more about asking to touch the breasts of a stranger

[kate_nepveu]

Trying to highlight interesting comments that I've seen, without being too repetitive of things people have already said in comments to my prior post (at least as they stood a few hours ago, before I went off to an appointment):

coffeeandink has links to good comments in the original post; in comments to her post, rydra_wong succintly articulates the privilege behind the original post, and giandujakiss points out the broader context about what men and women are taught to want.

Also in coffeeandink's comments, lnhammer notes the problems with the originators' choice of name, and says, "I suggest everyone start calling it the Public Domain Boobs Project. Mockery being a most excellent criticism."

In a comment to the_red_shoes's post, rushthatspeaks points out not only the threat of the question but the way that people opposing it are being told they're unworthy of being heard.

springheel_jack sets out how this reinforcement of sexism stems from the basic libertarian fallacy.

hahathor proposes The Open-Source Knuckle Sandwich Project.

ETA 2: I also like the way misia phrases her Open Source Swift Kick to the Balls Project.

Finally for now, theferrett has edited his original post to say that people shouldn't do this and that the Open-Source Boob Project is dead. I have issues with the phrasing of his edit, but am glad of the practical statements in it.

ETA: on a tangent, veejane has smart comments about safety at cons. And now I'm really done for a while, possibly the night, honest.

Comments

[janni.livejournal.com]

Have you seen rhienelleth's post (http://rhienelleth.livejournal.com/408763.html)? I thought that one was interesting, too.

[kate_nepveu]

I . . . am having a knee-jerk reaction to the proportions of that post that are about what predators do and what potential victims of predators do, and need to think about it some more.

[janni.livejournal.com]

Yes, parts of it I had trouble with, too. But her statement that if you're not comfortable doing it out of sight of others, why are you doing it at all has given me some food for thought.

Actually, the discussion of around this has been more interesting than the post itself in many ways. I just stumbled upon this comment (http://springheel-jack.livejournal.com/2504924.html?thread=10578140#t10578140), too:

Just a thought about the difference between men and women in geek scenes: I'm mostly going on the basis of inspirational teen romps of the 80s and 90s, but geek boy romances (including those in anime) typically wind up with geek boy getting hot chic while remaining as geeky as ever. The geek boy narrative often achives completion by having the hot girl accept him as a sexual being (also, for good measure, geek boy may symbolically emasculate a rival hot but very stupid boy).

On the other hand, any film in which a young female protagonist is a book-burrowing, bespectacled, orthodontic-hardware-sporting nerd must have a transformation in which Nerdy Beast awakens as a Sexual Beauty, which is by nature a positive and necessary change. A geek girl narratives requires that she must accept herself as a sexual being before she has a chance with any hot (but not stupid) boys. I mean, intelligence is fine, but you're not complete until everyone realizes you are sexy, too.

I know this is a mean-spirited generalization about con geeks, but how many gropees were dressed in sexy costumes and how many gropers were slobs with greasy ponytails?

Which is an issue I've noticed with (some of) male geekdom before.

[kate_nepveu]

Yeah, I've got that post open to read and think about, too.