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Janni Lee Simner
janni
15 July 2009 @ 07:42 pm
Because it's been a while since I used this soapbox  
ETA: Via nineweaving, Readercon's teen policy is a hotel issue, not a concom one--and a new hotel is being sought out. Which makes me feel better about the whole business.

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Nevermind any of the other discussions going on about related matters online ... did I know Readercon had an actively teen-unfriendly membership policy? One that requires 14-year-olds to be labeled "ReaderKids" and stay in a parent's shadow, and that ghettoizes even 17-year-olds with a special "ReaderTeen" membership designation?

Do other cons do this, too? If so, no wonder teens are choosing to gather places other than traditional cons, and no wonder fandom is greying to the point that I'm on its youngish end.

We're a genre made up of people who were all generally once bright, precocious, passionate, intelligent teenagers. As such, we should truly know better--we should remember better--and should have a lot more respect for those who are there now.

I don't want to be protected and kept apart from teens at the cons I go to. I want to meet them as equals so that we can engage in conversations together, the same as with everyone else. That equal-footing thing is one of the things our genre always struck me as doing well, both in our stories and outside of them.

There are enough walls between teens and adults in the everyday world--genre fiction, in my experience, in one of the things that best tears these walls down, at least sometimes. We should be embracing that, not putting new walls up instead.

(Link found via shadesong's post on welcoming teens to cons rather than alienating them.)
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nineweavingnineweaving on July 17th, 2009 05:30 pm (UTC)
Update: I have looked into the restrictions on children and teens at Readercon. They did not arise from the concom, but from hotel policy: as a condition for hosting the rest of us. Needless to say, this rots. As I understand it, the committee is now looking into other hotels.

Nine
Janni Lee Simnerjanni on July 17th, 2009 05:33 pm (UTC)
Indeed--very glad to hear this is a hotel issue and not a committee issue, and that the committee is looking at alternatives! Thanks for the update!
Erik Amundsencucumberseed on July 18th, 2009 05:29 am (UTC)
Excellent news. I was looking into that, but the hotel did not see fit to get back to me on it.
The Elf ½elfwreck on July 18th, 2009 02:55 pm (UTC)
The hotel might say, "no convention attendees under 18 without a registered parent;" that could be part of the contract. And they might even have a policy that says "no minors allowed in the hotel without a parent/legal guardian, period." (I doubt that's enforced, but it might be the official rule.)

Certainly, however, the established hotel policy doesn't say "children under 15 attending conventions are not permitted convention materials, and must wear their con badges at all times in the hotel."

Nor do they say, "minors 15-17 must wear a convention badge with their parental contact info on the back." Nor does it say "minors must carry parental contact information on their persons at all times." (I'm damn sure most parents who check into the hotel, however few those are, are not told they must provide their children with ID cards for the duration of their stay.)

The hotel may have child-hostile policies; many do, although some relax them a bit for conventions of various sorts, as the policies are generally aimed at random families with 1 or 2 children, not at large events where the children are active participants. However, the convention gets to decide how to implement those policies. If the convention wants to be kid-friendly, and encourage younger fans, it should make very clear which policies are hotel-required, and work to make those con attendees feel included despite the hotel's policies.

And this bit:
The badge must have the Readercon attending parent's name on the front of the badge and contact info on the back.
... is dangerous. Giving kids under 10 badges with their parent's name prominently visible makes it easy for any creep to walk up and say, "hi! [yourmom] sent me to pick you up!" The cons I've been to have the parent's name on the BACK of the badge, so strangers can't walk up and immediately know both the child's name and the parent's.
Janni Lee Simnerjanni on July 18th, 2009 03:33 pm (UTC)
I think I'm willing to give it until the new hotel, and see how things evolve from there, and whether or not similar policies remain in effect at that point.

It wouldn't be the first time I've seen adults get a little stupid and do more than's required to comply with a policy ... on the other hand, if similar policies remain in a new hotel, that would be another matter.
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