GeekGirlCon is a unique convention held in Seattle for the last six years. As a 501(c)(3) (aka a charity) organization the convention is organized by volunteers except for their one paid employee, the executive director. They only were able to hire an executive director this year as what started as a small convention has grown over the years to fill more and more space in the Washington State Conference center.
Unlike many other conventions, it has the mission of inclusivity meaning “ALL ages, gender identities, sexual orientations, sizes, abilities, ethnicities, nationalities, races, creeds, religions, familial statuses, physical and mental abilities, alien species, earth species, education levels, science specializations, operating system preference, fandoms, etc., are welcome.” As defined by themselves. This definition for inclusivity means that their goal is intersectional feminism centered on a geek community.
Last year was a great introduction to the set up and so this year I was more selective. I attended only three panels, besides my own, and my favorite was #BlackWomenDreaming with some of the amazing writers from Black Nerd Problems. The panel was a fantastic introduction into creating your own working, supportive, and accountable creative community. Some of the highlights included: be honest when you give criticism and when you talk about your goals, reach out to people to create your community, and make sure to keep our eye out for opportunities to one another. There were a ton more great moments from the panel but overall it captured the best parts of GeekGirlCon by highlighting the voices of women of color and the outlining ways that we can promote a healthy geek community.
Besides panels, I got to meet up with some old friends and make some new ones too. Ran into my friend Hannah dressed as the awesome Liv Moore from iZOMBiE and caught up a bit. Was ambushed by my friend Carrie, who was a panelist for me last year and who was part of the #BlackWomenDreaming panel. Saw the amazing Tristan at their table and on my panel. I also got to meet Kiku, Symantha, and Sarah who were all fantastic on the panel I moderated (I’ll talk about that in a forthcoming blog). I also introduced myself to a few more people who I may tap for panels for Emerald City. Also my mom came and was at my panel. She was a very fantastic typical mom who is not versed in Geek stuff but seemed to enjoy it nonetheless.
GeekGirlCon is fantastic for being one of a handful of feminist nerd conventions around the world. It promotes girls of color in STEM by having them on their imagery and donating passes to organization such as Con or Bust, which helps People of Color / non-white folks attend conventions. The majority of their speakers are women, non-binary, or trans folks and the content of panels at the convention really brings that inclusivity home. It highlights professionals from those groups in gaming, writing, art, illustration, crafts, voice-acting, science, industry, and other fields. It shows not only women as characters but highlights the importance of women as do-ers and creators, demonstrating how girls and women can decide the narrative and their lives.
This con is extremely valuable in this regard as so often, conventions are coded as male-centered spaces and sometimes, even as extremely unhealthy male-centered spaces. GeekGirlCon contrasts that by specifically trying to build positive community and to highlight topics of discussion, through their programming, that would be considered a side-issue at larger conventions. However, GeekGirlCon is not perfect and I’ll talk about that in my next blog on why Representation at Cons matters.
