Open-Source Failure

[triadruid]

I love that one of the people complaining violently complaining about the "Open Source Boob Project" writes "bad gay fanfiction" about guys. Because that's totally not hypocritical...

Comments

[kaymyth.livejournal.com]

The kerfluffle has exploded on certain quarters of my flist. I read a bit about it, shrugged, and decided both sides were being a bit silly.

GIR agrees.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

I ♥ Gir.

[kaymyth.livejournal.com]

GIR is awesome. Hooray for the Doom Song!

[greektoomey.livejournal.com]

That's not necessarily hypocritical. If the only argument being made against the OSBP was that it objectifies women, or makes them uncomfortable, then sure, writing bad m/m slash fanfic would be hypocritical.

But some women are arguing that the OSBP actually makes them feel unsafe. That reaction need not be justifiable to be valid, merely honest. If it is honest, then for the bad gay fanfic to be hypocritical, there would have to be men who feel that such slash threatens their safety.

Personally, I am ambivalent about the OSBP. I think there are many good reasons why it should not be repeated, but I am inclined to believe that the original circumstances were only minimally problematic. The fact that

By the end of the evening, women were coming up to us. "My breasts," they asked shyly, having heard about the project. "Are they... are they good enough to be touched?"

...really squicks me out. That's some major body-image neurosis-farming.

Also, I think the pins should have been "NO" and "MAYBE."

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

I think the Red Button idea was stupid as anything. The Green one is fine, with the exception that it should probably have some unambiguous text like "OSBP" or "Ask Me, I Might". Red buttons do nothing that not having a button doesn't accomplish, which is that you shouldn't be bothered by this game/experiment. The only time I've seen someone seriously suggest asking people who didn't have buttons at all was from the first con, when they didn't have buttons made yet!

Unfortunately, the person I'm referring to not only felt unsafe, but promised to assault anyone who even asked to touch someone's breasts, whether they had a button on of any color. That's OTT for me.

I do agree about your body-image weirdness quote, but that's a symptom of society, not the project, overall. I haven't seen any evidence the project/game/experiment was turning people away, though I admit I haven't been following it closely.

Finally, this is not something that should be exported to just any Con. Particularly Dragon*Con, which is Way Too Huge and Intergenerational.