{"id":4505,"date":"2017-05-26T16:04:06","date_gmt":"2017-05-26T15:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/j-applebee.tumblr.com\/post\/161095153463"},"modified":"2017-05-26T16:04:06","modified_gmt":"2017-05-26T15:04:06","slug":"structural-issues-with-bicon-or-why-im-not-returning-unless-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/2017\/05\/structural-issues-with-bicon-or-why-im-not-returning-unless-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Structural issues with BiCon. Or why I\u2019m not returning unless I…"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Structural issues with BiCon. Or why I\u2019m not returning unless I see some changes.<\/b><\/p>\n

BiCon is run by volunteers in the bisexual community. \u00a0Every year the organisers change. \u00a0If an organiser screws up, often nothing is done, cos they won\u2019t be there next year (usually). \u00a0Last year an organiser made paedophile jokes during the cabaret, mocked non-binary people & was generally inappropriate. Very little was done, even though lots of people complained & were in tears (including me) at the Paedophile thing. \u00a0There\u2019s nothing to guarantee the same won\u2019t happen this year or the next, because they\u2019re never held accountable. \u00a0The same guy who caused the upset last year (breaking several BiCon Code of Conduct rules in the process) wasn\u2019t thrown out of the Con. If an attendee had done that, they\u2019d be told to leave immediately. \u00a0It\u2019s been almost a year since that incident, but I haven\u2019t\u00a0heard or seen anything on BiCon website apologising about it, or even mentioning it.<\/p>\n

When I\u2019ve brought up problems in the past, I\u2019ve often been told\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re just volunteers! \u00a0We don\u2019t get paid to do this!\u201d \u00a0This is a silencing tactic, which minimises the power that these volunteers have. \u00a0It\u2019s like saying,\u00a0\u201cShut up and be grateful!\u201d<\/p>\n

Another issue is the constant lack of engagement with bisexuals of colour. \u00a0The highest attendance (20+) we had was the year a donor gave BiCon funding to subsidise free places for People of Colour, disabled and working class. \u00a0The next year there was nothing, and the attendance went down to about 5 bi\u2019s of colour. \u00a0Nobody on organising teams wants to look at the fact that bi\u2019s of colour are more likely to be unemployed or on low wages – due to racism. \u00a0If we can\u2019t get subsides places, we simply can\u2019t go. \u00a0I\u2019ve been saying this since 2008, and nobody seems to listen. \u00a0At the same time, I keep getting asked how BiCon can become more accessible and diverse. \u00a0This just feels like the minimum amount of lip service.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been a bisexual activist for years. \u00a0BiCon has been the highlight of each of those years. \u00a0BiCon needs to look at the structure of organising the event. \u00a0BiCon Continuity could possibly include this in their remit too. \u00a0Because until things change, and I feel safer attending, I\u2019m not going back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Structural issues with BiCon. Or why I’m not returning unless I see some changes.<\/b><\/p>\n

BiCon is run by volunteers in the bisexual community.  Every year the organisers change.  If an organiser screws up, often nothing is done, cos they won’t be there next year (usually).  Last year an organiser made paedophile jokes during the cabaret, mocked non-binary people & was generally inappropriate. Very little was done, even though lots of people complained & were in tears (including me) at the Paedophile thing.  There’s nothing to guarantee the same won’t happen this year or the next, because they’re never held accountable.  The same guy who caused the upset last year (breaking several BiCon Code of Conduct rules in the process) wasn’t thrown out of the Con. If an attendee had done that, they’d be told to leave immediately.  It’s been almost a year since that incident, but I haven’t heard or seen anything on BiCon website apologising about it, or even mentioning it.<\/p>\n

When I’ve brought up problems in the past, I’ve often been told “We’re just volunteers!  We don’t get paid to do this!”  This is a silencing tactic, which minimises the power that these volunteers have.  It’s like saying, “Shut up and be grateful!”<\/p>\n

Another issue is the constant lack of engagement with bisexuals of colour.  The highest attendance (20+) we had was the year a donor gave BiCon funding to subsidise free places for People of Colour, disabled and working class.  The next year there was nothing, and the attendance went down to about 5 bi’s of colour.  Nobody on organising teams wants to look at the fact that bi’s of colour are more likely to be unemployed or on low wages – due to racism.  If we can’t get subsides places, we simply can’t go.  I’ve been saying this since 2008, and nobody seems to listen.  At the same time, I keep getting asked how BiCon can become more accessible and diverse.  This just feels like the minimum amount of lip service.<\/p>\n

I’ve been a bisexual activist for years.  BiCon has been the highlight of each of those years.  BiCon needs to look at the structure of organising the event.  BiCon Continuity could possibly include this in their remit too.  Because until things change, and I feel safer attending, I’m not going back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":1211,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[216,3,59,9,133,63,171,455,166,189],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activism","category-bi","category-bicon","category-bisexual","category-bisexuality","category-lgbt","category-poc","category-qtipoc","category-queer","category-race"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4505"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4712,"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4505\/revisions\/4712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bimedia.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}