![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/johnpicacio.com\/onthefront\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/ARYASTARKlowres.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nA while back, I was invited to contribute a perspective on \u201cGender Parity on SF\/F Convention Panels\u201d for the forthcoming issue of JOURNEY PLANET<\/a>. It\u2019s caused me to consider my own role as a panel participant at conventions, and as an artist at convention art shows.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve written my essay on the subject, and I\u2019m proofing it right now. Will submit it to JOURNEY PLANET very soon here. More on that in a minute.<\/p>\n In the meantime, I\u2019ve got some good news.<\/p>\n Many of you already know that this year\u2019s Dragon*Con<\/a> and Worldcon<\/a> both happen on Labor Day weekend. So theoretically, pros and fans have to choose one or the other to attend, right?<\/p>\n Well, as it turns out, I\u2019ve chosen both. I\u2019ll be attending Atlanta\u2019s Dragon*Con all day\/night Friday, August 31, and the initial part of Saturday morning, and then I\u2019ll jump on a plane, gain one hour in the process, and attend Chicago\u2019s Worldcon for the last half of its run, until it closes.<\/p>\n Hellacious? Yes. Suicidal? Let\u2019s hope not.<\/p>\n Anyway \u2014 that\u2019s the plan. Two major cons in one weekend. Why? A lot of reasons, both professionally and personally. I\u2019ve regularly attended Worldcon around the world for many years now. I have many, many friends there and love seeing them. Meanwhile, Dragon*Con is a much larger event, and I wish to continue building a professional presence there.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unfortunate that both events occur on the same weekend, but I\u2019ve decided it\u2019s best to try to attend both this year.<\/p>\n In my essay that will soon be published by JOURNEY PLANET, I\u2019ve announced that I\u2019m foregoing all programming participation and art show presence at this year\u2019s Worldcon. By doing so, I hope it opens up my chair, and my art show space, to new female artists who will hopefully present new viewpoints and perspectives. The call for \u201cGender Parity\u201d has been a controversial one as seen here<\/a> and here<\/a>. Admittedly, I\u2019m still unsure to what degree my gender and participation on sf\/f panels and art shows has prevented females from participating in the same. Did I have opportunity that they did not because I\u2019m male? Did my gender, and not my fifteen years of hard work, make the programming directors and the art show directors select me over an equally-deserving female? It seems more than a bit far-fetched, to be honest. But that being said, I\u2019ve heard the discussion, and I\u2019m willing to think beyond myself, and offer a self-imposed experiment. Let\u2019s trust the process and see what happens.<\/p>\n In the spirit of big-picture thinking, I\u2019ll offer my chair for one year at Worldcon during Saturday and Sunday\u2019s prime programming real estate, and see if this outcry for new female voices produces new blood, and if\/when it does, I think we all win from that. And that goes for the art show too. Hopefully this will be a proactive and positive step toward allowing more female artists into Worldcon discussion panels and into its art show. I\u2019m confident that the powers-that-be of Chicago\u2019s Worldcon, and the advocates of this process, will capitalize on this opportunity.<\/p>\n Do I think all pros should follow suit and do the same? I wouldn\u2019t say that. I think what I\u2019m doing is a gesture and an experiment. I want to see what happens. I\u2019m curious. It\u2019s my choice \u2014 not a mandate imposed upon me, or a choice that I expect anyone else to follow.<\/p>\n So there you have it \u2014 good news all around. And definitely some frequent flyer miles that weekend. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A while back, I was invited to contribute a perspective on \u201cGender Parity on SF\/F Convention Panels\u201d for the forthcoming issue of JOURNEY PLANET. It\u2019s caused me to consider my own role as a panel participant at conventions, and as an artist at convention art shows. I\u2019ve written my essay on the subject, and I\u2019m […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conventions"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/johnpicacio.com\/onthefront\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/ARYASTARKlowres.jpg?fit=864%2C864","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5te7x-1h","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/johnpicacio.com\/onthefront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/johnpicacio.com\/onthefront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/johnpicacio.com\/onthefront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/johnpicacio.com\/onthefront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/johnpicacio.com\/onthefront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/johnpicacio.com\/onthefront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/johnpicacio.com\/onthefront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/johnpicacio.com\/onthefront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/johnpicacio.com\/onthefront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/johnpicacio.com\/onthefront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}