Eastercon and diversity

[nanila]

lapswood was kind enough to send me a few photos he took at Eastercon last month. I thought this one made a nice illustration of some points that were made about PoCs and the (lack of) diversity at science fiction conventions.

This is from the panel I was on. Myself, the gentleman next to me and the man on the opposite end from me are all working scientists. The other man is the moderator - I'm not sure whether or not he is a scientist.



When I look at this picture, the first thing that pops into my head is the Sesame Street song: "One of these things is not like the others/One of these things just doesn't belong."

Visually, the thing that doesn't belong is me. And that makes me sad. What does it make you think?

Comments

[capri]

I wonder if you'd have better gender balance at a science panel at an Asian convention.

Also anecdata, but my experience of science conferences/anything in Singapore has also been dominated by white men. But it might just be a S'pore thing, given how much we spend on bringing migrant talents in.

Also racism. That.

I agree with the less gendered funnelling of people into the arts/sciences. That being said, I think the disparity round these parts (as in home parts) shows up more clearly at the top than it does in the UK/US, because we are so bad at supporting female leadership/scholarship.

[qian]

Mm, and Singapore is English-speaking mah. I imagine, but don't know for sure, that you'd struggle a bit more to have white-dominated panels in e.g. Hong Kong or Indonesia or Japan.

I think the disparity round these parts (as in home parts) shows up more clearly at the top than it does in the UK/US, because we are so bad at supporting female leadership/scholarship.

Interesting! My impression is just the opposite.

[capri]

True! I think this is one of those things S'pore just does differently from our neighbours because of our massive white-people-superiority complex (I'm sure there's a better/proper name for this — Pinkerton something?) and our propensity for throwing large wads of money at people we like. Or think we should like.

[nanila]

Also racism. That.

Yep. Not the marching-in-the-streets EDL kind. The subtly institutionalised kind that is incredibly difficult to fight because the people who perpetuate it don't think it exists and/or are incapable of recognising it in others and themselves.

[capri]

Yep. This problem is HUGE back home because race crosses an "out-of-bound marker" (this is a real actual term that is used, I'm not pulling it out of my ass) in public dialogue. We're firm believers in the "if we don't talk about it, it doesn't exist" philosophy.