Open Source Women Back Each Other Up Program

[cimorene]

Leaving aside the issues of the original OSBP (Open Source Boob Project), which you can read about all over livejournal already (here's a factual summary), vito_excalibur posted about an Open Source Women Back Each Other Up Program:

I would like to start the Open Source Women Back Each Other Up Program. Here's my pledge: if I see somebody groping you in public, and you're not moaning Yes! Yes! Yes!, I will break through your Somebody Else's Problem invisibility field and come over and ask if you're okay. If your situation looks dangerous enough I can't help on my own, I will call over friends or, if it's a situation in which I think the cops would be on your side, I will call the cops. If you're being harassed by a guy, you can say so to me, even if you don't know me. I pledge I will distract him so you can get away, or I will tell him that he needs to leave, or whatever I can do to the best of my ability. I pledge that yes, actually, because you are a woman I will give you the benefit of the doubt. If you tell me that a guy just did something shitty to you I will not refuse to look at any evidence and tell you that I know him and he's a great guy and you must have been imagining things. I have great loyalty to my male friends but I will not allow that to blind me to the fact that none of us are saints and even my best friends can screw up and may need to be called on it. I pledge that I will walk you to your car if you don't feel safe walking alone at night, and then you can drive me to mine.

Which is a great idea - a much needed idea - regardless of the context. The bystander effect is a scary thing. Now in this thread they're discussing tshirts and buttons, and simple two-colour designs for them. It would be great if this concept could be disseminated at cons, as amireal mentions, and spread outside the bounds of online/fanfiction fandom.

Comments

[dreamnnightmare.livejournal.com]

seems like a natural for cons. All you need is one T-shirt and or button seller on board with the project and there you go. I don't sell stuff like that, but I know someone I could buy some for.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

The idea is to give away the buttons, I think, at least at cons, although the people discussing it now would of course have to buy them ourselves. They're also talking about putting informational fliers on the con freebie tables.

[dreamnnightmare.livejournal.com]

I would enclose flyers with dreams and nightmares, or print a small one in the magazine at no charge if someone wanted to send me a digital one.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

I think the idea just came up yesterday, but I'll try and keep up with it once fliers start getting made. Printing them and giving them away on their own, like with a heading in a big font, would probably be easier at cons themselves but of course another big part would be getting the word out to more con attendees *before* they go to the cons.