Worldcon Dublin

[GCSciFiFan]

Any other GC fans going to Worldcon in Dublin? There’s already things I’ve seen on the schedule that make me want to stand outside in my AHF t-shirt but not brave enough to do it alone!

[GCSciFiFan]

Btw it’s a name change...been around here for years!

[Juells]

What does AHF stand for?

[Doyoumind]

It stands for woman!

[Juells]

Posted too soon. Didn't know it was on. AFAICR Robin Hobb was meant to be attending it, but had to cancel :( I'd have gone if she was there just to gawk admiringly at her

[Juells]

It stands for woman!

Oops just worked it out.

[MadamBatty]

I’ll stand outside with you

[Michelleoftheresistance]

Ooooh Robin Hobb!

[RosesAndRaindrops]

The sci fi convention?
Why is a sci fi convention a place to all gather with your adult human female t-shirts?
Everyone can go to sci fi conventions, people from all walks of life love them!
Wish I was closer, love a good one and that looks huge..

[RosesAndRaindrops]

Or is it cosplay you're objecting to as you've seen pictures?
There's always some awesome cosplayers at conventions, sometimes females wearing male costumes (I know someone who does Dr Who and is female, looks awesome as Matt Smith)
or the other way round where males cosplay characters.

[GCSciFiFan]

There seems to be an emphasis this time on queer/non binary/trans writing issues...cosplay doesn’t bother me at all because it’s dressing up!

[GCSciFiFan]

Update: I managed 3 days with my lanyard before I was threatened with expulsion for wearing it!!! Thankfully there’s nothing I want to do tomorrow so I don’t need to go back....

[Ereshkigal]

[Gcscififan]

Surprised I made it that long...I was playing buzzword bingo for a while in some of the talks...anything not about science mentioned trans within about 10 mins...one talk was about what to do if your favourite author has problematic views and jk Rowling was mentioned as being unreadable because she’s openly transphobic! This was said by one of the panellists as I was actually on the front row with lanyard visible!

[Ereshkigal]

LOL

[Ereshkigal]

An AHF lanyard? I didn't know there was such a thing, excited to know this!

[AlwaysComingHome]

Why is a sci fi convention a place to all gather with your adult human female t-shirts?

SF fandom was the first place to fall to TRAs.

[Gcscififan]

And boy has it fallen!

Lanyard from here www.standingforwomen.com/product-page/lanyard

I’m just annoyed I forgot my ahf stickers - I would have liked to stick them over all the notices in the loos about how we must allow anyone in who feels they belong there....

[Hulo]

Hey, I'm here rolling my eyes at the pronoun stickers. I have noted that the majority aren't wearing them but a significant minority are

[Hulo]

Oh yeah, I avoided the JK Rowling panel...a panel discussing 'problematic faves'

Steering clear of anything relating to diversity or identity politics too

[Gcscififan]

Hadn’t even thought of jkr as problematic...obv I’m not woke enough! I haven’t been going to diversity etc panels...the regency fantasy and dragons became a panel about how great it is to be able to include lesbians/trans in fantasy, obv problematic faves bought it up, food in fantasy did too somehow...it seems to be really important for all authors (fantasy) to show how relevant they are by saying how fab it is to include lgbtqibollox in all their writing! Meanwhile the lovely young lady I spent most of Wednesday/Thursday with who also had they/their as pronoun stickers (along with she/her) didn’t bat an eyelash at my lanyard!

It has cemented my “never again” resolve tho...my conclusion is that very few of the things are worth the queuing - they are perfectly fine but if you work out how much you effectively paid for each one and asked if you would pay that on the door the answer would be no!

Jocelyn Bell Burrell and Jeanette Epps were fab tho! And if the orbital mechanics talk tomorrow is the same as in Helsinki it’s worth going to!

[GCSciFiFan]

Oh and if you fancy having some fun happy to give you my lanyard!!!

[Pudner]

Which one of the panelists said JKR was transphobic? I have just this morning discovered I am blocked on Twitter by an Irish urban fantasy author, despite never tweeting anything GC or remotely anti trans and wondering if it is the same person.

There was quite a bit of chat on Twitter over the bathroom poster. Most of it was heaping praise on the inclusivity of the event and the pronoun stickers. In fairness, I think the sci-fi/fantasy community tends to be fairly inclusive anyway but this event was even more woke and politicised than usual. And yet there was no provision made for lactating women via a lactation room. That is the inclusivity for you!

Also, the DCC has Gents, Ladies and Unisex bathrooms, side by side. On a few occasions when I was using the Ladies there was a transwomen using also. So even though the third safe space was there, they weren't using it that I could see.

[Gcscififan]

Maquel Jacobs...but you can also add Emma Newman, Fran Wilde and sadly Mary Robinette Kowal to the list of those who have totally drunk the cool-aid.

And yes - this was far and away the worst worldcon for this...and I won’t be going to another.

We should have arranged a mumsnet party!!! Remember tw don’t want a third safe space they want ours :-(

That poster really pissed me off...I wanted to send dh into the ladies with a she pronoun sticker but otherwise as normal to make a point...but he’s too nice to do that!

[Ereshkigal]

So even though the third safe space was there, they weren't using it that I could see.

Of course they weren't, because it's not about safety, whatever the hyperbolic claims.

[GCSciFiFan]

I imagine trans men would have used the unisex space....

I always forget how very very odd a large proportion of the convention are...