Open Source Boob Project

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

Interesting discussions that came out of the furor:

A history in links

The proposal and original incident

April 21, TheFerrett proposes the "Open Source Boob Project" based on an experience at Penguicon:


Numerous blog reactions follow:

  • Open Source Swift Kick in the Balls Project, Misia
  • CoffeeAndInk: 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!
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Inhammer rechristens it the "public domain boob project"
  • springheel_jack, the basic libertarian fallacy
  • some mature non directly sexual content WRT touching and consent, sinboy LJ, 4/21: 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 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.
  • Is this truly the only world I can live in? @ the red shoes, 4/21
  • 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 - 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.)


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):


Discussion continues

  • coffeeandink: 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.
  • 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.
  • pleonastic, 4/22
  • A bit more on OSB, John Scalzi, 4/23
  • The Open Source Boob Project and subsequent stoning, NetMouse 4/23 - She 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.

the apology

Ferrett sort of apologizes: (4/22):

discussion still continues

... which doesn't end the discussion ...
  • Liz Henry, 4/22, Feminist SF blog
  • This is not a joke., Vito Excalibur, 4/23 - Vito proposes the "Open Source Women Back Each Other Up Program"
  • 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
  • Andrew Swann (4/23) is struck by the out-of-proportionality (and decontextualization) of the Internet.
  • 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.)


The whole thing breaks the fandom atmospheric barriers

Other summaries

See also

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