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

[clanwilliam]

What, because you look more poised and together than anyone else on the panel? You look like the one with authority there, if that's any help.

Although I do have to query your use of "gentleman" to describe Dave.

[soliano]

You are the only one that doesn't look goofy.

[miss_s_b]

The one that looks out of place to me is the moderator, possibly just because of the pose and the moment that the picture has been taken, but he looks like a serial killer contemplating his next murder, and totally separate from the rest of you.

But yes, agreeing with the other commenter; you look like you are alert and engaged and authoritative, not like you don't belong. I'm still going to have that song in my head all day, though.

[qian]

Well, I think you look like you don't belong because you're the only Asian woman and the others are all white guys. Seems pretty obvious to me!

Flippancy aside, my first two thoughts were:

a) ayup, never going to Eastercon

b) I wonder if you'd have better gender balance at a science panel at an Asian convention. I'm inclined to think so because I haven't observed the same focused funnelling of women into the arts and men into the sciences in the Asian cultures I'm familiar with as there is in the UK/US. But, y'know, anecdata.

[dandelion_salad]

"One of these people I think I could relate to/One of these people is a breath of fresh air"

[innerbrat]

You and the moderator are the only people looking in the same direction, and from body language I infer the only people paying attention to the topic as hand. The gentleman next to you looks more interested in the contents of his hand, and the gentleman on the far end looks like someone in the front row just flashed him.

[ajnabieh]

You know, I think I agree with everybody--you look fabulous and very together, moreso than the other panelists--but it's also glaring that there's an issue with diversity in the sciences.

Also, dude next to you is wearing a faaaaaaabulous vest. (Er, waistcoat? Vest means something else in BrEng, I seem to recall.)

[holyschist]

Flippantly, I was actually thinking it's the vest on the guy next to you. That is a heck of a vest. O_o

But...I am glad you are there, and even more glad for the outreach you do and the little girls who want to grow up to be Nanilas. I mean, I honestly don't know what I would have done with my life if I'd thought when I was a kind that scientists were all old white dudes. So, it sucks that panels still look like that a lot of the time, and it sucks that it takes a special effort to make panels more diverse, but you absolutely belong.

[shirou]

I disagree with you: you absolutely look like you belong there. You don't look like the token female or Asian because scientists don't create token positions. I think science is pretty gender-blind and color-blind. On the downside, that means that a lot of (white, male) scientists don't recognize that the under-representation of women and minorities is a problem; but on the upside, it means that your audience will accept you and give you their respect and attention as long as you know what you're talking about. And you look like you know what you're talking about. You're definitely not there to be a box ticker.

By the way, are Asian scientists under-represented in the UK? I just ask out of curiosity. In the US, Asians make up nearly half of young physicists and are growing in number in the senior ranks. I'll admit we don't have many Filipinos, but we have lots of Japanese, Koreans, Thais, Indians and especially Chinese. When I got my PhD, I was the only one of the four grad students in my group who wasn't Chinese. I would never think of an Asian as a box ticker for race because here, Asians are the new majority.

[surexit]

It makes me think that we need to DESTROY SOCIETY and REBUILD IT FROM THE GROUND UP. *starts building survival hut in garden*

Also it makes me sadface, but hopeful that things have at least changed a bit in the last fifty years or whatever, and hopefully they will keep grinding along bit by bit until someday we get where we want to go.

♥