famousbob - Tumblr blog

famousbob · 3 years ago

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8 year old post

Just a note to say it’s been about 8 years since I was last here on tumblr (mostly too time consuming and fast paced for an old man like me). I recently finished ‘SpockLock” (now known as “An Ancestor of Mine . . . “ and in beta test!) and came back online to see that the following was a draft from many years ago which I never posted.

A few more answers to specific con-related questions you had!

You’re totally right that public photos are often shared publicly without asking for permission - the reason why it’s different with cosplay is precisely because we all make the costumes ourselves! Because it’s a creative work that we poured a lot of time effort and money into, it’s nice to be credited, same as I would want to be credited for writing or artwork or any other creative venture that was shared by someone. The Irene Adler you mentioned (the sheer green robe one?) is actually a commission I made for makokitten! There is creative work being represented - the Victorian costumes a bunch of us wore on saturday, we had been planning since September. If it were just a personal picture of me hanging out in ‘normal’ clothes, I wouldn’t care at all about credit.

I absolutely do not think that a photographer asking for the contact info of a cosplayer they photographed would be seen as invasive, it’s pretty common. A lot of cosplayers and con photographers who do this kind of thing frequently make and carry around business cards to make this kind of info-swap easier! Now, as has happened to me before, taking someone’s picture and directly afterwards asking them out? Deeefinitely inappropriate. But an info-swap is a very par for the course con interaction!

Blurring faces isn’t an action that there’s a lot of precedent for - in my experience, the best thing to do when there’s a picture you want to share but don’t maybe have permission/credit is to include a caption or note along the lines of ‘If you are the cosplayer, or know who the cosplayer is, contact me!’ This way the cosplayer can decide whether or not they want the credit, and it shows that the sharer is being respectful of the work! When I find an uncredited picture of myself that has some kind of similar caption, I’m happy, because it means the photographer liked my costume so much they wanted to share it but just lacked the means to get in contact with me! It happens all the time - cons are busy!

I’d disagree with you though that it makes things too complicated to apply some discernment to who you allow to take an image of yourself! It’s always a bit of a gamble of a decision, but far safer than instantly trusting all interested strangers. And let’s be honest, we make these costumes to share! We WANT pictures to be taken, we want like-minded people who ‘get it’ to feel the same joy seeing our costumes as we’ve had making them! At other cons, photographers won’t always wear nerdy gear, but they’ll usually at least have a badge visible. An example of a rare time I turned down a picture: at dragon*con, I was wearing a genderbent version of one of the dwarves from the Hobbit. This meant I was wearing a skirt and feminine make-up, but also had a beard! Out of context, to people unfamiliar with Tolkien mythology and the Hobbit movies, it can get some strong reactions. A man asked if he could get a picture with me, and I said yes. (He was drinking a beer, I was drinking a beer, it was dragon*con!) When he moved closer to get in frame, he said “So what exactly were you going for with this?” And I, in a very amenable, friendly way told him that I wasn’t going to take the picture any more, and we parted on friendly terms. Because I had given him the benefit of the doubt - you betcha Tolkien fans can wear polos and board shorts! But the way he asked that question made it clear to me that the image I gave him the power to take would be presented without context, not as ‘this awesome cosplayer I saw at a con’ but as ‘check out this crazy bearded lady!’ And I opted out of a situation that I thought would end with my image being mis-represented.

When PFG talks about who has power, she’s talking about the moment when someone asks to get a picture. In that moment, the person being asked has the power to say yes or no, and the person doing the asking does not have power. This dynamic doesn’t extend to the whole weekend, or even the whole conversation!! But when asking permission for something, the control of that situation lies with the person granting or withholding permission. This is true both of strangers and of friends who I’ve known for years!

I definitely should have clarified that when I referred to facebook, I meant private, personal accounts, and not on a public page. As far as I’m concerned, sharing images from a fun weekend with personal friends is always okay! That’s what I meant to refer to!

I’m a bit worn out talking about gender stuff, but I hope that can clarify some of the con/cosplay culture questions you had! Like I said, I’ve been part of the cosplay community for a very long time and these things are second-nature to me. Cosplayers also LOVE to talk about how hard they worked on their costumes - I guarantee you the next time you run into someone who sewed a costume from a series you like, they will talk your ear off about all the hard work and details! If you had a good time, I hope you’ll think about attending other meet-ups or conventions in the future!

Thank you for your detailed answer.

A good number of years ago a friend/colleague gave me a maxim I have taken to heart: “Never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence.” Or perhaps in this case, ignorance. I had no idea of the history of cosplay - any pictures I have glanced at I saw as either being obviously amateurish costumes or (what I thought) as professionally made (by a costuming company?). I am not ‘crafty’ myself and would look to eBay or google to find a costume. OTOH, as an audiophile I would rather build an amplifier kit than purchase one pre-assembled, so I do understand the joy of ‘rolling your own.’ (I did just re-edit my original IHOSE article to add the phrase ‘in their handmade costumes’ under the picture to at least credit your hard work.)

Being uninformed about 221bCon, tumblr, cosplay, comicon or other fancons, how some fans are wary of picture-taking (for their own valid reasons), and God-knows-what-else that I haven’t stumbled into yet, made it almost inevitable that my assumptions about a ‘Sherlockian’ event would be inadequate to explain what I was seeing/experiencing.

I needed context about many aspects of what was going on, just as you needed context of how I came to the con and published my article on IHOSE. And as I have remarked, in on-line interaction I miss the tone of voice and non-verbal cues that are present in person-to-person communication. Even your brief description of what happened to you at dragon*con makes the point. I do not doubt that you made an appropriate decision about changing your mind having your picture taken. You were there, you saw/heard not only the words you quoted, but how they were said in the context at the time. But if I came to that con as a first time attendee (especially at my first con in 35 years) I could imagine myself asking you something similar, though I might phrase it as, “You look really cool, but I don’t understand how this relates to the Tolkien stories.” (Is dragon*con only about Tolkien or dragon-stuff in general? - you don’t have to answer, I can google it and figure it out). Now that I have a context it is a lot more understandable. (Sometime I marvel that any two people can communicate relatively accurately most of the time!)

I recently did a paper on Holmes’ ‘you see but do not observe’ in which I quoted some research that says about 70% of our sensory experience is visual. Even if Sherlockian playboy bunnies were chosen to imitate the Marvel bunnies, I didn’t recognize any Sherlockian connection per se other than your names. OTOH, at a Marvel-con a green-skinned bunny could only mean a female ‘Hulk’ character even to me. You are all attractive young women, initially attractive because of your physical appearance which was the first thing I saw at the time. And playboy bunny costumes, to me as an older male, do have associations with sexuality even if your unspoken intent was more ironic and meant to challenge gender stereotyping. I hazarded a guess about ‘cumberbunnies’ because of my penchant for puns and my (unknown to you at the time) recent purchase of cumberbunds to wear with my tux.

Historically I am not usually outgoing in large groups. But on this occasion with little knowledge of what surrounded me, I just had to ask questions of practically everyone I met. I regret that I did not talk to any of you directly (though I did mention to one of you - to your sister? - that she could also be a very good Amy from Dr. Who - I am a fan of the show and noted her long red hair - don’t know or care if it was her own or not). As I learned about the x-rated fanfic, I could understand a little more about playful sexual references. I do have testosterone and try to keep it confined to my ‘naughty bits’ (as the Pythons would say) but reserve it for someone with whom I have a meaningful relationship and not have it take over my verbal behavior (though given an opportunity to make a wise-ass sexual pun I would probably risk it, especially amongst people who know me).

Anyway I do enjoy rambling on and interacting with intelligent people who have given a lot more thought to ‘things not dreamt of in my philosophy’ until now. In fact, and I mean this as a non-sexist compliment, because of these interactions you are more attractive in a most general sense than the visual representation I saw at the con. This doesn’t mean I want to date you or become your bff. I am more than old enough to be your father (my wise-ass Electra complex remark aside) and have the physical attractiveness of an old pudgy Steve Buscemi and not a Benedict Cumberbatch or Martin Freeman. I tend to think that the ‘attraction’ I provide for some women on tumblr who have made supportive comments is because I had a clever idea for a fanfic, I’m fairly intelligent, generally respectful and I’m open-minded (though maybe not so much that I’m long-winded!). You all have interesting ideas and experiences which until now have not been a focus for me.

So please you need not reply nor make this post public on my account (that is a pun!) but feel free to do so if you think it might be helpful to others in some way.

Best wishes,

Bob

#famousbob SpockLock

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famousbob · 10 years ago

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Gone but not forgotten

Just saw that I was mentioned in a post. “I’m not dead yet - I’m feeling better.”

Yes, I have been working on SpockLock and have a complete plot (and sub-plot) outline, and have s-l-o-w-l-y been working on it. Too much of a perfectionist to release this work in progress, I do hope to have it done by the end of this year. If I have not posted since last year, it’s more because I’ve been busy with projects and life since moving back east - been attending Watson’s Tin Box and Six Napoleons in MD, White Rose Irregulars and Sons of the Copper Beeches in PA, Mrs. Hudson’s Cliffdwellers and Epilogues of SH in NJ, and Montague Street Lodgers, the Priory Scholars and ASH Wednesdays in NY, writing for the Watsonian and doing a few presentations. I also just built a house near Dover, DE and moved in 2 months ago - still enjoying the adventure of the cardboard box(es). Just haven’t had time to be on tumblr

With Heather’s endorsement, attendees at 221bCon will receive a survey to collect some demographic and fan info - favorite Sherlock/Watson actors, favorite Sherlockian quotes, questions about cosplay, scions, social media and other stuff. When tabulated the results will go to I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere, the Baker Street Babes (both of whom saw and commented on the first draft) as well as to Three Patch and the 221bCon organizers - I hope they find the results interesting enough to comment upon. Just thought it would be fun to learn a little bit about con participants in the aggregate - I am a data guy, and you can’t make bricks without clay. So if you are going, you will receive the one page survey at registration and there will be a cardboard box (somewhere) in which to return it - if paper and pencil is too old school for you, there is a URL on the sheet where you can respond online instead.

I am also proud as punch (that should clue you in as to how ancient I am) that I will be presenting an hour talk (5 times) on the strange friendship of ACD and Harry Houdini at the Arthur Conan Doyle Centre in Edinburgh during the Fringe Festival in August. David Stuart Davies will also be presenting ‘An Evening with Conan Doyle and SH’ (3 times) at the Centre as well. Both of us are donating all admission fees to the Centre to help with the exterior restoration work of the Centre - a beautifully restored (on the inside, anyway) Victorian townhouse which once belonged to the Edinburgh brewer McEwan (whose beer is still available and popular worldwide).

And FYI, I will also be presenting a 15 minute version of the Doyle/Houdini relationship at Scintillation of Scions in MD in June - not as exotic as Edinburgh but a whole lot easier and cheaper to get to! And at 221bCon next weekend I will return with three other great panelists this year to discuss Doyle and Spiritualism again - do come and join us - fellow panelist from last year, Angela, is also returning and has recently completed and received her PhD, writing on Doyle and spiritualism and the Victorian era - how cool is that!

I probably won’t post very frequently - just too damned busy (and I don’t get very excited about Friday and Monday postings anyway - but whatever turns your crank).

I do look forward to seeing all the folk I met last year - Rachel, Jen, Gordon, Marilynne, Marino, Jenna, Frank, abundantlyqueer, and all the others. BTW, Jacquelynn Bost Morris (Scintillation of Scions) can’t attend this year but she asked me to send her regards.

#221bcon #221b con #bakerstreetbabes #baker street babes #spocklock #threepatchpodcast.tumblr.com #ihearofsherlock #famousbob

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famousbob · 11 years ago

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Hi, Bob--I wanted to take a moment to thank you personally for your very gracious and thoughtful reply. The bunnylock thing created an awkward situation, and I have to admit to being perhaps unduly protective of other, younger fans. And of fandom as a whole: as you so well describe in your article, this is a vibrant and impassioned creative community, but we often feel desperately embattled, by the very scorn your article countered so well. It WAS a lovely writeup, and I'm sincerely grateful.

Thank you for your note and comments. As the saying goes, “Fools rush in …” I’m fairly resilient and as long as letter bombs don’t show up in my mailbox, everything is fine. The positive welcome I received at 221bCon and the comments of welcoming and support here on tumblr have been appreciated. As I intimated, I had very little idea of what I was stepping into - I went to 221bCon as a old-school Sherlockian, little suspecting something far beyond toasting Holmes and Watson, reciting the Musgrave Ritual, and discussing one of the stories, all more traditional way of celebrating Holmes that I was familiar with.

I have learned much and I suspect that there is a lot more to learn (today I had to google ‘cisgender’ because I hadn’t come across that term before).

Not to deflect discussion away from gender equality per se, but like ‘the curious incident of the dog in the night time,’ I am still surprised that no one has commented about my question of the apparent under-representation of black women at 221bCon. Again, I do not mention this to inflame sensibilities. It was something that I noticed. I certainly (now!) have the impression that open discussion is encouraged here, so again I am not trying to offend anyone or start a war.

Oh, BTW, now that I realize that blogs can be edited after they are posted (duh!), I did put a caption with the bunny cosplayers bunny-names under the photo, since Marilynne McKay had already mentioned them in her comment.

#professorfangirl #ihearofsherlock #221bcon #221b con

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famousbob · 11 years ago

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Response to frauleinninja, professorfangirl et al.

Sorry - couldn't figure out a way to easily/quickly cut'n'paste from your long and thoughtful comments, so anyone just picking up this thread will have to find that material on their own! (BTW, this all reminds me of why I prefer verbal discussions over blogging or message boards or similar venues: I am relatively long-winded and try to provide sufficient context to make meanings and intentions clear - something that in my experience is often lost with the quick short messages often seen in social media, especially if tone of voice and non-verbal cues are lost, and it takes me too damn long to write all this! I do find this all fascinating though, and for today it really allowed me to avoid the discomfort I feel actually writing my SpockLock fan-fiction!)

First - I just added the following to one of my original posts of several weeks ago. The first line was from the original:

Females with an unresolved Electra complex can message me privately - ;-)

5/9/2014 (several weeks after the above was posted) - just realized that these old posts are editable. My strong preference is to not 'edit out' comments that some, most or all people may find objectionable on whatever grounds. I said it, and I don't think it should 'mysteriously' disappear once it has been made public. Having been told that in this case, some have found the parting remark objectionable, I do sincerely apologize to those who feel that way. By way of explanation I am a psychologist who likes word play and 'idea-dropping' and I thought my emoticon was sufficient notice that the comment was tongue-in-cheek especially since the 'sexual agency' of women at the con was fairly self-evident to me. It also followed the comment that I hadn't been on tumblr long enough to be able to message others and conversely, that others could not message me. Hence there was little likelihood in my mind that anyone would take it seriously. I am now more aware that these postings are very public (duh!) and will be seen by many with different levels of awareness of social justice. When I err, I tend to think that it will be on the side of making what I consider to be a wise-ass humorous remark, even if that remark appears to be rooted in some antiquated misogynistic attitude.

Regarding the photo op: thank you for the explanation of the conventions of taking pictures and the sometimes stated but often unstated assumptions of those taking pictures and those in the pictures being taken. I was discourteous in not explicitly asking those whose pictures I took for permission to publish them publicly, and I apologize. But I was not aware while taking them that I would even write about the con - only after it was over did I think that that other Sherlockians would find it of interest. And it has long been a journalistic/publishing precedent that pictures taken in a public place are often shared publicly. It is true that I was aware that some cultures believe that photographs somehow capture their soul and in that case I wouldn't even take a picture without consent. However both when I took the picture and when it was published on ihearofsherlock.com, I was unaware of the discomfort of some cosplayers being identifiable in published photographs (as I read about on other blogs and sites about fancons). And apparently I made a similar though non-sexist faux pas in not acknowledging that the pictures I published in another ihearofsherlock posting (221b Baker Street in Reading, PA) though they were provided to me by and with the explicit permission of the person I was writing about (they did not show him or his wife). As a courtesy at least I should have mentioned that and not left the impression that I personally took them. (However he was not offended and was pleased that his faithful re-creation of Sherlock's and Watson's sitting room was given the publicity - but I digress.) Serious questions: would it have been preferable to blur their faces since I did not get their names and contact information for permission to publish? Would a male photographer asking for names and contact information of females he photographed been seen as possibly sexist? If my deerstalker and tee-shirt identified me as probably being part of the 'in-group' and therefore okay to take pictures, should the absence of Sherlockian regalia (on male or female photographers) be a tell-tale sign to cosplayers to question whether they should allow photographs by that person? Life in the 21st century has gotten complicated - no wonder some of us would prefer that it always remains 1895.

And interestingly I wasn't consciously aware that those women had more power in the situation than me. I honestly thought that they and I were equals as Sherlockians gathered together to enjoy activities together, even with different perspectives, ideas, values and experiences - we were all there to share our love of Holmes and Watson and their relationship, no matter how defined.

I do not believe that I change the meaning of an image when I publish it. People will bring to the image their own meaning. Yes, some of them (many? most? how do we know?) will have misogynistic views which are inappropriate. They would not 'get' the playful sexual agency in that context even if they read the non-sexist article that accompanied the photo. Personally I read ihearofsherlock.com for all the viewable and readable content (never got into listening to podcasts for some reason though). Depending upon my conscious level of social activism at the time, I might or might not ask myself, “Is this reinforcing or challenging existing sexist structures?” as you suggest. In this particular case you are doing a good job here on tumblr and your comments have made me personally more aware of the issue. I do not feel expert enough to make a similar case on ihearofsherlock.com.

I was not aware that many cosplayers design and sew their own costumes. That is a wonderful talent to have. Personally I can sew buttons on shirts, use iron-on patches for tears, hem my own pants, and do some light mending. I don't think I am being particularly sexist when I say that I am only slightly better at changing the oil on my car (though just once I accidentally started to drain the transmission fluid - oops!) or doing minor woodworking repairs - I am pretty much a klutz mechanically. If I were to seriously cosplay I would have to find someone with those talents to cobble together a costume for me. I regret not giving credit to those of you who worked so hard to make those costumes and provide us with some visual bling and entertainment. If any of those in the picture want to self-identify or ask me to identify them I would be happy to do so. I appreciated that Marilynne McKay added their 'bunny' names, but do not know if convention suggests that tumblr usernames (if they are different) or other pseudonyms or even 'real' names be mentioned as well.

professorfangirl - I'm sorry that I wasn't clearer. I was referring to 1) your quote from Rainer Maria Rilke, and 2) your blog title which includes 'Bordello of Learning.' I can't think of an instance where 'bordello' doesn't have a sexual connotation, whether used ironically or not. We live in a sex-obsessed culture and realistically it is part and parcel of our shared humanity and dealing with our own sexuality (and that of others' - even the sexists) is a lifelong affair (again, pun not intended).

Lizzy - I truly don't understand why posting the picture (especially without comment) on a personal blog or on Facebook is okay if posting the same picture on a blog like ihearofsherlock.com with appropriate comments is a faux pas? While some blogs and parts of FB can be private or restricted to friends, many offer more public exposure than the limited readership of IHOS.

I also don't understand when you said:

"But simply being open-minded does not, as PFG says more articulately than I, immediately categorize all of your actions as righteous. It’s very frustrating to see how cruel we can be to each other, in the online female-dominated space, how we can hold each other to such high standards of being wholly un-problematic in absolutely all things we say and do, not allowing anyone to mess up and make mistakes in vocabulary or nuance, and to then see everyone being so willing to let the problematic statements of a nice, well-meaning man slide because he is still learning."

I would like to put some context on 'righteous.' Merriam-Webster defines it as "acting in accord with divine or moral law : free from guilt or sin" and the Urban Dictionary as "A state of extreme perfection bordering on divinity that bestows moral authority upon the subject."

Is that what you perceive that all? most? some? of you in this female-dominated space do to each other? Monitor all the things you say and do to be sure that it is 'righteous' in regard to sexist language? What percent of tumblr Sherlock fandom is female?

The 'likes' and more specific comments about any 'problematic statements' of this "nice, well-meaning man" I just interpreted as politeness and conviviality. It felt pretty good and accepting.

I have prattled on. For anyone who likes to get in the last word, this is your chance because I won't be responding on this thread. I have spent enough time, enjoyable as it has been, in serious discourse. I have a lot of writing to do, and I do find fiction writing challenging enough. Onward and upward to lighter fare.

So I end with two cute items. Around 1970 I purchased a little 5x7 poster which quoted a woman affiliated with some activist religious order - let's call her Sister Mary Stigmata (righteous note: name stolen from The Blues Brothers I think). It said, "I would not like to have lived without ever having offended anyone."

Secondly, my mentor in graduate school at the University of Regina was Duncan B. Blewett who named a contagious outbreak, resistant to almost all forms of treatment, 'reginismus.' Initial symptoms include a suspicion that the Universe is conspiring to do something nice for you or that you may be following someone with loving intent. This can be accompanied by feelings of excited anticipation and joyous wonder. Often broad smiles are followed by uncontrollable fits of giggling, sometime resulting in full attacks of sustained levity. Advanced cases may include bliss or an unbearable lightness of being, often ending in terminal elation.

The contagion is easily spread by the exchange of fluid bodily motions such as handshakes, hugging and kissing - even seemingly innocuous cheek-to-cheek contact. Should you not be experiencing any of these symptoms, please seek out immediate attention from the nearest person with a smile on their face and open arms. A good way to infect someone without direct contact is to internally feel as good as you possibly can, aim your outstretched index finger at the victim, and as you press your thumb forward, simultaneously direct your compressed psychic energy at them with a sly twinkle in your eyes.

Many people report experiencing these life-enhancing symptoms for days, weeks, or even months, though often in less intensity or frequency . . . unfortunately. So be aware of people you don't know smiling at you or laughing with you - the bliss you experience may be your own.

Catch you on the flip side.

#famousbob #spocklock #221bcon #221b con #ihearofsherlock #professorfangirl #frauleinninja #etal

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famousbob · 11 years ago

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Hey! Sherlock-bunny here. Asks have short character limits, but if you wanted to know how we made our choice for the Baker Street Bunnies, go Google 'Avengers Bunnies'. They're the ones that kickstarted the "characters as bunnies" cosplay trend. PB picked a rabbit probably because of fertility, but we're piggybacking on the Avengers group trend.

Hurrah! From a bunny’s lips to famousbob’s ears the question finally is answered. Thank you.

So the short answer is: imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. (I thought the Hooper-Hopper connection was pretty good, though). And while FawnLock and MooseCroft were adorable and cute, as a hetero male in good standing, I will say I appreciate the very attractive cosplaying bunny outfits.

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famousbob · 11 years ago

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Bunnylock (in this context!) is just a term for referring to the ladies who made playboy bunny versions of Sherlock characters. I kind of love the idea of Hooper->Hopper, but we usually just end up with a portmanteau for that (Sherlolly is the one I see most).

Thank you for responding. So I guess I was wrong about the Hooper-Hopper connection. But the question remains: why bunnies or rabbits? Why not OtterLock or HippoCroft or OurangaStrade? There are lots of associations to rabbits - from cute and cuddly to jack-rabbit quick to fertility and sexuality to the psychedelic trippiness of Alice's white rabbit. Certainly these woman gravitated to the sexiness of the Playboy bunnies in their costumes rather than the cute pink bunny suit of Ralphie in A Christmas Story. And that is not a criticism of their choice. I just wonder about how they made their choice.

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famousbob · 11 years ago

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Stepping in it a little deeper

I tried to send some of this to intellectualfangirl privately but the messaging system apparently has some character limit. Wordy as I am, I have some questions and comments that wouldn't fit. Since her comments were posted publicly I'm assuming it's fair for me to post this here since for some reason I couldn't respond to her comment. I'm still not familiar enough with tumblr to figure out how to do some things and how things are 'normally' done.

So, intellectualfangirl said: "I’m especially annoyed that while he’s seen and recognized his error (in terms of confusing bunnylock cosplayers for “cumber-bunnies”) he hasn’t changed it. Fandom is definitely nicer to men—male characters, creators, and fans, in many respects."

First, personally I haven't reflected upon or even have enough data to comment about whether fandom is nicer to men or not. I am as new to 'fandom' as I am to tumblr. I'll take your observation as a working hypothesis, but my real question is addressed to your initial statement.

I don't know the history of the Baker Street Bunnies or bunnylock. From what I've learned so far, bunnylock (and/or bunny/lock?) refers to the romantic (sexual?) relationship between Sherlock and (I assume) Molly Hooper based on the word play Hooper-hopper. Is that correct? (A response from one of the cosplayers would be especially appreciated.)

And by 'hasn't changed it' do you mean editing it on the ihearofsherlock.com website? I suppose that it is possible to do that, but that would have never occurred to me. I suppose I have this value that once it is out there, it stays out there. If I offend someone I would certainly apologize but I wouldn't think of changing the source. I have been on the internet since before there was a world wide web, but I have only recently started using social media - FB and now tumblr. Must be developing 'psychosclerosis' - hardening of the brain.

Does 'cumber-bunnies' have a specific connotation here? I am an inveterate punster and love word play. Plus I wore a tux to the last birthday weekend for the first time and recently picked up three colored cumberbunds at a thrift store last month for use with the tux. I thought I was just making a play on words calling the cosplayers 'cumber-bunnies' combining Cumberbatch, cumberbund, and bunnies. Did I make a faux pas?

And now for something completely different. Since I stepped into gender equality issues, why not bring up race also. At 221bCon I was struck by what I considered the under-representation of black women (is 'women of color' more politically correct?). Being in Atlanta I saw many more black women outside the hotel than I saw attending the con. I wasn't counting specifically and should have approached one of them to ask, but I wasn't aware of more than a half-dozen (if that many) the entire weekend. Surely I am not the only one to have noticed. Is BBC Sherlock fandom predominantly white middle-class females mostly of a certain age (under 30? under 40?)? Does even tumblr.com know?

Being a data-driven guy (and I don't mean Brent Spiner) I would love to see stats about the Sherlock fandom and 221bCon. Was everyone at 221bCon (except me) on tumblr? I'm well aware that averages do violence to the individual, but summary statistics are nevertheless interesting to me.

#intellectualfangirl #famousbob #spocklock #221bcon #221b con

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famousbob · 11 years ago

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Thank you all, and a clarification of my name

Wow! I just saw all the tumblr traffic recently generated. When passions get inflamed, torrents of prose follow!

I was dubbed 'famousbob' by the folks at the three-patch hospitality suite. It was because of the small stir I caused at the "From Baker Street to the Holodeck' panel when I innocently asked about a fanfic plot idea I had 30 years ago. Apparently what I thought was obvious hadn't been explored by others, but tying together Spock and Sherlock in the way I suggested was seen as brilliant. People at that panel apparently spread the word, and some folk at three-patch asked me, "Are you that Bob, the famous Bob that had that fantastic idea?" They insisted that I join tumblr and write it. Highlight of the con for me was to have them and Lyndsay Faye and abundantlyqueer gush over the idea and demand that I 'write it up!'

#famousbob #spocklock #abundantlyqueer #roane72 #batik96 #toooldforthissh--stuff #andtherestofyoutoo!

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famousbob · 11 years ago

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1. I am still learning to use tumblr so I don't even recall how I found your post and blog.

2. I can appreciate your criticism from a feminist perspective but I am out of my league in that arena other than my belief that we are all human beings first, but that gender differences have certainly played an over-arching role in matters of personal and social power with women generally getting the shitty end of the stick.

3. I understand that you were not attacking me personally but rather lamenting upon the impression the first photo in my article on ihearofsherlock.com may give readers, and I hope that I am not being defensive with my remarks.

4. I am not trying to attack your views but rather offer a perspective due to my awareness of the context in which I wrote the article and came to tumblr in the first place.

5. For me context is very important. Not every situation is a Rorschach blot where the ambiguity of the stimulus invites us to project our thoughts and feelings onto it. Yet I think that happens all the time and without knowing the context we limit our understanding. I am no exception in that regard.

So, some thoughts:

I had no idea that 221bCon was 98% female. I knew that it was in its 2nd year and was intimately connected (no pun intended) with BBC Sherlock, and then I assumed it was because fans enjoyed a new version of Sherlock Holmes, and maybe secondarily because Benedict Cumberbatch / Martin Freeman were considered attractive media stars. I didn't think of 221bCon as being run by three females, but as run by three Sherlockians who had some connection to the Baker Street Babes (which I knew existed and that Lyndsay Faye was a member). I had just moved back East from Arizona where I had to start my own scion in order to quench my thirst for Sherlockian contact. I saw an opportunity to join an unknown number of Sherlockians in a new venue and to share my knowledge of ACD and spiritualism.

The most 'cosplay' I had ever known was to wear my deerstalker to the annual birthday celebration in NYC. I had seen pictures from comicon of various characters and that is what I expected to see at 221bCon - costumes of Holmes and Watson and Mrs. Hudson, etc. But upon my arrival at the hotel, the very first thing I saw were the Baker Street Bunnies in the lobby. Yes, there were several other cosplayers dressed in more demure costumes, but older white male with working hormones that I am (yes, I am in part a product of my culture), I couldn't help but be surprised at seeing them. I still don't understand how they came into being, or their connection to Holmes and Watson (other than as being a lot more playful with Sherlockian associations than I am). The point is, if I had come in an hour before or an hour later, I might have seen something very different. I knew that there would be a costume contest, but that was scheduled for Saturday. I was wearing my deerstalker and a SH tee-shirt and didn't expect to see much more than that on Friday. Others, almost exclusively female, were having their pictures taken with them, so I decided why not me, too.

I had recently written my first book review for ihearofsherlock.com about ACD and Houdini and thought that the more general Sherlockian community of which I was a member might not know much about this new venue. I was aware of some controversy the previous year stirred up by a handful of old guard Sherlockians who made some unkind and uncalled for remarks about the Baker Street Babes (and not explicitly because they were female, but because they were not 'scholarly' and were not focused on 'serious' literary aspects of Sherlock Holmes and ACD). After my experience at the con, I wanted to share what was a delightful, entertaining, informative and completely unexpected new manner of 'keeping green the memory of the Master.'

The joy of my Sherlockian experiences have been the people I have met. I could have submitted a picture of the 221b door or of a roomful of Sherlockiana vendors and their wares or even of Dixie's masterful re-creation of the fireplace in the sitting room in the three-patch hospitality suite. But this was a convention of 1,000 Sherlockians, most of whom were women, and some of whom had spent much time and energy to play adult dress-up in honor of one (or more) of their passionate interests. Not averse to being seen in the company of attractive women or any celebrity for that matter (if I could have posted a photo of me shaking hands with Cumberbatch or Freeman, I might have done that instead). You may note that my tumblr icon is a picture of me and that I posted a photo of myself early on in my blog - that is because I am a very visually oriented person when it comes to associating names or usernames with people because I will remember them better. So I naturally decided to submit photos of people. The other two photos were of folks presenting panel discussions and were identified by name and their Sherlockian associations.

I saw your guiding quote on your 'about page' and I hope that you continue questioning. But in our society today sexual allusions abound - even in your own blog title. I am sorry that some men but not all (even if it's 'many, if not most') (and some but not all women) consciously or unconsciously denigrate and objectify others - and even that we all have done it at some time. It can be difficult outgrowing the stereotypes we learn, and I applaud your work in 'making the unconscious, conscious' as Freud would say. But he also said, 'sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.'

I find it stunning that on a forum where people will send hate to other women because those women don’t like a female character, no one else thought it even worth remarking that a man, writing about a con run by women, seemed to cast himself as Hugh Hefner and fangirls as his bunnies (x). One...

#famousbob #221bcon #221b Con #three-patch #dixiebell #lyndsayfaye #spocklock #professorfangirl

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