anarfea

So, I've been reflecting on 221b Con for a few days. First, let me say that if you are able to, I 100% recommend staying until Monday and taking Tuesday off work. It really helps with reentry into the real world.

As for con itself. It went really, really well. I was pleasantly surprised. All of my panels went off without a hitch, although the Co-Writing panel was very sparsely attended, for a variety of reasons; there were two sessions of this panel with different authors, it was scheduled opposite Furtive Festivity, and it was at 10AM on Sunday. But, even though it was sparsely attended I was psyched to be doing a panel with my beloved co-writer and it was cool to talk to another co-writer team who works very differently than we do. The Tarot panel went well despite having only two panelists, and I really adore Geekoncaffine. On the subject of tarot, I also did readings for friends and got my cards read by

vulgarweed , which was awesome. The Healing Through Fic panel went really well even though we didn't prepare like at all, and I did not cry, which was a huge bonus, as I want to be known for something other than crying at panels. But the highlight was absolutely the Omegaverse panel, which was moderated by Berlynn Whol. I had a great time, and I'm so glad I applied, because I was feeling a bit Impostor syndrome-y about it, because I've only written one big A/B/O fic. But it was awesome, and I'm so glad I went.

It was somewhat bittersweet. I really missed

clevermanka,

splix, and other people I'm sure I'm forgetting. And while I feel like attendance seemed the same as last year abouts, I can't help wondering how long 221b Con will last now that BBC Sherlock seems to be over. But I will keep going as long as they keep hosting it, I think.

Current Mood: thoughtful

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

donut_donut

I'm glad it went well! Someone on Tumblr was vague blogging about "all the drama" this year, but that person is... Somewhat of a drama magnet/amplifier, so I wasn't sure how seriously to take that...

From:

eloquated

Endlessly jealous that you got to go, it sounds like a fabulous time!

I was really interesting in that co-writing panel as well, since S and I sort of fumble our way along! We've figured out a process that works for us, but I think it'd be really fascinating to see how other pairs work.

So so glad you had a good time!!

From:

anarfea

So there was definitely drama, but I wasn't really touched by it. Basically, there's this guy Chris Redmond, who is an old school Sherlockian who likes to pretend that he's unfamiliar with transformative fandom and that all this slash stuff is very new and scary to him (even though he's been coming to 221b Con since like, 2014) and gets young women to hold his hand and show him around. He made some really tone-deaf comments and tweets after the "Queer Interpretations of Canon" panel; basically he called Johnlockers delusional and ignorant. You may not be surprised to hear that that went over like a lead balloon.

Anyway, a lot of people were responding to his remarks on Twitter and saying that he was homophobic etc. and then when this started going down multiple female or mistaken-for-female fans said that he had made inappropriate remarks or DMs, and several people said that he had touched them (things like hugs or head kisses etc.) without consent.

Also, someone posted a call out post to The Stranger's Room (a Sherlock themed Facebook group) and posted screen shots of some of the inappropriate tweets and private messages he's sent to different women. The mod of the group basically said, "this group isn't the appropriate place to air your grievances" and suggested that the matter ought to be handled by the Baker Street Babes, you know, since they're ladies and all.

While it seems like total bullshit to decide that the Women's Sherlockian Society ought to deal with this issue, they did make a post on Chris Redmond, and basically one of the Babes said she personally had been harassed, and that the Babes stood with the victims and that they will not write for any of his projects and that he is not welcome at any of their events. And then apparently there was backlash on their post from people defending Chris and accusing them of causing drama (or so I hear; I read their post but did not read any of the comments).

The culmination of all this was that Chris Redmond was editing some anthology called "Finding Sherlock Holmes" and a number of writers said that they would pull out of the anthology since they no longer wanted to associate with him, and then a couple days after the publisher announced they would not release the anthology. Several people on twitter proposed putting together their own anthology so people who had already written pieces would be able to use their work.

He continues to not apologize, accuses Sherlock fandom of ageism, says that people are trying to ruin his reputation, etc. etc.

So, yeah. That's the drama. And I mean, I was obviously upset to hear people talk about their unfortunate experiences, but I personally have had no interaction with him and basically did not know who he was. I heard people at the con complaining about him and I did read his comments on Twitter and while I don't believe ACD ever intended Holmes and Watson to be read as queer, I did think that his comments were offensive. And I did read the call out post with the receipts on Facebook, and one of my co-panelists said she was harassed years ago, so I do believe that he genuinely had a pattern of bad behavior and people weren't making things up because they were upset about his comments, that just happened to be the catalyst for a reckoning that has apparently been a long time coming.

This drama may have soured the con for some people, especially the poor woman who was his escort this con, who briefly defended him and got dragged for it. But I think most people, while we were upset to find out that this guy has been hanging around fandom being a douche, weren't super affected because he's not really one of us. He was an outsider who came into our space and behaved badly, and he won't be coming back. So yeah it didn't really affect my con experience at all.

tldr: there was this guy who appears to be a homophobe and sexual predator who made some gross comments about the Queer Interpretations of Canon panel who was subsequently dragged to hell on Twitter and who's anthology got dumped by the publisher after multiple people made credible allegations of sexual harassment against him. I've been watching the drama unfold on Twitter but haven't been directly affected.

From:

anarfea

It was a fabulous time and I wish you could have been there. I'll happily chat with you about co-writing on Twitter any time you want.

From:

signoftea

I'm glad you had a good time! It must have been a lot of fun.

From:

donut_donut

Ah, thanks for explaining. The guy sounds like a douche.

From:

pennypaperbrain

So glad it went well this year! I would imagine that the cessation of BBC Sherlock has a silver lining of wank reduction, as there is a shrinking audience to impress with one's mighty wanking.

From:

vulgarweed

I read cards for you too!

I had a wonderful time and it was so great to see you again and hang out a little. Next year I'll definitely try to stay through Sunday night - I felt a little Connus Interruptus leaving Sunday afternoon, and I would have really enjoyed a gentler comedown.

I had had some Twitter contact with CR and I have one of his books (About Sixty) and I thought about introducing myself at the con - but I didn't because everything I've seen on Twitter suggested to me that he was someone who was VERY needy and demanded a lot of attention and emotional labor, and there were so many people I want to spend time with more, and so many panels and events I wanted to go to, that I didn't really want to invest time in him. I didn't know the extent of his sexual harassment and it's pretty horrifying to see this all unfold and realize just how much he's been getting away with for so long.

This was my first time at 221B Con and I really loved it. I can't compare to the size of it in earlier years of course but it seemed like a good manageable size to me. I saw there were panels about other fandoms and about writing and costuming in general - so I think that's probably the direction it's going to go, a pan-Sherlock Holmes con with other popular tangential things going. And there's that third RDJ/JLaw movie coming in a couple years.

From:

eloquated

😍 That would be awesome, I'll keep it in mind!

Oh! Did you see the gifset I tagged you in on tumblr? It's been doing that fun "Oops, we forgot to tell people." thing again! *siiiigh*

From:

anarfea

Yeah something got very fucked up about this post and most of it was cut and it says Splix and Clevermanka read my cards instead of you. I meant to put that I was missing them.