Maker Faire

[oyceter]

So, Maker Faire... much more fun the day before it officially opens, when a) there is free food, b) you don't have to tend to your exhibit, and c) fewer people!

A few short observations: Maker Faire is incredibly White. There have been a scattering visibly identifiable Asian people, but not much of other POC, with the caveat that I am probably misidentifying people. This year, there's a steampunk section. I haven't seen it live yet, but it looks like much of the white-ified steampunk when I checked it over before the fair opened. There are also way too many geek fallacy people who try to explain your own project to you under the guise of asking questions. I am sure there would be a lot of mansplaining going on as well, but I am antisocial and therefore sit in the back and run the computer or fix things with (a lot of) tape. I have definitely noticed more men doing geek fallacy and explaining the project even to my male project partners than women doing so. It's also been sad to see the young boys who want to try out our project go up and basically push their way into line while the young girls hang back and don't answer our questions and only talk to their parents. The kids only look 6 or 7 or so, and yet, gendered socialization has already set in.

Also, I probably could have worn my new corsets, courtesy of daedala, here, but that would be detrimental to the avoidance of mansplaining, the ability to crawl beneath things to slap on more duct tape, and in general trying not to call attention to myself.

Comments

[thistleingrey]

ack.
I know these things, cognitively, because I have seen them (no doubt in this case seen some of the very people whom you saw, all things considered), yet these summations of true observation feel like little knives every time.

Did you see damned_colonial's survey the other day, "real life geek gatherings and body image"? There's a summary of results here. Yes to your last paragraph. :/ (Though the ability to crawl under things is not to be underrated, all by itself.)

[oyceter]

I hadn't seen that, but oh, it feels so true! It's funny, because I hadn't even thought about body image for Maker Faire coming in as a booth runner, but watching some people walking around dressed up made me think otherwise. I'd wear a corset to Wiscon around my friends or at VVC maybe, but definitely not here. Too many guys, and I always feel uncomfortable with the people who seem more regulars. That's why I stopped going to things like Ren Faires as well...

[oyceter]

I hadn't seen that survey, but oof, yes. The funny thing is, I wasn't thinking of Maker Faire as a con since we were bringing a school project to it, but there are definitely con-like elements. I also don't know how comfortable I'd feel wearing a corset there; too cis-male in too many places, and wearing something that looks like a costume tends to invite people to make conversation with you, which I usually avoid anyway.

Sadly, the crowd today had the same ratio of pushy boys to pushy girls, and it was also interesting to see that a much smaller percentage of the girls wanted to ride the bike part of the project instead of the less active components.

[daedala]

Corsets are not exactly designed to deflect attention. :) I am glad you like them, though.

I have a suspicion that anything relating to Maker stuff is going to involve a fair bit of privilege, mansplaining, and so on; because it was only the very privileged who were able to not have to make stuff. It's just that the stuff the nonprivileged make doesn't count as Making. C.f. Doctorow's Makers as sporked by Jonquil.

[oursin]

Yes! This fits in with the unease I've been having about all these men lately writing about getting back into the joy of hands-on craftsmanship. They are not coming from a background of factory work or necessary physical occupations like building or plumbing. Indeed, one does wonder a bit if they've ever, you know, done DIY stuff around the home like putting up shelves or decorating... (never mind actual housework).

Wot, cynical, moi?

[oyceter]

Ha, yes! And I feel in Maker Faire, there's also an emphasis of hands-on craftsmanship + computing, which has traditionally been a White male bastion. So that adds to the whole leisure portion, where people can make these cool elaborate things because they have the time and money and don't have to fix the plumbing at home. There are some people doing more female-typecast crafts with electronics, but mostly White mid-upper-class people.

[daedala]

A lot of the ones I know do DIY stuff around the home, but extra-specially -- the best tools, adding computers, etc. Which doesn't obviate the point. :)

[oyceter]

So with you on the privilege in the Maker stuff! It's like knitting, but even more gendered... once it's a hobby type thing, the tools and gear get incredibly expensive, and then there's this entire aura of doing it right/well/making it Making that further excludes the non-privileged (thinking of knitters' disdain of cheap acrylic yarn, myself included).

[daedala]

Yeah, the emphasis on Good Stuff is almost fetishistic.

I have a lot of sympathy -- nice fabric feels much better -- but some of them take it to a sort of "My Taste is a Virtue" that makes me want to spork them.

[oyceter]

Yes! Like, many of us cannot afford those gorgeous silk/wool blends even though we really really really want them.

[lovepeaceohana]

This. I keep wanting to attend events in my area for my interests (craft fairs! scrapbooking conventions! renaissance/SCA-type things! Comic Con!), but it's always balanced against my increasing desire to place a great deal of distance between myself and (White) People Who Do Not Get It. It continues to frustrate me that my interests code so white.

[oyceter]

I knoooow! It is really frustrating, and I remember feeling SO out of place when I went to Ren fairs or the Dickens Fair here (Victorian). Because really, I'm Chinese. I'm pretty sure there weren't that many of us around in Europe back then, and although I saw a group of E. Asians dressed as the Japanese contingent that visited London in the Victorian era, I'd... really rather not.