Feminism
I did this panel with
snowspider. I was delighted to read a comment on the Redemption mailing list today from a guy who said this was his favourite serious panel of the weekend. I have sat on similar panels which have been dominated by one or two guys who are very hostile to feminism, and I was braced for all sorts of aggro, and felt a bit silly when absolutely none of it materialsed :-) Instead everyone was courteous and considered. To summarise what people said:- We like to see female characters treated as people in their own right
- We'd like more use of female metaphors and language ('A land Cunt Pink and Avocado Green, brassiered and girdled by monstrous complexities of Super Highways') though obviously not to the exclusion of masculine and neutral language
- We sometimes like to read angry and polemical stories
- We like hot kick-ass chicks, but we'd like a wider range of female role models please (mmkay?)
Firefly
The panel was
pinkdormouse and altariel who are also massive fans of the show. I was worried that - despite their stabilising influence on me - the discussion would turn into a drool-fest (Me repeating 'Wow, is Jayne hot or what?' perhaps a bit boring for the audience in general). Instead we did manage to cover quite a few topics, about the background and possible future of the show for example. What interests me as that people with widely different opinions think that Firefly represents their point of view. For example we were lucky to have an eloquent libertarian in the audience who explained that Firefly endorsed her beliefs, though of course everyone knows it endoses mine Humph. And in conclusion - bring back Firefly!
Gotta go. More later.
