Paul Cornell is looking for gender parity at Con panels...

[icon_uk]

From Paul Cornell's website



"Okay, so this was something I came up with yesterday, and it's mad, and is, frankly, a rod for my own back, but what the hell, it's going to make this coming year a lot more interesting.

I think there should be gender parity on every panel at every convention. I'm after 50/50, all the time. I want that in place as an expectation, as a rule. Now, to make that happen, what really should be done is a ground-up examination of society, huge changes at the heart of things which would automatically lead to women being equally represented everywhere, not just on convention panels. Well, we've all wanted that and worked for that for decades, especially those of us in fandom, and it just hasn't happened. So, this year, I've decided that I'm going to approach this problem via the only moral unit I'm in charge of: me. I'm going to approach this problem from the other end. And this approach is going to be very much that of a blunt instrument.

If I'm on, at any convention this year, a panel that doesn't have a 50/50 gender split (I'll settle for two out of five), I'll hop off that panel, and find a woman to take my place. "

There's more text at the website, but I'm impressed by his initiative.

So, thoughts people? :)


For legality, the cover to Demon Knights 7 by Mike Choi, which includes a rather impressive outfit for the Questing Queen, a little action-figure-y perhaps, but given my Saint Seiya tastes, that's not really a problem for me! :)

Comments

[peur-evol.blogspot.com]

The whole comics industry is nowhere near a "50/50" split.
I think he's going to be walking off of a lot of panels.
Good idea but a but a bad way to do it.
Instead of walking off, why not just address the issue in whatever panel he's in?

[icon_uk]

- No it's not, and it won't be unless some steps are taken to encourage the female POV, to show that women can be engaged in the comics business.

- He's not walking off per se, he's seeking out a female replacement wherever possible.

- Because he wants more women to be heard from, not a man talking about issues that he things might be relevant to women?

[gerardotejada]

He is would not be talking for them but about them, ehm, is complicated but still. He can adress the issue.

I support the idea but is a bad strategy, It doesnt hurt thou. I know most writers leave "outside" the fan comunity, is the main reason they cant see the problem, Morrison admited he "didnt know It mattered".

Congratulations to Cornell for making noise, I bet he knows how ugly things can get.

PD: a good strategy would be, I dont know, Women enter for free? On second thoughts I live in the other end of the world, I dont know how Big Cons work.

[madlaughter]

I support equality and would not be against more women in the industry. But every panel, every convention? Lets say this were applied to the Amazing Spiderman panel. Between the director, writers, Spidey, Gwen, Lizard, Aunt May/Uncle Ben, George Stacy (probably the 6 most important characters), that's 7 men, 2 women. Do you just bring women who play extras onto the panel? Tell Martin Sheen and Andrew Garfield to not bother showing up?

There's a good chance that other women worked on the production, but those 9 people at the top are the 9 people that anyone standing in line for 6 hours want to see.

On the flip side, if I were at a panel for AMC's the killing, a show staffed largely by female writers, I wouldn't expect them to shoehorn in men just to make it equal.

[darkknightjrk]

That is a good point--if the disparity is that bad, perhaps a good baby step is that he won't do a panel if there isn't going to be any women at all, and he would recommend a good woman creator to take his place.

[milleniumrex]

Definition of putting the cart before the horse. You can't get a 50-50 split at panels if the industry doesn't even have a 75-25 split. Especially when it comes to corporate superhero comics.

I respect and appreciate what he's going for, but all this is going to do is deprive fans of the chance to ask one of the best writers of female characters in comics some questions.

[icon_uk]

You can't get a 50-50 split at panels if the industry doesn't even have a 75-25 split

Ummm, yes you can, you just need to feature the 25% more than average.

[milleniumrex]

Not if they're irrelevant to the panel.

Paul Cornell would be attending Dark and Edge Panels to talk about Demon Knights and Stormwatch (although not for long about the latter). Putting Amy Reeder Hadley, Ann Nocenti, Nicola Scott, Gail Simone, or Amanda Conner on the panel when they don't have anything to do with those sub-lines doesn't make sense.

And as much as I'd love to see Diane Nelson on some of these panels, big executives don't usually make it out to the cons.

Now of course, the solution to this issue is to get more female creators on the books. There's a ton of great indie creators out there who I'd love to see on DC books. But Cornell's plan doesn't really seem to have practical implications if there aren't women there to fill his role at this panels.

(I don't know if he attends other panels, like Dr. Who ones where there might be women creators who should be on the panel).

[nightauditguy]

Etrigan thinking: ~That's what I get for asking to motorboat her~

[lieut_kettch]

But motorboats haven't been invented yet.

[darkknightjrk]

That does raise a good question--because I have to imagine that act was around well before the motorboat existed--what did they call motorboating back then?

[donnblake]

I get where he's coming from, but this really seems an odd way to go about it if it's meant to be anything but a pure attention grabbing stunt. It's about the different ideas of equality of opportunity and equality of results.

That is to say, the difference between saying, "It should be just as easy for a woman to get a job in the comic book industry as it is for an equally qualified man," (the qualifications here being, let's say, the ability to reliably produce quality work on a regular schedule), and saying, "Comic book companies should hire people based on their gender so as to maintain an equal ratio of men-to-women."

No, that's not quite right. Cornell isn't suggesting that anyone lose their job or not get one based on their gender. It's just the idea that gender should be the overriding concern when selecting someone for just about anything besides sex-partner or genetic donor or somesuch that strikes me as just as problematic as the issue it's trying to address.

On the other hand, I get that maybe something like this is intended to be a step towards a more equality of opportunity model for the industry. It's hard to just go and change the male-centric setup of the industry over night, and this is a rule that COULD be implemented, or even if not, something that Cornell himself could continue doing.

[valtyr]

It's just the idea that gender should be the overriding concern when selecting someone for just about anything besides sex-partner or genetic donor or somesuch that strikes me as just as problematic as the issue it's trying to address.

No, it's not. That's nonsense. Trying to get more women into comics, discussing comics, and onto panels is absolutely not the same as the industry's regular exclusion of them. Any more than scholarships targeting minorities is as problematic as the lack of access to education for those minorities. When addressing systemic gender imbalances, you have to be concerned with gender. How else can you address it?

Some countries have done a similar thing with corporate boards. It's amazing how, when they had to, they could find qualified women.

[donnblake]

You're right, and that was poorly worded on my part. But I still think that the overriding concern should be who is most qualified to speak on any given panel.

Yes, right now the comic-book industry is male dominated which means that many panels will probably have more qualified men than women (put 25 of Group A into a room with one of Group B and there's a decent chance than one of the Group Aers will have as much or more experience than the Group Ber in any given field), and yes it's a problem that the industry is male dominated, but I don't see how establishing quotas at conventions is supposed to fix that.

[gerardotejada]

Both of you are right (Im playing the mom here)

It is nonsense if look at It only at the political level, you dont do things only to be PC, is Beyond that. Dont look It as bussiness, thats the focus that somepeople do and It annoys me.

Curiously a woman creator should be pushed far beyond any male creator, you dont hire woman just for gender equality, yo do It because women are different and can deliver a different aproach to comics, in fact many companies expect this plus.

For example it should be easier for a woman to write female characters, that doesnt mean that a man cant write female characters but a woman has advantage.

Having higher expectation for women means you HAVE to search for them and you just cant sit and wait the next Gail Simone go throught the door.

The fact that both genders are completly equals is a mistake from feminist theory (the term is out dated in academy work, I call myself into gender studies not "feminism") Men and Woman are different and that is good thing.

Hell, english is not my first lenguage I have the half of my spanish vocabulary to explain this, well anyway no one here would understand my academyology

[stubbleupdate]

Gail Simone will be very, very busy at Con Season

[gerardotejada]

Thats the first reason I think this is a bad strategy
Did Cornell do a research at DC? Doesnt he knows that the last 7 or 8 years almost every women in DC has moved away (half the creators to be fair, from Dixon to Yost and from Rucka to Waid)


WARNING both All-Star Western and Demon Knights are border line to cancellation. Palmotti and Grey have already asked for help BUY ALL STAR WESTERN. Cornell have already left Stormwatch, dont let his book go under 20k (It is already below 25k)

[kurenai-tenka.livejournal.com]

Man, I just love Paul Cornell so damn much.

[gerardotejada]

He seems a really great guy, Capitan Britania and the MI13 was very good but It was cancelled, I pray so his Demon Knights dont get cancelled too.

[valtyr]

It's worth noting he made this announcement shortly after the guest list for Kapow was released. I advise anyone wondering how even the split is to check out that guest list - and check out last year's guest list, too.

Kudos to Paul Cornell for noticing this, and acting in a way that will both be a small correction, and draw attention to the problem.

[q99]

I like him.


Also? Nice cover!

[gerardotejada]

You think so? Is the worst cover in the series so far, I find It photoshoped (ugly).

Look the other covers, If you like this one the others will blow your mind.

Buy ALL STAR WESTERN and DEMON KNIGHTS they are borderline cancelation, and two of the five or six high quality series of DC (and still are far behind Justice
League and Green Lanter wtf)

[dancesontrains]

...surely the solution re. not enough women creators to join a panel is to hire more ladies? Maybe do it like orchestras apparently have for the last few years, judge the quality of the art/writing/colouring/etc without knowing the name of the creator.

[crabby_lioness]

So gallantry is not dead after all. :)

[kenn_el]

I'm going to do the same thing at my meetings at work! Genius! With luck, I won't have to sit through another snoozefest for a year!