I love GeekGirlCon, it does amazing things by creating space specifically for women in the Geek conMunity. These past two years have demonstrated that and each year they are heading towards their goal of being completely inclusive. But (yes the dreaded but) this year I examined GeekGirlCon for how they demonstrate, with real humans, that people of color are part of the Geek community. Which means that the Convention left some things to be desired, though some of those things are out of their control.
I want to and feel the need to address this specifically because:
1. I sat through at least one all white (presenting) panel
2. After my panel someone approached me with concerns about another panel that spoke about their heritage but the person talking was not of that heritage
3. I had a question during my panel about the participation of PoC in Cosplay
4. The room my panel was in ended up being too small, so people were turned away
Everything I love is problematic. I definitely think that GeekGirlCon is moving towards fulfilling their mission of being, essentially, a third-wave feminist convention, but there are holes, which I assume they are aware of, but in case they are not I think should be addressed.
All White Panels (AWPs)
What is this? Panels with only white panelists. This is in no way, shape, or form a problem unique to GeekGirlCon, you could say it’s a Paneldemic at mainstream conventions. Mainstream conventions have an all-white and all-male panel problem regardless of the topic under discussion. As GeekGirlCon has very much progressed past the all-male panel, the next step is to avoid AWPs. In the same way, that in academia there is always a woman expert that could speak, at cons (and in academia TBH) there is a woman of color who should be on that panel.
Why does this matter? Well, it, fuck it just does. Ok you want reasons well here are some. It makes the default relationship to the topic the white relationship to the topic. The panels put together by all PoC groups were labeled as such (Asian, Black, or Mixed-Race experience). In contrast, all-white panels were not labeled even though the presentation would be limited to the experience of a single group. This becomes even more awkward when having an all-white panel talking about a non-American cultural property because race-is-always-a-thing and influences how and why you associate yourself with a product. For example, looking back, Sailor Moon and the rise of Japanese-cartoons were super important for me because at the time they were the only association I had to Asian-heritage in the mainstream. It wasn’t Filipino but it was Asian, the half of my identity that was not being validated or explored through any other medium. Obviously, things not from America are important for lots of people but we cannot accept, especially at GeekGirlCon, the white experience as the only/default experience. It’s also a problem because it reinforces the stereotype that nerd-culture is white culture and reinforces the idea that PoC interested in nerd culture are not allowed or are outsiders.
How can we fix this? There’s no good way to screen for all-white panels but consider putting it into the form to have panel submissions self-select. Something along the lines of “Do your panelists represent diverse experiences with the topic under discussion in regards to race/class/ability/experience?” Then you have to explicitly talk about it, and if you do find out a panel is all white, considering labeling it as such in the same way you would identify an all-Asian panel.
Panel Authority
What is this? I generalized this to the idea of “panel authority” but it’s the idea “do the people on the panel have the right to talk about the topic”. An attendee at my panel mentioned wanting to have more of their heritage represented on panels because they felt that someone on another panel had spoken on behalf of that community without being from that community. This is definitely not unique to GeekGirlCon, but it’s also not uncommon for people “in the know,” particularly progressive people, to assume they are informed when they may not be.
Why does this matter To paraphrase a previous paragraph, it just fucking does. On the one hand, it's great that people create panels with their friends, but on the other hand you need to consider who your friends are. This is particularly important because as much as we can empathize with people of different backgrounds and may be informed enough to speak for them it never makes up for actively having those people speak for themselves, particularly in regards to culture and beliefs. We all speak from experience and a love for the topic under discussion but sometimes it's better to stop and say, maybe I don’t have the authority to say that, and ask the audience for someone who might be able to speak for that group or on the topic. This also relates to the issue in the previous section in that diverse panelists in terms of race will make that more likely. For example, if you’re going to discuss Mulan, having someone of Chinese (or at least Asian) descent may be good to have on your panel. Obviously, you can’t cover everything and you don’t want to tokenize people, but considering the authority your panelists have should be an important reason why you select them.
How can we fix this? I think the same question I suggested in the previous section could go a long way. Additionally, asking moderators and panelists to be aware of their audience and acknowledge if they are not the authority on the topic would help as well.
PoC in Cosplay
What is this? So one of the questions I had during my panel was about the Cosplay competition asking about how to get more mixed/diverse people not just cosplaying but competing. She also mentioned that of the PoC represented, most were children. We suggested directly asking friends to compete, helping those friends finish their cosplay, and supporting each other to do that. GeekGirlCon actually had the panels such as “Black Cosplay Magic: Cosplayers of Color Talk” and “Here come the “Bla-takus”: Being Black/ POC in the Anime Fandom” explicitly talked about PoC as cosplayers. However, few adult people of color were in the competition.
Why does this matter? A lot of the imagery and room names at the con advertises women of color but public participation is just as important. It matters because it demonstrates we are real and active members of the community. It matters not only that you see yourself represented in media, as characters, but that you can be seen as a valuable creator of that media. There are lots of well-known PoC in cosplay but bridging the gap to competition is important as cosplay contests get heavily featured in the program, which influences who might participate in following years and who the con is projecting is the audience and community they are serving. This comes down to putting your money where your mouth is regarding inclusivity and considering the ways that unintentionally the con might be discouraging adult PoC to participate in contests.
How can we fix this I think this comes back to what we as a panel suggested to our attendee. It may be up to the con to search out and actively encourage adult PoC to participate in cosplay competitions. It may not currently feel like a space where PoC feel that they can participate, as cosplay is expensive and, honestly, intimidating, so maybe hosting cosplay intros in communities of color (geography matters, do not ever forget that) and workshopping them towards competition may be a type of outreach that GeekGirlCon expands into in coming years.
Packed audiences for PoC Panels
What is this? Again it was another packed house for my panel. This sounds extremely self-serving, but my panels fill rooms. This meant that there were people who were turned away from the panel. Can I say that we would have filled the room if we had been scheduled in a larger room? I have no idea, but I do know that last year my panel on cultural appropriation filled a bigger room.
Why does this matter? This matters because people who wanted to attend programming for and by PoC were unable to attend that programming. This is just shitty. It means that people want more programming and want the space to be able to participate. Personally, I’d like to get passed panels that are just about the experience of PoC in nerdom but until we are regularly integrated into the narrative of nerd culture, we will require our own spaces to talk about our experiences as our own because those experiences are considered “unique” rather than the norm. This matters because if we continue to assume the default nerd is white (and in other contexts male) panels and cons need to work against that narrative actively to build an inclusive community.
How can we fix this? Try to get more panels by and for PoC into your programming, as participants on panels and by having more panels with them. GeekGirlCon does have quite a bit of that programming specifically for different PoC groups (“Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling: Examining the Representation of Asians in Film, TV, and Gaming,” “¿Cómo Se Dice ‘Nerd’?”, and “#BlackWomenDreaming” to name a few) but it’s clear that people want even more. These groups should also have expanding presences and be actively recruited to explore the unique experience of nerds of from different cultures/races/backgrounds. This will also be helped by having PoC on all panels at the con (cycling back to the first point) but also having panels about non-specific topics also staffed entirely by PoC. It circles back to reminding us that white-nerd culture is not the default.
My panels are not perfect. I haven’t reached my goals regarding them yet but I’m trying to create the programming I want to see at conventions. I also want to be a role model for others interested in bringing similar programming to conventions. There is a long way to go and lots of shit that needs doing but the success of panels like mine and #BlackWomenDreaming give me hope for how great the future of conventions could be. It requires work and in some cases taking the space we need at the table. It requires reaching out and hoping someone will reach back (and sometimes reaching out more than once to people who may not notice for a while). But those contacts will help GeekGirlCon and the nerd-dom grow into an amazing and new community. In general, this matters because representation matters and that should never be forgotten.
