Something that occurred to me today

[catsittingstill]

In my entire time as a white college student (and I went to graduate school too, so there was a lot of it) I don't think I ever once got a comment like these. I bet I had an easier time dealing with the other challenges of college and of life because I didn't simultaneously have to deal with this.

I wonder if black people in fandom catch the same kind of flak? I would hope that fans would be civil, but sheesh, I would hope that Harvard students would be civil also, and that hope appears to be misplaced.

Comments

[markbernstein56]

Issues of race in fandom may not be as blatant, but they certainly exist. For a truly eye-opening (and depressing) education, try Googling on "racefail 09". I also recommend this post on Jim Hines' LiveJournal, which is a roundup of links to a two-week series of guest posts on diversity and representation in sf and fantasy. (And within the past year, I've watched discussions on Facebook where some fans proudly proclaimed that they "don't see color.")

This is an issue that's becoming, far too late, more and more visible. That's why Detcon1, this year's NASFiC (I'm on the committee) has a Diversity committee.

[scifantasy]

And there's Con or Bust, a charity auction to raise funds to help fans of color go to conventions (generally ones already friendly to diversity, such as Wiscon) to raise visibility and community.

[catsittingstill]

Yay for Con or Bust! I had heard about that, and I think it is great.

[catsittingstill]

I heard a little bit (teeny bit) about racefail. I kind of dread educating myself about it but I suppose it would be a good idea. (Can't I just be a Good Guy without actually knowing what is going on?--but .... can I?)

I saw some of the posts on Jim Hine's journal (the evil albino trope sticks in my mind--man, I had *no* idea albinos were treated badly) but I should go back and catch them all.

I'm glad there is a Diversity committee, and that the issue is becoming more visible.

[scifantasy]

You're right, it's a tricky thing. I find myself skimming a lot of posts that friends of mine make, on any platform, on this topic or related ones; outrage fatigue, I'm not really the target, not to mention that my voice isn't necessary, or indeed, welcome (and I'm OK with that, just to be clear).

Right now, it's fallout from the Jonathan Ross debacle, so sexism is in the forefront again.

But the long and short is that while SF fandom has been telling itself for a long time that it is above such petty concerns as race, gender, and sexual orientation, as befits a broad-thinking mindset that predicts and tries to understand aliens, computer intelligence, uplifted dolphins, and future medical/biological change...in the last few years it's coming to the dual realizations that a lot of the Grand Statesmen of the field are still Old White Guys with a lot of white male privilege, and that non-white non-male individuals have been feeling, if not officially unwelcome, effectively frozen out...and not everybody is willing to accept that this is the case. (I'd say 75+% of the screaming boils down to "But but but but I'm not ist"--racist, sexist, whatever--"so fandom can't be ist because if it is, then I'm ist and I'm not ist! And how dare you accuse me of being ist, you, you, you...[and here's where the slurs and coded words tend to pop out]")

[catsittingstill]

Nobody wants to think they're ist. And the ism seems to get worse when people want to disprove that they are ist.

It's like someone says "hey, there's a lizard here" and as a result of realizing it has been noticed, it turns into a giant firebreathing dragon.