Iain J Coleman ([info]iainjcoleman) wrote,
@ 2008-04-22 16:21:00
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Astonishing
It turns out this is not a parody.

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[info]communicator
2008-04-22 03:49 pm UTC (link)
did you see what nick mamatas posted on this important issue?



Edited at 2008-04-22 03:49 pm UTC

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[info]iainjcoleman
2008-04-22 04:01 pm UTC (link)
Ha!

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[info]katlinel
2008-04-22 05:04 pm UTC (link)
Fandom. Not a safe space.

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[info]iainjcoleman
2008-04-22 07:39 pm UTC (link)
It can be, if the people involved work to make it so. Much like anything else, really.

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[info]katlinel
2008-04-22 08:46 pm UTC (link)
It's already not a safe space for me. I've been sexually assaulted at a convention. And the ferret is working hard to make it even less so.

I'm reading some of the responses on other posts (the_red_shoes has a good round-up - no direct link as I haven't asked permission) as to why reading this has made me feel utterly nauseous.

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[info]iainjcoleman
2008-04-22 09:39 pm UTC (link)
I remember that incident (or rather, your later account of it).

On reflection, there's no such thing as a "safe space" in an absolute sense. Of course, fandom is a safe space in some respects: you can dress up as Yoda without neds throwing bottles at you, for example. However, this safety to be a geek in public does not translate into any other kind of safety. To the extent that fandom is generally safer than the public space as a whole, it's to do with demographics: most fans just aren't the kinds of people who start fist fights in bars. This demographic point doesn't carry over to sexual assault in all its forms, though. While the percentage of rapists in the male population is much smaller than the percentage of women who have been raped, you would still statistically expect that any fair-sized con will include a few men who have raped. Which is something I hadn't really thought about before, and it's creepy. Further, the very atmosphere of license which makes fandom a safe space in some respects can work the opposite way in terms of reducing some people's sexual inhibitions in a way that makes their fellow fans less safe. So "safe" is a very complex concept, and "safe space" is not something that necessarily generalises from one kind of safety to another.

That's a bit rambly, isn't it? Sorry. Thinking as I type.

Anyway, I've been more than a little taken aback by some of the people commenting on this whole thing, many of whom are apparently educated adults. On the plus side, there have been some very insightful responses too. Sadly, the comments on the original post vanished just as I posted my brief but high quality snark.

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[info]steverogerson
2008-04-23 12:00 am UTC (link)
I think it would be good to have a debate about this at Redemption, but I'm not sure exactly how we could do it or present it. I'm open to suggestions.

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[info]altariel
2008-04-23 08:27 am UTC (link)
Your snark is there.

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[info]iainjcoleman
2008-04-24 10:35 am UTC (link)
This pleased me, although I must say the finest snark in the entire comments thread was this.

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[info]altariel
2008-04-24 10:42 am UTC (link)
Ha! Perfect!

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[info]gillianinoz
2008-04-24 03:44 am UTC (link)
I followed you here from there just to tell you that your Hirohito quote made me shout a laugh out loud. It was perfect.



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[info]iainjcoleman
2008-04-24 10:31 am UTC (link)
Thank you! I aim to please.

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