Open Source Boob Project

The Open Source Boob Project was a short-lived proposal for women at cons to wear buttons signaling "yes you can ask (to grope my breasts)" or "no you can't ask (to grope my breasts)". Furor ensued; poster recanted in the name of con safety.

Interesting discussions that came out of the furor:

• sexism and male privilege (of course) - many, many posts
• geek male psychology - many posts
• geek female psychology - some posts
• con safety > Project Back Up: Women Defending Women (vito excalibur)

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 and original incident

April 21, TheFerrett proposes the "Open Source Boob Project" based on an experience at Penguicon (an open source/SF/geek con):

• The Open-Source Boob Project, theferrett (4/21): Ferrett puts his foot in it. (Original post is below the cut.)

Outrage quickly follows:

• A Modest Proposal, aka the Open Source Swift Kick in the Balls Project, Misia, 4/22 13:58
• Is this truly the only world I can live in? @ the red shoes, 4/21 19:05
• 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

• open source male assholes, springheel_jack (4/21 22:56) -- the basic libertarian fallacy
• 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.

April 22

• CoffeeAndInk, 4/22:

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: Inhammer (4/22) rechristens it the "public domain boob project"

• A proposal to crush the button-enabled sexual harassment proposal, Rachel Manija, 4/22:

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.

• OH JOHN RINGO NO, melannen in unfunnybusiness LJ community (4/22)
• Kate Nepveu, 4/22:

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.

• Open source WHAT??? (or, a policy statement that should not be necessary), cooler by the lake, 4/22:

For the record: my boobies--like the rest of my body parts--are proprietary.

• Open Source Boobs, John Scalzi, 4/22

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."

• You Can Not HAZ!, No No Ojou-chan!, 4/22:

Notes the pressure placed by requests from celebrities; body issues and con culture; male gaze and privilege.

• The OSKSP, hahathor, 4/22: "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.

• My brief thoughts on the Open Source Boob Project, The Eye of Nova's Mind, 4/22:

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.

• Welcome to the Harlan Ellison Memorial Personal Boundaries Club, James Nicoll, 4/22:

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.

• 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!

• Just what I needed for a rage-honing morning jolt..., Cynthia1960, 4/22 - Great threaded discussion
• Steaming bowl of hot mess (4/22), ladyjax

Including some excellent ones on TheFerrett's LJ thread:

• tablesaw
• mswyrr
• 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.

the clarification

Ferrett tries to explain (4/22):

• Clarification, theferrett: Ferrett tries to explain (4/22)

Discussion continues

• The open source groper project, badgerbag, 4/22:

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.

• coffeeandink (4/22):

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.

• pleonastic, 4/22
• wrapping up (4/22) vito excalibur explains how he succeeded in his goal in bringing all of fandom together united with a common purpose.
• Wank Report (4/22), JournalFen.net

the apology

Ferrett sort of apologizes: (4/22):

• The Open-Source Boob Project, TheFerrett: Ferrett recants on his original post with a long preface at the top. Ferrett removes the 1300 comments, then puts them back. This was deemed a faux-pology or heidipology by some.

discussion still continues

fandom outrage continues apace

• Liz Henry, 4/22, Feminist SF blog

and into april 23

• This is not a joke., Vito Excalibur, 4/23:

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.

• Oh Boob Grab, We’ll Miss Thee (actually, we won’t, but…), K. Tempest Bradford, 4/23
• The right of making available:

A patent/trademark/copyright lawyer explains how "Open Source" is a fallacy in this case, 4/23

• A bit more on OSB, John Scalzi, 4/23
• The Open Source Boob Project and subsequent stoning, NetMouse 4/23

NetMouse found the project feminist: To me this was really about gender-nonspecific personal connection and permission-granting (or not granting), not women caving to the male power or notions of body-rightness. ...Society has been telling us women all our lives that our breasts are not our own to make decisions about--that they are inherently only for certain approved purposes and we must otherwise cover them and protect them from detailed touch or inspection with things like bras and clothing and moats and lions and tigers, if necessary, because the only person who is allowed to see and touch them is YOUR MAN and you aren't allowed to assert a non-standard set of access permissions yourself. This project stood that on its head. It was in fact a fine case of feminist rebellion, combined with general rebellion against socially defined rules and toward opt-in interpersonal intimacy and appreciation. ... I think it was a good thing, and I admire my friends who started it, and I stand by them, and I am not ashamed that I was pleased to take part.

• Andrew Swann (4/23):

Struck by the out-of-proportionality (and decontextualization) of the Internet.

• Breast drama!, 4/23, Adventures of the Dread Pirate Emmeline May!

and now it's april 24

• May I grope your breasts? It's liberating!, (4/23) Rowanberries Wank Report @ otf_wank LJ
• Previous Entry Boob project?! YOU'RE a boob project!, Perpetual Lent, 4/24:

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.)

• Designated Sidekick at girl-wonder.org <a HREF="http://www.girl-wonder.org/designatedsidekick/2008/04/23/closed-source-misogyny/">extends the metaphor</a> (4/24):

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.)

• Update on gross con guys feeling breasts posts, Vulgar Criminal (4/24)

and the whole thing breaks the fandom atmospheric barriers

• Women's bodies: Just like open-source software!, Feministing, 4/23
• Open Source Boob Project: The True Story Of One Epic Day Nerds Groped Free, Jezebel

-- and now another perspective, with commentary about "booth babes"

• metafilter, 4/23
• 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?

• “Open Source Boob Project”: Around the blogs, Hoyden About Town, 4/24

outcomes

• Back Up, Manijia, 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. 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)

Summaries, wrap-ups, and linkfests

• Liz Henry, 4/22, Feminist SF blog - Summary of the blogstorm at 36 hours
• journalfen massive link roundup
• Selective and Arbitrary: - "Open Source Boob Project": Around the blogs, lauredhel's journal, 4/24
• 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.
• “Open Source Boob Project”: Around the blogs, Hoyden About Town, 4/24

See also

• Harlan Ellison Breast Grab Incident (2006) - seriously, what is it with guys & women's breasts?

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