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Science fantasy

2010-12-10T18:26:20Z

XtinaS:

'''Science fantasy''' are works of [[SF]] which read like fantasy but have a scientific (actual, pseudo, or purportedly scientific) explanation for the fantastic elements. They frequently occur in lost colonies or post-apocalyptic worlds. Examples:

* Marion Zimmer Bradley's [[Darkover]] stories -- The first stories begin in a medieval world with magical powers. In later stories it is revealed that Darkover is a lost colony, and the magical powers are given legitimacy as psychic powers which can be understood by science. The backstory is most clearly revealed in ''Darkover Landfall''.

* Anne McCaffrey's [[Pern]] stories -- The first stories begin with dragons in a medieval fantasy world (see ''Dragonflight'' (1968)) over the series it is revealed that this is a lost colony; the dragons are the result of a breeding program by the original colonists; and the medieval social and political structures are the result of devolution from more democratic social structures. This science fiction backstory is most clearly explicated in ''Dragonsdawn'' (1988).

These stories and worlds exemplify Arthur C. Clarke's famous line that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic".

If Pern and Darkover exemplify the heart of science fantasy, many other SF writers have played with the concepts or expanded them.

* In John Varley's ''Titan'', for example, explorers encounter a world which was always science fictionally explicated; but which had nevertheless developed fantastic elements. The world, as it turned out, was overseen by a governing intelligence who had encountered Earth's science fiction, fantasies and myths and emulated aspects of them.

* Rosemary Kirstein's "Steerswoman" stories set up a world in which the characters, a likely lost colony, gradually discover the scientific underpinnings of fantastical elements.

* Sheri Tepper has taken science fantasy more in the direction of science horror or science gothic in numerous novels, revealing at the end of the story a scientific explanation such as alien life for an "ancient evil" or occult practice.

* "Star Wars" -- Popularly described as science fiction, "Star Wars" is actually a mix of science fictional and fantastic elements, and demonstrates the same post-hoc science fictional explanation that shows up in Pern and Darkover. The Force, for instance, is mystical in the first movies, and given a science fictional explanation in later films. The setting -- a long time ago in a galaxy far far away -- recapitulates the pseudo-scientific explanation for fantastic settings found in lost worlds stories, lost colony stories, post-apocalyptic stories, and so on.

* Frank Herbert's [[Dune]] stories also fall somewhat less squarely in the center of the "science fantasy" subgenre. The stories are more grounded in science fiction from the outset, but include elements that are essentially fantastic (the voice, the spice, lineal memory) with a mere veneer of scientific explanation. As with "Star Wars", the setting is initially science fictionalized with space travel and a relationship to today's chronological time (long time ago in Star Wars; far future in ''Dune''), but then rarely related to any sense of today's human history or time.

* Liz Williams' ''Banner of Souls'' also goes into the far future, edging dark-fantasy elements with high-tech explanations, and a shadowy revealed historical connection to modern earth. Her story both more self-consciously employs fantastic elements than the Dune and Star Wars stories, while simultaneously providing more plausible realistic ties to science and history.

* Classic pulp works, such as Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars books and Robert E. Howard's Conan books, also cross into science fantasy. Like many Lost Cities or Lost World stories, Burroughs' Mars books send scientific explorers into a world that feels fantastic but is semi-plausibly explained. Howard and other writers took a descent into barbarism, creating sword-and-sorcery from a mix of technology, rediscovered magic or psychic powers, and non-modern social structures.

* A number of modern stories have also tried to reclaim traditional fantasy elements with scientific explanations. Vampires as a hidden species or vampirism as a mutation, for instance.

At its broadest, "science fantasy" might include any fantastical elements which could not actually happen -- classically, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster-than-light faster-than-light] travel (FTL, hyperdrives, warp drives, etc.) Such a definition seems too broad: Would it be judged by the understanding of the reader? or the writer? or by the scientific consensus understanding at the time the story was read? or written?

[[Category:Genres]]
[[Category:SF]]
[[Category:Fantasy]]
[[Category:Science fiction]]

Ansible

2010-12-10T18:25:59Z

XtinaS:

An '''ansible''' is a fictional method of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster-than-light faster-than-light] communication invented by [[Ursula K. Le Guin]] in her [[Ekumen series]]. The ansible was also used in the [[Ender's Game]] series by [[Orson Scott Card]].

(It has been noted that "ansible" is an anagram for "[[lesbian]]".)

There is a fanzine named after it: see [[Ansible (zine)]].

[[Category:Fictional technologies]]
{{stub}}

Ender's Game

2010-12-10T18:20:46Z

XtinaS: Created page with "Ender's Game is a science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card. It was first a short story, published in the August 1977 issue of Analog. The book was published in 1985 by ..."

[[Ender's Game]] is a science fiction novel by [[Orson Scott Card]]. It was first a short story, published in the August 1977 issue of Analog.

The book was published in 1985 by [[Tor Books]].

[[Category: Novels]]
[[Category: 1985 publications]]

Hellstrom's Hive

2010-12-10T18:17:57Z

XtinaS:

[[Hellstrom's Hive]] is a novel by [[Frank Herbert]]. It's basically about Dr. Nils Hellstrom, a scientist, who created an underground society based on insect-hive principles. A government agency fears that Dr. Hellstrom is creating experimental weaponry, so they infiltrate his farm... and discover the Hive.

This novel was first published serially, from 1972 to 1973, in ''Galaxy''. It was first published as a collected novel in 1973.

[[Category: Novels]]
[[Category: 1972 publications]]

Matriarchal hive species

2010-12-10T18:15:21Z

XtinaS:

A matriarchal hive species is typically some sort of insect-like model of sex/gender, often including two or more of the following elements:

* a matriarchy or female leadership
* disempowered or non-existent males
* clones or a parthenogenetically produced class
* a female or neuter class of workers or warriors

This trope is often used to describe the fear of Communism, socialism, or feminism.

==List of examples==

* [[Frank Herbert]]'s [[Hellstrom's Hive]]
* the Buggers and the Bugger queen in [[Ender's Game]] by [[Orson Scott Card]]
* the planetary consciousness in [[Daughters of an Emerald Dusk]] by [[Katherine Forrest]]
* [[Poul Anderson]]'s [[Virgin Planet]]
* the Diclonii in ''[[Elfen Lied]]''
** The [[Diclonii]] can infect humans with a virus that leads to human offspring actually being female Diclonii drones. The Diclonius queen can reproduce sexually.
* the [[Borg Queen]] in [[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]
** This is a bit different from the classical matriarchal hive species. However, the Borg were very much about fear of Communism/socialism/loss of individualism: they had a hive mind, they were ruled by a "queen", and their members were "drones".

==See also==

* [[Sentient Planets]]
* [[Hive vagina]]
* [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BeePeople Bee People] at TVTropes

[[Category:Social themes]]
[[Category:Gender and sex themes]]
[[Category:Themes and tropes by name]]

List of Nebula Award winning novels

2010-12-10T18:04:12Z

XtinaS:

This is a list of novels that have won the [[Nebula Award]] for best novel, along with nominees. Typically there are six nominees and one winner. All nominees are listed, with a gender breakdown, and books by women are bolded in the nominee list.

===2000s===
*; 2006: ''Seeker'' by Jack McDevitt
*: nominees: 2F/4M: '''''[[The Privilege of the Sword]]''''' by [[Ellen Kushner]]; '''''[[Farthing]]''''' by [[Jo Walton]];Seeker, by Jack McDevit; The Girl in the Glass, by Jeffrey Ford; From the Files of the Time Rangers, by Richard Bowes; To Crush the Moon, by Wil McCarthy
*; 2005: ''Camouflage'' by Joe Haldeman
*: nominees: 1F/5M: '''''[[Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell]]''''' by [[Susanna Clarke]] Camouflage by Joe Haldeman; Polaris by Jack McDevitt; ''Going Postal'' by [[Terry Pratchett]]; ''Air'' by Geoff Ryman;''Orphans of Chaos'' by John C. Wright (Tor, Nov05)
*; 2004: '''[[Paladin of Souls]]''' by [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]
*: nominees: 1F/5M: '''[[Paladin of Souls]]''' by [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]; ''Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom'' by Cory Doctorow; ''Omega'' by Jack McDevitt; ''Cloud Atlas: A Novel'' by David Mitchell; ''Perfect Circle'' by Sean Stewart; ''The Knight'' by Gene Wolfe (Tor, Jan 2004)
*; 2003: '''''[[The Speed of Dark]]''''' by [[Elizabeth Moon]]
*: nominees: 5F/1M: '''''[[Diplomatic Immunity]]''''', by [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]; '''''[[The Mount]]''''' by [[Carol Emshwiller]]; '''''[[Light Music]]''''' by [[Kathleen Ann Goonan]]; '''''[[The Salt Roads]]''''' by [[Nalo Hopkinson]]; ''Chindi'' by Jack McDevitt; '''''[[The Speed of Dark]]''''' by [[Elizabeth Moon]]
*; 2002: ''[[American Gods]]'', [[Neil Gaiman]]
*: nominees:3F/3M: '''''[[Solitaire]]''''' by [[Kelley Eskridge]]; ''American Gods'' by Neil Gaiman; '''''[[The Other Wind]]''''' by [[Ursula K. Le Guin]]; ''Picoverse'' by Robert A. Metzger; '''''[[Perdido Street Station]]''''' by [[China Miéville]]; ''Bones of the Earth'' by Michael Swanwick
*; 2001: '''[[The Quantum Rose]]''' by [[Catherine Asaro]]
*: nominees:3F/5M:'''''[[The Quantum Rose]]''''' by [[Catherine Asaro]], ''Eternity's End'' by Jeffrey A. Carver; ''Mars Crossing'' by Geoffrey A. Landis; ''A Storm of Swords'' by [[George R.R. Martin]]; ''The Collapsium'' by Wil McCarthy; '''''[[The Tower at Stony Wood]]''''' by [[Patricia A. McKillip]], ''Declare'' by Tim Powers, '''''[[Passage]]''''' by [[Connie Willis]]
*; 2000: ''Darwin's Radio'' by Greg Bear
*: nominees:3F/3M: ''Darwin's Radio'' by Greg Bear, '''''[[A Civil Campaign]]''''' by [[Lois McMaster Bujold]], '''''[[Crescent City Rhapsody]]''''' by [[Kathleen Ann Goonan]], '''''[[Midnight Robber]]''''' by [[Nalo Hopkinson]], ''Infinity Beach'' by [[Jack McDevitt]]; ''Forests of the Heart'' by [[Charles de Lint]]

===1990s===
*;1999: '''''[[Parable of the Talents]]''''' by [[Octavia E. Butler]]
*: nominees: 2F/4M: '''''[[Parable of the Talents]]''''' by [[Octavia E. Butler]]; ''The Cassini Division'' by Ken MacLeod; ''A Clash of Kings'' by [[George R.R. Martin]]; '''[[Mission Child]]''' by [[Maureen F. McHugh]]; ''Mockingbird'' by Sean Stewart;''A Deepness in the Sky'' by Vernor Vinge

*;1998: ''[[Forever Peace]]'' [[Joe Haldeman]]
*: nominees: 3F/3M:'''''[[The Last Hawk]]''''' by [[Catherine Asaro]];''Forever Peace'' by Joe Haldeman; ''Moonfall'' by Jack McDevitt; ''How Few Remain'' by [[Harry Turtledove]]; '''''[[Death of the Necromancer]]''''' by [[Martha Wells]]; '''''[[To Say Nothing of the Dog]]''''' by [[Connie Willis]]

*;1997: '''''[[The Moon and the Sun]]''''', [[Vonda N. McIntyre]]
*: nominees:4F/3M: '''''[[Memory]]''''' by [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]; '''''[[King's Dragon]]''''' by [[Kate Elliott]]; ''A Game of Thrones'' by [[George R.R. Martin]]; ''Ancient Shores'' by Jack McDevitt;'''''[[The Moon and the Sun]]''''' by [[Vonda N. McIntyre]]; ''City on Fire'' by Walter Jon Williams; '''''[[Bellwether]]''''' by [[Connie Willis]]

*;1996: '''''[[Slow River]]''''', [[Nicola Griffith]]
*: nominees:'''[[Slow River]]''' by [[Nicola Griffith]];'''''[[The Silent Strength of Stones]]''''' by [[Nina Kiriki Hoffman]]; '''''[[Winter Rose]]''''' by [[Patricia McKillip]]; ''Expiration Date'' by Tim Powers; ''Starplex'' by Robert J. Sawyer; ''[[The Diamond Age]]'' by [[Neal Stephenson]]

*;1995: ''The Terminal Experimen''t (mg title "Hobson's Choice"), Robert J. Sawyer
*: nominees: 1F/5M: ''Mother of Storms'' by John Barnes; '''''[[Beggars and Choosers]]''''' by [[Nancy Kress]]; ''Celestis'' by Paul Park; ''The Terminal Experiment'' by Robert J. Sawyer; ''Metropolitan'' by Walter Jon Williams;''Calde of the Long Sun'' by [[Gene Wolfe]]

*;1994: ''Moving Mars'' by [[Greg Bear]]
*: nominees: 2F/5M ''Moving Mars'' by Greg Bear; '''''[[Parable of the Sower]]''''' by [[Octavia E. Butler]]; ''Gun, With Occasional Music'' by Jonathan Lethem; ''Towing Jehovah'' by James Morrow; '''''[[Temporary Agency]]''''' by [[Rachel Pollack]]; ''Green Mars'' by Kim Stanley Robinson; ''A Night in the Lonesome October'' by [[Roger Zelazny]], Illustrations by Gahan Wilson
Note: there are seven works because of a three-way tie for fourth in the voting

*;1993: ''Red Mars'' by [[Kim Stanley Robinson]]
*: nominees:1F/4M: ''Assemblers of Infinity'' by Kevin J Anderson & Doug Beason; ''Hard Landing'' by A. J. Budrys; '''[[Beggars in Spain]]''' by [[Nancy Kress]]; ''Red Mars'' by Kim Stanley Robinson; ''Nightside'' the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe

*;1992: '''''[[Doomsday Book]]''''', [[Connie Willis]]
*: nominees: 4F/2M:''[[A Million Open Doors]]'' by [[John Barnes]]; '''''[[Sarah Canary]]''''' by [[Karen Joy Fowler]]; '''''[[China Mountain Zhang]]''''' by [[Maureen F. McHugh]]; ''[[A Fire Upon the Deep]]'' by [[Vernor Vinge]]; '''''[[Doomsday Book]]''''' by [[Connie Willis]]; '''''[[Briar Rose]]''''' by [[Jane Yolen]];

*; 1991: ''[[Stations of the Tide]]'' by [[Michael Swanwick]]
*: nominees:'''''[[Barrayar]]''''' by [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]; '''''[[Bone Dance]]''''' by [[Emma Bull]]; '''''[[Synners]]''''' by [[Pat Cadigan]]; ''The Difference Engine'' by Bruce Sterling & Bill Gibson; ''Stations of the Tide'' by Michael Swanwick

*; 1990:'''''[[Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea]]''''', [[Ursula K. Le Guin]]
*: nominees: 3F/3M: '''''[[Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea]]''''' by Ursula K. Le Guin; '''''[[Mary Reilly (novel)|Mary Reilly]]''''' by [[Valerie Martin]]; ''Only Begotten Daughter'' by James Morrow; ''The Fall of Hyperion'' by Dan Simmons; ''Redshift Rendevous'' by John E. Stith; '''''[[White Jenna]]''''' by [[Jane Yolen]]

===1980s===
*;1989: '''''[[The Healer's War]]''''' by [[Elizabeth Ann Scarborough]]
*: nominees: ''Boat of a Million Years'' by [[Poul Anderson]]; ''Prentice Alvin'' by [[Orson Scott Card]]; ''Good News From Outer Space'' by John Kessel; ''Ivory: A Legend of Past and Future'' by Mike Resnick; '''''[[The Healer's War]]''''' by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough; '''''[[Sister Light, Sister Dark]]''''' by [[Jane Yolen]]

*;1988: '''''[[Falling Free]]''''' by [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]
*: nominees: ''Deserted Cities of the Heart'' by Lewis Shiner; ''Drowning Towers'' by George Turner; '''''[[Falling Free]]''''' by [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]; ''Great Sky River'' by Greg Benford; ''Mona Lisa Overdrive'' by William Gibson; ''Red Prophet'' by [[Orson Scott Card]]; ''The Urth of the New Sun'' by [[Gene Wolfe]]

*;1987: '''''[[The Falling Woman]]''''' by [[Pat Murphy]]
*: nominees: '''''[[The Falling Woman]]''''' by [[Pat Murphy]]; ''The Forge of God'' by [[Greg Bear]]; ''Soldier of the Mist'' by [[Gene Wolfe]]; ''The Uplift War'' by David Brin; ''Vergil in Averno'' by Avram Davidson; ''When Gravity Fails'' by George Alec Effinger

*;1986: ''Speaker for the Dead'' by [[Orson Scott Card]]
*: nominees: ''Count Zero'' by [[William Gibson]]; ''[[Free Live Free]]'' by [[Gene Wolfe]]; '''''[[The Handmaid's Tale]]''''' by [[Margaret Atwood]]; '''''[[The Journal of Nicholas the American]]''''' by Leigh Kennedy; ''Speaker For The Dead'' by Orson Scott Card; ''This is the Way the World Ends'' by James Marrow

*;1985: ''[[Ender's Game]]'' by [[Orson Scott Card]]
*: nominees:''Blood Music'' by [[Greg Bear]]; ''Dinner at Deviant's Palace'' by Tim Powers; ''Ender's Game'' by Orson Scott Card; ''Helliconia Winter'' by Brian Aldiss; ''The Postman'' by [[David Brin]]; ''The Remaking of Sigmund Freud'' by Barry Malzberg; ''Schmatrix'' by Bruce Sterling

*;1984: ''Neuromancer'' by [[William Gibson]]
*: nominees:7M ''Frontera'' by Lewis Shiner; ''The Integral Trees'' by [[Larry Niven]]; ''Job: A Comedy of Justice'' by [[Robert A. Heinlein]]; ''[[The Man Who Melted]]'' by Jack Dann; ''Neuromancer'' by William Gibson; ''The Wild Shore'' by [[Kim Stanley Robinson]]

*;1983: ''Startide Rising'' by [[David Brin]]
*: nominees:''Against Infinity'' by [[Gregory Benford]]; ''The Citadel of the Autarch'' by [[Gene Wolfe]];''Lyonesse'' by [[Jack Vance]]; ''Startide Rising'' by David Brin; ''Tea With the Black Dragon'' by R. A. MacAvoy;''The Void Captain's Tale'' by Norman Spinrad

*;1982: ''No Enemy But Time'' by Michael Bishop
*: nominees: ''Foundation's Edge'' by Isaac Asimov; ''[[Friday]]'' by [[Robert A. Heinlein]]; ''Helliconia Spring'' by Brian Aldiss; ''No Enemy But Time'' by Michael Bishop; ''The Sword of the Lictor'' by Gene Wolfe; ''The Transmigration of Timothy Archer'' by [[Philip K. Dick]]

*;1981: ''The Claw of the Conciliator'' by Gene Wolfe
*: nominees: 1F/5M ''The Claw of the Conciliator'' by Gene Wolfe; ''Little, Big'' by John Crowley; ''The Many-Colored Land'' by Julian May; ''Radix'' by A. A. Attanasio; ''Riddley Walker'' by Russell Hoban; '''''[[The Vampire Tapestry]]'''' by [[Suzy McKee Charnas]]

*;1980: ''Timescape'' by Gregory Benford
*: nominees: 1F/5M ''Beyond the Blue Event Horizon'' by [[Frederik Pohl]]; ''Mockingbird'' by Walter Tevis; ''The Orphan'' by Robert Stallman; ''The Shadow of the Torturer'' by [[Gene Wolfe]]; '''''[[The Snow Queen]]''''' by [[Joan D. Vinge]]; ''Timescape'' by [[Gregory Benford]]

===1970s===
*;1979: [[The Fountains of Paradise]], [[Arthur C. Clarke]]
: nominees: ''The Fountains of Paradise'' by [[Arthur C. Clarke]]; ''Jem'' by [[Frederik Pohl]]; '''''[[Juniper Time]]'' by [[Kate Wilhelm]]'''; ''On Wings of Song'' by Thomas M. Disch; ''The Road to Corlay'' by Richard Cowper; ''Titan'' by [[John Varley]]
*;1978: '''[[Dreamsnake]]''', [[Vonda N. McIntyre]]
*: nominees: ''Blind Voices'' by Tom Reamy; '''''[[Dreamsnake]]'' by [[Vonda N. McIntyre]]'''; '''''[[The Faded Sun]]'' by [[C. J. Cherryh]]'''; ''Kalki'' by Gore Vidal; ''Strangers'' by [[Gardner Dozois]]
*;1977 [[Gateway]], [[Frederik Pohl]]
*: nominees: ''Cirque'' by Terry Carr; ''Gateway'' by Fred Pohl; ''In the Ocean of Night'' by [[Greg Benford]]; ''Moonstart Odyssey'' by David Gerrold; ''Sword of Demon'' by Richard Lupoff
*;1976: [[Man Plus]], [[Frederik Pohl]]
*: nominees: ''Inferno'' by [[Larry Niven]] & [[Jerry Pournelle]]; '''''[[Islands]]'' by [[Marta Randall]]'''; ''Man Plus'' by Frederik Pohl; ''Shadrach in the Furnace'' by [[Robert Silverberg]]; ''Triton'' by [[Samuel R. Delany]]; '''''[[Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang]]'' by [[Kate Wilhelm]]'''
*;1975: [[The Forever War]], [[Joe Haldeman]]
*: nominees: ''Autumn Angels'' by Arthur Byron; '''''[[The Birthgrave]]'' by [[Tanith Lee]]'''; ''The Computer Connection'' by Alfred Bester (also titled: ''The Indian Giver''); ''Dhalgren'' by [[Samuel R. Delany]]; ''Doorways in the Sand'' by [[Roger Zelazny]]; ''The Embedding'' by Ian Watson; '''''[[The Exile Waiting]]'' by [[Vonda N. McIntyre]]'''; '''''[[The Female Man]]'' by [[Joanna Russ]]'''; ''The Forever War'' by Joe Haldeman; ''A Funeral for the Eyes of Fire'' by Michael Bishop; ''Guernica Night'' by Barry N. Malzberg; '''''[[The Heritage of Hastur]]'' by [[Marion Zimmer Bradley]]'''; ''Invisible Cities'' by Italo Calvino; ''A Midsummer Tempest'' by [[Poul Anderson]]; '''''[[The Missing Man]]'' by [[Katherine MacLean]]'''; ''[[The Mote in God's Eye]]'' by [[Larry Niven]] & [[Jerry Pournelle]]; ''Ragtime'' by E. L. Doctorow; ''The Stochastic Man'' by [[Robert Silverberg]]
*;1974: '''[[The Dispossessed]]''', [[Ursula K. Le Guin]]
*: nominees: ''334'' by Thomas M Disch; '''''[[The Dispossessed]]'' by [[Ursula K. Le Guin]]'''; ''Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said'' by [[Philip K. Dick]]; ''The Godwhale'' by T. J. Bass
*;1973: [[Rendezvous with Rama]], [[Arthur C. Clarke]]
*: nominees: ''Gravity's Rainbow'' by Thomas Pynchon; ''The Man Who Folded Himself'' by David Gerrold; ''The People of the Wind'' by [[Poul Anderson]]; ''Rendezvous With Rama'' by [[Arthur C. Clarke]]; ''Time Enough For Love'' by [[Robert A. Heinlein]]
*;1972: [[The Gods Themselves]], [[Isaac Asimov]]
*: nominees: ''The Book of Skulls'' by [[Robert Silverberg]]; ''Dying Inside'' by [[Robert Silverberg]]; ''[[The Gods Themselves]]'' by [[Isaac Asimov]]; ''The Iron Dream'' by Norman Spinrad; ''The Sheep Look Up'' by John Brunner; ''What Entropy Means to Me'' by George Alec Effinger; ''When Harlie Was One'' by David Gerrold
*;1971: [[A Time of Changes]], [[Robert Silverberg]]
*: nominees: ''The Byworlder'' by [[Poul Anderson]]; ''The Devil is Dead'' by R. A. Lafferty; ''Half Past Human'' by T. J. Bass; '''''[[The Lathe of Heaven]]'' by [[Ursula K. Le Guin]]'''; '''''[[Margaret and I]]'' by [[Kate Wilhelm]]'''; ''A Time of Changes'' by Robert Silverberg
*;1970: [[Ringworld]], [[Larry Niven]]
*: '''nominees''':'''''[[And Chaos Died]]'' by [[Joanna Russ]]'''; ''Fourth Mansions'' by R. A. Lafferty; ''[[Ringworld]]'' by [[Larry Niven]]; ''The Steel Crocodile'' by D. G. Compton; ''The Tower of Glass'' by [[Robert Silverberg]]; ''The Year of the Quiet Sun'' by Wilson (Bob) Tucker

===1960s===
*;1969: '''''[[The Left Hand of Darkness]]''''' by [[Ursula K. Le Guin]]
*: nominees:1F/5F: ''The Jagged Orbit'' by John Brunner; '''''The Left Hand of Darkness''''' by [[Ursula K. Le Guin]]; ''Up the Line'' by [[Robert Silverberg]]; ''Bug Jack Barron'' by Norman Spinrad; ''[[Slaughterhouse-Five]]'' by [[Kurt Vonnegut]]; 'Isle of the Dead'' by [[Roger Zelazny]]
*;1968: ''[[Rite of Passage]]'' by [[Alexei Panshin]]
*: nominees:1F/6M: ''Black Easter'' by James Blish; ''Stand on Zanzibar'' by John Brunner; ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' by [[Philip K. Dick]]; ''Past Master'' by R. A. Lafferty; ''Rite of Passage'' by Alexei Panshin; '''''[[Picnic on Paradise]]''''' by [[Joanna Russ]]; ''The Masks of Time'' by [[Robert Silverberg]]
*;1967:''[[The Einstein Intersection]]'' by [[Samuel R. Delany]]
*: nominees: 5M: ''Einstein Intersection'' by Samuel R. Delany; ''The Eskimo Invasion'' by Hayden Howard; ''Thorns'' by [[Robert Silverberg]]; ''Lord of Light'' by [[Roger Zelazny]]; ''Chthon'' by [[Piers Anthony]]
*;1966: (tie) [[Flowers for Algernon]] by [[Daniel Keyes]] and [[Babel-17]] by [[Samuel R. Delany]]
*: nominees: 3M: ''Babel-17'' by Samuel R. Delany; ''The Moon is a Harsh Mistress'' by [[Robert A. Heinlein]]; ''Flowers For Algernon' by Daniel Keyes
*;1965: [[Dune]], [[Frank Herbert]]
*: nominees: 1F/12M: ''The Star Fox'' by [[Poul Anderson]]; ''Nova Express'' by William Burroughs; ''Rogue Dragon'' by Avram Davidson; ''Dr. Bloodmoney'' by [[Philip K. Dick]]; ''The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch'' by [[Philip K. Dick]]; ''The Genocides'' by Thomas M. Disch; ''The Ship That Sailed the Time Stream'' by G. C. Edmonson; ''Dune'' by Frank Herbert; ''A Plague of Demons'' by Keith Laumer; ''All Flesh is Grass'' by Clifford D. Simak; ''The Escape Orbit'' by James White;'''''[[The Clone]]'' by Theodore Thomas & [[Kate Wilhelm]]'''

[[Category:Award-winning works]]
[[Category:Nebula Award]]
[[Category:Lists]]
[[Category:Missing information]]
[[Category:Nebula Award winning novels]]

Theodora Kroeber

2010-12-03T20:12:09Z

XtinaS: Created page with "Theodora Kroeber (March 24, 1897 - July 4, 1979) was a writer and anthropologist. She wrote the novel Ishi of Two Worlds, an account of Ishi, the last member of the Yahi ..."

[[Theodora Kroeber]] (March 24, 1897 - July 4, 1979) was a writer and anthropologist. She wrote the novel [[Ishi of Two Worlds]], an account of Ishi, the last member of the Yahi tribe of California. She was married to Alfred Louis Kroeber, and was the mother of [[Ursula K. Le Guin]].

[[Category: 1897 births]]
[[Category: 1979 deaths]]

Ishi in Two Worlds

2010-12-03T20:08:41Z

XtinaS: Created page with "Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America is a 1961 novel by Theodora Kroeber. It was first published by the [http://www..."

[[Ishi in Two Worlds|Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America]] is a 1961 novel by [[Theodora Kroeber]]. It was first published by the [http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520229402 University of California Press].

Book description:

: The life story of Ishi, the Yahi Indian, lone survivor of a doomed tribe, is unique in the annals of North American anthropology. For more than forty years, Theodora Kroeber's biography has been sharing this tragic and absorbing drama with readers all over the world.

: Ishi stumbled into the twentieth century on the morning of August 29, 1911, when, desperate with hunger and with terror of the white murderers of his family, he was found in the corral of a slaughterhouse near Oroville, California. Finally identified as an Indian by an anthropologist, Ishi was brought to San Francisco by Professor T. T. Waterman and lived there the rest of his life under the care and protection of Alfred Kroeber and the staff of the University of California's Museum of Anthropology. Karl Kroeber adds an informative tribute to the text, describing how the book came to be and how Theodora Kroeber's approach to the project was both a product of her era and of her insight and her empathy.

[[Category: 1961 publications]]
[[Category: Novels]]

Open Source Boob Project

2010-11-20T18:33:35Z

XtinaS: Cleaned up some links and time formats.

The '''Open Source Boob Project''' (OSBP) was a brief project held at [http://www.penguicon.org/ Penguicon] (an open source/SF/geek con) in April of 2008, stemming from an even smaller experiment among friends that proceeded it at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConFusion_%28convention%29 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://l-userpic.livejournal.com/74043718/5200595 Yes you may]", or a red button saying "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 original 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<ref>[http://arctangent.livejournal.com/183931.html arctangent] [[File:Locked.png]]</ref>.

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). Note: Post has been deleted and purged.</ref> Furor ensued; poster recanted in the name of [[con safety]].

Interesting discussions that came out of the furor:

* [[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
* [[geek male psychology]] - many posts
* [[geek female psychology]] - some posts
* [[con safety]] > see LJ community [http://community.livejournal.com/bellwether_talk/ bellwether_talk] about con safety (established in the wake of [[Harlan-gate]])
:: > '''[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173664.html Project Back Up: Women Defending Women]''' (vito_excalibur @ Livejournal)
::: > [http://community.livejournal.com/backupproject/ BackUpProject community] @ Livejournal
::: > [[Project Backup]] website
* definitions of [[feminism]] - some posts

==A history in links==

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.

===The proposal (4/21) and original incident===

April 21, TheFerrett proposes repetitions of the "Open Source Boob Project" based on an experience he had at Penguicon 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.

* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html The Open-Source Boob Project], theferrett @ Livejournal, 4/21 8:58am: TheFerrett 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.)
:: TheFerrett's description of the project:
::: 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?"
:: Some of the choice excerpts from his write-up and proposal include:
::: [T]he women retained their right to say no, of course[.]
:
::: 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.
:
:::And then the real magic happened. Because a beautiful girl in an incredibly skimpy blue Princess outfit strode down the hallway, '''obviously putting her assets on display''' (the thin strips of her clothing had to be taped to her body to stay on), and we stopped her. "Excuse me," the first, very brave girl asked. "You're very beautiful. I'd like to touch your breasts. Would you mind if I did?" We held our breath. We didn't want to offend. This could go wrong, collapsing and turning us into cruel lechers who'd make her feel uncomfortable and shamed of who she was.... She thought for a heartbeat, sizing us up. But there must have been something honest and trustworthy in our eyes that promised that we wouldn't get out of hand... Because after a moment, she smiled and said, "Sure!"

::: 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.
:
::: "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."

====Original incident: Other voices====

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.

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.

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.

Other voices:

* [http://novapsyche.livejournal.com/1996568.html NovaPsyche], 4/22 1:43pm [[File:Locked.png|Login required.]]
* [http://netmouse.livejournal.com/488735.html Anne], 4/23 11:50am
* [http://feministing.com/2008/04/23/womens_bodies_just_like_openso_1/comment-page-2/#comment-198813 Dawn], 4/23 10:28pm
* [http://feministing.com/2008/04/23/womens_bodies_just_like_openso_1/comment-page-3/#comment-198826 Dawn], 4/24 12:07am
* [http://feministing.com/2008/04/23/womens_bodies_just_like_openso_1/comment-page-3/#comment-198841 Ellalthea], 4/24 10:23am

===Outrage quickly follows (4/21)===

* [http://classics-cat.livejournal.com/1291537.html A few grotesque things for your Monday.] [[File:Locked.png|Login required.]], classic_cats @ Livejournal, 4/21 11:49am: I'm done with elephants and clowns.
* <s>[http://the-red-shoes.livejournal.com/1263869.html Is this truly the only world I can live in?]</s>, the_red_shoes @ Livejournal, 4/21 7:05pm
* [http://sinboy.livejournal.com/871986.html some mature non directly sexual content WRT touching and consent], sinboy @ Livejournal, 4/21 8:54pm:
:: 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
* [http://springheel-jack.livejournal.com/2504302.html open source male assholes] [[File:Locked.png|Login required.]], springheel_jack @ Livejournal, 4/21 10:56pm -- the basic libertarian fallacy
:: The ferrett wonders why a man’s asking, out of the blue, if he can feel up a woman's boobs shouldn’t be understood as "a way of saying that I may not yet know your mind, but your body is beautiful." But this is simply to ask why he shouldn't be able to continue to ''treat women as they have always been treated''. Body first, sexual delectation to men first, as ''object'' first, "mind" - i.e. as a human subject - very firmly second. It’s simply to intensify the condition of patriarchal gender relations that already existed - or, to put it more simply, it’s a frustrated man’s fantasy of ''putting women back in their place''.

:: And here we have the usual libertarian solution to everything - in the name of a false individuality, itself the product of an illegitimate reification and universalization of the social conditions of propertied white men - we have a retreat into the worst of the dark days of gender relations before feminism, offered as a so-called “advance” into a “more honest” and “freer” world. This is pernicious masculine ideology at its most pure and most insufferable. In the name of “empowering” women, we have…more of the same poison that women have been trying to free themselves of for all this time.
* [http://glvalentine.livejournal.com/68505.html PSA.], glvalentine @ Livejournal, 4/21 11:19pm:
:: ''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.''

===... including on TheFerrett's LJ thread===

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:

* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54722758#t54722758 tablesaw]
:: A close reading in three parts of TheFerrett's original post that point out
::: (a) how the description of the event created the impression of a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tailhook_scandal 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;
::: (b) how the [[male gaze]] was used throughout TheFerrett's descriptions of the event;
::: (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.
::: (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.).
:: TheFerrett responds and that response, too, is fisked:
::: ''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.''
:: and:
::: ''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? Yes, I think you fucking could have.'''
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54853830#t54853830 mswyrr]
:: 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?
:: 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.

* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54773190#t54773190 tablesaw, 4/22]:
:: ''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.''

===... and continues (4/22)===

* [http://serenejournal.livejournal.com/948058.html?thread=5702234#t5702234%22 pir_anha] @ Livejournal, 4/21 8:30pm
* [http://kate-nepveu.livejournal.com/323736.html On asking to touch the breasts of a stranger], kate_nepveu @ Livejournal, 4/22 7:41am:
:: ''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.''
* [http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808826.html coffeeandink] @ Livejournal, 4/22 8:48am: [[File:Locked.png|Login required.]]
:: ''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!''
:*Comment thread: [http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808826.html?thread=9929338#t9929338 Inhammer] [[File:Locked.png|Login required.]] (4/22) rechristens it the "public domain boob project".
* [http://cynthia1960.livejournal.com/165099.html Just what I needed for a rage-honing morning jolt...], Cynthia1960, 4/22 8:54am - Great threaded discussion
* [http://hahathor.livejournal.com/120502.html The OSKSP], hahathor, 4/22 9:14am: "The Open Source Knuckle Sandwich Project":
:: ''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.''
* [http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/605708.html A proposal to crush the button-enabled sexual harassment proposal], Rachel Manija, 4/22 09:23:
:: ''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.''
* [http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/1229281.html Welcome to the Harlan Ellison Memorial Personal Boundaries Club], James Nicoll, 4/22, 10:34:
:: 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."
:: and
:: ''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.''
* [http://ladyjax.livejournal.com/574671.html Steaming bowl of hot mess] (4/22 11:14am), ladyjax
* [http://ojouchan.livejournal.com/182207.html You Can Not HAZ!], ''No No Ojou-chan!'', 4/22 11:36:
:: Notes the pressure placed by requests from [[celebrities]]; [[body issues]] and [[con culture]]; [[male gaze]] and [[privilege]].
* [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:
:: ''For the record: my boobies--like the rest of my body parts--are proprietary.''

===The clarification (4/22)===

* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1088382.html Clarification], theferrett: TheFerrett tries to explain (4/22 12:21)
:: Yeah, that didn't help.

=== ... discussion continues (4/22)===

* [http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=650 Open Source Boobs], John Scalzi, 4/22 1:33pm
:: Contextualizing it as an attempt to demystify breasts to help eliminate objectification of women. Also, noting that "context is extremely important for something like this."
*[http://novapsyche.livejournal.com/1996568.html My brief thoughts on the Open Source Boob Project], The Eye of Nova's Mind, 4/22 1:43pm: [[File:Locked.png|Login required.]]
:: 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.''
* [http://misia.livejournal.com/1055120.html A Modest Proposal], aka the '''Open Source Swift Kick in the Balls Project''', misia, 4/22 13:58
* [http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808967.html coffeeandink] (4/22 14:10): [[File:Locked.png|Login required.]]
:: ''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.''
* [http://ladyjax.livejournal.com/575119.html A proposal], LadyJax, Subtle, Yet Effective Mood Adjustment, 4/22 3:10pm:
:: ''Touch your own damn self.''
* [http://roseembolism.livejournal.com/119139.html The Open Source...HAAIIIII-YAH!], Rose Embolism LJ, 4/22 3:40pm
* [http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/161643.html I find it highly amusing that his username is "ferret."], MysticKeeper, 4/22 5:11pm
:: Summary with good quotes and excerpts.
* [http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/9338.html OH JOHN RINGO NO], melannen in unfunnybusiness JournalFen community, 4/22 17:40
* [http://badgerbag.livejournal.com/96182.html The open source groper project], ''badgerbag'', 4/22 6:24pm:
:: ''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.''
:: Also, ruminations on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handkerchief_code hanky code].
* [http://oursin.livejournal.com/839272.html Invizbel soshul contrakt], 4/22 8:16pm, oursin: It's Always More Complicated
* [http://www.journalfen.net/community/wank_report/518.html?thread=2021382#t2021382 Wank Report] [[File:Locked.png|Login required.]] (4/22 8:52pm), JournalFen.net
* [http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173519.html wrapping up] (4/22 21:13) vito_excalibur explains how he succeeded in his goal in bringing all of fandom together united with a common purpose.
* [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 :
:: ''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!''

===The apology===

TheFerrett sort of apologizes: (4/22):

* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html The Open-Source Boob Project], theferrett: TheFerrett recants on his original post with a long preface at the top. TheFerrett removes the 1300 comments, then puts them back. This was deemed a [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fauxpology fauxpology] or [http://wiki.fandomwank.com/index.php/Heidipology heidipology] by some.

===...discussion ''still'' continues (4/22) ===

; fandom outrage continues apace:
* [http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=340 The Internets work how they’re supposed to], [[Liz Henry]], 4/22, [[Feminist SF blog]]
:: 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.

===...and continues (4/23) ===

* [http://rivkat.livejournal.com/189290.html The right of making available], Rivkat, 4/23 9:43am:
:: A patent/trademark/copyright lawyer explains how "Open Source" is a fallacy in this case.
* [http://vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com/594784.html Why women need mace at cons.], VulgarCriminal, 4/23 9:42am
* [http://ktempest.livejournal.com/292271.html Oh Boob Grab, We’ll Miss Thee (actually, we won’t, but…)], [[K. Tempest Bradford]], 4/23 9:10am
* [http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173664.html This is not a joke.], vito_excalibur, 4/23 10:21am:
:: Vito proposes the "[[Open Source Women Back Each Other Up Program]]":
:::''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.''

:::''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.''

:::''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.''
* [http://www.girl-wonder.org/designatedsidekick/2008/04/23/closed-source-misogyny Closed Source Misogyny], [[Designated Sidekick]] at [[Girl-Wonder.org]] (4/23 4:40pm):
:: 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.)
* [http://aqueductpress.blogspot.com/2008/04/men-and-women-in-public-space.html Men and Women in Public Space], [[Timmi Duchamp]], [[Ambling Along the Aqueduct]] (4/23 5:50pm)
::The outrage du jour is tired, tedious, and old-fashioned, however dressed-up it might be in new language. The "Open Source Boob Project," for all its claim to hipness, once again figures women's bodies as property (a practice commonly known as [[Objectification|sexual objectification]]). The point is not sex--it never is--but the terms on which women negotiate (or are allowed to negotiate) public space. It's the same issue that arose when the POTUS put his hands on the German Chancellor at a high-level public function. Do white men figure themselves as property? The thought never even crosses their minds. ... Rage is the appropriate response to outrageous beahvior.
* <s>[http://perpetual-lent.livejournal.com/187893.html Previous Entry Boob project?! YOU'RE a boob project!]</s>, ''Perpetual Lent'', 4/23 20:54:
:: ''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.)
* [http://community.livejournal.com/sf_drama/835072.html SF_Drama] (4/23 9:02pm) highlights TheFerrett'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.
* [http://emmelinemay.livejournal.com/1009295.html Breast drama!], emmelinemay, 4/23 2:56pm:
:: ''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 spiritual.''
:: ''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.'' ...
:: ''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.''
* [http://www.journalfen.net/community/otf_wank/595129.html May I grope your breasts? It's liberating!], rowanberries, otf_wank community on JournalFen, 4/23 12:52am
* [http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=656 A bit more on OSB], John Scalzi, 4/23 12:23pm
* [http://netmouse.livejournal.com/488735.html The Open Source Boob Project and subsequent stoning], netmouse, 4/23 11:50am
:: 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.''
* [http://www.sandrewswann.com/blog/2008/04/the-internet-is-a-stupid-place.html The internet is a stupid place], Andrew Swann, 4/23:
:: Struck by the out-of-proportionality (and decontextualization) of the Internet.
* [http://www.getofftheinternet.org/groping-vainly-for-a-clue/2008/04/23/ groping vainly for a clue], Charlie Bebattica, Get Off the Internet, 4/23
:: Lost in all the talk of lost inhibitions and discovered beauty is the lopsided power dynamic inherent in these, ahem, “transactions,” specifically whose “needs” are actually being met gratified. A simple working knowledge of group dynamics (and nerd culture) casts some doubt on the supposedly “opt-in,” “no pressure” consensual nature of the arrangement, as it leaves out questions of peer pressure and the need to belong, not to mention the host of associated issues involving a subculture where insecurities and feelings of isolation are commonly found. All high-falutin’ justifications aside, that shit can’t be exorcised by having a stranger feel you up, though there are plenty folks out there who’ll try to argue otherwise in exchange for the opportunity for a free grope.

=== ...hits the mainstream (4/23)... ===

; and the whole thing breaks the fandom atmospheric barriers on 4/23:
*[http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project The Open Source Boob Project], Hildegarde @ MetaFilter, 4/23 5:25am
:*[http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project#2090549 Pastabagel's comment], 811am
::: ''For a moment, everything that was awkward about high school would fade away and you could just say what was on your mind.''
::: Nerds have to take responsibility for their own lives. I was a nerd in high school, and high school for me sucked in every way imaginable. But once you are in college, there are no more cliques that exclude you, no more baggage, no more parents etc. You are on your own. If two months into college you are still alienated and ostracized, it is your fault, not society's. You are lacking in some social skills that others have, and that deficiency is holding you back.
::: For some reason, it became socially acceptable for nerds to retreat into computers and wallow in their alienation, instead of trying to improve themselves. The inability to talk to girls, strangers, and adults became a source of pride. Nerds have built a sub-culture for themselves that so insular that they have managed to convince each other that the rest of society is backwards, and that they are the smart and enlightened.
::: Truth be told, it is very easy to talk to women if you realize that they are people with a mind who have something interesting to say. '''Women aren't a collection of sex parts behind a security system that needs to be bypassed before you can access them.''' If you are thirty and can't talk to women, you need to see a psychologist, because you have serious problems. Acknowledging this to be the case is part of the solution, but not the entire solution.
::: On to the articles: the idea of these buttons came about because this guy and his friends were lamenting that groping a woman's breasts wasn't a trivial. They can't talk to women, which actually is trivial, so they want the entirely of interpersonal interaction that extends beyond conversation collapsed down to the level of a polite greeting. That is insane.
::: (bold added)

:* [http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project#2090595 Pastabagel's comment], 847am
::: ''By the end of the evening, women were coming up to us. "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.''
::: ... But there it is again, we showed them how beautiful their bodies were. They were the arbiters of beauty, and it depended on first touching their breasts. See how he tries to sound magnanimous in the act of judging her? Because at the core level, this is about power and control for these guys. He's so happy he had some power over women for once, he can't contain himself.
::: And Scalzi's take is, I'm sorry to say, preposterous:
::: ''I think it’s reasonable for folks to get used to breasts being a component of a whole human, not these strange, mystical entities there to entice and distract one, and if there’s any place where there are people who could benefit from this lesson, it’s a convention full of computer, science fiction and anime geeks, many of whom are very young men (temporally and/or socially). Hopefully some of them benefited from the experience, and not just because they got to touch a girl’s breasts.''
::: What's the benefit that the geeks can gain from this? How does creating an environment where it's socially acceptable for men to ask to touch a woman's breasts help them to see that breasts are a component of the whole woman? They aren't asking to hold their hand or touch their hair. You know what would actually help these geeks?
::: Notice that the commentary is from the standpoint of the guys. Why does he assume that geeks=men. Weren't the women there also geeks? What is the lesson that women learned? They learn that men can change the social order at their whim into an one where their refusal to have strangers violate their personal space nonetheless attracts undue attention to their bodies. Men of course do not have to submit.
::: You know what I'm going to do for the next Penguincon? I'm going to hire five or six nearby college football teams to show up in full uniform and just walk around through the entire convention, mingling and saying and doing whatever they want. You want high school, motherfucker? I'll give you high school.
:* [http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project#2090886 turaho responds to one of the original stated intentions] (12:46pm):
:::''I’m for the idea of demystifying breasts to young men who fetishize them to the extent of not being able to process the fact there is an actual person that they are part of, yes.''
::: Yes, the best way to stop the fetishization of breasts is to come up with a game that allows men to reduce every encounter with a woman into an opportunity to touch her breasts. Why look a woman in the eye when it's so much easier to look at her button?
:*[http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project#2091014 JScalzi's comment], 2:10pm
::: 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#2091037 FelliniBlank comment], 2:24pm:
:::I just don't get why they didn't just stroll around in public at a crowded con wearing giant buttons that said:
::: I WOULD LIKE TO TOUCH THE BREASTS OF RANDOM WOMEN I DON'T KNOW but I am a feminist, baby, so don't punch me in the face
::: Oh, wait, that might have been humiliating and uncomfortable for the poor fellows, and we can't have that.
:*[http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project#2091164 penguinliz comment], 4:22pm
:::Part of the problem is that the actual reality of the project (small group of people, all linked in a network of friends, across both genders, not approaching any unconnected individuals, and just for the one convention) is totally at odd with theferrett's account, which gives the impression of a group of heterosexual men propositioning women they had never met because they thought their skimpy outfits were an invitation, and letting women know their breasts were worthy of groping. And goes on and on about how this was a wonderful, transcendent experience we should totally spread to other cons, and just screams of drooling fanboy finding a way to cop a feel and generally invokes my OH JOHN RINGO NO sense. I do find it hard to reconcile the smart, feminist women I know taking part in anything like that, and while the clarifications help, they don't negate the creepy vibe of the first post and many of theferett's replies to comments.

*[http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#more Women's bodies: Just like open-source software!], [[Feministing]], 4/23 1:29pm
:: [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:
::: ''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.''
:: [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147622 Comment by Loriet], 4/23 6:50pm:
::: ''It's a little ironic that this debacle cropped up during Sexual Assault Awareness month...very timely, if you ask me.'''
:: 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]
::: ''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.''
:: 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:
:::''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)
:: Anna comments ([http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147705 4/24 8:08am]), quoted in full below:
::: 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.
::: 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?
::: 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.
::: 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.)
::: 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.
::: 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".
::: Either way, he frames this as being all about him, his comfort levels, his sexual-healing, his wants.
::: 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.
::: 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.
::: Theferret's are.
::: Words ''matter''.
:: Ed.: Damn. Yeah, they do.

:: 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]):
::: 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.

*[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''
:: -- and now another perspective, with commentary about "[[booth babes]]"
*[http://blogsisters.blogspot.com/2008/04/feminism-and-two-trainwrecks-on.html Feminism and Two Trainwrecks on the Interwebs], ''BlogSisters'', 4/23:
:: ''[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?''
*[http://www.sloganeering.org/blog/?p=503 Open Source is not Always the Answer], Sloganeering, 4/23
*[http://viv.id.au/blog/?p=1640 “Open Source Boob Project”: Around the blogs], ''Hoyden About Town'', 4/24
*[http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/83256/ Open Source Boob Project], Sabotabby / Punkassblog @ Alternet, 4/24
*[http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/?p=3414 “Women’s bodies: Just like open-source software!”], [[Ann Bartow]], ''Feminist Law Professors'', 4/25
*[http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=29410 The open source boob project], Thordis, Snopes.com discussion board > SLC Central > Soapbox Derby, 4/25 5:46pm
:: Comment #18 by PallasAthena 4/25 7:12pm:
::: The sad (and disgusting) thing is, the "ferret" seems to think he's somehow honoring women by groping them. A lot of the high school techy-types I knew would have had similar misguided ideas. How sad that a male might think he's doing a woman a favor by feeling her up.
:: Comment #20 by TurquoiseGirl 4/25 7:29pm:
::: I have mainly been around science geeks most of my life, but there is this underlying theme that glamorous women who do not flock to them because of their amazing brains, it is proof that women are shallow. At the same time, they evaluate women solely on their appearance. Evidently having an amazing brain is not an attractor to them. This is depsite the fact that these men have personal care/hygeine issues what would automatically disqualify any woman having the same issues as being considered ogle worthy. There is just this sense of entitlement that somehow they are owed women that drives me up the wall.

=== ...fandom keeps on churning (4/24 and on) ===

*[http://shaysdays.livejournal.com/344566.html What I have to say about the whole Open Source Brouhaha Thing....], 4/24 1:37 am
*[http://delux-vivens.livejournal.com/801997.html?thread=3543501#t3543501 one last thing.], delux-vivens, 4/24 8:41
::You know what? I cant begin to get worked up over the Open Source Boob mess.
:: Not because its not annoying, but because (1) it seems like everything worthwhile has already been said and (2) I have a hard time seeing a lot of people get so worked up over something that a lot of women of color have to deal with every day. ...
:: From utter strangers feeling entitled to grab at our hair to men propositioning us for prostitution under any circumstances (waiting for the subway, heading to the office), plenty of women have to deal with the idea that we are already 'open source' or whatever the hell and have to suffer in silence to boot.

*[http://vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com/595965.html Update on gross con guys feeling breasts posts], ''Vulgar Criminal'' (4/24 9:49)
*[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/174058.html More Very Important Things To Think About With Respect To Boobs], vito_excalibur, 4/24 17:13

*[http://wildcherrygal.livejournal.com/115235.html Fanboys making women feel unsafe], WildCherryGal's LJ ''Indeterminate Nature'', 4/26 4:00pm

==Summaries, wrap-ups, and linkfests==

* [http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=340 Liz Henry, 4/22], [[Feminist SF blog]] - Summary of the blogstorm at 36 hours
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/9338.html journalfen] massive link roundup
*[http://lauredhel.livejournal.com/233281.html Selective and Arbitrary: - "Open Source Boob Project": Around the blogs], lauredhel's journal, 4/24
*[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.
*[http://viv.id.au/blog/?p=1640 “Open Source Boob Project”: Around the blogs], ''Hoyden About Town'', 4/24
*[http://sophy.livejournal.com/1106863.html More intelligent links on this stupid project], sophy LJ, 4/25 5:01
*[http://www.kith.org/journals/jed/2008/04/28/11138.html Open Source Boob Project], Lorem Ipsum, 4/28

==assorted unsorted links==

*[http://community.livejournal.com/metafandom/187521.html metafandom]
*[http://rm.livejournal.com/1335386.html nonscience] - poll about unwanted sexual contact
*[http://synecdochic.livejournal.com/214607.html Don't Be That Guy.], synecdochic, 4/26:
:: I ''keep'' thinking about the discussions that have come up in the comments to my post about sex-positivism and performative sexuality and the concept of bystander consent, and I ''keep'' thinking about all the subtle little cues and clues I personally use to separate Okay from Skeevy when people approach me. Talking in the comments there made me realize that I do have a list. It's my list, and it's not the be-all and end-all of everyone's list. Most everyone has a different subset of The List.
*[http://timjr.livejournal.com/306882.html Amazingly, an Unlocked Post- A Straight Geek Male's Guide to Interaction with Females], timjr Your Sadly Atypical Male, 4/24:
:: With all the latest LJ hoopla over the "Open-Source Boob Project", and the issues therein, I have decided to write up a very simple guide as to what sort of boundaries a geek male has to maintain in person-to-person contact with the opposite sex. ... And now, we present... A Straight Geek Male's Guide to Interaction with Females
:: Here are the Basic Principles:
:: 1. R-E-S-P-E-C-T
:: 2. Thou Shalt Keep Thy Hands to Thyself
:: 3. Stop, Collaborate, and Listen.
:: 4. Staring is Not Caring (a.k.a Her Eyes Really Are Up There)
:: 5. No. Means. No.
:: 6. The Three H's. ... Humility Humor Hygiene
*[http://jimhines.livejournal.com/364144.html?style=mine Thoughts on Men and Rape], 4/21 Jim C Hines

==Outcomes==

* 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.

*[http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/606344.html Back Up], rachelmanija, 4/24:
:: ''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 [http://www.dragoncon.org/ 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)

==References==

{{reflist}}

==See also==
* [[Project Backup]]
* [[Harlan Ellison Breast Grab Incident]] (2006) - seriously, what is it with guys & women's breasts?
* The [[Great Blowjob Wars of 2006]] on feminist blogs (not originating in fandom)

[[Category:2008 events]]
[[Category:Sexism incidents and controversies]]
[[Category:Internet drama]]
[[Category:Fandom]]
[[Category:SF conventions]]

File:Locked.png

2010-11-20T17:28:06Z

XtinaS:

Ann Bartow

2010-11-20T17:21:22Z

XtinaS:

[[Ann Bartow]] is a Professor of Law at the [http://www.law.sc.edu/faculty/bartow/ University of South Carolina School of Law]. She also administers, and posts at, the [http://www.feministlawprofessors.com Feminist Law Professors blog].

[[Category: Living people]]

Ann Bartow

2010-11-20T17:21:06Z

XtinaS: Created page with "Ann Bartow is a Professor of Law at the [http://www.law.sc.edu/faculty/bartow/ University of South Carolina School of Law]. She also administers, and posts at, the [http://ww..."

Objectification

2010-11-20T17:20:41Z

XtinaS:

[[Objectification]] is the act of turning a real, living person into an object, in one's mind:

: Objectification is a notion central to feminist theory. It can be roughly defined as the seeing and/or treating a person, usually a woman, as an ''object''<ref>[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-objectification/ Feminist Perspectives on Objectification], Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2010-03-10.</ref>.

''Sexual'' objectification is objectification that occurs within the realm of sex and related matters. For example, treating a woman as though she only exists for sex is sexual objectification.

== References ==

{{reflist}}

[[Category: Communications, language, linguistics]]

Fan

2010-11-20T17:13:24Z

XtinaS:

'''Fan''', short for "fanatic" or "fancier", is a term used to refer to enthusiasts or admirers of a person, performance, phenomenon or object, especially within science fiction and other genre circles. Two plural forms for the word exist: '''fans''' and '''fen'''.

The derivative, '''fandom''', denotes at once the performance towards which fans find enthusiasm, the relationship between the audience members and the performer, or performance, as well as the activity generated by this audience in the pursuit of its hobby, and the realm of global '''fannish''' interactions in and of itself.

=== Fandom and Gender ===

The word '''fan''' is often inflected according to gender as '''fangirl''' or '''fanboy''' (these usages being more common in media-related fandoms). Although fans are themselves mocked by the [[mundane]] (non-fans), this inflection may carry a more pejorative quality by assigning sex-linked (and youth-linked) characteristics derived from stereotypes. But it can also be a mode of self-identification on the part of the fan [[per]]-self. Traditional, text-oriented fandom once used the term "femmefan" to designate a female fan, but the term is archaic, having gone out of date during the simultaneous rise of second-wave feminism and influx of female fans into fandom.

=== Sexism in Fandom ===

Since the phenomenon of gendering carries into fandom, as it does into all aspects of a society informed by the division of labour into hierarchical sex classes, there is sexism in fandom.

In the first place, the performances for which fans are united in common admiration are themselves the product of such societies, and thus fannish relationships to those performances must perforce reckon their sexism.

Some manifestations of this sexism include the [[Objectification|sexual objectification]] of female characters, the suppression of women's input, [[sexual harassment]], and the marginalisation of female fen.

The [[Mary Sue]] phenomenon is also linked to sexism in fandom.

[[category:Fandom]]
[[Category:Identities]]

Objectification

2010-11-20T17:12:45Z

XtinaS:

Objectification

2010-11-20T17:10:45Z

XtinaS: Created page with "Objectification is the act of turning a real, living person into an object, in one's mind: : Objectification is a notion central to feminist theory. It can be roughly define..."

Girl-wonder.org

2010-11-20T17:05:51Z

XtinaS: Redirected page to Girl-Wonder.org

#REDIRECT [[Girl-Wonder.org]]

Open Source Boob Project

2010-11-20T17:01:58Z

XtinaS:

The '''Open Source Boob Project''' (OSBP) was a brief project held at [http://www.penguicon.org/ Penguicon] (an open source/SF/geek con) in April of 2008, stemming from an even smaller experiment among friends that proceeded it at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConFusion_%28convention%29 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 saying "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 original 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].

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]].

Interesting discussions that came out of the furor:

* [[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
* [[geek male psychology]] - many posts
* [[geek female psychology]] - some posts
* [[con safety]] > see LJ community [http://bellwether_talk.livejournal.com/ bellwether_talk] about con safety (established in the wake of [[Harlan-gate]])
:: > '''[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173664.html Project Back Up: Women Defending Women]''' (vito_excalibur)
::: > [http://community.livejournal.com/backupproject/ BackUpProject LJ community]
::: > [http://www.backupproject.org/ Project Back Up] website
* definitions of [[feminism]] - some posts

==A history in links==

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.

===The proposal (4/21) and original incident===

April 21, TheFerrett proposes repetitions of the "Open Source Boob Project" based on an experience he had at Penguicon 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.

* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html The Open-Source Boob Project], theferrett (4/21): TheFerrett 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.)
:: TheFerrett's description of the project:
::: 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?"
:: Some of the choice excerpts from his write-up and proposal include:
::: [T]he women retained their right to say no, of course[.]
:
::: 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.
:
:::And then the real magic happened. Because a beautiful girl in an incredibly skimpy blue Princess outfit strode down the hallway, '''obviously putting her assets on display''' (the thin strips of her clothing had to be taped to her body to stay on), and we stopped her. "Excuse me," the first, very brave girl asked. "You're very beautiful. I'd like to touch your breasts. Would you mind if I did?" We held our breath. We didn't want to offend. This could go wrong, collapsing and turning us into cruel lechers who'd make her feel uncomfortable and shamed of who she was.... She thought for a heartbeat, sizing us up. But there must have been something honest and trustworthy in our eyes that promised that we wouldn't get out of hand... Because after a moment, she smiled and said, "Sure!"

::: 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.
:
::: "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."

====Original incident: Other voices====

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.

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.

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.

Other voices:

* [http://novapsyche.livejournal.com/1996568.html NovaPsyche, 4/22 1:43pm]
* [http://netmouse.livejournal.com/488735.html Anne, 4/23 11:50am]
* [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147655 Dawn, 4/23 10:28pm]
* [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147673 Dawn, 4/24 12:07am]
* [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147714 Ellalthea, 4/24 10:23am]

===Outrage quickly follows (4/21)===

*[http://classics-cat.livejournal.com/1291537.html A few grotesque things for your Monday.], classic_cats: I'm done with elephants and clowns, 4/21 11:49am (login required)
*[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 (deleted)
*[http://sinboy.livejournal.com/871986.html some mature non directly sexual content WRT touching and consent], sinboy LJ, 4/21 20:54:
:: 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
*[http://springheel-jack.livejournal.com/2504302.html open source male assholes], springheel_jack (4/21 22:56) -- the basic libertarian fallacy
:: The ferrett wonders why a man’s asking, out of the blue, if he can feel up a woman’s boobs shouldn’t be understood as “a way of saying that I may not yet know your mind, but your body is beautiful.” But this is simply to ask why he shouldn’t be able to continue to ''treat women as they have always been treated''. Body first, sexual delectation to men first, as ''object'' first, “mind” - i.e. as a human subject - very firmly second. It’s simply to intensify the condition of patriarchal gender relations that already existed - or, to put it more simply, it’s a frustrated man’s fantasy of ''putting women back in their place''.

:: And here we have the usual libertarian solution to everything - in the name of a false individuality, itself the product of an illegitimate reification and universalization of the social conditions of propertied white men - we have a retreat into the worst of the dark days of gender relations before feminism, offered as a so-called “advance” into a “more honest” and “freer” world. This is pernicious masculine ideology at its most pure and most insufferable. In the name of “empowering” women, we have…more of the same poison that women have been trying to free themselves of for all this time.
*[http://glvalentine.livejournal.com/68505.html GLValentine], 4/21 23:19:
:: ''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.''

===... including on TheFerrett's LJ thread===

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:

* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54722758#t54722758 tablesaw]
:: A close reading in three parts of TheFerrett's original post that point out
::: (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;
::: (b) how the [[male gaze]] was used throughout TheFerrett's descriptions of the event;
::: (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.
::: (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.).
:: TheFerrett responds and that response, too, is fisked:
::: ''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.''
:: and:
::: ''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? Yes, I think you fucking could have.'''
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54853830#t54853830 mswyrr]
:: 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?
:: 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.

*[http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54773190#t54773190 tablesaw, 4/22]:
:: ''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.''

===... and continues (4/22)===

*[http://serenejournal.livejournal.com/948058.html?thread=5702234#t5702234%22 pleonastic], 4/22 3:30am
*[http://kate-nepveu.livejournal.com/323736.html On asking to touch the breasts of a stranger], Kate Nepveu, 4/22 07:41:
:: ''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.''
* [http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808826.html CoffeeAndInk], 4/22 08:48:
:: ''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!''
:*Comment thread: [http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808826.html?thread=9929338#t9929338 Inhammer] (4/22) rechristens it the "public domain boob project"
*[http://cynthia1960.livejournal.com/165099.html Just what I needed for a rage-honing morning jolt...], Cynthia1960, 4/22 8:54am - Great threaded discussion
*[http://hahathor.livejournal.com/120502.html The OSKSP], hahathor, 4/22 9:14am: "The Open Source Knuckle Sandwich Project":
:: ''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.''
*[http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/605708.html A proposal to crush the button-enabled sexual harassment proposal], Rachel Manija, 4/22 09:23:
:: ''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.''
*[http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/1229281.html Welcome to the Harlan Ellison Memorial Personal Boundaries Club], James Nicoll, 4/22, 10:34:
:: 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."
:: and
:: ''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.''
*[http://ladyjax.livejournal.com/574671.html Steaming bowl of hot mess] (4/22 11:14am), ladyjax
*[http://ojouchan.livejournal.com/182207.html You Can Not HAZ!], ''No No Ojou-chan!'', 4/22 11:36:
:: Notes the pressure placed by requests from [[celebrities]]; [[body issues]] and [[con culture]]; [[male gaze]] and [[privilege]].
*[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:
:: ''For the record: my boobies--like the rest of my body parts--are proprietary.''

===The clarification (4/22)===

* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1088382.html Clarification], theferrett: TheFerrett tries to explain (4/22 12:21)
:: Yeah, that didn't help.

=== ... discussion continues (4/22)===

*[http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=650 Open Source Boobs], John Scalzi, 4/22 1:33pm
:: Contextualizing it as an attempt to demystify breasts to help eliminate objectification of women. Also, noting that "context is extremely important for something like this."
*[http://novapsyche.livejournal.com/1996568.html My brief thoughts on the Open Source Boob Project], The Eye of Nova's Mind, 4/22 1:43pm:
:: 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.''
* [http://misia.livejournal.com/1055120.html A Modest Proposal], aka the '''Open Source Swift Kick in the Balls Project''', misia, 4/22 13:58
*[http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808967.html coffeeandink] (4/22 14:10):
:: ''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.''
*[http://ladyjax.livejournal.com/575119.html A proposal], LadyJax, Subtle, Yet Effective Mood Adjustment, 4/22 3:10 pm:
:: ''Touch your own damn self.''
*[http://roseembolism.livejournal.com/119139.html The Open Source...HAAIIIII-YAH!], Rose Embolism LJ, 4/22 3:40pm
*[http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/161643.html I find it highly amusing that his username is "ferret."], MysticKeeper, 4/22 5:11pm
:: Summary with good quotes and excerpts.
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/9338.html OH JOHN RINGO NO], melannen in unfunnybusiness JournalFen community, 4/22 17:40
*[http://badgerbag.livejournal.com/96182.html The open source groper project], ''badgerbag'', 4/22 18:24:
:: ''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.''
:: Also, ruminations on the [[hanky code]].
*[*[http://oursin.livejournal.com/839272.html Invizbel soshul contrakt], 4/22 8:16pm, oursin: It's Always More Complicated
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/wank_report/518.html?thread=2021382#t2021382 Wank Report] (4/22 8:52pm), JournalFen.net
*[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173519.html wrapping up] (4/22 21:13) vito excalibur explains how he succeeded in his goal in bringing all of fandom together united with a common purpose.

*[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 :
:: ''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!''

===The apology===
TheFerrett sort of apologizes: (4/22):
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html The Open-Source Boob Project], theferrett: TheFerrett recants on his original post with a long preface at the top. TheFerrett 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.

===...discussion ''still'' continues (4/22) ===

; fandom outrage continues apace:
* [http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=340 The Internets work how they’re supposed to], [[Liz Henry]], 4/22, [[Feminist SF blog]]
:: 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.

===...and continues (4/23) ===

* [http://rivkat.livejournal.com/189290.html The right of making available], Rivkat, 4/23 9:10 :
:: A patent/trademark/copyright lawyer explains how "Open Source" is a fallacy in this case.
*[http://vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com/594784.html Why women need mace at cons.], VulgarCriminal, 4/23 9:42
*[http://ktempest.livejournal.com/292271.html Oh Boob Grab, We’ll Miss Thee (actually, we won’t, but…)], [[K. Tempest Bradford]], 4/23 9:43
* [http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173664.html This is not a joke.], ''Vito Excalibur'', 4/23 10:21:
:: Vito proposes the "[[Open Source Women Back Each Other Up Program]]"
:::''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.''

:::''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.''

:::''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.''

*[[Designated Sidekick]] at [[girl-wonder.org]] [http://www.girl-wonder.org/designatedsidekick/2008/04/23/closed-source-misogyny Closed Source Misogyny] (4/23 4:40pm):
:: 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.)
*[http://aqueductpress.blogspot.com/2008/04/men-and-women-in-public-space.html Men and Women in Public Space], 4/23 5:50pm, [[Timmi Duchamp]], [[Ambling Along the Aqueduct]]
::The outrage du jour is tired, tedious, and old-fashioned, however dressed-up it might be in new language. The "Open Source Boob Project," for all its claim to hipness, once again figures women's bodies as property (a practice commonly known as [[sexual objectification]]). The point is not sex--it never is--but the terms on which women negotiate (or are allowed to negotiate) public space. It's the same issue that arose when the POTUS put his hands on the German Chancellor at a high-level public function. Do white men figure themselves as property? The thought never even crosses their minds. ... Rage is the appropriate response to outrageous beahvior.
*[http://perpetual-lent.livejournal.com/187893.html Previous Entry Boob project?! YOU'RE a boob project!], ''Perpetual Lent'', 4/23 20:54:
:: ''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.)

*[http://community.livejournal.com/sf_drama/835072.html SF_Drama] (4/23) highlights TheFerrett'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.
*[http://emmelinemay.livejournal.com/1009295.html Breast drama!], 4/23, Adventures of the Dread Pirate Emmeline May!
:: ''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 spiritual.''
:: ''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.'' ...
:: ''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.''
*[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
*[http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=656 A bit more on OSB], John Scalzi, 4/23
*[http://netmouse.livejournal.com/ The Open Source Boob Project and subsequent stoning], ''NetMouse'' 4/23
:: 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.''
*[http://sandrewswann.blogspot.com/2008/04/internet-is-stupid-place.html Andrew Swann] (4/23):
:: Struck by the out-of-proportionality (and decontextualization) of the Internet.
*[http://www.getofftheinternet.org/groping-vainly-for-a-clue/2008/04/23/ groping vainly for a clue], Charlie Bebattica, ''Get Off the Internet' 4/23
:: Lost in all the talk of lost inhibitions and discovered beauty is the lopsided power dynamic inherent in these, ahem, “transactions,” specifically whose “needs” are actually being met gratified. A simple working knowledge of group dynamics (and nerd culture) casts some doubt on the supposedly “opt-in,” “no pressure” consensual nature of the arrangement, as it leaves out questions of peer pressure and the need to belong, not to mention the host of associated issues involving a subculture where insecurities and feelings of isolation are commonly found. All high-falutin’ justifications aside, that shit can’t be exorcised by having a stranger feel you up, though there are plenty folks out there who’ll try to argue otherwise in exchange for the opportunity for a free grope.

=== ...hits the mainstream (4/23)... ===

; and the whole thing breaks the fandom atmospheric barriers on 4/23:
*[http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project The Open Source Boob Project], Hildegarde @ MetaFilter, 4/23 5:25am
:*[http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project#2090549 Pastabagel's comment], 811am
::: ''For a moment, everything that was awkward about high school would fade away and you could just say what was on your mind.''
::: Nerds have to take responsibility for their own lives. I was a nerd in high school, and high school for me sucked in every way imaginable. But once you are in college, there are no more cliques that exclude you, no more baggage, no more parents etc. You are on your own. If two months into college you are still alienated and ostracized, it is your fault, not society's. You are lacking in some social skills that others have, and that deficiency is holding you back.
::: For some reason, it became socially acceptable for nerds to retreat into computers and wallow in their alienation, instead of trying to improve themselves. The inability to talk to girls, strangers, and adults became a source of pride. Nerds have built a sub-culture for themselves that so insular that they have managed to convince each other that the rest of society is backwards, and that they are the smart and enlightened.
::: Truth be told, it is very easy to talk to women if you realize that they are people with a mind who have something interesting to say. '''Women aren't a collection of sex parts behind a security system that needs to be bypassed before you can access them.''' If you are thirty and can't talk to women, you need to see a psychologist, because you have serious problems. Acknowledging this to be the case is part of the solution, but not the entire solution.
::: On to the articles: the idea of these buttons came about because this guy and his friends were lamenting that groping a woman's breasts wasn't a trivial. They can't talk to women, which actually is trivial, so they want the entirely of interpersonal interaction that extends beyond conversation collapsed down to the level of a polite greeting. That is insane.
::: (bold added)

:* [http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project#2090595 Pastabagel's comment], 847am
::: ''By the end of the evening, women were coming up to us. "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.''
::: ... But there it is again, we showed them how beautiful their bodies were. They were the arbiters of beauty, and it depended on first touching their breasts. See how he tries to sound magnanimous in the act of judging her? Because at the core level, this is about power and control for these guys. He's so happy he had some power over women for once, he can't contain himself.
::: And Scalzi's take is, I'm sorry to say, preposterous:
::: ''I think it’s reasonable for folks to get used to breasts being a component of a whole human, not these strange, mystical entities there to entice and distract one, and if there’s any place where there are people who could benefit from this lesson, it’s a convention full of computer, science fiction and anime geeks, many of whom are very young men (temporally and/or socially). Hopefully some of them benefited from the experience, and not just because they got to touch a girl’s breasts.''
::: What's the benefit that the geeks can gain from this? How does creating an environment where it's socially acceptable for men to ask to touch a woman's breasts help them to see that breasts are a component of the whole woman? They aren't asking to hold their hand or touch their hair. You know what would actually help these geeks?
::: Notice that the commentary is from the standpoint of the guys. Why does he assume that geeks=men. Weren't the women there also geeks? What is the lesson that women learned? They learn that men can change the social order at their whim into an one where their refusal to have strangers violate their personal space nonetheless attracts undue attention to their bodies. Men of course do not have to submit.
::: You know what I'm going to do for the next Penguincon? I'm going to hire five or six nearby college football teams to show up in full uniform and just walk around through the entire convention, mingling and saying and doing whatever they want. You want high school, motherfucker? I'll give you high school.
:* [http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project#2090886 turaho responds to one of the original stated intentions] (12:46pm):
:::''I’m for the idea of demystifying breasts to young men who fetishize them to the extent of not being able to process the fact there is an actual person that they are part of, yes.''
::: Yes, the best way to stop the fetishization of breasts is to come up with a game that allows men to reduce every encounter with a woman into an opportunity to touch her breasts. Why look a woman in the eye when it's so much easier to look at her button?
:*[http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project#2091014 JScalzi's comment], 2:10pm
::: 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#2091037 FelliniBlank comment], 2:24pm:
:::I just don't get why they didn't just stroll around in public at a crowded con wearing giant buttons that said:
::: I WOULD LIKE TO TOUCH THE BREASTS OF RANDOM WOMEN I DON'T KNOW but I am a feminist, baby, so don't punch me in the face
::: Oh, wait, that might have been humiliating and uncomfortable for the poor fellows, and we can't have that.
:*[http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project#2091164 penguinliz comment], 4:22pm
:::Part of the problem is that the actual reality of the project (small group of people, all linked in a network of friends, across both genders, not approaching any unconnected individuals, and just for the one convention) is totally at odd with theferrett's account, which gives the impression of a group of heterosexual men propositioning women they had never met because they thought their skimpy outfits were an invitation, and letting women know their breasts were worthy of groping. And goes on and on about how this was a wonderful, transcendent experience we should totally spread to other cons, and just screams of drooling fanboy finding a way to cop a feel and generally invokes my OH JOHN RINGO NO sense. I do find it hard to reconcile the smart, feminist women I know taking part in anything like that, and while the clarifications help, they don't negate the creepy vibe of the first post and many of theferett's replies to comments.

*[http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#more Women's bodies: Just like open-source software!], [[Feministing]], 4/23 1:29pm
:: [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:
::: ''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.''
:: [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147622 Comment by Loriet], 4/23 6:50pm:
::: ''It's a little ironic that this debacle cropped up during Sexual Assault Awareness month...very timely, if you ask me.'''
:: 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]
::: ''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.''
:: 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:
:::''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)
:: Anna comments ([http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147705 4/24 8:08am]), quoted in full below:
::: 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.
::: 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?
::: 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.
::: 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.)
::: 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.
::: 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".
::: Either way, he frames this as being all about him, his comfort levels, his sexual-healing, his wants.
::: 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.
::: 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.
::: Theferret's are.
::: Words ''matter''.
:: Ed.: Damn. Yeah, they do.

:: 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]):
::: 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.

*[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''
:: -- and now another perspective, with commentary about "[[booth babes]]"
*[http://blogsisters.blogspot.com/2008/04/feminism-and-two-trainwrecks-on.html Feminism and Two Trainwrecks on the Interwebs], ''BlogSisters'', 4/23:
:: ''[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?''
*[http://www.sloganeering.org/blog/?p=503 Open Source is not Always the Answer], Sloganeering, 4/23
*[http://viv.id.au/blog/?p=1640 “Open Source Boob Project”: Around the blogs], ''Hoyden About Town'', 4/24
*[http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/83256/ Open Source Boob Project], Sabotabby / Punkassblog @ Alternet, 4/24
*[http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/?p=3414 “Women’s bodies: Just like open-source software!”], [[Ann Bartow]], ''Feminist Law Professors'', 4/25
*[http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=29410 The open source boob project], Thordis, Snopes.com discussion board > SLC Central > Soapbox Derby, 4/25 5:46pm
:: Comment #18 by PallasAthena 4/25 7:12pm:
::: The sad (and disgusting) thing is, the "ferret" seems to think he's somehow honoring women by groping them. A lot of the high school techy-types I knew would have had similar misguided ideas. How sad that a male might think he's doing a woman a favor by feeling her up.
:: Comment #20 by TurquoiseGirl 4/25 7:29pm:
::: I have mainly been around science geeks most of my life, but there is this underlying theme that glamorous women who do not flock to them because of their amazing brains, it is proof that women are shallow. At the same time, they evaluate women solely on their appearance. Evidently having an amazing brain is not an attractor to them. This is depsite the fact that these men have personal care/hygeine issues what would automatically disqualify any woman having the same issues as being considered ogle worthy. There is just this sense of entitlement that somehow they are owed women that drives me up the wall.

=== ...fandom keeps on churning (4/24 and on) ===

*[http://shaysdays.livejournal.com/344566.html What I have to say about the whole Open Source Brouhaha Thing....], 4/24 1:37 am
*[http://delux-vivens.livejournal.com/801997.html?thread=3543501#t3543501 one last thing.], delux-vivens, 4/24 8:41
::You know what? I cant begin to get worked up over the Open Source Boob mess.
:: Not because its not annoying, but because (1) it seems like everything worthwhile has already been said and (2) I have a hard time seeing a lot of people get so worked up over something that a lot of women of color have to deal with every day. ...
:: From utter strangers feeling entitled to grab at our hair to men propositioning us for prostitution under any circumstances (waiting for the subway, heading to the office), plenty of women have to deal with the idea that we are already 'open source' or whatever the hell and have to suffer in silence to boot.

*[http://vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com/595965.html Update on gross con guys feeling breasts posts], ''Vulgar Criminal'' (4/24 9:49)
*[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/174058.html More Very Important Things To Think About With Respect To Boobs], vito_excalibur, 4/24 17:13

*[http://wildcherrygal.livejournal.com/115235.html Fanboys making women feel unsafe], WildCherryGal's LJ ''Indeterminate Nature'', 4/26 4:00pm

==Summaries, wrap-ups, and linkfests==

* [http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=340 Liz Henry, 4/22], [[Feminist SF blog]] - Summary of the blogstorm at 36 hours
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/9338.html journalfen] massive link roundup
*[http://lauredhel.livejournal.com/233281.html Selective and Arbitrary: - "Open Source Boob Project": Around the blogs], lauredhel's journal, 4/24
*[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.
*[http://viv.id.au/blog/?p=1640 “Open Source Boob Project”: Around the blogs], ''Hoyden About Town'', 4/24
*[http://sophy.livejournal.com/1106863.html More intelligent links on this stupid project], sophy LJ, 4/25 5:01
*[http://www.kith.org/journals/jed/2008/04/28/11138.html Open Source Boob Project], Lorem Ipsum, 4/28

==assorted unsorted links==

*[http://community.livejournal.com/metafandom/187521.html metafandom]
*[http://rm.livejournal.com/1335386.html nonscience] - poll about unwanted sexual contact
*[http://synecdochic.livejournal.com/214607.html Don't Be That Guy.], synecdochic, 4/26:
:: I ''keep'' thinking about the discussions that have come up in the comments to my post about sex-positivism and performative sexuality and the concept of bystander consent, and I ''keep'' thinking about all the subtle little cues and clues I personally use to separate Okay from Skeevy when people approach me. Talking in the comments there made me realize that I do have a list. It's my list, and it's not the be-all and end-all of everyone's list. Most everyone has a different subset of The List.
*[http://timjr.livejournal.com/306882.html Amazingly, an Unlocked Post- A Straight Geek Male's Guide to Interaction with Females], timjr Your Sadly Atypical Male, 4/24:
:: With all the latest LJ hoopla over the "Open-Source Boob Project", and the issues therein, I have decided to write up a very simple guide as to what sort of boundaries a geek male has to maintain in person-to-person contact with the opposite sex. ... And now, we present... A Straight Geek Male's Guide to Interaction with Females
:: Here are the Basic Principles:
:: 1. R-E-S-P-E-C-T
:: 2. Thou Shalt Keep Thy Hands to Thyself
:: 3. Stop, Collaborate, and Listen.
:: 4. Staring is Not Caring (a.k.a Her Eyes Really Are Up There)
:: 5. No. Means. No.
:: 6. The Three H's. ... Humility Humor Hygiene
*[http://jimhines.livejournal.com/364144.html?style=mine Thoughts on Men and Rape], 4/21 Jim C Hines

==Outcomes==

* 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.

*[http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/606344.html Back Up], rachelmanija, 4/24:
:: ''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)

==References==

{{reflist}}

==See also==
* [[Project Backup]]
* [[Harlan Ellison Breast Grab Incident]] (2006) - seriously, what is it with guys & women's breasts?
* The [[Great Blowjob Wars of 2006]] on feminist blogs (not originating in fandom)

[[Category:2008 events]]
[[Category:Sexism incidents and controversies]]
[[Category:Internet drama]]
[[Category:Fandom]]
[[Category:SF conventions]]

Open Source Boob Project

2010-11-20T17:01:27Z

XtinaS: Minor clean-up; removed the {{seed}} template, as this is a mighty oak.

The '''Open Source Boob Project''' (OSBP) was a brief project held at [http://www.penguicon.org/ Penguicon] (an open source/SF/geek con) in April of 2008, stemming from an even smaller experiment among friends that proceeded it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConFusion_%28convention%29 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 saying "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 original 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].

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]].

Interesting discussions that came out of the furor:

* [[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
* [[geek male psychology]] - many posts
* [[geek female psychology]] - some posts
* [[con safety]] > see LJ community [http://bellwether_talk.livejournal.com/ bellwether_talk] about con safety (established in the wake of [[Harlan-gate]])
:: > '''[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173664.html Project Back Up: Women Defending Women]''' (vito_excalibur)
::: > [http://community.livejournal.com/backupproject/ BackUpProject LJ community]
::: > [http://www.backupproject.org/ Project Back Up] website
* definitions of [[feminism]] - some posts

==A history in links==

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.

===The proposal (4/21) and original incident===

April 21, TheFerrett proposes repetitions of the "Open Source Boob Project" based on an experience he had at Penguicon 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.

* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html The Open-Source Boob Project], theferrett (4/21): TheFerrett 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.)
:: TheFerrett's description of the project:
::: 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?"
:: Some of the choice excerpts from his write-up and proposal include:
::: [T]he women retained their right to say no, of course[.]
:
::: 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.
:
:::And then the real magic happened. Because a beautiful girl in an incredibly skimpy blue Princess outfit strode down the hallway, '''obviously putting her assets on display''' (the thin strips of her clothing had to be taped to her body to stay on), and we stopped her. "Excuse me," the first, very brave girl asked. "You're very beautiful. I'd like to touch your breasts. Would you mind if I did?" We held our breath. We didn't want to offend. This could go wrong, collapsing and turning us into cruel lechers who'd make her feel uncomfortable and shamed of who she was.... She thought for a heartbeat, sizing us up. But there must have been something honest and trustworthy in our eyes that promised that we wouldn't get out of hand... Because after a moment, she smiled and said, "Sure!"

::: 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.
:
::: "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."

====Original incident: Other voices====

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.

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.

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.

Other voices:

* [http://novapsyche.livejournal.com/1996568.html NovaPsyche, 4/22 1:43pm]
* [http://netmouse.livejournal.com/488735.html Anne, 4/23 11:50am]
* [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147655 Dawn, 4/23 10:28pm]
* [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147673 Dawn, 4/24 12:07am]
* [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147714 Ellalthea, 4/24 10:23am]

===Outrage quickly follows (4/21)===

*[http://classics-cat.livejournal.com/1291537.html A few grotesque things for your Monday.], classic_cats: I'm done with elephants and clowns, 4/21 11:49am (login required)
*[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 (deleted)
*[http://sinboy.livejournal.com/871986.html some mature non directly sexual content WRT touching and consent], sinboy LJ, 4/21 20:54:
:: 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
*[http://springheel-jack.livejournal.com/2504302.html open source male assholes], springheel_jack (4/21 22:56) -- the basic libertarian fallacy
:: The ferrett wonders why a man’s asking, out of the blue, if he can feel up a woman’s boobs shouldn’t be understood as “a way of saying that I may not yet know your mind, but your body is beautiful.” But this is simply to ask why he shouldn’t be able to continue to ''treat women as they have always been treated''. Body first, sexual delectation to men first, as ''object'' first, “mind” - i.e. as a human subject - very firmly second. It’s simply to intensify the condition of patriarchal gender relations that already existed - or, to put it more simply, it’s a frustrated man’s fantasy of ''putting women back in their place''.

:: And here we have the usual libertarian solution to everything - in the name of a false individuality, itself the product of an illegitimate reification and universalization of the social conditions of propertied white men - we have a retreat into the worst of the dark days of gender relations before feminism, offered as a so-called “advance” into a “more honest” and “freer” world. This is pernicious masculine ideology at its most pure and most insufferable. In the name of “empowering” women, we have…more of the same poison that women have been trying to free themselves of for all this time.
*[http://glvalentine.livejournal.com/68505.html GLValentine], 4/21 23:19:
:: ''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.''

===... including on TheFerrett's LJ thread===

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:

* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54722758#t54722758 tablesaw]
:: A close reading in three parts of TheFerrett's original post that point out
::: (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;
::: (b) how the [[male gaze]] was used throughout TheFerrett's descriptions of the event;
::: (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.
::: (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.).
:: TheFerrett responds and that response, too, is fisked:
::: ''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.''
:: and:
::: ''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? Yes, I think you fucking could have.'''
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54853830#t54853830 mswyrr]
:: 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?
:: 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.

*[http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html?thread=54773190#t54773190 tablesaw, 4/22]:
:: ''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.''

===... and continues (4/22)===

*[http://serenejournal.livejournal.com/948058.html?thread=5702234#t5702234%22 pleonastic], 4/22 3:30am
*[http://kate-nepveu.livejournal.com/323736.html On asking to touch the breasts of a stranger], Kate Nepveu, 4/22 07:41:
:: ''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.''
* [http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808826.html CoffeeAndInk], 4/22 08:48:
:: ''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!''
:*Comment thread: [http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808826.html?thread=9929338#t9929338 Inhammer] (4/22) rechristens it the "public domain boob project"
*[http://cynthia1960.livejournal.com/165099.html Just what I needed for a rage-honing morning jolt...], Cynthia1960, 4/22 8:54am - Great threaded discussion
*[http://hahathor.livejournal.com/120502.html The OSKSP], hahathor, 4/22 9:14am: "The Open Source Knuckle Sandwich Project":
:: ''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.''
*[http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/605708.html A proposal to crush the button-enabled sexual harassment proposal], Rachel Manija, 4/22 09:23:
:: ''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.''
*[http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/1229281.html Welcome to the Harlan Ellison Memorial Personal Boundaries Club], James Nicoll, 4/22, 10:34:
:: 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."
:: and
:: ''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.''
*[http://ladyjax.livejournal.com/574671.html Steaming bowl of hot mess] (4/22 11:14am), ladyjax
*[http://ojouchan.livejournal.com/182207.html You Can Not HAZ!], ''No No Ojou-chan!'', 4/22 11:36:
:: Notes the pressure placed by requests from [[celebrities]]; [[body issues]] and [[con culture]]; [[male gaze]] and [[privilege]].
*[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:
:: ''For the record: my boobies--like the rest of my body parts--are proprietary.''

===The clarification (4/22)===

* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1088382.html Clarification], theferrett: TheFerrett tries to explain (4/22 12:21)
:: Yeah, that didn't help.

=== ... discussion continues (4/22)===

*[http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=650 Open Source Boobs], John Scalzi, 4/22 1:33pm
:: Contextualizing it as an attempt to demystify breasts to help eliminate objectification of women. Also, noting that "context is extremely important for something like this."
*[http://novapsyche.livejournal.com/1996568.html My brief thoughts on the Open Source Boob Project], The Eye of Nova's Mind, 4/22 1:43pm:
:: 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.''
* [http://misia.livejournal.com/1055120.html A Modest Proposal], aka the '''Open Source Swift Kick in the Balls Project''', misia, 4/22 13:58
*[http://coffeeandink.livejournal.com/808967.html coffeeandink] (4/22 14:10):
:: ''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.''
*[http://ladyjax.livejournal.com/575119.html A proposal], LadyJax, Subtle, Yet Effective Mood Adjustment, 4/22 3:10 pm:
:: ''Touch your own damn self.''
*[http://roseembolism.livejournal.com/119139.html The Open Source...HAAIIIII-YAH!], Rose Embolism LJ, 4/22 3:40pm
*[http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/161643.html I find it highly amusing that his username is "ferret."], MysticKeeper, 4/22 5:11pm
:: Summary with good quotes and excerpts.
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/9338.html OH JOHN RINGO NO], melannen in unfunnybusiness JournalFen community, 4/22 17:40
*[http://badgerbag.livejournal.com/96182.html The open source groper project], ''badgerbag'', 4/22 18:24:
:: ''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.''
:: Also, ruminations on the [[hanky code]].
*[*[http://oursin.livejournal.com/839272.html Invizbel soshul contrakt], 4/22 8:16pm, oursin: It's Always More Complicated
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/wank_report/518.html?thread=2021382#t2021382 Wank Report] (4/22 8:52pm), JournalFen.net
*[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173519.html wrapping up] (4/22 21:13) vito excalibur explains how he succeeded in his goal in bringing all of fandom together united with a common purpose.

*[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 :
:: ''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!''

===The apology===
TheFerrett sort of apologizes: (4/22):
* [http://theferrett.livejournal.com/1087686.html The Open-Source Boob Project], theferrett: TheFerrett recants on his original post with a long preface at the top. TheFerrett 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.

===...discussion ''still'' continues (4/22) ===

; fandom outrage continues apace:
* [http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=340 The Internets work how they’re supposed to], [[Liz Henry]], 4/22, [[Feminist SF blog]]
:: 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.

===...and continues (4/23) ===

* [http://rivkat.livejournal.com/189290.html The right of making available], Rivkat, 4/23 9:10 :
:: A patent/trademark/copyright lawyer explains how "Open Source" is a fallacy in this case.
*[http://vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com/594784.html Why women need mace at cons.], VulgarCriminal, 4/23 9:42
*[http://ktempest.livejournal.com/292271.html Oh Boob Grab, We’ll Miss Thee (actually, we won’t, but…)], [[K. Tempest Bradford]], 4/23 9:43
* [http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/173664.html This is not a joke.], ''Vito Excalibur'', 4/23 10:21:
:: Vito proposes the "[[Open Source Women Back Each Other Up Program]]"
:::''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.''

:::''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.''

:::''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.''

*[[Designated Sidekick]] at [[girl-wonder.org]] [http://www.girl-wonder.org/designatedsidekick/2008/04/23/closed-source-misogyny Closed Source Misogyny] (4/23 4:40pm):
:: 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.)
*[http://aqueductpress.blogspot.com/2008/04/men-and-women-in-public-space.html Men and Women in Public Space], 4/23 5:50pm, [[Timmi Duchamp]], [[Ambling Along the Aqueduct]]
::The outrage du jour is tired, tedious, and old-fashioned, however dressed-up it might be in new language. The "Open Source Boob Project," for all its claim to hipness, once again figures women's bodies as property (a practice commonly known as [[sexual objectification]]). The point is not sex--it never is--but the terms on which women negotiate (or are allowed to negotiate) public space. It's the same issue that arose when the POTUS put his hands on the German Chancellor at a high-level public function. Do white men figure themselves as property? The thought never even crosses their minds. ... Rage is the appropriate response to outrageous beahvior.
*[http://perpetual-lent.livejournal.com/187893.html Previous Entry Boob project?! YOU'RE a boob project!], ''Perpetual Lent'', 4/23 20:54:
:: ''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.)

*[http://community.livejournal.com/sf_drama/835072.html SF_Drama] (4/23) highlights TheFerrett'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.
*[http://emmelinemay.livejournal.com/1009295.html Breast drama!], 4/23, Adventures of the Dread Pirate Emmeline May!
:: ''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 spiritual.''
:: ''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.'' ...
:: ''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.''
*[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
*[http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=656 A bit more on OSB], John Scalzi, 4/23
*[http://netmouse.livejournal.com/ The Open Source Boob Project and subsequent stoning], ''NetMouse'' 4/23
:: 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.''
*[http://sandrewswann.blogspot.com/2008/04/internet-is-stupid-place.html Andrew Swann] (4/23):
:: Struck by the out-of-proportionality (and decontextualization) of the Internet.
*[http://www.getofftheinternet.org/groping-vainly-for-a-clue/2008/04/23/ groping vainly for a clue], Charlie Bebattica, ''Get Off the Internet' 4/23
:: Lost in all the talk of lost inhibitions and discovered beauty is the lopsided power dynamic inherent in these, ahem, “transactions,” specifically whose “needs” are actually being met gratified. A simple working knowledge of group dynamics (and nerd culture) casts some doubt on the supposedly “opt-in,” “no pressure” consensual nature of the arrangement, as it leaves out questions of peer pressure and the need to belong, not to mention the host of associated issues involving a subculture where insecurities and feelings of isolation are commonly found. All high-falutin’ justifications aside, that shit can’t be exorcised by having a stranger feel you up, though there are plenty folks out there who’ll try to argue otherwise in exchange for the opportunity for a free grope.

=== ...hits the mainstream (4/23)... ===

; and the whole thing breaks the fandom atmospheric barriers on 4/23:
*[http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project The Open Source Boob Project], Hildegarde @ MetaFilter, 4/23 5:25am
:*[http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project#2090549 Pastabagel's comment], 811am
::: ''For a moment, everything that was awkward about high school would fade away and you could just say what was on your mind.''
::: Nerds have to take responsibility for their own lives. I was a nerd in high school, and high school for me sucked in every way imaginable. But once you are in college, there are no more cliques that exclude you, no more baggage, no more parents etc. You are on your own. If two months into college you are still alienated and ostracized, it is your fault, not society's. You are lacking in some social skills that others have, and that deficiency is holding you back.
::: For some reason, it became socially acceptable for nerds to retreat into computers and wallow in their alienation, instead of trying to improve themselves. The inability to talk to girls, strangers, and adults became a source of pride. Nerds have built a sub-culture for themselves that so insular that they have managed to convince each other that the rest of society is backwards, and that they are the smart and enlightened.
::: Truth be told, it is very easy to talk to women if you realize that they are people with a mind who have something interesting to say. '''Women aren't a collection of sex parts behind a security system that needs to be bypassed before you can access them.''' If you are thirty and can't talk to women, you need to see a psychologist, because you have serious problems. Acknowledging this to be the case is part of the solution, but not the entire solution.
::: On to the articles: the idea of these buttons came about because this guy and his friends were lamenting that groping a woman's breasts wasn't a trivial. They can't talk to women, which actually is trivial, so they want the entirely of interpersonal interaction that extends beyond conversation collapsed down to the level of a polite greeting. That is insane.
::: (bold added)

:* [http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project#2090595 Pastabagel's comment], 847am
::: ''By the end of the evening, women were coming up to us. "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.''
::: ... But there it is again, we showed them how beautiful their bodies were. They were the arbiters of beauty, and it depended on first touching their breasts. See how he tries to sound magnanimous in the act of judging her? Because at the core level, this is about power and control for these guys. He's so happy he had some power over women for once, he can't contain himself.
::: And Scalzi's take is, I'm sorry to say, preposterous:
::: ''I think it’s reasonable for folks to get used to breasts being a component of a whole human, not these strange, mystical entities there to entice and distract one, and if there’s any place where there are people who could benefit from this lesson, it’s a convention full of computer, science fiction and anime geeks, many of whom are very young men (temporally and/or socially). Hopefully some of them benefited from the experience, and not just because they got to touch a girl’s breasts.''
::: What's the benefit that the geeks can gain from this? How does creating an environment where it's socially acceptable for men to ask to touch a woman's breasts help them to see that breasts are a component of the whole woman? They aren't asking to hold their hand or touch their hair. You know what would actually help these geeks?
::: Notice that the commentary is from the standpoint of the guys. Why does he assume that geeks=men. Weren't the women there also geeks? What is the lesson that women learned? They learn that men can change the social order at their whim into an one where their refusal to have strangers violate their personal space nonetheless attracts undue attention to their bodies. Men of course do not have to submit.
::: You know what I'm going to do for the next Penguincon? I'm going to hire five or six nearby college football teams to show up in full uniform and just walk around through the entire convention, mingling and saying and doing whatever they want. You want high school, motherfucker? I'll give you high school.
:* [http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project#2090886 turaho responds to one of the original stated intentions] (12:46pm):
:::''I’m for the idea of demystifying breasts to young men who fetishize them to the extent of not being able to process the fact there is an actual person that they are part of, yes.''
::: Yes, the best way to stop the fetishization of breasts is to come up with a game that allows men to reduce every encounter with a woman into an opportunity to touch her breasts. Why look a woman in the eye when it's so much easier to look at her button?
:*[http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project#2091014 JScalzi's comment], 2:10pm
::: 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#2091037 FelliniBlank comment], 2:24pm:
:::I just don't get why they didn't just stroll around in public at a crowded con wearing giant buttons that said:
::: I WOULD LIKE TO TOUCH THE BREASTS OF RANDOM WOMEN I DON'T KNOW but I am a feminist, baby, so don't punch me in the face
::: Oh, wait, that might have been humiliating and uncomfortable for the poor fellows, and we can't have that.
:*[http://www.metafilter.com/71075/The-Open-Source-Boob-Project#2091164 penguinliz comment], 4:22pm
:::Part of the problem is that the actual reality of the project (small group of people, all linked in a network of friends, across both genders, not approaching any unconnected individuals, and just for the one convention) is totally at odd with theferrett's account, which gives the impression of a group of heterosexual men propositioning women they had never met because they thought their skimpy outfits were an invitation, and letting women know their breasts were worthy of groping. And goes on and on about how this was a wonderful, transcendent experience we should totally spread to other cons, and just screams of drooling fanboy finding a way to cop a feel and generally invokes my OH JOHN RINGO NO sense. I do find it hard to reconcile the smart, feminist women I know taking part in anything like that, and while the clarifications help, they don't negate the creepy vibe of the first post and many of theferett's replies to comments.

*[http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#more Women's bodies: Just like open-source software!], [[Feministing]], 4/23 1:29pm
:: [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:
::: ''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.''
:: [http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147622 Comment by Loriet], 4/23 6:50pm:
::: ''It's a little ironic that this debacle cropped up during Sexual Assault Awareness month...very timely, if you ask me.'''
:: 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]
::: ''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.''
:: 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:
:::''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)
:: Anna comments ([http://feministing.com/archives/009066.html#comment-147705 4/24 8:08am]), quoted in full below:
::: 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.
::: 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?
::: 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.
::: 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.)
::: 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.
::: 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".
::: Either way, he frames this as being all about him, his comfort levels, his sexual-healing, his wants.
::: 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.
::: 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.
::: Theferret's are.
::: Words ''matter''.
:: Ed.: Damn. Yeah, they do.

:: 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]):
::: 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.

*[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''
:: -- and now another perspective, with commentary about "[[booth babes]]"
*[http://blogsisters.blogspot.com/2008/04/feminism-and-two-trainwrecks-on.html Feminism and Two Trainwrecks on the Interwebs], ''BlogSisters'', 4/23:
:: ''[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?''
*[http://www.sloganeering.org/blog/?p=503 Open Source is not Always the Answer], Sloganeering, 4/23
*[http://viv.id.au/blog/?p=1640 “Open Source Boob Project”: Around the blogs], ''Hoyden About Town'', 4/24
*[http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/83256/ Open Source Boob Project], Sabotabby / Punkassblog @ Alternet, 4/24
*[http://feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu/?p=3414 “Women’s bodies: Just like open-source software!”], [[Ann Bartow]], ''Feminist Law Professors'', 4/25
*[http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=29410 The open source boob project], Thordis, Snopes.com discussion board > SLC Central > Soapbox Derby, 4/25 5:46pm
:: Comment #18 by PallasAthena 4/25 7:12pm:
::: The sad (and disgusting) thing is, the "ferret" seems to think he's somehow honoring women by groping them. A lot of the high school techy-types I knew would have had similar misguided ideas. How sad that a male might think he's doing a woman a favor by feeling her up.
:: Comment #20 by TurquoiseGirl 4/25 7:29pm:
::: I have mainly been around science geeks most of my life, but there is this underlying theme that glamorous women who do not flock to them because of their amazing brains, it is proof that women are shallow. At the same time, they evaluate women solely on their appearance. Evidently having an amazing brain is not an attractor to them. This is depsite the fact that these men have personal care/hygeine issues what would automatically disqualify any woman having the same issues as being considered ogle worthy. There is just this sense of entitlement that somehow they are owed women that drives me up the wall.

=== ...fandom keeps on churning (4/24 and on) ===

*[http://shaysdays.livejournal.com/344566.html What I have to say about the whole Open Source Brouhaha Thing....], 4/24 1:37 am
*[http://delux-vivens.livejournal.com/801997.html?thread=3543501#t3543501 one last thing.], delux-vivens, 4/24 8:41
::You know what? I cant begin to get worked up over the Open Source Boob mess.
:: Not because its not annoying, but because (1) it seems like everything worthwhile has already been said and (2) I have a hard time seeing a lot of people get so worked up over something that a lot of women of color have to deal with every day. ...
:: From utter strangers feeling entitled to grab at our hair to men propositioning us for prostitution under any circumstances (waiting for the subway, heading to the office), plenty of women have to deal with the idea that we are already 'open source' or whatever the hell and have to suffer in silence to boot.

*[http://vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com/595965.html Update on gross con guys feeling breasts posts], ''Vulgar Criminal'' (4/24 9:49)
*[http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/174058.html More Very Important Things To Think About With Respect To Boobs], vito_excalibur, 4/24 17:13

*[http://wildcherrygal.livejournal.com/115235.html Fanboys making women feel unsafe], WildCherryGal's LJ ''Indeterminate Nature'', 4/26 4:00pm

==Summaries, wrap-ups, and linkfests==

* [http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=340 Liz Henry, 4/22], [[Feminist SF blog]] - Summary of the blogstorm at 36 hours
*[http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/9338.html journalfen] massive link roundup
*[http://lauredhel.livejournal.com/233281.html Selective and Arbitrary: - "Open Source Boob Project": Around the blogs], lauredhel's journal, 4/24
*[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.
*[http://viv.id.au/blog/?p=1640 “Open Source Boob Project”: Around the blogs], ''Hoyden About Town'', 4/24
*[http://sophy.livejournal.com/1106863.html More intelligent links on this stupid project], sophy LJ, 4/25 5:01
*[http://www.kith.org/journals/jed/2008/04/28/11138.html Open Source Boob Project], Lorem Ipsum, 4/28

==assorted unsorted links==

*[http://community.livejournal.com/metafandom/187521.html metafandom]
*[http://rm.livejournal.com/1335386.html nonscience] - poll about unwanted sexual contact
*[http://synecdochic.livejournal.com/214607.html Don't Be That Guy.], synecdochic, 4/26:
:: I ''keep'' thinking about the discussions that have come up in the comments to my post about sex-positivism and performative sexuality and the concept of bystander consent, and I ''keep'' thinking about all the subtle little cues and clues I personally use to separate Okay from Skeevy when people approach me. Talking in the comments there made me realize that I do have a list. It's my list, and it's not the be-all and end-all of everyone's list. Most everyone has a different subset of The List.
*[http://timjr.livejournal.com/306882.html Amazingly, an Unlocked Post- A Straight Geek Male's Guide to Interaction with Females], timjr Your Sadly Atypical Male, 4/24:
:: With all the latest LJ hoopla over the "Open-Source Boob Project", and the issues therein, I have decided to write up a very simple guide as to what sort of boundaries a geek male has to maintain in person-to-person contact with the opposite sex. ... And now, we present... A Straight Geek Male's Guide to Interaction with Females
:: Here are the Basic Principles:
:: 1. R-E-S-P-E-C-T
:: 2. Thou Shalt Keep Thy Hands to Thyself
:: 3. Stop, Collaborate, and Listen.
:: 4. Staring is Not Caring (a.k.a Her Eyes Really Are Up There)
:: 5. No. Means. No.
:: 6. The Three H's. ... Humility Humor Hygiene
*[http://jimhines.livejournal.com/364144.html?style=mine Thoughts on Men and Rape], 4/21 Jim C Hines

==Outcomes==

* 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.

*[http://rachelmanija.livejournal.com/606344.html Back Up], rachelmanija, 4/24:
:: ''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)

==References==

{{reflist}}

==See also==
* [[Project Backup]]
* [[Harlan Ellison Breast Grab Incident]] (2006) - seriously, what is it with guys & women's breasts?
* The [[Great Blowjob Wars of 2006]] on feminist blogs (not originating in fandom)

[[Category:2008 events]]
[[Category:Sexism incidents and controversies]]
[[Category:Internet drama]]
[[Category:Fandom]]
[[Category:SF conventions]]