://desdenova.livejournal.com/281813.html Open source WHAT??? (or, a policy statement that should not be necessary)], ''cooler by the lake'', 4/22 11:46: <br />
:: ''For the record: my boobies--like the rest of my body parts--are proprietary.''<br />
<br />
===the clarification (4/22)===<br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1088382.html Clarification], theferrett: Ferrett tries to explain (4/22 12:21)<br />
:: Yeah, that didn't help.<br />
<br />
=== ... discussion continues (4/22)===<br />
*[http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=650 Open Source Boobs], John Scalzi, 4/22 1:33pm<br />
:: Contextualizing it as an attempt to demystify breasts to help eliminate objectification of women. Also, noting that "context is <I>extremely</I> important for something like this."<br />
* [http://misia.livejournal.com/1055120.html A Modest Proposal], aka the '''Open Source Swift Kick in the Balls Project''', Misia, 4/22 13:58<br />
*[http://ladyjax.livejournal.com/575119.html A proposal], LadyJax, Subtle, Yet Effective Mood Adjustment, 4/22 3:10 pm:<br />
:: ''Touch your own damn self.''<br />
*[http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/161643.html I find it highly amusing that his username is "ferret."], MysticKeeper, 4/22 5:11<br />
:: Summary with good quotes and excerpts.<br />
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/9338.html OH JOHN RINGO NO], melannen in unfunnybusiness JournalFen community, 4/22 17:40<br />
*[http://hahathor.livejournal.com/120502.html The OSKSP], hahathor, 4/22: "The Open Source Knuckle Sandwich Project": <br />
:: ''The idea behind the OSKSP is to break down the societal barriers against punching strangers in the face. It's something many of us want to do - it's an empowering and liberating act. I wish this was the kind of world where say, 'Wow, I'd like to punch you in the face,' and people would understand that it's not a way of reducing you to a set of bruises and ignoring the rest of you, but rather a way of saying that I may not yet know your mind, but your face inspires passion.''<br />
*[http://novapsyche.livejournal.com/1996568.html My brief thoughts on the Open Source Boob Project], The Eye of Nova's Mind, 4/22: <br />
:: A woman who participated notes that ''I do have to say, however, that if I'd read theferrett's post about OSBP before someone offered me the pin, I would have turned it down, and perhaps gone into feminist reasons why I was declining. ... I have to say that I didn't feel honored to be part of the group once my body had been reduced to "gropes". Sorry, but word choice matters.''<br />
*[http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/1229281.html Welcome to the Harlan Ellison Memorial Personal Boundaries Club], [[James Nicoll]], 4/22: <br />
:: ''I have to say there's a clear consensus on the idea of treating women's bodies as public commons and it's not heading in the direction of commutarian touching.''<br />
*[http://naamenblog.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/tuesday-quick-postrage/ Tuesday Quick Post/Rage: Open-Source Boob Project, really? REALLY?!?], Naamen / Words from the Center, Words from the Edge, 4/22:<br />
:: ''DAMN! This is some privileged BULLSHIT! ... Let me say it loud so that it might -might- penetrate your skull: WOMYN’S BODIES ARE NOT A PUBLIC SPACE!''<br />
*[http://cynthia1960.livejournal.com/165099.html Just what I needed for a rage-honing morning jolt...], Cynthia1960, 4/22 - Great threaded discussion<br />
*[http://ladyjax.livejournal.com/574671.html Steaming bowl of hot mess] (4/22), ladyjax<br />
<br />
*[http://badgerbag.livejournal.com/96182.html The open source groper project], ''badgerbag'', 4/22: <br />
:: ''How about some buttons to pass out for men to wear, buttons that say "GROPER", "CREEP", or "OGLER"? I'd love to know who to stay the hell away from.''<br />
:: Also, ruminations on the [[hanky code]].<br />
*[http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808967.html coffeeandink] (4/22): <br />
:: ''What people are saying is: Women spend THEIR ENTIRE LIVES IN SEXUALIZED SPACES. All of us. ...What you're suggesting is that instead of the default being "No, you may not touch my body", you want to turn cons -- large public spaces -- into spaces where women have to repeatedly and loudly say no in order to be heard.''<br />
*[http://serenejournal.livejournal.com/948058.html?thread=5702234#t5702234%22 pleonastic], 4/22<br />
*[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173519.html wrapping up] (4/22) vito excalibur explains how he succeeded in his goal in bringing all of fandom together united with a common purpose.<br />
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/wank_report/518.html?thread=2021382#t2021382 Wank Report] (4/22), JournalFen.net<br />
<br />
===the apology===<br />
Ferrett sort of apologizes: (4/22): <br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html The Open-Source Boob Project], TheFerrett: Ferrett recants on his original post with a long preface at the top. Ferrett removes the 1300 comments, then puts them back. This was deemed a [[faux-pology]] or [http://wiki.fandomwank.com/index.php/Heidipology heidipology] by some.<br />
<br />
===... discussion ''still'' continues (4/22) ===<br />
; fandom outrage continues apace: <br />
* [http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=340 The Internets work how they’re supposed to], [[Liz Henry]], 4/22, [[Feminist SF blog]]<br />
:: Describing her process through the day, with key links, and an analysis of the apologies and their intent and how they did and did not measure up.<br />
<br />
===... and continues (4/23) === <br />
* [http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173664.html This is not a joke.], ''Vito Excalibur'', 4/23:<br />
:: Vito proposes the "[[Open Source Women Back Each Other Up Program]]"<br />
:::''Here's my pledge: if I see somebody groping you in public, and you're not moaning Yes! Yes! Yes!, I will break through your Somebody Else's Problem invisibility field and come over and ask if you're okay. If your situation looks dangerous enough I can't help on my own, I will call over friends or, if it's a situation in which I think the cops would be on your side, I will call the cops. If you're being harassed by a guy, you can say so to me, even if you don't know me. I pledge I will distract him so you can get away, or I will tell him that he needs to leave, or whatever I can do to the best of my ability. I pledge that yes, actually, because you are a woman I will give you the benefit of the doubt. If you tell me that a guy just did something shitty to you I will not refuse to look at any evidence and tell you that I know him and he's a great guy and you must have been imagining things. I have great loyalty to my male friends but I will not allow that to blind me to the fact that none of us are saints and even my best friends can screw up and may need to be called on it. I pledge that I will walk you to your car if you don't feel safe walking alone at night, and then you can drive me to mine.''<br />
<br />
:::''Yes, even at Wiscon. I pledge that even if I don't know you, if there is a creepy guy following you around, you can say so, and I will not say to you go hide in your room; I will say to him go find another party, or if necessary, go home. I will come with you if you need to talk to the con organizers. I will not make you feel like your right to control over your own body is not a big deal.''<br />
<br />
:::''And I will do this whether or not I like you, or even know you. It's not about liking you. It's about the fact that we need to back each other up, and I will need you to do this for me some day.''<br />
<br />
*[http://ktempest.livejournal.com/292271.html Oh Boob Grab, We’ll Miss Thee (actually, we won’t, but…)], K. Tempest Bradford, 4/23<br />
* [http://rivkat.livejournal.com/189290.html The right of making available]:<br />
:: A patent/trademark/copyright lawyer explains how "Open Source" is a fallacy in this case, 4/23<br />
*[http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=656 A bit more on OSB], John Scalzi, 4/23<br />
*[http://netmouse.livejournal.com/ The Open Source Boob Project and subsequent stoning], ''NetMouse'' 4/23 <br />
:: NetMouse (one of the female participants) found the original incidents at the Con feminist: ''To me this was really about gender-nonspecific personal connection and permission-granting (or not granting), not women caving to the male power or notions of body-rightness. ...Society has been telling us women all our lives that our breasts are not our own to make decisions about--that they are inherently only for certain approved purposes and we must otherwise cover them and protect them from detailed touch or inspection with things like bras and clothing and moats and lions and tigers, if necessary, because the only person who is allowed to see and touch them is YOUR MAN and you aren't allowed to assert a non-standard set of access permissions yourself. This project stood that on its head. It was in fact a fine case of feminist rebellion, combined with general rebellion against socially defined rules and toward opt-in interpersonal intimacy and appreciation. ... I think it was a good thing, and I admire my friends who started it, and I stand by them, and I am not ashamed that I was pleased to take part.''<br />
*[http://sandrewswann.blogspot.com/2008/04/internet-is-stupid-place.html Andrew Swann] (4/23): <br />
:: Struck by the out-of-proportionality (and decontextualization) of the Internet.<br />
*[http://vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com/594784.html Why women need mace at cons.], VulgarCriminal, 4/23 9:42<br />
*[http://community.livejournal.com/sf_drama/835072.html SF_Drama] (4/23) highlights Ferrett's apology, then [http://community.livejournal.com/sf_drama/835072.html?thread=78931968#t78931968 this thread] highlights some of TheFerrett's other writings. Commenters were not impressed. <br />
*[http://emmelinemay.livejournal.com/1009295.html Breast drama!], 4/23, Adventures of the Dread Pirate Emmeline May!<br />
:: ''Geek guy suggests an 'Open Source Boob Project¹, based on the premise that women like to have their boobs touched as a compliment, and therefore it will be empowering for the women if men go up and ask if they can touch their boobs at geek conventions. In a totally non creepy, non sexual way, of course. It's <U>spiritual</U>.'' <br />
:: ''It's NOT a compliment. It's CREEPY. It's not a compliment when people whistle at me in the street, slap my arse when I'm cycling, yell 'OI DARLING' as I'm walking home, try to chat me up on the night bus.'' ...<br />
:: ''Women are not going to throw off the shackles of media-influenced low self-esteem, body issues and centuries of sexual repression by having a bunch of desperate geeks ask to grab their knockers.''<br />
<br />
=== ... hits the mainstream (4/23) ... ===<br />
; and the whole thing breaks the fandom atmospheric barriers on 4/23: <br />
*[http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#more Women's bodies: Just like open-source software!], [[Feministing]], 4/23<br />
:: [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147612 Comment by Roni], 4/23 6:02pm, attempting to shed some light on apparent and likely intentions of the project, and experiences at the original cons: <br />
::: ''This was a completely bone-headed, offensive, objectifying thing to post, but from what I gather, the reality was far less alarming. ... When Ferrett wrote it up in his blog he imposed a very het male, very sexualized, very privileged perspective on it. ... His write up made the whole experience sound much more prevalent, creepy, entitled and objectifying then what seems most people involved took as a warm fuzzy experience. To be clear, his post described a terrible, ill-conceived, solipsistic, misogynistic idea and I argued with him vehemently in half a dozen comments. I think initially they really did mean well. In my experience, Ferrett's not good at looking at things from the perspectives of others and is rather oblivious to male privlege. I'm sure he had no idea his post would paint such a sinister and alarming picture of something he thought was positive, and wouldn't in his wildest dreams predict the shitstorm this has caused. However, while this was a horrendous idea, it's not an actively malicious one. There were never any hordes of drooling booby-grabbing nerds.''<br />
:: [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147622 Comment by Loriet], 4/23 6:50pm:<br />
::: ''It's a little ironic that this debacle cropped up during Sexual Assault Awareness month...very timely, if you ask me.''' <br />
:: Commenter Dawn, participant in the original "mini-event", weighs in: [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147655 4/23 10:28pm] and [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147673 4/24 12:07am]<br />
::: ''This is just what Ferrett said it was - an attempt to take, even if for a brief moment, some of the shame and politics out of sexuality and attraction. While his description may have been clumsy, I stand behind him and the whole "mini-event." ... [S]o far, the only virulent complaints I've read or heard regarding this have been from people who weren't even there. That's the part that angers me, because it feels as though those posters are judging me and my experience. How dare someone say she is ashamed of me for "allowing" this to happen, as though I lacked the judgment to make this decision for myself? ... Now, was Ferrett's public post a bad idea? Definitely. In other words, you're absolutely right - this kind of thing is Not Good as a public activity, precisely because of all of the sexism - and the understandable backlash to it - in our screwed up, poor excuse for a Western culture.''<br />
:: Vodalus comments ([http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147672 4/24 12:05am]) on the "My breasts ... are they good enough to be touched" quote that bugged a lot of people:<br />
:::''Women "willing[ly]" participate in many sexist, misogynistic activities. It is fairly common for insecure (socially, financially, etc.) women to be consensually exploited. '''That does not alter the nature of the act.''''' ("ly" added by ed. for clarity)<br />
:: Anna comments ([http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147705 4/24 8:08am]), quoted in full below: <br />
::: Sapian, if it were as simple as touching, then it wouldn't either need to be breasts, or need to be written up by theferret as either using the power of teh_boobies to heal his teenaged-angst or as his mastubatory fantasy. <br />
::: Touching and being touched is great. Why don't we start with all the guys at Cons who want to break down sexual taboos start encouraging and participating in non-sexual touching between men? <br />
::: When theferret argues that having folks who are willing to do the touching wear buttons indicating their willingness (instead of having folks who are willing to be touched indicate *theirs*) as "a passive system" instead of an "active" one... well, he's showing his hand.<br />
::: This, for him, was about being the active touching person, going up to women whose breasts he found attractive and "groping" them. ("Grope" is not a word without conotation. I've been groped in public more than once. It is gross. I have no doubt theferret is aware of the conotation of the word because I do not doubt his intelligence.)<br />
::: Going up to a guy and saying "Hey, I have breasts, wanna touch them!" would be an *active* thing for me, and a passive thing for theferret - and theferret doesn't want to be in the passive role.<br />
::: Or, more likely to me, he doesn't want women he finds unattractive approaching him, asking him to touch them, and being put in the position of saying "no".<br />
::: Either way, he frames this as being all about him, his comfort levels, his sexual-healing, his wants.<br />
::: When folks come out and say "But that's not what it was!" I don't doubt them - I do not think for a moment that Dawn is lying about her experiences.<br />
::: But Dawn wasn't the one who wrote up the original post, and she wasn't the one whose words are now being used to champion or denegrade this stuff around the internet.<br />
::: Theferret's are.<br />
::: Words ''matter''.<br />
:: Ed.: Damn. Yeah, they do.<br />
<br />
:: Commenter Pengo suggests there are more important things to be bothered about ("Um, yeah, there's this election and this war... I'm not saying your reactions are unwarranted so much as... Come ON, it's a stupid idea, right from the get-go. Ain't like this shit has legs. If anything I'm in a much better to be pissed off position because douchebags like this make respectable progressive chick-positive meganerds like myself have to do an awful-lot of apologizing." [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147744 4/24 1:45pm]), to which exelizabeth kindly takes time and cogently explains where he has fucked up ([http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147754 4/24 2:45pm]):<br />
::: Pengo, you are not a respectable progressive chick-positive meganerd if you deign to tell women what should and should not matter to them. It is a huge anti-feminist straw-man to say, "You shouldn't care about X issue because Y and Z exists!" You're trying to impose your opinion of what is most important on us. That's anti-feminist. Also, and this might be hard to understand, but ''we can care about more than one issue at once''. THIS thread is about this issue. Shall we direct you to other threads about the war and the economy? If you took two second to look through this site, you would find them.<br />
<br />
*[http://jezebel.com/383321/open-source-boob-project-the-true-story-of-one-epic-day-nerds-groped-free Open Source Boob Project: The True Story Of One Epic Day Nerds Groped Free], ''Jezebel''<br />
:: -- and now another perspective, with commentary about "[[booth babes]]"<br />
*[http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project metafilter], 4/23<br />
:: I do think there's an underlying assumption that the people who were doing this are idiots/oversexed dweebs/socially horribly maladapted/variously clueless, and alternately, that Penguicon was a nipple flash away from becoming some horrible spring break scenario in which howling bands of boys terrorized unsuspecting women. The reality of the situation is that neither of these is the case: The women I know who participated are accomplished and intelligent women who had a point they wanted to make about touching and intimacy, and who have been regular attendees of Penguicon over the years; the vast majority of Penguicon attendees, as far as I could see, were extremely well-behaved. The male Penguicon attendees might be geeks, but they're generally not dicks. There's a lot of arrogation of perspective going on, and people having a hard time imagining a brace of smart, well-adapted and, yes, feminist women doing something like this. Well, guess what: Smart, well-adapted and, yes, feminist women did something like this, and did it in a place where it could work like they wanted it to. [http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project#2091014 Scalzi]<br />
*[http://blogsisters.blogspot.com/2008/04/feminism-and-two-trainwrecks-on.html Feminism and Two Trainwrecks on the Interwebs], ''BlogSisters'', 4/23: <br />
:: ''[W]hen random men start championing these kinds of things, I can't help but feel a little skeeved about it all. Do men only sit up and notice if there are breasts involved?''<br />
*[http://viv.id.au/blog/?p=1640 “Open Source Boob Project”: Around the blogs], ''Hoyden About Town'', 4/24<br />
*[http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/?p=3414 “Women’s bodies: Just like open-source software!”], [[Ann Bartow]], ''Feminist Law Professors'', 4/25<br />
<br />
=== ... fandom keeps on churning (4/24) ===<br />
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/otf_wank/595129.html May I grope your breasts? It's liberating!], (4/23) Rowanberries Wank Report @ otf_wank LJ<br />
*[http://perpetual-lent.livejournal.com/187893.html Previous Entry Boob project?! YOU'RE a boob project!], ''Perpetual Lent'', 4/24: <br />
:: ''The ... proposer (or, perhaps, propositioner) describes it as a utopian dream: "I wish this was the kind of world where say, 'Wow, I'd like to touch your breasts,' and people would understand that it's not a way of reducing you to a set of nipples and ignoring the rest of you, but rather a way of saying that I may not yet know your mind, but your body is beautiful." Nevermind, of course, that wanting to grope someone's boobies despite not knowing them is the exact process by which the person is reduced to a set of nipples.'' - Analysis of the controversy, some analysis from a religious viewpoint, and pointing out that it would be nice to have some non-sexualized environments. (Ed: Word. But then, that's what we feminists have been arguing for: When we're not having sex, treat us like people who have purposes and value other than sex.)<br />
*[[Designated Sidekick]] at [[girl-wonder.org]] [http://www.girl-wonder.org/designatedsidekick/2008/04/23/closed-source-misogyny Closed Source Misogyny] (4/24): <br />
:: Extending the "open source" metaphor to "closed source misogyny" and suggesting ''Let’s put our male entitled view of women’s bodies as our property to use, modify, open source and otherwise interact with into a neatly closed source wrapper, bundle it in DRM, load it on an iPod and repeatedly strike our narrow minded selves in the face until the bleeding starts, and continue until the ability to stand upright stops.'' (Ed: Hear, hear.)<br />
*[http://vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com/595965.html Update on gross con guys feeling breasts posts], ''Vulgar Criminal'' (4/24)<br />
<br />
==Summaries, wrap-ups, and linkfests==<br />
* [http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=340 Liz Henry, 4/22], [[Feminist SF blog]] - Summary of the blogstorm at 36 hours<br />
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/9338.html journalfen] massive link roundup<br />
*[http://lauredhel.livejournal.com/233281.html Selective and Arbitrary: - "Open Source Boob Project": Around the blogs], lauredhel's journal, 4/24<br />
*[http://the-red-shoes.livejournal.com/1265051.html hell, people got rich selling itty bitty pieces of the Berlin Wall....], Red Shoes, 4/23 -- An awesome collection of t-shirt-worthy soundbites from the blogospheric outrage.<br />
*[http://viv.id.au/blog/?p=1640 “Open Source Boob Project”: Around the blogs], ''Hoyden About Town'', 4/24<br />
<br />
<br />
==assorted unsorted links==<br />
*[http://community.livejournal.com/metafandom/187521.html metafandom]<br />
<br />
==outcomes==<br />
* TheFerrett says he won't be going back to these cons; he acknowledges the Project is a Bad Idea and apologizes for putting women in fear; he closes some threads.<br />
<br />
*[http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/606344.html Back Up], Manijia, 4/24: <br />
:: ''It makes me sad to see that a venue that is already male-dominated will now become even more male-dominated, when I would like to see more women get involved and so make it more friendly to women. But I also can't dismiss their concerns, or promise them that nothing will happen. '''For one thing, people are already posting to the [[Dragon Con]] comm under the assumption that now that public button-enabled sexual harrassment has been described and advocated, it will happen as a matter of course.''' ...But I hope that what will come out of this is a movement to make cons more safe and fun for everyone except those who want to grope freely in public spaces, sorry guys; room parties only. One is that we press conventions and the venues that host them to create and enforce sexual harassment policies. '''The other is the brilliant plan invented by vito_excalibur, Back Up: Women Defending Women.''' Yes, there is a gentleman's auxiliary. '''[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173664.html Project Back Up]''' '''I intend to wear my Back Up badge to A-Kon and every other con I go to in the future. If you need assistance of any kind, I pledge to help you out as you wish and to the best of my ability.''''' (bold added)<br />
<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
* [[Harlan Ellison Breast Grab Incident]] (2006) - seriously, what is it with guys & women's breasts?<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:2008 events]]<br />
[[Category:Sexism incidents and controversies]]<br />
[[Category:Fandom]]<br />
[[Category:SF conventions]]<br />
<br />
{{seed}}</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Open_Source_Boob_Project&diff=29754Open Source Boob Project2008-04-26T15:23:15Z<p>Netmouse: /* ... and continues (4/22) */ added James Nicoll's post</p>
<hr />
<div>The '''Open Source Boob Project''' (OSBP) was a brief project held at Penguicon in April of 2008, stemming from an even smaller experiment among friends that proceeded it at ConFusion. It was followed by a short-lived online proposal by one of the male participants (TheFerrett) for other people to repeat and promote the project at other conventions. The project involved men and women wearing buttons signaling "[http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/74043718/5200595 Yes you may]" or "No you may not", referring to whether or not the button wearer was giving permission for other people to ask if they may touch their breasts or butt. At Penguicon it was a small project involving perhaps 40 people out of a 1000-person con.<br />
<br />
TheFerrett's proposal for the project to spread was aptly described as "an aborted convention meme purporting to be a movement towards increased sexual liberation".<ref>[http://perpetual-lent.livejournal.com/187893.html Boob Project?! YOU'RE a Boob Project!], ''Perpetual Lent'', 4/23 (linked and discussed with other posts in the general summary).</ref> Furor ensued; poster recanted in the name of [[con safety]]. <br />
<br />
Interesting discussions that came out of the furor:<br />
* [[sexism]] and [[male privilege]] and whether or not women can truly consent to things in the face of male privilege (of course) - many, many posts<br />
* [[geek male psychology]] - many posts<br />
* [[geek female psychology]] - some posts<br />
* [[con safety]] > '''[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173664.html Project Back Up: Women Defending Women]''' (vito excalibur); see also LJ community belweather_talk<br />
* definitions of [[feminism]] - some posts<br />
<br />
==A history in links==<br />
The proposal and much of the initial blogstorm happened on [[LiveJournal]], so some links may have been originally or subsequently closed to the public. If a posted link here is to an private/unpublic post, please feel free to note that it's closed, or remove it as appropriate.<br />
<br />
===The proposal (4/21) and original incident===<br />
<br />
April 21, TheFerrett proposes repetitions of the "Open Source Boob Project" based on an experience he had at [[Penguicon]] (an open source/SF/geek con) and the experiment that started it all at ConFusion. At ConFusion, they had an impromptu exploration of what various women's breasts felt like after a discussion about the fact that it was not polite to vocally appreciate or ask to touch breasts resulted in one woman declaring "You can touch mine" and another woman's taking her up on her offer, followed by a cascading effect and more people getting involved; they thought this was such a good idea that they made buttons to institute it at Penguicon. Men and women involved in the OSBP wore the buttons and explained the project to people who asked about them, giving out buttons to people who inquired, seemed to understand, and wanted to be part of it.<br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html The Open-Source Boob Project], theferrett (4/21): Ferrett puts his foot in it. (Original post is below the cut. And there are lengthy, lengthy, really really lengthy comment threads to go with it.)<br />
:: Some choice excerpts include:<br />
::: [T]he women retained their right to say no, of course[.]<br />
:<br />
::: That exchange of happiness where one person are told with gropes and touches that they are desirable and the other is someone who's allowed to desire.<br />
:<br />
::: For a moment, everything that was awkward about high school would fade away and you could just say what was on your mind. It was as though parts of me were being healed whenever I did it, and I touched at least fifteen sets of boobs at Penguicon.<br />
:<br />
::: "My breasts," they asked shyly, having heard about the project. "Are they... are they good enough to be touched?" And lo, we showed them how beautiful their bodies were without turning it into something tawdry."<br />
<br />
====Original incident: Other voices====<br />
Most of the outrage was over the concept of the "project" as TheFerrett expressed it: a concept that could or should be exported to other Cons, carrying the baggage of the way he described it. However, some of the outrage spilled over into comments on the original incidents, the original participants, cons, and TheFerrett himself. <br />
<br />
In particular, some of the outrage also focused on the fact that, whatever this incident was at the time, the export-proposal was packaged by TheFerrett, as was the description of the original incident. TheFerrett, in one of his comment threads, explained that he did not attempt to represent the female participants' views, or any view other than his own. (It was pointed out to him that his description was not, in fact, so carefully worded to be clear that it was only his perspective, and that the way he described the event, he [[universalized]] his (straight male) experience to all participants. <br />
<br />
Thus, we include here below a selection of links to the comments and descriptions of other participants. Many (or most) of the participants reframed the original incident, while qualifying its exportability to general cons or distinguishing their experience of the original incident from TheFerrett's proposal. <br />
<br />
Other voices: <br />
* [http://novapsyche.livejournal.com/1996568.html NovaPsyche, 4/22 1:43pm]<br />
* [http://netmouse.livejournal.com/488735.html Anne, 4/23 11:50am]<br />
* [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147655 Dawn, 4/23 10:28pm] <br />
* [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147673 Dawn, 4/24 12:07am]<br />
* [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147714 Ellalthea, 4/24 10:23am]<br />
<br />
===Outrage quickly follows (4/21)===<br />
*[http://the-red-shoes.livejournal.com/1263869.html Is this truly the only world I can live in?] @ the red shoes, 4/21 19:05<br />
*[http://sinboy.livejournal.com/871986.html some mature non directly sexual content WRT touching and consent], sinboy LJ, 4/21 20:54: <br />
:: comment threads elucidate the way that the proposal frames women only as potential touchees who are either prudish or have an unhealthy desire for attention; difference between touching by men and by women; notice that this is in a public space & is nonconsensual to observers<br />
*[http://springheel-jack.livejournal.com/2504302.html open source male assholes], springheel_jack (4/21 22:56) -- the basic libertarian fallacy<br />
*[http://glvalentine.livejournal.com/68505.html GLValentine], 4/21 23:19:<br />
:: ''I finally found the shortest way to sum up my feelings that don't involve punching someone: My body does not exist in the binary of SOME GUY'S ACCESS TO IT.''<br />
<br />
===... including on TheFerrett's LJ thread===<br />
Lots of the very interesting discussion across all the days occurred on TheFerrett's LJ thread itself, which was at one point briefly disappeared, then reappeared but closed to further comment. Below are selections of comments from the threads:<br />
<br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54722758#t54722758 tablesaw]<br />
:: A close reading in three parts of TheFerrett's original post that point out <br />
::: (a) how the description of the event created the impression of a [[Tailhook]]-like situation: the implied domination of the scene by multiple men, the highly sexualized language, and the descriptions of multiple (impliedly) men accosting random women; <br />
::: (b) how the [[male gaze]] was used throughout TheFerrett's descriptions of the event; <br />
::: (c) how the [[objectification]] placed women and men in traditional sexist patterns of the object and the subject, the observed/acted upon and the observer/actor.<br />
::: (d) appropriation of the voice of women such that only one voice (assent) was heard from women, and only one reaction was depicted; (ed.: Note in passing that this was also a universalization of individual women's experience.). <br />
:: TheFerrett responds and that response, too, is fisked: <br />
::: ''This isn't the language you used, which means that it may have been what you intended, but it isn't what you said. Part of the purpose of long exercise was to show how a lot of little mistakes, a lot of tone-deaf phrases, on top of a whole bunch of privilege combine to turn a reader away from giving you the benefit of the doubt.''<br />
:: and:<br />
::: ''Could you have written it in a way that was ideally feminist? Probably not. That's really frickin' hard, especially for us as men. But could you have described this progressive, body-positive movement in a way that didn't keep me choked with rage all day and make my fiancee cry? <U>Yes, I think you fucking could have.</U>'''<br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54853830#t54853830 mswyrr]<br />
:: <small>I'm not trying to be adversarial here, I'm just confused. Many people seem to be upset by this, but if you were uncomfortable with the idea wouldn't it be refreshing to be able to just put on a red button to keep the annoying men away?</small><br />
:: Sometimes, I like to enjoy the delusion of living in a world where what a woman has on her chest isn't the primarily important thing about her, whether it be buttons or shirts or what-have-you. I'd like to live in a society where my bodily autonomy is the default and not something I or any other woman is required to indicate by a pin, or drive myself crazy trying to make the "right" clothing choices to indicate. <br />
<br />
*[http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54773190#t54773190 tablesaw, 4/22]: <br />
:: ''Women's breasts are not magical devices for healing straight men's psyches. Women's bodies do not exist to make straight men feel better about themselves. Women have their own shit to deal with, and a lot of the time, that shit is us, even (sometimes especially) when we're trying to do better. And trying to be the spokesperson for a movement without acknowledging, accepting, and fucking dealing with your position of power is just working at crosspurposes to that same movement.''<br />
<br />
<br />
===... and continues (4/22)===<br />
*[http://kate-nepveu.livejournal.com/323736.html On asking to touch the breasts of a stranger], Kate Nepveu, 4/22 07:41: <br />
:: ''If you are a stranger, especially a man, perhaps especially in a group of other strangers who are men, and you come up to me and say, "You're very beautiful. I'd like to touch your breasts. Would you mind if I did?": You will put me in fear.''<br />
* [http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808826.html CoffeeAndInk], 4/22 08:48: <br />
:: ''Because the way to an egalitarian and less body-conscious utopia is for women's bodies to default to public space. We just don't have enough sexualized treatment of women as bodies instead of whole social persons in public spaces!''<br />
:*Comment thread: [http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808826.html?thread=9929338#t9929338 Inhammer] (4/22) rechristens it the "public domain boob project"<br />
*[http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/605708.html A proposal to crush the button-enabled sexual harassment proposal], Rachel Manija, 4/22 09:23: <br />
:: ''if I hear that this button scheme is likely to go on at any con I would like to attend, I will contact the management for the hotel in which it takes place, inform them of it, point out the danger of sexual harassment lawsuits, and further inform them that if they do not get the con organizers to ban the buttons from public spaces at the con, and someone gropes me, I will sue the hotel and call the police. And that I will also encourage anyone else who is groped without their consent to sue the hotel and call the police.''<br />
*[http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/1229281.html Welcome to the Harlan Ellison Memorial Personal Boundaries Club], James Nicoll, 4/22, 10:34:<br />
:: Originally linked to the initial proposal with "Sad male fan invents way to be even more creepy to female fans." Eventually corrected by enough people that it was invented by other people, mainly women that author changed link to "Sad male fan capitalizes on way to be even more creepy to female fans."<br />
*[http://ojouchan.livejournal.com/182207.html You Can Not HAZ!], ''No No Ojou-chan!'', 4/22 11:36: <br />
:: Notes the pressure placed by requests from [[celebrities]]; [[body issues]] and [[con culture]]; [[male gaze]] and [[privilege]].<br />
*[http://desdenova.livejournal.com/281813.html Open source WHAT??? (or, a policy statement that should not be necessary)], ''cooler by the lake'', 4/22 11:46: <br />
:: ''For the record: my boobies--like the rest of my body parts--are proprietary.''<br />
<br />
===the clarification (4/22)===<br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1088382.html Clarification], theferrett: Ferrett tries to explain (4/22 12:21)<br />
:: Yeah, that didn't help.<br />
<br />
=== ... discussion continues (4/22)===<br />
*[http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=650 Open Source Boobs], John Scalzi, 4/22 1:33pm<br />
:: Contextualizing it as an attempt to demystify breasts to help eliminate objectification of women. Also, noting that "context is <I>extremely</I> important for something like this."<br />
* [http://misia.livejournal.com/1055120.html A Modest Proposal], aka the '''Open Source Swift Kick in the Balls Project''', Misia, 4/22 13:58<br />
*[http://ladyjax.livejournal.com/575119.html A proposal], LadyJax, Subtle, Yet Effective Mood Adjustment, 4/22 3:10 pm:<br />
:: ''Touch your own damn self.''<br />
*[http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/161643.html I find it highly amusing that his username is "ferret."], MysticKeeper, 4/22 5:11<br />
:: Summary with good quotes and excerpts.<br />
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/9338.html OH JOHN RINGO NO], melannen in unfunnybusiness JournalFen community, 4/22 17:40<br />
*[http://hahathor.livejournal.com/120502.html The OSKSP], hahathor, 4/22: "The Open Source Knuckle Sandwich Project": <br />
:: ''The idea behind the OSKSP is to break down the societal barriers against punching strangers in the face. It's something many of us want to do - it's an empowering and liberating act. I wish this was the kind of world where say, 'Wow, I'd like to punch you in the face,' and people would understand that it's not a way of reducing you to a set of bruises and ignoring the rest of you, but rather a way of saying that I may not yet know your mind, but your face inspires passion.''<br />
*[http://novapsyche.livejournal.com/1996568.html My brief thoughts on the Open Source Boob Project], The Eye of Nova's Mind, 4/22: <br />
:: A woman who participated notes that ''I do have to say, however, that if I'd read theferrett's post about OSBP before someone offered me the pin, I would have turned it down, and perhaps gone into feminist reasons why I was declining. ... I have to say that I didn't feel honored to be part of the group once my body had been reduced to "gropes". Sorry, but word choice matters.''<br />
*[http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/1229281.html Welcome to the Harlan Ellison Memorial Personal Boundaries Club], [[James Nicoll]], 4/22: <br />
:: ''I have to say there's a clear consensus on the idea of treating women's bodies as public commons and it's not heading in the direction of commutarian touching.''<br />
*[http://naamenblog.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/tuesday-quick-postrage/ Tuesday Quick Post/Rage: Open-Source Boob Project, really? REALLY?!?], Naamen / Words from the Center, Words from the Edge, 4/22:<br />
:: ''DAMN! This is some privileged BULLSHIT! ... Let me say it loud so that it might -might- penetrate your skull: WOMYN’S BODIES ARE NOT A PUBLIC SPACE!''<br />
*[http://cynthia1960.livejournal.com/165099.html Just what I needed for a rage-honing morning jolt...], Cynthia1960, 4/22 - Great threaded discussion<br />
*[http://ladyjax.livejournal.com/574671.html Steaming bowl of hot mess] (4/22), ladyjax<br />
<br />
*[http://badgerbag.livejournal.com/96182.html The open source groper project], ''badgerbag'', 4/22: <br />
:: ''How about some buttons to pass out for men to wear, buttons that say "GROPER", "CREEP", or "OGLER"? I'd love to know who to stay the hell away from.''<br />
:: Also, ruminations on the [[hanky code]].<br />
*[http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808967.html coffeeandink] (4/22): <br />
:: ''What people are saying is: Women spend THEIR ENTIRE LIVES IN SEXUALIZED SPACES. All of us. ...What you're suggesting is that instead of the default being "No, you may not touch my body", you want to turn cons -- large public spaces -- into spaces where women have to repeatedly and loudly say no in order to be heard.''<br />
*[http://serenejournal.livejournal.com/948058.html?thread=5702234#t5702234%22 pleonastic], 4/22<br />
*[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173519.html wrapping up] (4/22) vito excalibur explains how he succeeded in his goal in bringing all of fandom together united with a common purpose.<br />
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/wank_report/518.html?thread=2021382#t2021382 Wank Report] (4/22), JournalFen.net<br />
<br />
===the apology===<br />
Ferrett sort of apologizes: (4/22): <br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html The Open-Source Boob Project], TheFerrett: Ferrett recants on his original post with a long preface at the top. Ferrett removes the 1300 comments, then puts them back. This was deemed a [[faux-pology]] or [http://wiki.fandomwank.com/index.php/Heidipology heidipology] by some.<br />
<br />
===... discussion ''still'' continues (4/22) ===<br />
; fandom outrage continues apace: <br />
* [http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=340 The Internets work how they’re supposed to], [[Liz Henry]], 4/22, [[Feminist SF blog]]<br />
:: Describing her process through the day, with key links, and an analysis of the apologies and their intent and how they did and did not measure up.<br />
<br />
===... and continues (4/23) === <br />
* [http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173664.html This is not a joke.], ''Vito Excalibur'', 4/23:<br />
:: Vito proposes the "[[Open Source Women Back Each Other Up Program]]"<br />
:::''Here's my pledge: if I see somebody groping you in public, and you're not moaning Yes! Yes! Yes!, I will break through your Somebody Else's Problem invisibility field and come over and ask if you're okay. If your situation looks dangerous enough I can't help on my own, I will call over friends or, if it's a situation in which I think the cops would be on your side, I will call the cops. If you're being harassed by a guy, you can say so to me, even if you don't know me. I pledge I will distract him so you can get away, or I will tell him that he needs to leave, or whatever I can do to the best of my ability. I pledge that yes, actually, because you are a woman I will give you the benefit of the doubt. If you tell me that a guy just did something shitty to you I will not refuse to look at any evidence and tell you that I know him and he's a great guy and you must have been imagining things. I have great loyalty to my male friends but I will not allow that to blind me to the fact that none of us are saints and even my best friends can screw up and may need to be called on it. I pledge that I will walk you to your car if you don't feel safe walking alone at night, and then you can drive me to mine.''<br />
<br />
:::''Yes, even at Wiscon. I pledge that even if I don't know you, if there is a creepy guy following you around, you can say so, and I will not say to you go hide in your room; I will say to him go find another party, or if necessary, go home. I will come with you if you need to talk to the con organizers. I will not make you feel like your right to control over your own body is not a big deal.''<br />
<br />
:::''And I will do this whether or not I like you, or even know you. It's not about liking you. It's about the fact that we need to back each other up, and I will need you to do this for me some day.''<br />
<br />
*[http://ktempest.livejournal.com/292271.html Oh Boob Grab, We’ll Miss Thee (actually, we won’t, but…)], K. Tempest Bradford, 4/23<br />
* [http://rivkat.livejournal.com/189290.html The right of making available]:<br />
:: A patent/trademark/copyright lawyer explains how "Open Source" is a fallacy in this case, 4/23<br />
*[http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=656 A bit more on OSB], John Scalzi, 4/23<br />
*[http://netmouse.livejournal.com/ The Open Source Boob Project and subsequent stoning], ''NetMouse'' 4/23 <br />
:: NetMouse found the project feminist: ''To me this was really about gender-nonspecific personal connection and permission-granting (or not granting), not women caving to the male power or notions of body-rightness. ...Society has been telling us women all our lives that our breasts are not our own to make decisions about--that they are inherently only for certain approved purposes and we must otherwise cover them and protect them from detailed touch or inspection with things like bras and clothing and moats and lions and tigers, if necessary, because the only person who is allowed to see and touch them is YOUR MAN and you aren't allowed to assert a non-standard set of access permissions yourself. This project stood that on its head. It was in fact a fine case of feminist rebellion, combined with general rebellion against socially defined rules and toward opt-in interpersonal intimacy and appreciation. ... I think it was a good thing, and I admire my friends who started it, and I stand by them, and I am not ashamed that I was pleased to take part.''<br />
*[http://sandrewswann.blogspot.com/2008/04/internet-is-stupid-place.html Andrew Swann] (4/23): <br />
:: Struck by the out-of-proportionality (and decontextualization) of the Internet.<br />
*[http://vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com/594784.html Why women need mace at cons.], VulgarCriminal, 4/23 9:42<br />
*[http://community.livejournal.com/sf_drama/835072.html SF_Drama] (4/23) highlights Ferrett's apology, then [http://community.livejournal.com/sf_drama/835072.html?thread=78931968#t78931968 this thread] highlights some of TheFerrett's other writings. Commenters were not impressed. <br />
*[http://emmelinemay.livejournal.com/1009295.html Breast drama!], 4/23, Adventures of the Dread Pirate Emmeline May!<br />
:: ''Geek guy suggests an 'Open Source Boob Project¹, based on the premise that women like to have their boobs touched as a compliment, and therefore it will be empowering for the women if men go up and ask if they can touch their boobs at geek conventions. In a totally non creepy, non sexual way, of course. It's <U>spiritual</U>.'' <br />
:: ''It's NOT a compliment. It's CREEPY. It's not a compliment when people whistle at me in the street, slap my arse when I'm cycling, yell 'OI DARLING' as I'm walking home, try to chat me up on the night bus.'' ...<br />
:: ''Women are not going to throw off the shackles of media-influenced low self-esteem, body issues and centuries of sexual repression by having a bunch of desperate geeks ask to grab their knockers.''<br />
<br />
=== ... hits the mainstream (4/23) ... ===<br />
; and the whole thing breaks the fandom atmospheric barriers on 4/23: <br />
*[http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#more Women's bodies: Just like open-source software!], [[Feministing]], 4/23<br />
:: [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147612 Comment by Roni], 4/23 6:02pm, attempting to shed some light on apparent and likely intentions of the project, and experiences at the original cons: <br />
::: ''This was a completely bone-headed, offensive, objectifying thing to post, but from what I gather, the reality was far less alarming. ... When Ferrett wrote it up in his blog he imposed a very het male, very sexualized, very privileged perspective on it. ... His write up made the whole experience sound much more prevalent, creepy, entitled and objectifying then what seems most people involved took as a warm fuzzy experience. To be clear, his post described a terrible, ill-conceived, solipsistic, misogynistic idea and I argued with him vehemently in half a dozen comments. I think initially they really did mean well. In my experience, Ferrett's not good at looking at things from the perspectives of others and is rather oblivious to male privlege. I'm sure he had no idea his post would paint such a sinister and alarming picture of something he thought was positive, and wouldn't in his wildest dreams predict the shitstorm this has caused. However, while this was a horrendous idea, it's not an actively malicious one. There were never any hordes of drooling booby-grabbing nerds.''<br />
:: [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147622 Comment by Loriet], 4/23 6:50pm:<br />
::: ''It's a little ironic that this debacle cropped up during Sexual Assault Awareness month...very timely, if you ask me.''' <br />
:: Commenter Dawn, participant in the original "mini-event", weighs in: [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147655 4/23 10:28pm] and [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147673 4/24 12:07am]<br />
::: ''This is just what Ferrett said it was - an attempt to take, even if for a brief moment, some of the shame and politics out of sexuality and attraction. While his description may have been clumsy, I stand behind him and the whole "mini-event." ... [S]o far, the only virulent complaints I've read or heard regarding this have been from people who weren't even there. That's the part that angers me, because it feels as though those posters are judging me and my experience. How dare someone say she is ashamed of me for "allowing" this to happen, as though I lacked the judgment to make this decision for myself? ... Now, was Ferrett's public post a bad idea? Definitely. In other words, you're absolutely right - this kind of thing is Not Good as a public activity, precisely because of all of the sexism - and the understandable backlash to it - in our screwed up, poor excuse for a Western culture.''<br />
:: Vodalus comments ([http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147672 4/24 12:05am]) on the "My breasts ... are they good enough to be touched" quote that bugged a lot of people:<br />
:::''Women "willing[ly]" participate in many sexist, misogynistic activities. It is fairly common for insecure (socially, financially, etc.) women to be consensually exploited. '''That does not alter the nature of the act.''''' ("ly" added by ed. for clarity)<br />
:: Anna comments ([http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147705 4/24 8:08am]), quoted in full below: <br />
::: Sapian, if it were as simple as touching, then it wouldn't either need to be breasts, or need to be written up by theferret as either using the power of teh_boobies to heal his teenaged-angst or as his mastubatory fantasy. <br />
::: Touching and being touched is great. Why don't we start with all the guys at Cons who want to break down sexual taboos start encouraging and participating in non-sexual touching between men? <br />
::: When theferret argues that having folks who are willing to do the touching wear buttons indicating their willingness (instead of having folks who are willing to be touched indicate *theirs*) as "a passive system" instead of an "active" one... well, he's showing his hand.<br />
::: This, for him, was about being the active touching person, going up to women whose breasts he found attractive and "groping" them. ("Grope" is not a word without conotation. I've been groped in public more than once. It is gross. I have no doubt theferret is aware of the conotation of the word because I do not doubt his intelligence.)<br />
::: Going up to a guy and saying "Hey, I have breasts, wanna touch them!" would be an *active* thing for me, and a passive thing for theferret - and theferret doesn't want to be in the passive role.<br />
::: Or, more likely to me, he doesn't want women he finds unattractive approaching him, asking him to touch them, and being put in the position of saying "no".<br />
::: Either way, he frames this as being all about him, his comfort levels, his sexual-healing, his wants.<br />
::: When folks come out and say "But that's not what it was!" I don't doubt them - I do not think for a moment that Dawn is lying about her experiences.<br />
::: But Dawn wasn't the one who wrote up the original post, and she wasn't the one whose words are now being used to champion or denegrade this stuff around the internet.<br />
::: Theferret's are.<br />
::: Words ''matter''.<br />
:: Ed.: Damn. Yeah, they do.<br />
<br />
:: Commenter Pengo suggests there are more important things to be bothered about ("Um, yeah, there's this election and this war... I'm not saying your reactions are unwarranted so much as... Come ON, it's a stupid idea, right from the get-go. Ain't like this shit has legs. If anything I'm in a much better to be pissed off position because douchebags like this make respectable progressive chick-positive meganerds like myself have to do an awful-lot of apologizing." [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147744 4/24 1:45pm]), to which exelizabeth kindly takes time and cogently explains where he has fucked up ([http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147754 4/24 2:45pm]):<br />
::: Pengo, you are not a respectable progressive chick-positive meganerd if you deign to tell women what should and should not matter to them. It is a huge anti-feminist straw-man to say, "You shouldn't care about X issue because Y and Z exists!" You're trying to impose your opinion of what is most important on us. That's anti-feminist. Also, and this might be hard to understand, but ''we can care about more than one issue at once''. THIS thread is about this issue. Shall we direct you to other threads about the war and the economy? If you took two second to look through this site, you would find them.<br />
<br />
*[http://jezebel.com/383321/open-source-boob-project-the-true-story-of-one-epic-day-nerds-groped-free Open Source Boob Project: The True Story Of One Epic Day Nerds Groped Free], ''Jezebel''<br />
:: -- and now another perspective, with commentary about "[[booth babes]]"<br />
*[http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project metafilter], 4/23<br />
*[http://blogsisters.blogspot.com/2008/04/feminism-and-two-trainwrecks-on.html Feminism and Two Trainwrecks on the Interwebs], ''BlogSisters'', 4/23: <br />
:: ''[W]hen random men start championing these kinds of things, I can't help but feel a little skeeved about it all. Do men only sit up and notice if there are breasts involved?''<br />
*[http://viv.id.au/blog/?p=1640 “Open Source Boob Project”: Around the blogs], ''Hoyden About Town'', 4/24<br />
*[http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/?p=3414 “Women’s bodies: Just like open-source software!”], [[Ann Bartow]], ''Feminist Law Professors'', 4/25<br />
<br />
=== ... fandom keeps on churning (4/24) ===<br />
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/otf_wank/595129.html May I grope your breasts? It's liberating!], (4/23) Rowanberries Wank Report @ otf_wank LJ<br />
*[http://perpetual-lent.livejournal.com/187893.html Previous Entry Boob project?! YOU'RE a boob project!], ''Perpetual Lent'', 4/24: <br />
:: ''The ... proposer (or, perhaps, propositioner) describes it as a utopian dream: "I wish this was the kind of world where say, 'Wow, I'd like to touch your breasts,' and people would understand that it's not a way of reducing you to a set of nipples and ignoring the rest of you, but rather a way of saying that I may not yet know your mind, but your body is beautiful." Nevermind, of course, that wanting to grope someone's boobies despite not knowing them is the exact process by which the person is reduced to a set of nipples.'' - Analysis of the controversy, some analysis from a religious viewpoint, and pointing out that it would be nice to have some non-sexualized environments. (Ed: Word. But then, that's what we feminists have been arguing for: When we're not having sex, treat us like people who have purposes and value other than sex.)<br />
*[[Designated Sidekick]] at [[girl-wonder.org]] [http://www.girl-wonder.org/designatedsidekick/2008/04/23/closed-source-misogyny Closed Source Misogyny] (4/24): <br />
:: Extending the "open source" metaphor to "closed source misogyny" and suggesting ''Let’s put our male entitled view of women’s bodies as our property to use, modify, open source and otherwise interact with into a neatly closed source wrapper, bundle it in DRM, load it on an iPod and repeatedly strike our narrow minded selves in the face until the bleeding starts, and continue until the ability to stand upright stops.'' (Ed: Hear, hear.)<br />
*[http://vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com/595965.html Update on gross con guys feeling breasts posts], ''Vulgar Criminal'' (4/24)<br />
<br />
==Summaries, wrap-ups, and linkfests==<br />
* [http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=340 Liz Henry, 4/22], [[Feminist SF blog]] - Summary of the blogstorm at 36 hours<br />
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/9338.html journalfen] massive link roundup<br />
*[http://lauredhel.livejournal.com/233281.html Selective and Arbitrary: - "Open Source Boob Project": Around the blogs], lauredhel's journal, 4/24<br />
*[http://the-red-shoes.livejournal.com/1265051.html hell, people got rich selling itty bitty pieces of the Berlin Wall....], Red Shoes, 4/23 -- An awesome collection of t-shirt-worthy soundbites from the blogospheric outrage.<br />
*[http://viv.id.au/blog/?p=1640 “Open Source Boob Project”: Around the blogs], ''Hoyden About Town'', 4/24<br />
<br />
<br />
==assorted unsorted links==<br />
*[http://community.livejournal.com/metafandom/187521.html metafandom]<br />
<br />
==outcomes==<br />
* TheFerrett says he won't be going back to these cons; he acknowledges the Project is a Bad Idea and apologizes for putting women in fear; he closes some threads.<br />
<br />
*[http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/606344.html Back Up], Manijia, 4/24: <br />
:: ''It makes me sad to see that a venue that is already male-dominated will now become even more male-dominated, when I would like to see more women get involved and so make it more friendly to women. But I also can't dismiss their concerns, or promise them that nothing will happen. '''For one thing, people are already posting to the [[Dragon Con]] comm under the assumption that now that public button-enabled sexual harrassment has been described and advocated, it will happen as a matter of course.''' ...But I hope that what will come out of this is a movement to make cons more safe and fun for everyone except those who want to grope freely in public spaces, sorry guys; room parties only. One is that we press conventions and the venues that host them to create and enforce sexual harassment policies. '''The other is the brilliant plan invented by vito_excalibur, Back Up: Women Defending Women.''' Yes, there is a gentleman's auxiliary. '''[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173664.html Project Back Up]''' '''I intend to wear my Back Up badge to A-Kon and every other con I go to in the future. If you need assistance of any kind, I pledge to help you out as you wish and to the best of my ability.''''' (bold added)<br />
<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
* [[Harlan Ellison Breast Grab Incident]] (2006) - seriously, what is it with guys & women's breasts?<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:2008 events]]<br />
[[Category:Sexism incidents and controversies]]<br />
[[Category:Fandom]]<br />
[[Category:SF conventions]]<br />
<br />
{{seed}}</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Open_Source_Boob_Project&diff=29751Open Source Boob Project2008-04-26T15:14:52Z<p>Netmouse: /* Original incident: Other voices */</p>
<hr />
<div>The '''Open Source Boob Project''' (OSBP) was a brief project held at Penguicon in April of 2008, stemming from an even smaller experiment among friends that proceeded it at ConFusion. It was followed by a short-lived proposal online for other people to repeat and promote the project at other conventions. The project involved men and women wearing buttons signaling "[http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/74043718/5200595 Yes you may]" or "No you may not", referring to wether or not the button wearer was giving permission for other people to ask if they may touch their breasts or butt. At Penguicon it was a small project involving perhaps 40 people out of a 1000-person con.<br />
<br />
The proposal for the project to spread was aptly described as "an aborted convention meme purporting to be a movement towards increased sexual liberation".<ref>[http://perpetual-lent.livejournal.com/187893.html Boob Project?! YOU'RE a Boob Project!], ''Perpetual Lent'', 4/23 (linked and discussed with other posts in the general summary).</ref> Furor ensued; poster recanted in the name of [[con safety]]. <br />
<br />
Interesting discussions that came out of the furor:<br />
* [[sexism]] and [[male privilege]] and whether or not women can truly consent to things in the face of male privilege (of course) - many, many posts<br />
* [[geek male psychology]] - many posts<br />
* [[geek female psychology]] - some posts<br />
* [[con safety]] > '''[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173664.html Project Back Up: Women Defending Women]''' (vito excalibur); see also LJ community belweather_talk<br />
* definitions of [[feminism]] - some posts<br />
<br />
==A history in links==<br />
The proposal and much of the initial blogstorm happened on [[LiveJournal]], so some links may have been originally or subsequently closed to the public. If a posted link here is to an private/unpublic post, please feel free to note that it's closed, or remove it as appropriate.<br />
<br />
===The proposal (4/21) and original incident===<br />
<br />
April 21, TheFerrett proposes repetitions of the "Open Source Boob Project" based on an experience he had at [[Penguicon]] (an open source/SF/geek con) and the experiment that started it all at ConFusion. At ConFusion, they had an impromptu exploration of what various women's breasts felt like after a discussion about the fact that it was not polite to vocally appreciate or ask to touch breasts resulted in one woman declaring "You can touch mine" and another woman's taking her up on her offer, followed by a cascading effect and more people getting involved; they thought this was such a good idea that they made buttons to institute it at Penguicon. Men and women involved in the OSBP wore the buttons and explained the project to people who asked about them, giving out buttons to people who inquired, seemed to understand, and wanted to be part of it.<br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html The Open-Source Boob Project], theferrett (4/21): Ferrett puts his foot in it. (Original post is below the cut. And there are lengthy, lengthy, really really lengthy comment threads to go with it.)<br />
:: Some choice excerpts include:<br />
::: [T]he women retained their right to say no, of course[.]<br />
:<br />
::: That exchange of happiness where one person are told with gropes and touches that they are desirable and the other is someone who's allowed to desire.<br />
:<br />
::: For a moment, everything that was awkward about high school would fade away and you could just say what was on your mind. It was as though parts of me were being healed whenever I did it, and I touched at least fifteen sets of boobs at Penguicon.<br />
:<br />
::: "My breasts," they asked shyly, having heard about the project. "Are they... are they good enough to be touched?" And lo, we showed them how beautiful their bodies were without turning it into something tawdry."<br />
<br />
====Original incident: Other voices====<br />
Most of the outrage was over the concept of the "project" as TheFerrett expressed it: a concept that could or should be exported to other Cons, carrying the baggage of the way he described it. However, some of the outrage spilled over into comments on the original incidents, the original participants, cons, and TheFerrett himself. <br />
<br />
In particular, some of the outrage also focused on the fact that, whatever this incident was at the time, the export-proposal was packaged by TheFerrett, as was the description of the original incident. TheFerrett, in one of his comment threads, explained that he did not attempt to represent the female participants' views, or any view other than his own. (It was pointed out to him that his description was not, in fact, so carefully worded to be clear that it was only his perspective, and that the way he described the event, he [[universalized]] his (straight male) experience to all participants. <br />
<br />
Thus, we include here below a selection of links to the comments and descriptions of other participants. Many (or most) of the participants reframed the original incident, while qualifying its exportability to general cons or distinguishing their experience of the original incident from TheFerrett's proposal. <br />
<br />
Other voices: <br />
* [http://novapsyche.livejournal.com/1996568.html NovaPsyche, 4/22 1:43pm]<br />
* [http://netmouse.livejournal.com/488735.html Anne, 4/23 11:50am]<br />
* [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147655 Dawn, 4/23 10:28pm] <br />
* [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147673 Dawn, 4/24 12:07am]<br />
* [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147714 Ellalthea, 4/24 10:23am]<br />
<br />
===Outrage quickly follows (4/21)===<br />
*[http://the-red-shoes.livejournal.com/1263869.html Is this truly the only world I can live in?] @ the red shoes, 4/21 19:05<br />
*[http://sinboy.livejournal.com/871986.html some mature non directly sexual content WRT touching and consent], sinboy LJ, 4/21 20:54: <br />
:: comment threads elucidate the way that the proposal frames women only as potential touchees who are either prudish or have an unhealthy desire for attention; difference between touching by men and by women; notice that this is in a public space & is nonconsensual to observers<br />
*[http://springheel-jack.livejournal.com/2504302.html open source male assholes], springheel_jack (4/21 22:56) -- the basic libertarian fallacy<br />
*[http://glvalentine.livejournal.com/68505.html GLValentine], 4/21 23:19:<br />
:: ''I finally found the shortest way to sum up my feelings that don't involve punching someone: My body does not exist in the binary of SOME GUY'S ACCESS TO IT.''<br />
<br />
===... including on TheFerrett's LJ thread===<br />
Lots of the very interesting discussion across all the days occurred on TheFerrett's LJ thread itself, which was at one point briefly disappeared, then reappeared but closed to further comment. Below are selections of comments from the threads:<br />
<br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54722758#t54722758 tablesaw]<br />
:: A close reading in three parts of TheFerrett's original post that point out <br />
::: (a) how the description of the event created the impression of a [[Tailhook]]-like situation: the implied domination of the scene by multiple men, the highly sexualized language, and the descriptions of multiple (impliedly) men accosting random women; <br />
::: (b) how the [[male gaze]] was used throughout TheFerrett's descriptions of the event; <br />
::: (c) how the [[objectification]] placed women and men in traditional sexist patterns of the object and the subject, the observed/acted upon and the observer/actor.<br />
::: (d) appropriation of the voice of women such that only one voice (assent) was heard from women, and only one reaction was depicted; (ed.: Note in passing that this was also a universalization of individual women's experience.). <br />
:: TheFerrett responds and that response, too, is fisked: <br />
::: ''This isn't the language you used, which means that it may have been what you intended, but it isn't what you said. Part of the purpose of long exercise was to show how a lot of little mistakes, a lot of tone-deaf phrases, on top of a whole bunch of privilege combine to turn a reader away from giving you the benefit of the doubt.''<br />
:: and:<br />
::: ''Could you have written it in a way that was ideally feminist? Probably not. That's really frickin' hard, especially for us as men. But could you have described this progressive, body-positive movement in a way that didn't keep me choked with rage all day and make my fiancee cry? <U>Yes, I think you fucking could have.</U>'''<br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54853830#t54853830 mswyrr]<br />
:: <small>I'm not trying to be adversarial here, I'm just confused. Many people seem to be upset by this, but if you were uncomfortable with the idea wouldn't it be refreshing to be able to just put on a red button to keep the annoying men away?</small><br />
:: Sometimes, I like to enjoy the delusion of living in a world where what a woman has on her chest isn't the primarily important thing about her, whether it be buttons or shirts or what-have-you. I'd like to live in a society where my bodily autonomy is the default and not something I or any other woman is required to indicate by a pin, or drive myself crazy trying to make the "right" clothing choices to indicate. <br />
<br />
*[http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54773190#t54773190 tablesaw, 4/22]: <br />
:: ''Women's breasts are not magical devices for healing straight men's psyches. Women's bodies do not exist to make straight men feel better about themselves. Women have their own shit to deal with, and a lot of the time, that shit is us, even (sometimes especially) when we're trying to do better. And trying to be the spokesperson for a movement without acknowledging, accepting, and fucking dealing with your position of power is just working at crosspurposes to that same movement.''<br />
<br />
<br />
===... and continues (4/22)===<br />
*[http://kate-nepveu.livejournal.com/323736.html On asking to touch the breasts of a stranger], Kate Nepveu, 4/22 07:41: <br />
:: ''If you are a stranger, especially a man, perhaps especially in a group of other strangers who are men, and you come up to me and say, "You're very beautiful. I'd like to touch your breasts. Would you mind if I did?": You will put me in fear.''<br />
* [http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808826.html CoffeeAndInk], 4/22 08:48: <br />
:: ''Because the way to an egalitarian and less body-conscious utopia is for women's bodies to default to public space. We just don't have enough sexualized treatment of women as bodies instead of whole social persons in public spaces!''<br />
:*Comment thread: [http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808826.html?thread=9929338#t9929338 Inhammer] (4/22) rechristens it the "public domain boob project"<br />
*[http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/605708.html A proposal to crush the button-enabled sexual harassment proposal], Rachel Manija, 4/22 09:23: <br />
:: ''if I hear that this button scheme is likely to go on at any con I would like to attend, I will contact the management for the hotel in which it takes place, inform them of it, point out the danger of sexual harassment lawsuits, and further inform them that if they do not get the con organizers to ban the buttons from public spaces at the con, and someone gropes me, I will sue the hotel and call the police. And that I will also encourage anyone else who is groped without their consent to sue the hotel and call the police.''<br />
*[http://ojouchan.livejournal.com/182207.html You Can Not HAZ!], ''No No Ojou-chan!'', 4/22 11:36: <br />
:: Notes the pressure placed by requests from [[celebrities]]; [[body issues]] and [[con culture]]; [[male gaze]] and [[privilege]].<br />
*[http://desdenova.livejournal.com/281813.html Open source WHAT??? (or, a policy statement that should not be necessary)], ''cooler by the lake'', 4/22 11:46: <br />
:: ''For the record: my boobies--like the rest of my body parts--are proprietary.''<br />
<br />
===the clarification (4/22)===<br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1088382.html Clarification], theferrett: Ferrett tries to explain (4/22 12:21)<br />
:: Yeah, that didn't help.<br />
<br />
=== ... discussion continues (4/22)===<br />
*[http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=650 Open Source Boobs], John Scalzi, 4/22 1:33pm<br />
:: Contextualizing it as an attempt to demystify breasts to help eliminate objectification of women. Also, noting that "context is <I>extremely</I> important for something like this."<br />
* [http://misia.livejournal.com/1055120.html A Modest Proposal], aka the '''Open Source Swift Kick in the Balls Project''', Misia, 4/22 13:58<br />
*[http://ladyjax.livejournal.com/575119.html A proposal], LadyJax, Subtle, Yet Effective Mood Adjustment, 4/22 3:10 pm:<br />
:: ''Touch your own damn self.''<br />
*[http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/161643.html I find it highly amusing that his username is "ferret."], MysticKeeper, 4/22 5:11<br />
:: Summary with good quotes and excerpts.<br />
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/9338.html OH JOHN RINGO NO], melannen in unfunnybusiness JournalFen community, 4/22 17:40<br />
*[http://hahathor.livejournal.com/120502.html The OSKSP], hahathor, 4/22: "The Open Source Knuckle Sandwich Project": <br />
:: ''The idea behind the OSKSP is to break down the societal barriers against punching strangers in the face. It's something many of us want to do - it's an empowering and liberating act. I wish this was the kind of world where say, 'Wow, I'd like to punch you in the face,' and people would understand that it's not a way of reducing you to a set of bruises and ignoring the rest of you, but rather a way of saying that I may not yet know your mind, but your face inspires passion.''<br />
*[http://novapsyche.livejournal.com/1996568.html My brief thoughts on the Open Source Boob Project], The Eye of Nova's Mind, 4/22: <br />
:: A woman who participated notes that ''I do have to say, however, that if I'd read theferrett's post about OSBP before someone offered me the pin, I would have turned it down, and perhaps gone into feminist reasons why I was declining. ... I have to say that I didn't feel honored to be part of the group once my body had been reduced to "gropes". Sorry, but word choice matters.''<br />
*[http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/1229281.html Welcome to the Harlan Ellison Memorial Personal Boundaries Club], [[James Nicoll]], 4/22: <br />
:: ''I have to say there's a clear consensus on the idea of treating women's bodies as public commons and it's not heading in the direction of commutarian touching.''<br />
*[http://naamenblog.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/tuesday-quick-postrage/ Tuesday Quick Post/Rage: Open-Source Boob Project, really? REALLY?!?], Naamen / Words from the Center, Words from the Edge, 4/22:<br />
:: ''DAMN! This is some privileged BULLSHIT! ... Let me say it loud so that it might -might- penetrate your skull: WOMYN’S BODIES ARE NOT A PUBLIC SPACE!''<br />
*[http://cynthia1960.livejournal.com/165099.html Just what I needed for a rage-honing morning jolt...], Cynthia1960, 4/22 - Great threaded discussion<br />
*[http://ladyjax.livejournal.com/574671.html Steaming bowl of hot mess] (4/22), ladyjax<br />
<br />
*[http://badgerbag.livejournal.com/96182.html The open source groper project], ''badgerbag'', 4/22: <br />
:: ''How about some buttons to pass out for men to wear, buttons that say "GROPER", "CREEP", or "OGLER"? I'd love to know who to stay the hell away from.''<br />
:: Also, ruminations on the [[hanky code]].<br />
*[http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808967.html coffeeandink] (4/22): <br />
:: ''What people are saying is: Women spend THEIR ENTIRE LIVES IN SEXUALIZED SPACES. All of us. ...What you're suggesting is that instead of the default being "No, you may not touch my body", you want to turn cons -- large public spaces -- into spaces where women have to repeatedly and loudly say no in order to be heard.''<br />
*[http://serenejournal.livejournal.com/948058.html?thread=5702234#t5702234%22 pleonastic], 4/22<br />
*[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173519.html wrapping up] (4/22) vito excalibur explains how he succeeded in his goal in bringing all of fandom together united with a common purpose.<br />
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/wank_report/518.html?thread=2021382#t2021382 Wank Report] (4/22), JournalFen.net<br />
<br />
===the apology===<br />
Ferrett sort of apologizes: (4/22): <br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html The Open-Source Boob Project], TheFerrett: Ferrett recants on his original post with a long preface at the top. Ferrett removes the 1300 comments, then puts them back. This was deemed a [[faux-pology]] or [http://wiki.fandomwank.com/index.php/Heidipology heidipology] by some.<br />
<br />
===... discussion ''still'' continues (4/22) ===<br />
; fandom outrage continues apace: <br />
* [http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=340 The Internets work how they’re supposed to], [[Liz Henry]], 4/22, [[Feminist SF blog]]<br />
:: Describing her process through the day, with key links, and an analysis of the apologies and their intent and how they did and did not measure up.<br />
<br />
===... and continues (4/23) === <br />
* [http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173664.html This is not a joke.], ''Vito Excalibur'', 4/23:<br />
:: Vito proposes the "[[Open Source Women Back Each Other Up Program]]"<br />
:::''Here's my pledge: if I see somebody groping you in public, and you're not moaning Yes! Yes! Yes!, I will break through your Somebody Else's Problem invisibility field and come over and ask if you're okay. If your situation looks dangerous enough I can't help on my own, I will call over friends or, if it's a situation in which I think the cops would be on your side, I will call the cops. If you're being harassed by a guy, you can say so to me, even if you don't know me. I pledge I will distract him so you can get away, or I will tell him that he needs to leave, or whatever I can do to the best of my ability. I pledge that yes, actually, because you are a woman I will give you the benefit of the doubt. If you tell me that a guy just did something shitty to you I will not refuse to look at any evidence and tell you that I know him and he's a great guy and you must have been imagining things. I have great loyalty to my male friends but I will not allow that to blind me to the fact that none of us are saints and even my best friends can screw up and may need to be called on it. I pledge that I will walk you to your car if you don't feel safe walking alone at night, and then you can drive me to mine.''<br />
<br />
:::''Yes, even at Wiscon. I pledge that even if I don't know you, if there is a creepy guy following you around, you can say so, and I will not say to you go hide in your room; I will say to him go find another party, or if necessary, go home. I will come with you if you need to talk to the con organizers. I will not make you feel like your right to control over your own body is not a big deal.''<br />
<br />
:::''And I will do this whether or not I like you, or even know you. It's not about liking you. It's about the fact that we need to back each other up, and I will need you to do this for me some day.''<br />
<br />
*[http://ktempest.livejournal.com/292271.html Oh Boob Grab, We’ll Miss Thee (actually, we won’t, but…)], K. Tempest Bradford, 4/23<br />
* [http://rivkat.livejournal.com/189290.html The right of making available]:<br />
:: A patent/trademark/copyright lawyer explains how "Open Source" is a fallacy in this case, 4/23<br />
*[http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=656 A bit more on OSB], John Scalzi, 4/23<br />
*[http://netmouse.livejournal.com/ The Open Source Boob Project and subsequent stoning], ''NetMouse'' 4/23 <br />
:: NetMouse found the project feminist: ''To me this was really about gender-nonspecific personal connection and permission-granting (or not granting), not women caving to the male power or notions of body-rightness. ...Society has been telling us women all our lives that our breasts are not our own to make decisions about--that they are inherently only for certain approved purposes and we must otherwise cover them and protect them from detailed touch or inspection with things like bras and clothing and moats and lions and tigers, if necessary, because the only person who is allowed to see and touch them is YOUR MAN and you aren't allowed to assert a non-standard set of access permissions yourself. This project stood that on its head. It was in fact a fine case of feminist rebellion, combined with general rebellion against socially defined rules and toward opt-in interpersonal intimacy and appreciation. ... I think it was a good thing, and I admire my friends who started it, and I stand by them, and I am not ashamed that I was pleased to take part.''<br />
*[http://sandrewswann.blogspot.com/2008/04/internet-is-stupid-place.html Andrew Swann] (4/23): <br />
:: Struck by the out-of-proportionality (and decontextualization) of the Internet.<br />
*[http://vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com/594784.html Why women need mace at cons.], VulgarCriminal, 4/23 9:42<br />
*[http://community.livejournal.com/sf_drama/835072.html SF_Drama] (4/23) highlights Ferrett's apology, then [http://community.livejournal.com/sf_drama/835072.html?thread=78931968#t78931968 this thread] highlights some of TheFerrett's other writings. Commenters were not impressed. <br />
*[http://emmelinemay.livejournal.com/1009295.html Breast drama!], 4/23, Adventures of the Dread Pirate Emmeline May!<br />
:: ''Geek guy suggests an 'Open Source Boob Project¹, based on the premise that women like to have their boobs touched as a compliment, and therefore it will be empowering for the women if men go up and ask if they can touch their boobs at geek conventions. In a totally non creepy, non sexual way, of course. It's <U>spiritual</U>.'' <br />
:: ''It's NOT a compliment. It's CREEPY. It's not a compliment when people whistle at me in the street, slap my arse when I'm cycling, yell 'OI DARLING' as I'm walking home, try to chat me up on the night bus.'' ...<br />
:: ''Women are not going to throw off the shackles of media-influenced low self-esteem, body issues and centuries of sexual repression by having a bunch of desperate geeks ask to grab their knockers.''<br />
<br />
=== ... hits the mainstream (4/23) ... ===<br />
; and the whole thing breaks the fandom atmospheric barriers on 4/23: <br />
*[http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#more Women's bodies: Just like open-source software!], [[Feministing]], 4/23<br />
:: [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147612 Comment by Roni], 4/23 6:02pm, attempting to shed some light on apparent and likely intentions of the project, and experiences at the original cons: <br />
::: ''This was a completely bone-headed, offensive, objectifying thing to post, but from what I gather, the reality was far less alarming. ... When Ferrett wrote it up in his blog he imposed a very het male, very sexualized, very privileged perspective on it. ... His write up made the whole experience sound much more prevalent, creepy, entitled and objectifying then what seems most people involved took as a warm fuzzy experience. To be clear, his post described a terrible, ill-conceived, solipsistic, misogynistic idea and I argued with him vehemently in half a dozen comments. I think initially they really did mean well. In my experience, Ferrett's not good at looking at things from the perspectives of others and is rather oblivious to male privlege. I'm sure he had no idea his post would paint such a sinister and alarming picture of something he thought was positive, and wouldn't in his wildest dreams predict the shitstorm this has caused. However, while this was a horrendous idea, it's not an actively malicious one. There were never any hordes of drooling booby-grabbing nerds.''<br />
:: [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147622 Comment by Loriet], 4/23 6:50pm:<br />
::: ''It's a little ironic that this debacle cropped up during Sexual Assault Awareness month...very timely, if you ask me.''' <br />
:: Commenter Dawn, participant in the original "mini-event", weighs in: [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147655 4/23 10:28pm] and [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147673 4/24 12:07am]<br />
::: ''This is just what Ferrett said it was - an attempt to take, even if for a brief moment, some of the shame and politics out of sexuality and attraction. While his description may have been clumsy, I stand behind him and the whole "mini-event." ... [S]o far, the only virulent complaints I've read or heard regarding this have been from people who weren't even there. That's the part that angers me, because it feels as though those posters are judging me and my experience. How dare someone say she is ashamed of me for "allowing" this to happen, as though I lacked the judgment to make this decision for myself? ... Now, was Ferrett's public post a bad idea? Definitely. In other words, you're absolutely right - this kind of thing is Not Good as a public activity, precisely because of all of the sexism - and the understandable backlash to it - in our screwed up, poor excuse for a Western culture.''<br />
:: Vodalus comments ([http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147672 4/24 12:05am]) on the "My breasts ... are they good enough to be touched" quote that bugged a lot of people:<br />
:::''Women "willing[ly]" participate in many sexist, misogynistic activities. It is fairly common for insecure (socially, financially, etc.) women to be consensually exploited. '''That does not alter the nature of the act.''''' ("ly" added by ed. for clarity)<br />
:: Anna comments ([http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147705 4/24 8:08am]), quoted in full below: <br />
::: Sapian, if it were as simple as touching, then it wouldn't either need to be breasts, or need to be written up by theferret as either using the power of teh_boobies to heal his teenaged-angst or as his mastubatory fantasy. <br />
::: Touching and being touched is great. Why don't we start with all the guys at Cons who want to break down sexual taboos start encouraging and participating in non-sexual touching between men? <br />
::: When theferret argues that having folks who are willing to do the touching wear buttons indicating their willingness (instead of having folks who are willing to be touched indicate *theirs*) as "a passive system" instead of an "active" one... well, he's showing his hand.<br />
::: This, for him, was about being the active touching person, going up to women whose breasts he found attractive and "groping" them. ("Grope" is not a word without conotation. I've been groped in public more than once. It is gross. I have no doubt theferret is aware of the conotation of the word because I do not doubt his intelligence.)<br />
::: Going up to a guy and saying "Hey, I have breasts, wanna touch them!" would be an *active* thing for me, and a passive thing for theferret - and theferret doesn't want to be in the passive role.<br />
::: Or, more likely to me, he doesn't want women he finds unattractive approaching him, asking him to touch them, and being put in the position of saying "no".<br />
::: Either way, he frames this as being all about him, his comfort levels, his sexual-healing, his wants.<br />
::: When folks come out and say "But that's not what it was!" I don't doubt them - I do not think for a moment that Dawn is lying about her experiences.<br />
::: But Dawn wasn't the one who wrote up the original post, and she wasn't the one whose words are now being used to champion or denegrade this stuff around the internet.<br />
::: Theferret's are.<br />
::: Words ''matter''.<br />
:: Ed.: Damn. Yeah, they do.<br />
<br />
:: Commenter Pengo suggests there are more important things to be bothered about ("Um, yeah, there's this election and this war... I'm not saying your reactions are unwarranted so much as... Come ON, it's a stupid idea, right from the get-go. Ain't like this shit has legs. If anything I'm in a much better to be pissed off position because douchebags like this make respectable progressive chick-positive meganerds like myself have to do an awful-lot of apologizing." [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147744 4/24 1:45pm]), to which exelizabeth kindly takes time and cogently explains where he has fucked up ([http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147754 4/24 2:45pm]):<br />
::: Pengo, you are not a respectable progressive chick-positive meganerd if you deign to tell women what should and should not matter to them. It is a huge anti-feminist straw-man to say, "You shouldn't care about X issue because Y and Z exists!" You're trying to impose your opinion of what is most important on us. That's anti-feminist. Also, and this might be hard to understand, but ''we can care about more than one issue at once''. THIS thread is about this issue. Shall we direct you to other threads about the war and the economy? If you took two second to look through this site, you would find them.<br />
<br />
*[http://jezebel.com/383321/open-source-boob-project-the-true-story-of-one-epic-day-nerds-groped-free Open Source Boob Project: The True Story Of One Epic Day Nerds Groped Free], ''Jezebel''<br />
:: -- and now another perspective, with commentary about "[[booth babes]]"<br />
*[http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project metafilter], 4/23<br />
*[http://blogsisters.blogspot.com/2008/04/feminism-and-two-trainwrecks-on.html Feminism and Two Trainwrecks on the Interwebs], ''BlogSisters'', 4/23: <br />
:: ''[W]hen random men start championing these kinds of things, I can't help but feel a little skeeved about it all. Do men only sit up and notice if there are breasts involved?''<br />
*[http://viv.id.au/blog/?p=1640 “Open Source Boob Project”: Around the blogs], ''Hoyden About Town'', 4/24<br />
*[http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/?p=3414 “Women’s bodies: Just like open-source software!”], [[Ann Bartow]], ''Feminist Law Professors'', 4/25<br />
<br />
=== ... fandom keeps on churning (4/24) ===<br />
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/otf_wank/595129.html May I grope your breasts? It's liberating!], (4/23) Rowanberries Wank Report @ otf_wank LJ<br />
*[http://perpetual-lent.livejournal.com/187893.html Previous Entry Boob project?! YOU'RE a boob project!], ''Perpetual Lent'', 4/24: <br />
:: ''The ... proposer (or, perhaps, propositioner) describes it as a utopian dream: "I wish this was the kind of world where say, 'Wow, I'd like to touch your breasts,' and people would understand that it's not a way of reducing you to a set of nipples and ignoring the rest of you, but rather a way of saying that I may not yet know your mind, but your body is beautiful." Nevermind, of course, that wanting to grope someone's boobies despite not knowing them is the exact process by which the person is reduced to a set of nipples.'' - Analysis of the controversy, some analysis from a religious viewpoint, and pointing out that it would be nice to have some non-sexualized environments. (Ed: Word. But then, that's what we feminists have been arguing for: When we're not having sex, treat us like people who have purposes and value other than sex.)<br />
*[[Designated Sidekick]] at [[girl-wonder.org]] [http://www.girl-wonder.org/designatedsidekick/2008/04/23/closed-source-misogyny Closed Source Misogyny] (4/24): <br />
:: Extending the "open source" metaphor to "closed source misogyny" and suggesting ''Let’s put our male entitled view of women’s bodies as our property to use, modify, open source and otherwise interact with into a neatly closed source wrapper, bundle it in DRM, load it on an iPod and repeatedly strike our narrow minded selves in the face until the bleeding starts, and continue until the ability to stand upright stops.'' (Ed: Hear, hear.)<br />
*[http://vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com/595965.html Update on gross con guys feeling breasts posts], ''Vulgar Criminal'' (4/24)<br />
<br />
==Summaries, wrap-ups, and linkfests==<br />
* [http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=340 Liz Henry, 4/22], [[Feminist SF blog]] - Summary of the blogstorm at 36 hours<br />
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/9338.html journalfen] massive link roundup<br />
*[http://lauredhel.livejournal.com/233281.html Selective and Arbitrary: - "Open Source Boob Project": Around the blogs], lauredhel's journal, 4/24<br />
*[http://the-red-shoes.livejournal.com/1265051.html hell, people got rich selling itty bitty pieces of the Berlin Wall....], Red Shoes, 4/23 -- An awesome collection of t-shirt-worthy soundbites from the blogospheric outrage.<br />
*[http://viv.id.au/blog/?p=1640 “Open Source Boob Project”: Around the blogs], ''Hoyden About Town'', 4/24<br />
<br />
<br />
==assorted unsorted links==<br />
*[http://community.livejournal.com/metafandom/187521.html metafandom]<br />
<br />
==outcomes==<br />
* TheFerrett says he won't be going back to these cons; he acknowledges the Project is a Bad Idea and apologizes for putting women in fear; he closes some threads.<br />
<br />
*[http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/606344.html Back Up], Manijia, 4/24: <br />
:: ''It makes me sad to see that a venue that is already male-dominated will now become even more male-dominated, when I would like to see more women get involved and so make it more friendly to women. But I also can't dismiss their concerns, or promise them that nothing will happen. '''For one thing, people are already posting to the [[Dragon Con]] comm under the assumption that now that public button-enabled sexual harrassment has been described and advocated, it will happen as a matter of course.''' ...But I hope that what will come out of this is a movement to make cons more safe and fun for everyone except those who want to grope freely in public spaces, sorry guys; room parties only. One is that we press conventions and the venues that host them to create and enforce sexual harassment policies. '''The other is the brilliant plan invented by vito_excalibur, Back Up: Women Defending Women.''' Yes, there is a gentleman's auxiliary. '''[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173664.html Project Back Up]''' '''I intend to wear my Back Up badge to A-Kon and every other con I go to in the future. If you need assistance of any kind, I pledge to help you out as you wish and to the best of my ability.''''' (bold added)<br />
<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
* [[Harlan Ellison Breast Grab Incident]] (2006) - seriously, what is it with guys & women's breasts?<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:2008 events]]<br />
[[Category:Sexism incidents and controversies]]<br />
[[Category:Fandom]]<br />
[[Category:SF conventions]]<br />
<br />
{{seed}}</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Open_Source_Boob_Project&diff=29750Open Source Boob Project2008-04-26T15:12:31Z<p>Netmouse: reframed destinction between the project as it was at Penguicon and TheFerrett's proposal in the intro section, corrected what the buttons said to the actual labels, added reference.</p>
<hr />
<div>The '''Open Source Boob Project''' (OSBP) was a brief project held at Penguicon in April of 2008, stemming from an even smaller experiment among friends that proceeded it at ConFusion. It was followed by a short-lived proposal online for other people to repeat and promote the project at other conventions. The project involved men and women wearing buttons signaling "[http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/74043718/5200595 Yes you may]" or "No you may not", referring to wether or not the button wearer was giving permission for other people to ask if they may touch their breasts or butt. At Penguicon it was a small project involving perhaps 40 people out of a 1000-person con.<br />
<br />
The proposal for the project to spread was aptly described as "an aborted convention meme purporting to be a movement towards increased sexual liberation".<ref>[http://perpetual-lent.livejournal.com/187893.html Boob Project?! YOU'RE a Boob Project!], ''Perpetual Lent'', 4/23 (linked and discussed with other posts in the general summary).</ref> Furor ensued; poster recanted in the name of [[con safety]]. <br />
<br />
Interesting discussions that came out of the furor:<br />
* [[sexism]] and [[male privilege]] and whether or not women can truly consent to things in the face of male privilege (of course) - many, many posts<br />
* [[geek male psychology]] - many posts<br />
* [[geek female psychology]] - some posts<br />
* [[con safety]] > '''[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173664.html Project Back Up: Women Defending Women]''' (vito excalibur); see also LJ community belweather_talk<br />
* definitions of [[feminism]] - some posts<br />
<br />
==A history in links==<br />
The proposal and much of the initial blogstorm happened on [[LiveJournal]], so some links may have been originally or subsequently closed to the public. If a posted link here is to an private/unpublic post, please feel free to note that it's closed, or remove it as appropriate.<br />
<br />
===The proposal (4/21) and original incident===<br />
<br />
April 21, TheFerrett proposes repetitions of the "Open Source Boob Project" based on an experience he had at [[Penguicon]] (an open source/SF/geek con) and the experiment that started it all at ConFusion. At ConFusion, they had an impromptu exploration of what various women's breasts felt like after a discussion about the fact that it was not polite to vocally appreciate or ask to touch breasts resulted in one woman declaring "You can touch mine" and another woman's taking her up on her offer, followed by a cascading effect and more people getting involved; they thought this was such a good idea that they made buttons to institute it at Penguicon. Men and women involved in the OSBP wore the buttons and explained the project to people who asked about them, giving out buttons to people who inquired, seemed to understand, and wanted to be part of it.<br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html The Open-Source Boob Project], theferrett (4/21): Ferrett puts his foot in it. (Original post is below the cut. And there are lengthy, lengthy, really really lengthy comment threads to go with it.)<br />
:: Some choice excerpts include:<br />
::: [T]he women retained their right to say no, of course[.]<br />
:<br />
::: That exchange of happiness where one person are told with gropes and touches that they are desirable and the other is someone who's allowed to desire.<br />
:<br />
::: For a moment, everything that was awkward about high school would fade away and you could just say what was on your mind. It was as though parts of me were being healed whenever I did it, and I touched at least fifteen sets of boobs at Penguicon.<br />
:<br />
::: "My breasts," they asked shyly, having heard about the project. "Are they... are they good enough to be touched?" And lo, we showed them how beautiful their bodies were without turning it into something tawdry."<br />
<br />
====Original incident: Other voices====<br />
Most of the outrage was over the concept of the "project" as TheFerrett expressed it: a concept that could or should be exported to other Cons, carrying the baggage of the way he described it. However, some of the outrage spilled over into comments on the original incidents, the original participants, cons, and TheFerrett himself. <br />
<br />
In particular, some of the outrage also focused on the fact that, whatever this incident was at the time, the export-proposal was packaged by TheFerrett, as was the description of the original incident. TheFerrett, in one of his comment threads, explained that he did not attempt to represent the female participants' views, or any view other than his own. (It was pointed out to him that his description was not, in fact, so carefully worded to be clear that it was only his perspective, and that the way he described the event, he [[universalized]] his (straight male) experience to all participants. <br />
<br />
Thus, we include here below a selection of links to the comments and descriptions of other participants. Many (or most) of the participants reframed the original incidents, while qualifying its exportability to general cons or distinguishing their experience of the original incident from TheFerrett's proposal. <br />
<br />
Other voices: <br />
* [http://novapsyche.livejournal.com/1996568.html NovaPsyche, 4/22 1:43pm]<br />
* [http://netmouse.livejournal.com/488735.html Anne, 4/23 11:50am]<br />
* [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147655 Dawn, 4/23 10:28pm] <br />
* [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147673 Dawn, 4/24 12:07am]<br />
* [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147714 Ellalthea, 4/24 10:23am]<br />
<br />
===Outrage quickly follows (4/21)===<br />
*[http://the-red-shoes.livejournal.com/1263869.html Is this truly the only world I can live in?] @ the red shoes, 4/21 19:05<br />
*[http://sinboy.livejournal.com/871986.html some mature non directly sexual content WRT touching and consent], sinboy LJ, 4/21 20:54: <br />
:: comment threads elucidate the way that the proposal frames women only as potential touchees who are either prudish or have an unhealthy desire for attention; difference between touching by men and by women; notice that this is in a public space & is nonconsensual to observers<br />
*[http://springheel-jack.livejournal.com/2504302.html open source male assholes], springheel_jack (4/21 22:56) -- the basic libertarian fallacy<br />
*[http://glvalentine.livejournal.com/68505.html GLValentine], 4/21 23:19:<br />
:: ''I finally found the shortest way to sum up my feelings that don't involve punching someone: My body does not exist in the binary of SOME GUY'S ACCESS TO IT.''<br />
<br />
===... including on TheFerrett's LJ thread===<br />
Lots of the very interesting discussion across all the days occurred on TheFerrett's LJ thread itself, which was at one point briefly disappeared, then reappeared but closed to further comment. Below are selections of comments from the threads:<br />
<br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54722758#t54722758 tablesaw]<br />
:: A close reading in three parts of TheFerrett's original post that point out <br />
::: (a) how the description of the event created the impression of a [[Tailhook]]-like situation: the implied domination of the scene by multiple men, the highly sexualized language, and the descriptions of multiple (impliedly) men accosting random women; <br />
::: (b) how the [[male gaze]] was used throughout TheFerrett's descriptions of the event; <br />
::: (c) how the [[objectification]] placed women and men in traditional sexist patterns of the object and the subject, the observed/acted upon and the observer/actor.<br />
::: (d) appropriation of the voice of women such that only one voice (assent) was heard from women, and only one reaction was depicted; (ed.: Note in passing that this was also a universalization of individual women's experience.). <br />
:: TheFerrett responds and that response, too, is fisked: <br />
::: ''This isn't the language you used, which means that it may have been what you intended, but it isn't what you said. Part of the purpose of long exercise was to show how a lot of little mistakes, a lot of tone-deaf phrases, on top of a whole bunch of privilege combine to turn a reader away from giving you the benefit of the doubt.''<br />
:: and:<br />
::: ''Could you have written it in a way that was ideally feminist? Probably not. That's really frickin' hard, especially for us as men. But could you have described this progressive, body-positive movement in a way that didn't keep me choked with rage all day and make my fiancee cry? <U>Yes, I think you fucking could have.</U>'''<br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54853830#t54853830 mswyrr]<br />
:: <small>I'm not trying to be adversarial here, I'm just confused. Many people seem to be upset by this, but if you were uncomfortable with the idea wouldn't it be refreshing to be able to just put on a red button to keep the annoying men away?</small><br />
:: Sometimes, I like to enjoy the delusion of living in a world where what a woman has on her chest isn't the primarily important thing about her, whether it be buttons or shirts or what-have-you. I'd like to live in a society where my bodily autonomy is the default and not something I or any other woman is required to indicate by a pin, or drive myself crazy trying to make the "right" clothing choices to indicate. <br />
<br />
*[http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54773190#t54773190 tablesaw, 4/22]: <br />
:: ''Women's breasts are not magical devices for healing straight men's psyches. Women's bodies do not exist to make straight men feel better about themselves. Women have their own shit to deal with, and a lot of the time, that shit is us, even (sometimes especially) when we're trying to do better. And trying to be the spokesperson for a movement without acknowledging, accepting, and fucking dealing with your position of power is just working at crosspurposes to that same movement.''<br />
<br />
<br />
===... and continues (4/22)===<br />
*[http://kate-nepveu.livejournal.com/323736.html On asking to touch the breasts of a stranger], Kate Nepveu, 4/22 07:41: <br />
:: ''If you are a stranger, especially a man, perhaps especially in a group of other strangers who are men, and you come up to me and say, "You're very beautiful. I'd like to touch your breasts. Would you mind if I did?": You will put me in fear.''<br />
* [http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808826.html CoffeeAndInk], 4/22 08:48: <br />
:: ''Because the way to an egalitarian and less body-conscious utopia is for women's bodies to default to public space. We just don't have enough sexualized treatment of women as bodies instead of whole social persons in public spaces!''<br />
:*Comment thread: [http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808826.html?thread=9929338#t9929338 Inhammer] (4/22) rechristens it the "public domain boob project"<br />
*[http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/605708.html A proposal to crush the button-enabled sexual harassment proposal], Rachel Manija, 4/22 09:23: <br />
:: ''if I hear that this button scheme is likely to go on at any con I would like to attend, I will contact the management for the hotel in which it takes place, inform them of it, point out the danger of sexual harassment lawsuits, and further inform them that if they do not get the con organizers to ban the buttons from public spaces at the con, and someone gropes me, I will sue the hotel and call the police. And that I will also encourage anyone else who is groped without their consent to sue the hotel and call the police.''<br />
*[http://ojouchan.livejournal.com/182207.html You Can Not HAZ!], ''No No Ojou-chan!'', 4/22 11:36: <br />
:: Notes the pressure placed by requests from [[celebrities]]; [[body issues]] and [[con culture]]; [[male gaze]] and [[privilege]].<br />
*[http://desdenova.livejournal.com/281813.html Open source WHAT??? (or, a policy statement that should not be necessary)], ''cooler by the lake'', 4/22 11:46: <br />
:: ''For the record: my boobies--like the rest of my body parts--are proprietary.''<br />
<br />
===the clarification (4/22)===<br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1088382.html Clarification], theferrett: Ferrett tries to explain (4/22 12:21)<br />
:: Yeah, that didn't help.<br />
<br />
=== ... discussion continues (4/22)===<br />
*[http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=650 Open Source Boobs], John Scalzi, 4/22 1:33pm<br />
:: Contextualizing it as an attempt to demystify breasts to help eliminate objectification of women. Also, noting that "context is <I>extremely</I> important for something like this."<br />
* [http://misia.livejournal.com/1055120.html A Modest Proposal], aka the '''Open Source Swift Kick in the Balls Project''', Misia, 4/22 13:58<br />
*[http://ladyjax.livejournal.com/575119.html A proposal], LadyJax, Subtle, Yet Effective Mood Adjustment, 4/22 3:10 pm:<br />
:: ''Touch your own damn self.''<br />
*[http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/161643.html I find it highly amusing that his username is "ferret."], MysticKeeper, 4/22 5:11<br />
:: Summary with good quotes and excerpts.<br />
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/9338.html OH JOHN RINGO NO], melannen in unfunnybusiness JournalFen community, 4/22 17:40<br />
*[http://hahathor.livejournal.com/120502.html The OSKSP], hahathor, 4/22: "The Open Source Knuckle Sandwich Project": <br />
:: ''The idea behind the OSKSP is to break down the societal barriers against punching strangers in the face. It's something many of us want to do - it's an empowering and liberating act. I wish this was the kind of world where say, 'Wow, I'd like to punch you in the face,' and people would understand that it's not a way of reducing you to a set of bruises and ignoring the rest of you, but rather a way of saying that I may not yet know your mind, but your face inspires passion.''<br />
*[http://novapsyche.livejournal.com/1996568.html My brief thoughts on the Open Source Boob Project], The Eye of Nova's Mind, 4/22: <br />
:: A woman who participated notes that ''I do have to say, however, that if I'd read theferrett's post about OSBP before someone offered me the pin, I would have turned it down, and perhaps gone into feminist reasons why I was declining. ... I have to say that I didn't feel honored to be part of the group once my body had been reduced to "gropes". Sorry, but word choice matters.''<br />
*[http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/1229281.html Welcome to the Harlan Ellison Memorial Personal Boundaries Club], [[James Nicoll]], 4/22: <br />
:: ''I have to say there's a clear consensus on the idea of treating women's bodies as public commons and it's not heading in the direction of commutarian touching.''<br />
*[http://naamenblog.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/tuesday-quick-postrage/ Tuesday Quick Post/Rage: Open-Source Boob Project, really? REALLY?!?], Naamen / Words from the Center, Words from the Edge, 4/22:<br />
:: ''DAMN! This is some privileged BULLSHIT! ... Let me say it loud so that it might -might- penetrate your skull: WOMYN’S BODIES ARE NOT A PUBLIC SPACE!''<br />
*[http://cynthia1960.livejournal.com/165099.html Just what I needed for a rage-honing morning jolt...], Cynthia1960, 4/22 - Great threaded discussion<br />
*[http://ladyjax.livejournal.com/574671.html Steaming bowl of hot mess] (4/22), ladyjax<br />
<br />
*[http://badgerbag.livejournal.com/96182.html The open source groper project], ''badgerbag'', 4/22: <br />
:: ''How about some buttons to pass out for men to wear, buttons that say "GROPER", "CREEP", or "OGLER"? I'd love to know who to stay the hell away from.''<br />
:: Also, ruminations on the [[hanky code]].<br />
*[http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808967.html coffeeandink] (4/22): <br />
:: ''What people are saying is: Women spend THEIR ENTIRE LIVES IN SEXUALIZED SPACES. All of us. ...What you're suggesting is that instead of the default being "No, you may not touch my body", you want to turn cons -- large public spaces -- into spaces where women have to repeatedly and loudly say no in order to be heard.''<br />
*[http://serenejournal.livejournal.com/948058.html?thread=5702234#t5702234%22 pleonastic], 4/22<br />
*[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173519.html wrapping up] (4/22) vito excalibur explains how he succeeded in his goal in bringing all of fandom together united with a common purpose.<br />
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/wank_report/518.html?thread=2021382#t2021382 Wank Report] (4/22), JournalFen.net<br />
<br />
===the apology===<br />
Ferrett sort of apologizes: (4/22): <br />
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html The Open-Source Boob Project], TheFerrett: Ferrett recants on his original post with a long preface at the top. Ferrett removes the 1300 comments, then puts them back. This was deemed a [[faux-pology]] or [http://wiki.fandomwank.com/index.php/Heidipology heidipology] by some.<br />
<br />
===... discussion ''still'' continues (4/22) ===<br />
; fandom outrage continues apace: <br />
* [http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=340 The Internets work how they’re supposed to], [[Liz Henry]], 4/22, [[Feminist SF blog]]<br />
:: Describing her process through the day, with key links, and an analysis of the apologies and their intent and how they did and did not measure up.<br />
<br />
===... and continues (4/23) === <br />
* [http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173664.html This is not a joke.], ''Vito Excalibur'', 4/23:<br />
:: Vito proposes the "[[Open Source Women Back Each Other Up Program]]"<br />
:::''Here's my pledge: if I see somebody groping you in public, and you're not moaning Yes! Yes! Yes!, I will break through your Somebody Else's Problem invisibility field and come over and ask if you're okay. If your situation looks dangerous enough I can't help on my own, I will call over friends or, if it's a situation in which I think the cops would be on your side, I will call the cops. If you're being harassed by a guy, you can say so to me, even if you don't know me. I pledge I will distract him so you can get away, or I will tell him that he needs to leave, or whatever I can do to the best of my ability. I pledge that yes, actually, because you are a woman I will give you the benefit of the doubt. If you tell me that a guy just did something shitty to you I will not refuse to look at any evidence and tell you that I know him and he's a great guy and you must have been imagining things. I have great loyalty to my male friends but I will not allow that to blind me to the fact that none of us are saints and even my best friends can screw up and may need to be called on it. I pledge that I will walk you to your car if you don't feel safe walking alone at night, and then you can drive me to mine.''<br />
<br />
:::''Yes, even at Wiscon. I pledge that even if I don't know you, if there is a creepy guy following you around, you can say so, and I will not say to you go hide in your room; I will say to him go find another party, or if necessary, go home. I will come with you if you need to talk to the con organizers. I will not make you feel like your right to control over your own body is not a big deal.''<br />
<br />
:::''And I will do this whether or not I like you, or even know you. It's not about liking you. It's about the fact that we need to back each other up, and I will need you to do this for me some day.''<br />
<br />
*[http://ktempest.livejournal.com/292271.html Oh Boob Grab, We’ll Miss Thee (actually, we won’t, but…)], K. Tempest Bradford, 4/23<br />
* [http://rivkat.livejournal.com/189290.html The right of making available]:<br />
:: A patent/trademark/copyright lawyer explains how "Open Source" is a fallacy in this case, 4/23<br />
*[http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=656 A bit more on OSB], John Scalzi, 4/23<br />
*[http://netmouse.livejournal.com/ The Open Source Boob Project and subsequent stoning], ''NetMouse'' 4/23 <br />
:: NetMouse found the project feminist: ''To me this was really about gender-nonspecific personal connection and permission-granting (or not granting), not women caving to the male power or notions of body-rightness. ...Society has been telling us women all our lives that our breasts are not our own to make decisions about--that they are inherently only for certain approved purposes and we must otherwise cover them and protect them from detailed touch or inspection with things like bras and clothing and moats and lions and tigers, if necessary, because the only person who is allowed to see and touch them is YOUR MAN and you aren't allowed to assert a non-standard set of access permissions yourself. This project stood that on its head. It was in fact a fine case of feminist rebellion, combined with general rebellion against socially defined rules and toward opt-in interpersonal intimacy and appreciation. ... I think it was a good thing, and I admire my friends who started it, and I stand by them, and I am not ashamed that I was pleased to take part.''<br />
*[http://sandrewswann.blogspot.com/2008/04/internet-is-stupid-place.html Andrew Swann] (4/23): <br />
:: Struck by the out-of-proportionality (and decontextualization) of the Internet.<br />
*[http://vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com/594784.html Why women need mace at cons.], VulgarCriminal, 4/23 9:42<br />
*[http://community.livejournal.com/sf_drama/835072.html SF_Drama] (4/23) highlights Ferrett's apology, then [http://community.livejournal.com/sf_drama/835072.html?thread=78931968#t78931968 this thread] highlights some of TheFerrett's other writings. Commenters were not impressed. <br />
*[http://emmelinemay.livejournal.com/1009295.html Breast drama!], 4/23, Adventures of the Dread Pirate Emmeline May!<br />
:: ''Geek guy suggests an 'Open Source Boob Project¹, based on the premise that women like to have their boobs touched as a compliment, and therefore it will be empowering for the women if men go up and ask if they can touch their boobs at geek conventions. In a totally non creepy, non sexual way, of course. It's <U>spiritual</U>.'' <br />
:: ''It's NOT a compliment. It's CREEPY. It's not a compliment when people whistle at me in the street, slap my arse when I'm cycling, yell 'OI DARLING' as I'm walking home, try to chat me up on the night bus.'' ...<br />
:: ''Women are not going to throw off the shackles of media-influenced low self-esteem, body issues and centuries of sexual repression by having a bunch of desperate geeks ask to grab their knockers.''<br />
<br />
=== ... hits the mainstream (4/23) ... ===<br />
; and the whole thing breaks the fandom atmospheric barriers on 4/23: <br />
*[http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#more Women's bodies: Just like open-source software!], [[Feministing]], 4/23<br />
:: [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147612 Comment by Roni], 4/23 6:02pm, attempting to shed some light on apparent and likely intentions of the project, and experiences at the original cons: <br />
::: ''This was a completely bone-headed, offensive, objectifying thing to post, but from what I gather, the reality was far less alarming. ... When Ferrett wrote it up in his blog he imposed a very het male, very sexualized, very privileged perspective on it. ... His write up made the whole experience sound much more prevalent, creepy, entitled and objectifying then what seems most people involved took as a warm fuzzy experience. To be clear, his post described a terrible, ill-conceived, solipsistic, misogynistic idea and I argued with him vehemently in half a dozen comments. I think initially they really did mean well. In my experience, Ferrett's not good at looking at things from the perspectives of others and is rather oblivious to male privlege. I'm sure he had no idea his post would paint such a sinister and alarming picture of something he thought was positive, and wouldn't in his wildest dreams predict the shitstorm this has caused. However, while this was a horrendous idea, it's not an actively malicious one. There were never any hordes of drooling booby-grabbing nerds.''<br />
:: [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147622 Comment by Loriet], 4/23 6:50pm:<br />
::: ''It's a little ironic that this debacle cropped up during Sexual Assault Awareness month...very timely, if you ask me.''' <br />
:: Commenter Dawn, participant in the original "mini-event", weighs in: [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147655 4/23 10:28pm] and [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147673 4/24 12:07am]<br />
::: ''This is just what Ferrett said it was - an attempt to take, even if for a brief moment, some of the shame and politics out of sexuality and attraction. While his description may have been clumsy, I stand behind him and the whole "mini-event." ... [S]o far, the only virulent complaints I've read or heard regarding this have been from people who weren't even there. That's the part that angers me, because it feels as though those posters are judging me and my experience. How dare someone say she is ashamed of me for "allowing" this to happen, as though I lacked the judgment to make this decision for myself? ... Now, was Ferrett's public post a bad idea? Definitely. In other words, you're absolutely right - this kind of thing is Not Good as a public activity, precisely because of all of the sexism - and the understandable backlash to it - in our screwed up, poor excuse for a Western culture.''<br />
:: Vodalus comments ([http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147672 4/24 12:05am]) on the "My breasts ... are they good enough to be touched" quote that bugged a lot of people:<br />
:::''Women "willing[ly]" participate in many sexist, misogynistic activities. It is fairly common for insecure (socially, financially, etc.) women to be consensually exploited. '''That does not alter the nature of the act.''''' ("ly" added by ed. for clarity)<br />
:: Anna comments ([http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147705 4/24 8:08am]), quoted in full below: <br />
::: Sapian, if it were as simple as touching, then it wouldn't either need to be breasts, or need to be written up by theferret as either using the power of teh_boobies to heal his teenaged-angst or as his mastubatory fantasy. <br />
::: Touching and being touched is great. Why don't we start with all the guys at Cons who want to break down sexual taboos start encouraging and participating in non-sexual touching between men? <br />
::: When theferret argues that having folks who are willing to do the touching wear buttons indicating their willingness (instead of having folks who are willing to be touched indicate *theirs*) as "a passive system" instead of an "active" one... well, he's showing his hand.<br />
::: This, for him, was about being the active touching person, going up to women whose breasts he found attractive and "groping" them. ("Grope" is not a word without conotation. I've been groped in public more than once. It is gross. I have no doubt theferret is aware of the conotation of the word because I do not doubt his intelligence.)<br />
::: Going up to a guy and saying "Hey, I have breasts, wanna touch them!" would be an *active* thing for me, and a passive thing for theferret - and theferret doesn't want to be in the passive role.<br />
::: Or, more likely to me, he doesn't want women he finds unattractive approaching him, asking him to touch them, and being put in the position of saying "no".<br />
::: Either way, he frames this as being all about him, his comfort levels, his sexual-healing, his wants.<br />
::: When folks come out and say "But that's not what it was!" I don't doubt them - I do not think for a moment that Dawn is lying about her experiences.<br />
::: But Dawn wasn't the one who wrote up the original post, and she wasn't the one whose words are now being used to champion or denegrade this stuff around the internet.<br />
::: Theferret's are.<br />
::: Words ''matter''.<br />
:: Ed.: Damn. Yeah, they do.<br />
<br />
:: Commenter Pengo suggests there are more important things to be bothered about ("Um, yeah, there's this election and this war... I'm not saying your reactions are unwarranted so much as... Come ON, it's a stupid idea, right from the get-go. Ain't like this shit has legs. If anything I'm in a much better to be pissed off position because douchebags like this make respectable progressive chick-positive meganerds like myself have to do an awful-lot of apologizing." [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147744 4/24 1:45pm]), to which exelizabeth kindly takes time and cogently explains where he has fucked up ([http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147754 4/24 2:45pm]):<br />
::: Pengo, you are not a respectable progressive chick-positive meganerd if you deign to tell women what should and should not matter to them. It is a huge anti-feminist straw-man to say, "You shouldn't care about X issue because Y and Z exists!" You're trying to impose your opinion of what is most important on us. That's anti-feminist. Also, and this might be hard to understand, but ''we can care about more than one issue at once''. THIS thread is about this issue. Shall we direct you to other threads about the war and the economy? If you took two second to look through this site, you would find them.<br />
<br />
*[http://jezebel.com/383321/open-source-boob-project-the-true-story-of-one-epic-day-nerds-groped-free Open Source Boob Project: The True Story Of One Epic Day Nerds Groped Free], ''Jezebel''<br />
:: -- and now another perspective, with commentary about "[[booth babes]]"<br />
*[http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project metafilter], 4/23<br />
*[http://blogsisters.blogspot.com/2008/04/feminism-and-two-trainwrecks-on.html Feminism and Two Trainwrecks on the Interwebs], ''BlogSisters'', 4/23: <br />
:: ''[W]hen random men start championing these kinds of things, I can't help but feel a little skeeved about it all. Do men only sit up and notice if there are breasts involved?''<br />
*[http://viv.id.au/blog/?p=1640 “Open Source Boob Project”: Around the blogs], ''Hoyden About Town'', 4/24<br />
*[http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/?p=3414 “Women’s bodies: Just like open-source software!”], [[Ann Bartow]], ''Feminist Law Professors'', 4/25<br />
<br />
=== ... fandom keeps on churning (4/24) ===<br />
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/otf_wank/595129.html May I grope your breasts? It's liberating!], (4/23) Rowanberries Wank Report @ otf_wank LJ<br />
*[http://perpetual-lent.livejournal.com/187893.html Previous Entry Boob project?! YOU'RE a boob project!], ''Perpetual Lent'', 4/24: <br />
:: ''The ... proposer (or, perhaps, propositioner) describes it as a utopian dream: "I wish this was the kind of world where say, 'Wow, I'd like to touch your breasts,' and people would understand that it's not a way of reducing you to a set of nipples and ignoring the rest of you, but rather a way of saying that I may not yet know your mind, but your body is beautiful." Nevermind, of course, that wanting to grope someone's boobies despite not knowing them is the exact process by which the person is reduced to a set of nipples.'' - Analysis of the controversy, some analysis from a religious viewpoint, and pointing out that it would be nice to have some non-sexualized environments. (Ed: Word. But then, that's what we feminists have been arguing for: When we're not having sex, treat us like people who have purposes and value other than sex.)<br />
*[[Designated Sidekick]] at [[girl-wonder.org]] [http://www.girl-wonder.org/designatedsidekick/2008/04/23/closed-source-misogyny Closed Source Misogyny] (4/24): <br />
:: Extending the "open source" metaphor to "closed source misogyny" and suggesting ''Let’s put our male entitled view of women’s bodies as our property to use, modify, open source and otherwise interact with into a neatly closed source wrapper, bundle it in DRM, load it on an iPod and repeatedly strike our narrow minded selves in the face until the bleeding starts, and continue until the ability to stand upright stops.'' (Ed: Hear, hear.)<br />
*[http://vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com/595965.html Update on gross con guys feeling breasts posts], ''Vulgar Criminal'' (4/24)<br />
<br />
==Summaries, wrap-ups, and linkfests==<br />
* [http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=340 Liz Henry, 4/22], [[Feminist SF blog]] - Summary of the blogstorm at 36 hours<br />
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/9338.html journalfen] massive link roundup<br />
*[http://lauredhel.livejournal.com/233281.html Selective and Arbitrary: - "Open Source Boob Project": Around the blogs], lauredhel's journal, 4/24<br />
*[http://the-red-shoes.livejournal.com/1265051.html hell, people got rich selling itty bitty pieces of the Berlin Wall....], Red Shoes, 4/23 -- An awesome collection of t-shirt-worthy soundbites from the blogospheric outrage.<br />
*[http://viv.id.au/blog/?p=1640 “Open Source Boob Project”: Around the blogs], ''Hoyden About Town'', 4/24<br />
<br />
<br />
==assorted unsorted links==<br />
*[http://community.livejournal.com/metafandom/187521.html metafandom]<br />
<br />
==outcomes==<br />
* TheFerrett says he won't be going back to these cons; he acknowledges the Project is a Bad Idea and apologizes for putting women in fear; he closes some threads.<br />
<br />
*[http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/606344.html Back Up], Manijia, 4/24: <br />
:: ''It makes me sad to see that a venue that is already male-dominated will now become even more male-dominated, when I would like to see more women get involved and so make it more friendly to women. But I also can't dismiss their concerns, or promise them that nothing will happen. '''For one thing, people are already posting to the [[Dragon Con]] comm under the assumption that now that public button-enabled sexual harrassment has been described and advocated, it will happen as a matter of course.''' ...But I hope that what will come out of this is a movement to make cons more safe and fun for everyone except those who want to grope freely in public spaces, sorry guys; room parties only. One is that we press conventions and the venues that host them to create and enforce sexual harassment policies. '''The other is the brilliant plan invented by vito_excalibur, Back Up: Women Defending Women.''' Yes, there is a gentleman's auxiliary. '''[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173664.html Project Back Up]''' '''I intend to wear my Back Up badge to A-Kon and every other con I go to in the future. If you need assistance of any kind, I pledge to help you out as you wish and to the best of my ability.''''' (bold added)<br />
<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
* [[Harlan Ellison Breast Grab Incident]] (2006) - seriously, what is it with guys & women's breasts?<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:2008 events]]<br />
[[Category:Sexism incidents and controversies]]<br />
[[Category:Fandom]]<br />
[[Category:SF conventions]]<br />
<br />
{{seed}}</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Female_friendships&diff=5918Female friendships2006-09-23T12:22:25Z<p>Netmouse: </p>
<hr />
<div>Women's relationships are underrepresented in SF generally, in part as a consequence of the underrepresentation of female characters and female lives. (need more discussion)<br />
<br />
=Types of Female Relationships=<br />
<br />
==Female Friendships==<br />
<br />
* Cordelia Vorkosigan / Alys Vorpatril<br />
* Bujold / Ista & her messenger girl<br />
* women of Cetaganda<br />
* Vonda McIntyre's work<br />
* Marion Zimmer Bradley / Darkover<br />
* narrator & her best friend in Atwood's ''Handmaid's Tale''<br />
* Zenna Henderson<br />
* Anne McCaffrey / Dragonsong<br />
* Jean Grey / Storm<br />
* Oracle & Huntress<br />
* Crusher & Troi<br />
* Snow White & Rose Red<br />
* Aimee & Rae (Robin McKinley)<br />
* Peony & Rosie (Robin McKinley)<br />
* Merchant & Beauty (Robin McKinley)<br />
* ''Sunshine'' (Robin McKinley)<br />
* Steven Brust / Taltos<br />
* Buffy & Willow<br />
* Inara & Kaylie in "Firefly" ... Kaylie & River in "Firefly"<br />
* The Runaways / Brian K. Vaughan<br />
* Inanna & Ninshubar (goddess friends)<br />
* J. F. Rivkin's Silverglass books<br />
* Laurie Marks Elemental Logic series<br />
* grown-up Tenar (Lark, Moss, Heather, Therru)<br />
* Uglies trilogy / Scott Westerfeld<br />
* Geoff Ryman / ''The Warrior Who Carried Life''<br />
* Lois McMaster Bujold / Chalion (1st book) - girl friends<br />
* Marie Jakober / ''Even the Stones'' has a queen protagonist & her best female friend / bard<br />
* Margaret Atwood ''Robber Bride'' and ''Cat's Eye''<br />
* Sheri Tepper ''Gibbon's Decline and Fall''<br />
* C. J. Cherryh / pilot/navigator in ''Heavy Time'' and ''Hellburner''<br />
* C. J. Cherryh / ''Cyteen'' / Ariane Emory II - her best non-azi friend; Ari's pair of azi<br />
* C.J. Cherryh / ''Rimrunners'' Bet wants female friends<br />
* Shakespeare / Othello - Desdemona & Bianca<br />
<br />
==Female Buddies / Compañeras==<br />
<br />
Female buddies are the female counterparts to classic male buddy relationships such as Frodo and Sam. The relationship involves more than casual or even close friendship; it involves deep love, trust, and affection. There may be mythic elements to it. Sexuality, while often present as a subtext, is not the defining element of the relationship--this distinguishes the mythic buddy relationship from a love relationship. <br />
<br />
* Xena / Gabrielle<br />
* Magda / Jaelle (Marion Zimmer Bradley ''The Shattered Chain'')<br />
* Frostflower & Thorn (Phyllis Ann Karr, ''Frostflower and Thorn'' (1980))<br />
* Tarma & Kethrys (Mercedes Lackey, ''Oathbound'', etc.)<br />
* Cirocco & Gabby (John Varley's Titan, Wizard, Demon)<br />
* many short stories in the ''Swords and Sorceress'' series edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley<br />
* Steerswoman series / Rosemary Kirstein<br />
* Naomi Kritzer / ''Freedom's Gate'' and sequels<br />
<br />
==Other suggestions==<br />
* Poul Anderson ''Virgin Planet'' (I can't believe this was suggested but I'm listing it anyway)<br />
* Eleanor Arnason: A Woman of the Iron People<br />
* Marion Zimmer Bradley Avalon series<br />
* Suzy McKee Charnas: Holdfast Chronicles<br />
* Charles de Lint: (various)<br />
* Kate Elliott: Jaran series<br />
* Nicola Griffith: Slow River<br />
* Andrea Hairston: Mindscape<br />
* Robert Heinlein: Anne/Miriam/Dorcas and Dawn/Jill and also Pat in Stranger in a Strange Land "Dawn and Jill for example-they work together like an acrobatic team."<br />
* Laurie Marks: Elemental Logic series<br />
* Terry Moore, ''Strangers in Paradise'' (Katchoo and Francine)<br />
* Alastair Reynolds: Pushing Ice ("women's friendships can't be trusted")<br />
* Spider Robinson - Night of Power (wife & stepdaughter); Stardancer series last book (main character & roommate); Lady Calahan in Calahan series<br />
* Don Sakers: Dance for the Ivory Madonna<br />
* Melissa Scott: Trouble and Her Friends<br />
* T. L. Sherred ''Alien Island''<br />
* Jane Yolen: The Mermaid's Three Wisdoms<br />
* Jane Yolen: Sister Light, Sister Dark<br />
<br />
=About This Entry=<br />
<br />
==History of Inquiry==<br />
<br />
[http://netmouse.livejournal.com/237254.html Netmouse] on 2006/9/15 raised the question: <B>Where are all the women friends in SF?</B>, citing as male friendships the examples of Frodo and Sam, Gandalf and Sam, Han Solo and Chewbacca, Yoda and Obi-wan, Spock and Kirk. <br />
<br />
==Links & References==<br />
<br />
* http://netmouse.livejournal.com/237254.html Netmouse, 2006/9/15<br />
<br />
[[Category:Reading & Media Lists|Buddies, Female]]</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Roberta_Kennedy&diff=5917Roberta Kennedy2006-09-23T11:40:54Z<p>Netmouse: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Roberta Kennedy''' chaired ConFusion in 1992, with John Woudstra. She returned as FanGoH in 2003.</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Women_in_fandom&diff=5916Women in fandom2006-09-23T11:39:44Z<p>Netmouse: added Roberta Kennedy</p>
<hr />
<div>SF Fandom is populated with a multitude of strong women leaders, women who participate in fannish discussions in print and online, who edit or contribute to fanzines, who chair or run departments at SF conventions, and who run fannish organizations and clubs.<br />
<br />
==Women in Fandom==<br />
<br />
* [[Bobbi Armbruster]]<br />
* [[Margaret Austin]]<br />
* [[Margene Bahm]]<br />
* [[Katherine Becker]]<br />
* [[Tracy Benton]]<br />
* [[Elaine Brennan]]<br />
* [[Tammy Coxen]]<br />
* [[Kathryn Daugherty]]<br />
* [[Naomi Fisher]]<br />
* [[Penny Frierson]]<br />
* [[Lisa Garrison-Ragsdale]]<br />
* [[Deb Geisler]]<br />
* [[Janice Gelb]]<br />
* [[Jeanne Gomoll]]<br />
* [[Lucy Huntzinger]] (born 1957)<br />
* [[Joyce Katz]]<br />
* [[Roberta Kennedy]]<br />
* [[Kim Kofmel]]<br />
* [[Elspeth Kovar]]<br />
* [[Evelyn C. Leeper]]<br />
* [[Nicki Lynch]]<br />
* [[Laurie Mann]]<br />
* [[Sue Mason]]<br />
* [[Karen Meschke]]<br />
* [[Helen Montgomery]]<br />
* [[Cheryl Morgan]]<br />
* [[Anne KG Murphy]] (born 1974)<br />
* [[Teresa Nielsen Hayden]]<br />
* [[Ulrika O'Brien]]<br />
* [[Patricia Olson]]<br />
* [[Elayne Pelz]]<br />
* [[Peggy Rae Sapienza]] ((Peggy Rae McKnight, Peggy Rae Pavlat)<br />
* [[Ruth Sachter]]<br />
* [[Sharon Sbarsky]]<br />
* [[Joyce Scrivner]]<br />
* [[Nancy Tucker Shaw]] (Nancy Tucker; 1928-2000)<br />
* [[Davey Snyder]]<br />
* [[Geri Sullivan]]<br />
* [[Bjo Trimble]]<br />
* [[Leslie Turek]]<br />
* [[Patty Wells]]<br />
* [[Eva Whitley]]<br />
* [[Leah Zeldes]] (Leah Zeldes Smith)<br />
* [[Linda Ross Mansfield]]</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Katherine_Becker&diff=5915Katherine Becker2006-09-23T11:38:55Z<p>Netmouse: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Katherine Becker''' is a former conchair of ConFusion (1997, 1998, 1999), and has served on the Board of Directors of the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association and also as Social Director of [http://www.stilyagi.org Stilyagi]. While conchair, Katherine actively sought out women to mentor, two of whom went on to become future Chairs of ConFusion as well. She was Toastmaster at ConFusion in 2001.</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Women_in_fandom&diff=5914Women in fandom2006-09-23T11:32:08Z<p>Netmouse: changed spelling from Kathy to Katherine Becker</p>
<hr />
<div>SF Fandom is populated with a multitude of strong women leaders, women who participate in fannish discussions in print and online, who edit or contribute to fanzines, who chair or run departments at SF conventions, and who run fannish organizations and clubs.<br />
<br />
==Women in Fandom==<br />
<br />
* [[Bobbi Armbruster]]<br />
* [[Margaret Austin]]<br />
* [[Margene Bahm]]<br />
* [[Katherine Becker]]<br />
* [[Tracy Benton]]<br />
* [[Elaine Brennan]]<br />
* [[Tammy Coxen]]<br />
* [[Kathryn Daugherty]]<br />
* [[Naomi Fisher]]<br />
* [[Penny Frierson]]<br />
* [[Lisa Garrison-Ragsdale]]<br />
* [[Deb Geisler]]<br />
* [[Janice Gelb]]<br />
* [[Jeanne Gomoll]]<br />
* [[Lucy Huntzinger]] (born 1957)<br />
* [[Joyce Katz]]<br />
* [[Kim Kofmel]]<br />
* [[Elspeth Kovar]]<br />
* [[Evelyn C. Leeper]]<br />
* [[Nicki Lynch]]<br />
* [[Laurie Mann]]<br />
* [[Sue Mason]]<br />
* [[Karen Meschke]]<br />
* [[Helen Montgomery]]<br />
* [[Cheryl Morgan]]<br />
* [[Anne KG Murphy]] (born 1974)<br />
* [[Teresa Nielsen Hayden]]<br />
* [[Ulrika O'Brien]]<br />
* [[Patricia Olson]]<br />
* [[Elayne Pelz]]<br />
* [[Peggy Rae Sapienza]] ((Peggy Rae McKnight, Peggy Rae Pavlat)<br />
* [[Ruth Sachter]]<br />
* [[Sharon Sbarsky]]<br />
* [[Joyce Scrivner]]<br />
* [[Nancy Tucker Shaw]] (Nancy Tucker; 1928-2000)<br />
* [[Davey Snyder]]<br />
* [[Geri Sullivan]]<br />
* [[Bjo Trimble]]<br />
* [[Leslie Turek]]<br />
* [[Patty Wells]]<br />
* [[Eva Whitley]]<br />
* [[Leah Zeldes]] (Leah Zeldes Smith)<br />
* [[Linda Ross Mansfield]]</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Anne_Gray&diff=5912Anne Gray2006-09-23T02:46:39Z<p>Netmouse: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Anne KG Murphy''' has been smoffing since approximately 1995. She was born in 1974 and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The first con she attended was Marcon, in 1992. Her primary mentor has been [[Geri Sullivan]], though she has also worked closely with [[Tammy Coxen]] and [[Kathy Becker]] as well as [[Cheryl Morgan]].<br />
<br />
==Conrunning==<br />
Anne has run Information Desk and the Publications Department for Minicon, been Programming Wrangler and ConChair (2004, 2005) for ConFusion, served as Guest Liaison/Head of Guest liasons for Penguicons 2.0-5.0, and worked on proofreading and producing publications and websites for countless clubs and conventions, including Worldcon (ConJose, Noreascon IV). She has also staffed Program Ops, Registration, Hospitality and ConSuite, hosted Room Parties and participated in Programming at various conventions. <br />
<br />
<br />
==Clubs/Organizations==<br />
Anne is or has been on the Board of Directors of the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association (AASFA/[http://www.stilyagi.org Stilyagi]), Midwest Fannish Conventions, Inc. ([http://www.midfan.org Midfan]), and the [http://www.sfoha.org Science Fiction Oral History Association]. She was also President of the science fiction club at Grinnell College from 1995-1996.<br />
<br />
<br />
==Fanzines==<br />
Anne was the regular proofreader and a sometime short fiction reviewer for the Hugo Award-winning 'zine, ''[http://www.emcit.com Emerald City]'' from 2001 to 2006, when the 'zine retired. For Midfan she also edited ''MidFanzine'' for two years. <br />
<br />
<br />
==Online resources==<br />
Anne is a contributor to sf and conrunning-related articles on [http://www.wikipedia.org wikipedia], wikiquotes, and [http://www.conrunner.net Conrunner.net]. Her username in these and other places online is usually Netmouse. Anne is also a sporadic participant on the smofs and timebinders lists and other discussion forums. Her online essay on [http://www.netmouse.com/neil/neil_handling.html being a liaison/con assistant to Neil Gaiman] has been widely read.<br />
<br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
* [http://www.netmouse.com Anne's website, netmouse.com]<br />
* [http://www.livejournal.com/users/netmouse Anne's LiveJournal]<br />
<br />
<br />
[[category:Fans]]</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=User:Netmouse&diff=5911User:Netmouse2006-09-23T02:45:46Z<p>Netmouse: </p>
<hr />
<div>See [[Anne KG Murphy]]</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Lucy_Huntzinger&diff=5910Lucy Huntzinger2006-09-23T02:34:15Z<p>Netmouse: added category</p>
<hr />
<div>'''Lucy Huntzinger''', co-founder of Corflu, the fanzine fans convention. Born in San Francisco on August 15, 1957.<br />
<br />
==Conventions==<br />
Corflu I, Confederation, Corflu XIII<br />
<br />
==Fanzines==<br />
* ''Rude Bitch'' (with Avedon Carol)<br />
* ''Convention Girls' Digest'' (with allyn Cadogan and Sharee Carton)<br />
* ''Abbatoir/Abattoir'' (with Bryan Barrett)<br />
* ''Southern Gothic''<br />
* ''Aries Moon''<br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
<br />
* [http://www.lucyhuntzinger.com/ Lucy Huntzinger's webpage]<br />
* [http://athenais.livejournal.com/ Lucy's LiveJournal]<br />
* [http://www.scifiinc.net/scifiinc/gallery/bio/Huntzinger,_Lucy.htm Fan Gallery Bio]<br />
* [http://www.corflu.org/ Corflu web site]<br />
<br />
[[category:Fans]]</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Women_in_fandom&diff=5909Women in fandom2006-09-23T02:33:38Z<p>Netmouse: added birth year for Lucy Huntzinger</p>
<hr />
<div>SF Fandom is populated with a multitude of strong women leaders, women who participate in fannish discussions in print and online, who edit or contribute to fanzines, who chair or run departments at SF conventions, and who run fannish organizations and clubs.<br />
<br />
==Women in Fandom==<br />
<br />
* [[Bobbi Armbruster]]<br />
* [[Margaret Austin]]<br />
* [[Margene Bahm]]<br />
* [[Kathy Becker]]<br />
* [[Tracy Benton]]<br />
* [[Elaine Brennan]]<br />
* [[Tammy Coxen]]<br />
* [[Kathryn Daugherty]]<br />
* [[Naomi Fisher]]<br />
* [[Penny Frierson]]<br />
* [[Lisa Garrison-Ragsdale]]<br />
* [[Deb Geisler]]<br />
* [[Janice Gelb]]<br />
* [[Jeanne Gomoll]]<br />
* [[Lucy Huntzinger]] (born 1957)<br />
* [[Joyce Katz]]<br />
* [[Kim Kofmel]]<br />
* [[Elspeth Kovar]]<br />
* [[Evelyn C. Leeper]]<br />
* [[Nicki Lynch]]<br />
* [[Laurie Mann]]<br />
* [[Sue Mason]]<br />
* [[Karen Meschke]]<br />
* [[Helen Montgomery]]<br />
* [[Cheryl Morgan]]<br />
* [[Anne KG Murphy]] (born 1974)<br />
* [[Teresa Nielsen Hayden]]<br />
* [[Ulrika O'Brien]]<br />
* [[Patricia Olson]]<br />
* [[Elayne Pelz]]<br />
* [[Peggy Rae Sapienza]] ((Peggy Rae McKnight, Peggy Rae Pavlat)<br />
* [[Ruth Sachter]]<br />
* [[Sharon Sbarsky]]<br />
* [[Joyce Scrivner]]<br />
* [[Nancy Tucker Shaw]] (Nancy Tucker; 1928-2000)<br />
* [[Davey Snyder]]<br />
* [[Geri Sullivan]]<br />
* [[Bjo Trimble]]<br />
* [[Leslie Turek]]<br />
* [[Patty Wells]]<br />
* [[Eva Whitley]]<br />
* [[Leah Zeldes]] (Leah Zeldes Smith)</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Women_in_fandom&diff=5908Women in fandom2006-09-23T02:32:49Z<p>Netmouse: added Tracy Benton, faned and webmistress</p>
<hr />
<div>SF Fandom is populated with a multitude of strong women leaders, women who participate in fannish discussions in print and online, who edit or contribute to fanzines, who chair or run departments at SF conventions, and who run fannish organizations and clubs.<br />
<br />
==Women in Fandom==<br />
<br />
* [[Bobbi Armbruster]]<br />
* [[Margaret Austin]]<br />
* [[Margene Bahm]]<br />
* [[Kathy Becker]]<br />
* [[Tracy Benton]]<br />
* [[Elaine Brennan]]<br />
* [[Tammy Coxen]]<br />
* [[Kathryn Daugherty]]<br />
* [[Naomi Fisher]]<br />
* [[Penny Frierson]]<br />
* [[Lisa Garrison-Ragsdale]]<br />
* [[Deb Geisler]]<br />
* [[Janice Gelb]]<br />
* [[Jeanne Gomoll]]<br />
* [[Lucy Huntzinger]]<br />
* [[Joyce Katz]]<br />
* [[Kim Kofmel]]<br />
* [[Elspeth Kovar]]<br />
* [[Evelyn C. Leeper]]<br />
* [[Nicki Lynch]]<br />
* [[Laurie Mann]]<br />
* [[Sue Mason]]<br />
* [[Karen Meschke]]<br />
* [[Helen Montgomery]]<br />
* [[Cheryl Morgan]]<br />
* [[Anne KG Murphy]] (born 1974)<br />
* [[Teresa Nielsen Hayden]]<br />
* [[Ulrika O'Brien]]<br />
* [[Patricia Olson]]<br />
* [[Elayne Pelz]]<br />
* [[Peggy Rae Sapienza]] ((Peggy Rae McKnight, Peggy Rae Pavlat)<br />
* [[Ruth Sachter]]<br />
* [[Sharon Sbarsky]]<br />
* [[Joyce Scrivner]]<br />
* [[Nancy Tucker Shaw]] (Nancy Tucker; 1928-2000)<br />
* [[Davey Snyder]]<br />
* [[Geri Sullivan]]<br />
* [[Bjo Trimble]]<br />
* [[Leslie Turek]]<br />
* [[Patty Wells]]<br />
* [[Eva Whitley]]<br />
* [[Leah Zeldes]] (Leah Zeldes Smith)</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Lucy_Huntzinger&diff=5907Lucy Huntzinger2006-09-23T02:30:49Z<p>Netmouse: added fanzines</p>
<hr />
<div>'''Lucy Huntzinger''', co-founder of Corflu, the fanzine fans convention. Born in San Francisco on August 15, 1957.<br />
<br />
==Conventions==<br />
Corflu I, Confederation, Corflu XIII<br />
<br />
==Fanzines==<br />
* ''Rude Bitch'' (with Avedon Carol)<br />
* ''Convention Girls' Digest'' (with allyn Cadogan and Sharee Carton)<br />
* ''Abbatoir/Abattoir'' (with Bryan Barrett)<br />
* ''Southern Gothic''<br />
* ''Aries Moon''<br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
<br />
* [http://www.lucyhuntzinger.com/ Lucy Huntzinger's webpage]<br />
* [http://athenais.livejournal.com/ Lucy's LiveJournal]<br />
* [http://www.scifiinc.net/scifiinc/gallery/bio/Huntzinger,_Lucy.htm Fan Gallery Bio]<br />
* [http://www.corflu.org/ Corflu web site]</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Lucy_Huntzinger&diff=5906Lucy Huntzinger2006-09-23T02:26:09Z<p>Netmouse: created stub for Lucy</p>
<hr />
<div>'''Lucy Huntzinger''', co-founder of Corflu, the fanzine fans convention. Born in San Francisco on August 15, 1957.<br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
<br />
* [http://www.lucyhuntzinger.com/ Lucy Huntzinger's webpage]<br />
* [http://athenais.livejournal.com/ Lucy's LiveJournal]<br />
* [http://www.scifiinc.net/scifiinc/gallery/bio/Huntzinger,_Lucy.htm Fan Gallery Bio]<br />
* [http://www.corflu.org/ Corflu web site]</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Women_in_fandom&diff=5905Women in fandom2006-09-23T02:14:05Z<p>Netmouse: added Lucy Huntzinger by suggestion of PNH</p>
<hr />
<div>SF Fandom is populated with a multitude of strong women leaders, women who participate in fannish discussions in print and online, who edit or contribute to fanzines, who chair or run departments at SF conventions, and who run fannish organizations and clubs.<br />
<br />
==Women in Fandom==<br />
<br />
* [[Bobbi Armbruster]]<br />
* [[Margaret Austin]]<br />
* [[Margene Bahm]]<br />
* [[Kathy Becker]]<br />
* [[Elaine Brennan]]<br />
* [[Tammy Coxen]]<br />
* [[Kathryn Daugherty]]<br />
* [[Naomi Fisher]]<br />
* [[Penny Frierson]]<br />
* [[Lisa Garrison-Ragsdale]]<br />
* [[Deb Geisler]]<br />
* [[Janice Gelb]]<br />
* [[Jeanne Gomoll]]<br />
* [[Lucy Huntzinger]]<br />
* [[Joyce Katz]]<br />
* [[Kim Kofmel]]<br />
* [[Elspeth Kovar]]<br />
* [[Evelyn C. Leeper]]<br />
* [[Nicki Lynch]]<br />
* [[Laurie Mann]]<br />
* [[Sue Mason]]<br />
* [[Karen Meschke]]<br />
* [[Helen Montgomery]]<br />
* [[Cheryl Morgan]]<br />
* [[Anne KG Murphy]] (born 1974)<br />
* [[Teresa Nielsen Hayden]]<br />
* [[Ulrika O'Brien]]<br />
* [[Patricia Olson]]<br />
* [[Elayne Pelz]]<br />
* [[Peggy Rae Sapienza]] ((Peggy Rae McKnight, Peggy Rae Pavlat)<br />
* [[Ruth Sachter]]<br />
* [[Sharon Sbarsky]]<br />
* [[Joyce Scrivner]]<br />
* [[Nancy Tucker Shaw]] (Nancy Tucker; 1928-2000)<br />
* [[Davey Snyder]]<br />
* [[Geri Sullivan]]<br />
* [[Bjo Trimble]]<br />
* [[Leslie Turek]]<br />
* [[Patty Wells]]<br />
* [[Eva Whitley]]<br />
* [[Leah Zeldes]] (Leah Zeldes Smith)</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Anne_Gray&diff=5904Anne Gray2006-09-23T00:35:45Z<p>Netmouse: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Anne KG Murphy''' has been smoffing since approximately 1995. She was born in 1974 and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The first con she attended was Marcon, in 1992. Her primary mentor has been [[Geri Sullivan]], though she has also worked closely with [[Tammy Coxen]] and [[Kathy Becker]] as well as [[Cheryl Morgan]].<br />
<br />
==Conrunning==<br />
Anne has run Information Desk and the Publications Department for Minicon, been Programming Wrangler and ConChair (2004, 2005) for ConFusion, served as Guest Liaison/Head of Guest liasons for Penguicons 2.0-5.0, and worked on proofreading and producing publications and websites for countless clubs and conventions, including Worldcon (ConJose, Noreascon IV). She has also staffed Program Ops, Registration, Hospitality and ConSuite, hosted Room Parties and participated in Programming at various conventions. <br />
<br />
<br />
==Clubs/Organizations==<br />
Anne is or has been on the Board of Directors of the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association (AASFA/[http://www.stilyagi.org Stilyagi], Midwest Fannish Conventions, Inc. ([http://www.midfan.org Midfan]), and the [http://www.sfoha.org Science Fiction Oral History Association]. She was also President of the science fiction club at Grinnell College from 1995-1996.<br />
<br />
<br />
==Fanzines==<br />
Anne was the regular proofreader and a sometime short fiction reviewer for the Hugo Award-winning 'zine, ''[http://www.emcit.com Emerald City]'' from 2001 to 2006, when the 'zine retired. For Midfan she also edited ''MidFanzine'' for two years. <br />
<br />
<br />
==Online resources==<br />
Anne is a contributor to sf and conrunning-related articles on [http://www.wikipedia.org wikipedia], wikiquotes, and [http://www.conrunner.net Conrunner.net]. Her username in these and other places online is usually Netmouse. Anne is also a sporadic participant on the smofs and timebinders lists and other discussion forums. Her online essay on [http://www.netmouse.com/neil/neil_handling.html being a liaison/con assistant to Neil Gaiman] has been widely read.<br />
<br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
* [http://www.netmouse.com Anne's website, netmouse.com]<br />
* [http://www.livejournal.com/users/netmouse Anne's LiveJournal]<br />
<br />
<br />
[[category:Fans]]</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Women_in_fandom&diff=5903Women in fandom2006-09-23T00:33:13Z<p>Netmouse: remembered Krysta doesn't like her name to show up on the web</p>
<hr />
<div>SF Fandom is populated with a multitude of strong women leaders, women who participate in fannish discussions in print and online, who edit or contribute to fanzines, who chair or run departments at SF conventions, and who run fannish organizations and clubs.<br />
<br />
==Women in Fandom==<br />
<br />
* [[Bobbi Armbruster]]<br />
* [[Margaret Austin]]<br />
* [[Margene Bahm]]<br />
* [[Kathy Becker]]<br />
* [[Elaine Brennan]]<br />
* [[Tammy Coxen]]<br />
* [[Kathryn Daugherty]]<br />
* [[Naomi Fisher]]<br />
* [[Penny Frierson]]<br />
* [[Lisa Garrison-Ragsdale]]<br />
* [[Deb Geisler]]<br />
* [[Janice Gelb]]<br />
* [[Jeanne Gomoll]]<br />
* [[Joyce Katz]]<br />
* [[Kim Kofmel]]<br />
* [[Elspeth Kovar]]<br />
* [[Evelyn C. Leeper]]<br />
* [[Nicki Lynch]]<br />
* [[Laurie Mann]]<br />
* [[Sue Mason]]<br />
* [[Karen Meschke]]<br />
* [[Helen Montgomery]]<br />
* [[Cheryl Morgan]]<br />
* [[Anne KG Murphy]] (born 1974)<br />
* [[Teresa Nielsen Hayden]]<br />
* [[Ulrika O'Brien]]<br />
* [[Patricia Olson]]<br />
* [[Elayne Pelz]]<br />
* [[Peggy Rae Sapienza]] ((Peggy Rae McKnight, Peggy Rae Pavlat)<br />
* [[Ruth Sachter]]<br />
* [[Sharon Sbarsky]]<br />
* [[Joyce Scrivner]]<br />
* [[Nancy Tucker Shaw]] (Nancy Tucker; 1928-2000)<br />
* [[Davey Snyder]]<br />
* [[Geri Sullivan]]<br />
* [[Bjo Trimble]]<br />
* [[Leslie Turek]]<br />
* [[Patty Wells]]<br />
* [[Eva Whitley]]<br />
* [[Leah Zeldes]] (Leah Zeldes Smith)</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Anne_Gray&diff=5902Anne Gray2006-09-23T00:31:48Z<p>Netmouse: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Anne KG Murphy''' has been smoffing since approximately 1995. Her primary mentor has been [[Geri Sullivan]], though she has also worked closely with [[Tammy Coxen]] and [[Kathy Becker]] as well as [[Cheryl Morgan]].<br />
<br />
==Conrunning==<br />
Anne has run Information Desk and the Publications Department for Minicon, been Programming Wrangler and ConChair (2004, 2005) for ConFusion, served as Guest Liaison/Head of Guest liasons for Penguicons 2.0-5.0, and worked on proofreading and producing publications and websites for countless clubs and conventions, including Worldcon (ConJose, Noreascon IV). She has also staffed Program Ops, Registration, Hospitality and ConSuite, hosted Room Parties and participated in Programming at various conventions. <br />
<br />
<br />
==Clubs/Organizations==<br />
Anne is or has been on the Board of Directors of the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association (AASFA/[http://www.stilyagi.org Stilyagi], Midwest Fannish Conventions, Inc. ([http://www.midfan.org Midfan]), and the [http://www.sfoha.org Science Fiction Oral History Association]. She was also President of the science fiction club at Grinnell College from 1995-1996.<br />
<br />
<br />
==Fanzines==<br />
Anne was the regular proofreader and a sometime short fiction reviewer for the Hugo Award-winning 'zine, ''[http://www.emcit.com Emerald City]'' from 2001 to 2006, when the 'zine retired. For Midfan she also edited ''MidFanzine'' for two years. <br />
<br />
<br />
==Online resources==<br />
Anne is a contributor to sf and conrunning-related articles on [http://www.wikipedia.org wikipedia], wikiquotes, and [http://www.conrunner.net Conrunner.net]. Her username in these and other places online is usually Netmouse. Anne is also a sporadic participant on the smofs and timebinders lists and other discussion forums. Her online essay on [http://www.netmouse.com/neil/neil_handling.html being a liaison/con assistant to Neil Gaiman] has been widely read.<br />
<br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
* [http://www.netmouse.com Anne's website, netmouse.com]<br />
* [http://www.livejournal.com/users/netmouse Anne's LiveJournal]<br />
<br />
<br />
[[category:Fans]]</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Anne_Gray&diff=5901Anne Gray2006-09-23T00:29:45Z<p>Netmouse: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Anne KG Murphy''' has been smoffing since approximately 1995. Her primary mentor has been [[Geri Sullivan]], though she has also worked closely with [[Tammy Coxen]] and [[Kathy Becker]] as well as [[Cheryl Morgan]].<br />
<br />
==Conrunning==<br />
Anne has run Information Desk and the Publications Department for Minicon, been Programming Wrangler and ConChair (2004, 2005) for ConFusion, served as Guest Liaison/Head of Guest liasons for Penguicons 2.0-5.0, and worked on proofreading and producing publications and websites for countless clubs and conventions, including Worldcon (ConJose, Noreascon IV). She has also staffed Program Ops, Registration, Hospitality and ConSuite, hosted Room Parties and participated in Programming at various conventions. <br />
<br />
<br />
==Clubs/Organizations==<br />
Anne is or has been on the Board of Directors of the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association (AASFA/[http://www.stilyagi.org Stilyagi], Midwest Fannish Conventions, Inc. ([http://www.midfan.org Midfan]), and the [http://www.sfoha.org Science Fiction Oral History Association]. She was also President of the science fiction club at Grinnell College from 1995-1996.<br />
<br />
<br />
==Fanzines==<br />
Anne was the regular proofreader and a sometime short fiction reviewer for the Hugo Award-winning 'zine, ''[http://www.emcit.com Emerald City]'' from 2001 to 2006, when the 'zine retired. For Midfan she also edited ''MidFanzine'' for two years. <br />
<br />
<br />
==Online resources==<br />
Anne is a contributor to sf and conrunning-related articles on [http://www.wikipedia.org wikipedia], wikiquotes, and [http://www.conrunner.net Conrunner.net]. Her username in these and other places online is usually Netmouse. Anne is also a sporadic participant on the smofs and timebinders lists and other discussion forums. Her online essay on [http://www.netmouse.com/neil/neil_handling.html being a liaison/con assistant to Neil Gaiman] has been widely read.<br />
<br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
* [http://www.netmouse.com Anne's website, netmouse.com]<br />
* [http://www.livejournal.com/users/netmouse Anne's LiveJournal]</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Women_in_fandom&diff=5899Women in fandom2006-09-23T00:07:43Z<p>Netmouse: </p>
<hr />
<div>SF Fandom is populated with a multitude of strong women leaders, women who participate in fannish discussions in print and online, who edit or contribute to fanzines, who chair or run departments at SF conventions, and who run fannish organizations and clubs.<br />
<br />
==Women in Fandom==<br />
<br />
* [[Bobbi Armbruster]]<br />
* [[Margaret Austin]]<br />
* [[Margene Bahm]]<br />
* [[Kathy Becker]]<br />
* [[Elaine Brennan]]<br />
* [[Tammy Coxen]]<br />
* [[Kathryn Daugherty]]<br />
* [[Krysta December]]<br />
* [[Naomi Fisher]]<br />
* [[Penny Frierson]]<br />
* [[Deb Geisler]]<br />
* [[Janice Gelb]]<br />
* [[Jeanne Gomoll]]<br />
* [[Joyce Katz]]<br />
* [[Kim Kofmel]]<br />
* [[Elspeth Kovar]]<br />
* [[Evelyn C. Leeper]]<br />
* [[Nicki Lynch]]<br />
* [[Laurie Mann]]<br />
* [[Sue Mason]]<br />
* [[Karen Meschke]]<br />
* [[Helen Montgomery]]<br />
* [[Cheryl Morgan]]<br />
* [[Anne KG Murphy]] (born 1974)<br />
* [[Teresa Nielsen Hayden]]<br />
* [[Ulrika O'Brien]]<br />
* [[Patricia Olson]]<br />
* [[Elayne Pelz]]<br />
* [[Peggy Rae Sapienza]] ((Peggy Rae McKnight, Peggy Rae Pavlat)<br />
* [[Ruth Sachter]]<br />
* [[Sharon Sbarsky]]<br />
* [[Joyce Scrivner]]<br />
* [[Nancy Tucker Shaw]] (Nancy Tucker; 1928-2000)<br />
* [[Davey Snyder]]<br />
* [[Geri Sullivan]]<br />
* [[Bjo Trimble]]<br />
* [[Leslie Turek]]<br />
* [[Patty Wells]]<br />
* [[Eva Whitley]]<br />
* [[Leah Zeldes]] (Leah Zeldes Smith)</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Women_in_fandom&diff=5898Women in fandom2006-09-22T23:53:48Z<p>Netmouse: </p>
<hr />
<div>SF Fandom is populated with a multitude of strong women leaders, women who participate in fannish discussions in print and online, who edit or contribute to fanzines, who chair or run departments at SF conventions, and who run fannish organizations and clubs.<br />
<br />
==Women in Fandom==<br />
<br />
* [[Bobbi Armbruster]]<br />
* [[Margaret Austin]]<br />
* [[Margene Bahm]]<br />
* [[Kathy Becker]]<br />
* [[Elaine Brennan]]<br />
* [[Tammy Coxen]]<br />
* [[Kathryn Daugherty]]<br />
* [[Krysta December]]<br />
* [[Naomi Fisher]]<br />
* [[Penny Frierson]]<br />
* [[Deb Geisler]]<br />
* [[Janice Gelb]]<br />
* [[Jeanne Gomoll]]<br />
* [[Joyce Katz]]<br />
* [[Elspeth Kovar]]<br />
* [[Evelyn C. Leeper]]<br />
* [[Nicki Lynch]]<br />
* [[Laurie Mann]]<br />
* [[Sue Mason]]<br />
* [[Karen Meschke]]<br />
* [[Helen Montgomery]]<br />
* [[Cheryl Morgan]]<br />
* [[Anne KG Murphy]] (born 1974)<br />
* [[Teresa Nielsen Hayden]]<br />
* [[Ulrika O'Brien]]<br />
* [[Patricia Olson]]<br />
* [[Elayne Pelz]]<br />
* [[Peggy Rae Sapienza]] ((Peggy Rae McKnight, Peggy Rae Pavlat)<br />
* [[Ruth Sachter]]<br />
* [[Sharon Sbarsky]]<br />
* [[Joyce Scrivner]]<br />
* [[Nancy Tucker Shaw]] (Nancy Tucker; 1928-2000)<br />
* [[Davey Snyder]]<br />
* [[Geri Sullivan]]<br />
* [[Bjo Trimble]]<br />
* [[Leslie Turek]]<br />
* [[Patty Wells]]<br />
* [[Eva Whitley]]<br />
* [[Leah Zeldes]] (Leah Zeldes Smith)</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Women_in_fandom&diff=5897Women in fandom2006-09-22T23:47:21Z<p>Netmouse: adding content</p>
<hr />
<div>SF Fandom is populated with a multitude of strong women leaders, women who participate in fannish discussions in print and online, who edit or contribute to fanzines, who chair or run departments at SF conventions, and who run fannish organizations and clubs.<br />
<br />
==Women in Fandom==<br />
<br />
* [[Bobbi Armbruster]]<br />
* [[Margaret Austin]]<br />
* [[Margene Bahm]]<br />
* [[Kathy Becker]]<br />
* [[Elaine Brennan]]<br />
* [[Tammy Coxen]]<br />
* [[Kathryn Daugherty]]<br />
* [[Naomi Fisher]]<br />
* [[Penny Frierson]]<br />
* [[Deb Geisler]]<br />
* [[Janice Gelb]]<br />
* [[Jeanne Gomoll]]<br />
* [[Joyce Katz]]<br />
* [[Elspeth Kovar]]<br />
* [[Evelyn C. Leeper]]<br />
* [[Nicki Lynch]]<br />
* [[Laurie Mann]]<br />
* [[Sue Mason]]<br />
* [[Karen Meschke]]<br />
* [[Helen Montgomery]]<br />
* [[Cheryl Morgan]]<br />
* [[Anne KG Murphy]] (born 1974)<br />
* [[Teresa Nielsen Hayden]]<br />
* [[Ulrika O'Brien]]<br />
* [[Patricia Olson]]<br />
* [[Elayne Pelz]]<br />
* [[Peggy Rae Sapienza]] ((Peggy Rae McKnight, Peggy Rae Pavlat)<br />
* [[Ruth Sachter]]<br />
* [[Sharon Sbarsky]]<br />
* [[Joyce Scrivner]]<br />
* [[Nancy Tucker Shaw]] (Nancy Tucker; 1928-2000)<br />
* [[Davey Snyder]]<br />
* [[Geri Sullivan]]<br />
* [[Bjo Trimble]]<br />
* [[Leslie Turek]]<br />
* [[Patty Wells]]<br />
* [[Eva Whitley]]<br />
* [[Leah Zeldes]] (Leah Zeldes Smith)</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=Elizabeth_Bear&diff=5896Elizabeth Bear2006-09-22T22:57:09Z<p>Netmouse: created article about E. Bear</p>
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<div>'''Elizabeth Bear''' is a relatively new but strong author who depicts a variety of terrific relationships, including [[Female Friendships|female friendships]] in her novels and short stories while also presenting an amazing array of sf and fantasy themes. She won the 2005 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.<br />
<br />
==Bibliography==<br />
<br />
* The Jenny Casey trilogy: <br />
** ''Hammered'' (January 2005)<br />
** ''Scardown'' (July 2005)<br />
** ''Worldwired'' (December 2005)<br />
<br />
* The Promethean Age:<br />
** ''Blood & Iron'' (2006)<br />
** ''Whiskey & Water'' (forthcoming in 2007)<br />
<br />
(Plus various short stories - see her website or wikipedia for current list.)<br />
<br />
==Awards==<br />
* 2006 Locus Award for Best First Novel - ''Hammered/Scardown/Worldwired'' <br />
* 2005 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer<br />
<br />
==Links==<br />
<br />
: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_bear Wikipedia Entry]<br />
: [http://matociquala.livejournal.com/ Bear's LiveJournal]<br />
: [http://www.elizabethbear.com/ Bear's website]<br />
<br />
<br />
[[category:1971 Births|Bear, Elizabeth]]<br />
[[category:Female Writers|Bear, Elizabeth]]</div>Netmousehttps://wiki.feministsf.net/index.php?title=List_of_feminist_and_female_writers&diff=5895List of feminist and female writers2006-09-22T22:40:48Z<p>Netmouse: Added Elizabeth Bear</p>
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<div>Important, Leading, Influential, Notable, Historical, Forgotten-but-Awesome<br />
Feminist and/or Women SF Writers<br />
<br />
<br />
: [[Lynn Abbey]], (born 1948)<br />
: [[Kathy Acker]], (1948-1997)<br />
: [[Glenda Adams]]<br />
: [[Patricia Anthony]], (born 1947)<br />
: [[Kim Antieau]], (born 1955)<br />
: [[Eleanor Arnason]], (born 1942)<br />
: [[Catherine Asaro]]<br />
: [[Gertrude Atherton]], (born 1857)<br />
: [[Margaret Atwood]], (born 1939)<br />
: [[Jean Auel]], (born 1936)<br />
: [[Hilary Bailey]]<br />
: [[Kage Baker]]<br />
: [[Lisa Barnett]], (1958-2006)<br />
: [[Gael Baudino]], (born 1955)<br />
: [[Elizabeth Bear]], (born 1971)<br />
: [[Lisa Ben]]<br />
: [[Louky Bersianik]], (born 1930) ([[pseudonym]] of Lucille Durand)<br />
: [[Leigh Brackett]], (1915-1978)<br />
: [[Marion Zimmer Bradley]], ([[1930]]-[[1999]])<br />
: [[E.M. Broner]], (born [[1930]])<br />
: [[Charlotte Bronte]], ([[1816]]-[[1855]])<br />
: [[Emily Bronte]], ([[1818]]-[[1848]])<br />
: [[Rhoda Broughton]], ([[1840]]-[[1920]])<br />
: [[Mildred Downey Broxon]], (born [[1944]]) <br />
: [[Rosel George Brown]], ([[1926]]-[[1967]])<br />
: [[Mildred Downey Broxon]], (born [[1944]])<br />
: [[Dorothy Bryant]], (born [[1930]])<br />
: [[Lois McMaster Bujold]], (born [[1949]])<br />
: [[Emma Bull]], (born [[1954]])<br />
: [[Katharine Burdekin]], ([[1896]]-[[1963]])<br />
: [[Octavia E. Butler]], ([[1947]]-[[2006]])<br />
: [[Pat Cadigan]]<br />
: [[Patrick Califia]], (born [[1954]])<br />
: [[Eleanor Cameron]], ([[1912]]-[[1996]])<br />
: [[Mary Caraker]]<br />
: [[Lillian Stewart Carl]], (born [[1949]])<br />
: [[Jayge Carr]], (born [[1941]]), ([[pseudonym]] of Margery Krueger)<br />
: [[Leonora Carrington]], (born [[1917]])<br />
: [[Angela Carter]], ([[1940]]-[[1992]])<br />
: [[Suzy McKee Charnas]], (born [[1939]])<br />
: [[C.J. Cherryh]], (born [[1942]])<br />
: [[Sybil Claiborne]], (? - [[1992]])<br />
: [[Jo Clayton]], ([[1939]])<br />
: [[Brenda Clough]]<br />
: [[Storm Constantine]]<br />
: [[Janine Cross]]<br />
: [[Juanita Coulson]], (born [[1933]])<br />
: [[Julie E. Czerneda]]<br />
: [[Miriam Allen deFord]], ([[1888]]-[[1975]])<br />
: [[Samuel R. Delany]], (born [[1942]])<br />
: [[Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni]], (born [[1956]])<br />
: [[Esme Dodderidge]]<br />
: [[Emma Donoghue]], (born [[1969]])<br />
: [[Sonya Dorman]], ([[1924]]-[[2005]]) (pen name of [[Sonya Dorman Hess]])<br />
: [[Candas Jane Dorsey]], (born [[1952]])<br />
: [[Diane Duane]], (born [[1952]])<br />
: [[L. Timmel Duchamp]], (born [[1950]])<br />
: [[Maureen Duffy]], (born [[1933]])<br />
: [[Phyllis Eisenstein]], (born [[1946]])<br />
: [[Suzette Haden Elgin]] (born [[1936]])<br />
: [[Kate Elliott]]<br />
: [[Carol Emshwiller]], (born [[1921]])<br />
: [[Sylvia Louise Engdahl]], (born [[1933]])<br />
: [[M.J. Engh]], (born [[1933]])<br />
: [[Kelley Eskridge]], (born [[1960]])<br />
: [[Zoe Ann Fairbairns]], (born [[1948]])<br />
: [[Cynthia Felice]], (born [[1942]])<br />
: [[Sheila Finch]]<br />
: [[Lynn Flewelling]], (born [[1958]])<br />
: [[Carolyn Forbes]]<br />
: [[Katherine V. Forrest]], (born [[1939]])<br />
: [[Karen Joy Fowler]], (born [[1950]])<br />
: [[Valerie Freireich]]<br />
: [[Esther M. Friesner]], (born [[1951]])<br />
: [[Jane Gaskell]], (born [[1941]])<br />
: [[Sally Miller Gearhart]], (born [[1931]])<br />
: [[Mary Gentle]], (born [[1956]])<br />
: [[Carolyn Ives Gilman]],<br />
: [[Charlotte Perkins Gilman]], ([[1860]]-[[1935]])<br />
: [[Inez Haynes Gilmore]], ([[1873-1970]])<br />
: [[Mirra Ginsburg]]<br />
: [[Molly Gloss]]<br />
: [[Lisa Goldstein]]<br />
: [[Jewelle Gomez]]<br />
: [[Kathleen Ann Goonan]]<br />
: [[Phyllis Gotlieb]], (born [[1926]])<br />
: [[Hiromi Goto]], (born [[1966]])<br />
: [[Judy Grahn]], (born [[1940]])<br />
: [[Nicola Griffith]], (born [[1960]])<br />
: [[Eileen Gunn]], (born [[1945]])<br />
: [[Andrea Hairston]]<br />
: [[Sandi Hall]]<br />
: [[Barbara Hambly]], (born [[1951]])<br />
: [[Elizabeth Hand]], (born [[1957]])<br />
: [[Anne Harris]]<br />
: [[Clare Winger Harris]], ([[1891]]-[[1968]])<br />
: [[Marlen Haushofer]], ([[1920]]-[[1970]])<br />
: [[Zenna Henderson]], ([[1917]]-[[1983]])<br />
: [[Natalie Henneberg]], (born [[1917]])<br />
: [[P.C. Hodgell]], (born [[1951]])<br />
: [[Cecilia Holland]], (born [[1943]])<br />
: [[Joan Carol Holly]], (born [[1932]]) <i>pseudonym: J. Hunter Holly</i><br />
: [[Nalo Hopkinson]], (born [[1960]])<br />
: [[Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain]], ([[1880]]-[[1932]])<br />
: [[Tanya Huff]], (born [[1957]])<br />
: [[E. Mayne Hull]], ([[1905]]-[[1975]])<br />
: [[Inez Haynes Gillmore Irwin]], ([[1873]]-[[1970]])<br />
: [[Marie Jakober]], (born [[1941]])<br />
: [[Tatjana Jambrišak]]<br />
: [[Gwyneth Jones]], (born [[1952]])<br />
: [[Anna Kavan]], ([[1901]]-[[1968]]), <i>pseudonym of Helen Woods Edmonds</i><br />
: [[Lee Killough]], (born [[1942]])<br />
: [[Rosemary Kirstein]]<br />
: [[Ellen Klages]]<br />
: [[Nancy Kress]]<br />
: [[Ellen Kushner]], (born [[1955]])<br />
: [[Mercedes Lackey]]<br />
: [[Sue Lange]]<br />
: [[Tanith Lee]], (born [[1947]])<br />
: [[Ursula K. Le Guin]], (born [[1929]])<br />
: [[Stephen Leigh]]<br />
: [[Madeleine L'Engle]], (born [[1918]])<br />
: [[Doris Lessing]], (born [[1919]]<br />
: [[Jacqueline Lichtenberg]], (born [[1942]])<br />
: [[Kelly Link]], (born [[1969]])<br />
: [[Anna Livia]], (born [[1955]])<br />
: [[Jean Lorrah]]<br />
: [[Jane Loudon]], ([[1807]]-[[1858]])<br />
: [[Rosaleen Love]], (born [[1940]])<br />
: [[Elizabeth A. Lynn]], (born [[1946]])<br />
: [[Sonia Orin Lyris]]<br />
: [[R. A. MacAvoy]], (born [[1949]])<br />
: [[Katherine MacLean]], (born [[1925]])<br />
: [[Laurie J. Marks]], (born [[1957]])<br />
: [[Julian May]], (born [[1931]])<br />
: [[Anne McCaffrey]]<br />
: [[Maureen F. McHugh]], (born [[1959]])<br />
: [[Vonda N. McIntyre]], (born [[1948]])<br />
: [[Claudia McKay]]<br />
: [[Robin McKinley]], (born [[1952]])<br />
: [[R. M. Meluch]]<br />
: [[Ella Merchant]], ([[1857]]-[[1916]])<br />
: [[Judith Merril]], ([[1923]]-[[1997]])<br />
: [[Melisa C. Michaels]]<br />
: [[Hope Mirrlees]], ([[1887-1978]])<br />
: [[Naomi Mitchison]], ([[1897]]-[[1999]])<br />
: [[Laura J. Mixon]]<br />
: [[Elizabeth Moon]], (born [[1945]])<br />
: [[C.L. Moore]], ([[1911]]-[[1987]])<br />
: [[Janet Morris]]<br />
: [[Pat Murphy]], (born [[1955]])<br />
: [[Linda Nagata]]<br />
: [[E. Nesbit]], ([[1858]]-[[1924]])<br />
: [[Andre Norton]]<br />
: [[Alice Nunn]] (pseudonym of [[Alison Mackirdy]])<br />
: [[Lydia Obdulkova]]<br />
: [[Margaret Oliphant]], (1827 or 1828 - [[1897]])<br />
: [[Edith Olivier]], ([[1872]]-[[1948]])<br />
: [[Rebecca Ore]], (born [[1948]])<br />
: [[Kate Orman]], (born [[1968]])<br />
: [[Severna Park]], (born [[1958]]) ([[pseudonym]] of [[Suzanne Feldman]])<br />
: [[Fiona Patton]]<br />
: [[Barbara Paul]], (born [[1931]])<br />
: [[Diana L. Paxson]], (born [[1943]])<br />
: [[Francine Pelletier]], (born [[1959]])<br />
: [[Marge Piercy]], (born [[1936]])<br />
: [[Doris Piserchia]], (born [[1928]])<br />
: [[Teresa Plowright]]<br />
: [[Rachel Pollack]]<br />
: [[Terry Pratchett]], (born [[1948]])<br />
: [[Kit Reed]], (born [[1932]])<br />
: [[Diana Rivers]], (born [[1931]])<br />
: [[Kim Stanley Robinson]]<br />
: [[Justina Robson]]<br />
: [[J.K. Rowling]], (born [[1965]])<br />
: [[Kristine Kathryn Rusch]]<br />
: [[Geoff Ryman]], (born [[1951]])<br />
: [[Joanna Russ]], (born [[1937]])<br />
: [[Mary Doria Russell]], (born [[1950]])<br />
: [[Margaret St. Clair]], ([[1911]]-[[1995]])<br />
: [[Pamela Sargent]], (born [[1948]])<br />
: [[Josephine Saxton]], (born [[1935]])<br />
: [[Elizabeth Ann Scarborough]]<br />
: [[Melissa Scott]], (born [[1960]])<br />
: [[Mary Shelley]], ([[1797]]-[[1851]])<br />
: [[Delia Sherman]], (born [[1951]])<br />
: [[Wilmar H. Shiras]], (born [[1908]])<br />
: [[Susan Shwartz]]<br />
: [[Johanna Sinisalo]], (born [[1958]])<br />
: [[Joan Slonczewski]], (born [[1956]])<br />
: [[Stephanie A. Smith]]<br />
: [[Martha Soukup]]<br />
: [[Nancy Springer]], (born [[1948]])<br />
: [[Neal Stephenson]] <br />
: [[Frances Stevens]], ([[1884]]-[[1939]])<br />
: [[Leslie F. Stone]], ([[1905]]-[[1987]])<br />
: [[Lucy Sussex]], (born [[1957]])<br />
: [[Sheri S. Tepper]], (born [[1929]])<br />
: [[Amy Thomson]]<br />
: [[Joyce Thompson]]<br />
: [[James Tiptree, Jr.]], ([[1915]]-[[1987]]) ([[pseudonym]] of [[Alice Sheldon]])<br />
: [[Lisa Tuttle]], (born [[1952]])<br />
: [[Luisa Valenzuela]], (born [[1938]])<br />
: [[Sydney J. Van Scyoc]], (born [[1939]])<br />
: [[JoSelle Vanderhooft]], (born [[1980]])<br />
: [[Joan D. Vinge]], (born [[1948]])<br />
: [[Thea Von Harbou]], ([[1888]]-[[1954]])<br />
: [[Élisabeth Vonarburg]], (born [[1947]])<br />
: [[Sylvia Townsend Warner]], ([[1893]]-[[1978]])<br />
: [[Rebecca West]], ([[1892]]-[[1983]])<br />
: [[Leslie What]]<br />
: [[Kate Wilhelm]], (born [[1928]])<br />
: [[Cherry Wilder]], ([[1930]]-[[2002]])<br />
: [[Connie Willis]], (born [[1945]])<br />
: [[Terri Windling]], (born [[1958]])<br />
: [[Monique Wittig]], ([[1935]]-[[2003]])<br />
: [[Virginia Woolf]], ([[1882]]-[[1941]])<br />
: [[M.K. Wren]], (born [[1938]])<br />
: [[Chelsea Quinn Yarbro]], (born [[1942]])<br />
: [[Jane Yolen]], (born [[1939]])<br />
: [[Sarah Zettel]], (born [[1966]])<br />
: [[Pamela Zoline]], (born [[1941]])<br />
<br />
<br />
== Latin American/Spanish author list==<br />
<br />
Women in SF writing in Spanish & Portuguese<br />
Mujeres de CF<br />
<br />
<br />
: [[Ruth N. Abello]] <br />
: [[Adriana Alarco de Zadra]] (Peru)<br />
: [[Olga Appiani de Linares]] <br />
: [[Luisa Axpe]] <br />
: [[Doris Camarena]] <br />
: [[Susana J. Carletti]] <br />
: [[Tatiana Carsen]] <br />
: [[Libia Branda Castro]] <br />
: [[Daína Chaviano]] (Cuba/U.S.) [http://www.dainachaviano.com/ dainachaviano.com]<br />
: [[Claudia De Bella]] (Argentina) <i>translator, Portuguese -> Spanish</i><br />
: [[Gisela M. Del Río]] <br />
: [[Bárbara Din]] <br />
: [[Claudia Silvina Dorrego]] <br />
: [[Raquel Froilán García]] <br />
: [[Emma Gómez]] <br />
: [[Angelica Gorodischer]] (Argentina)<br />
: [[A. Graciela Parini]] <br />
: [[Sandra Huerta]] <br />
: [[Graciela Inés Lorenzo Tillard]] <br />
: [[Julia Marina Müller]] <br />
: [[Felicidad Martínez]] <br />
: [[Rebeca Montañez]] <br />
: [[Magdalena Mouján Otaño]] <br />
: [[Natalia Nancucchio]] <br />
: [[Laura Nuñez]] <br />
: [[Fran Ontanaya]] <br />
: [[Graciela Parini]] <br />
: [[Pilar Pedraza]] <br />
: [[Carla C. Pereira]] <br />
: [[Laura Ponce]] <br />
: [[Gina Picart Baluja]] (Cuba)<br />
: [[Gilda Pinarello]] <br />
: [[Yelinna Pulliti Carrasco]] (Peru)<br />
: [[Carmen Quirós]] <br />
: [[Lola Robles]] <br />
: [[Paula Ruggeri]] <br />
: [[Adelaida Saucedo]] <br />
: [[Judith Shapiro]] <br />
: [[Patricia Suárez]] <br />
: [[Susana Sussmann]] ([Venezuela])<br />
: [[Mónica Torres]] <br />
: [[Pamela Torres Penilla]] <br />
: [[Nastia Tynjälä]] ([Peru])<br />
: [[Soledad Véliz Córdoba]] <br />
: [[Ileana Vicente Armenteros]] (Cuba)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[category:People]]<br />
[[category:Writers]]</div>Netmouse