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[Blog] / 2023-05-14 / end_otw_racism / #entry.rdf

<awol:Entry
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        <dc11:title>End Racism in the O·T·W</dc11:title>
        <dc11:date>2023-05-14T14:13:54-07:00</dc11:date>
        <dc11:abstract rdf:parseType="Markdown"><![CDATA[
Fans are protesting the Organization for Transformative Works’s
complete ineptitude at addressing racism in the fannish communities
that their infrastructure supports. I think this is a great thing.
]]></dc11:abstract>
        <sioc:content rdf:parseType="Markdown"><![CDATA[
That the [Organization for Transformative Works][OTW] has incredibly
lax and permissive standards regarding what kinds of fanworks they
permit on their website, [<cite>Archive of Our Own</cite>][AO3], is a
fact so welknown among the fans who frequent it that any comment on the
matter feels like an exercise in stating the obvious. Haven’t read
their [Terms of Service](https://archiveofourown.org/tos
"Archive of Our Own: Terms of Service") recently? Here you go :—

<figure>

> **[I. Offensive Content
> Policy](https://archiveofourown.org/tos)**
>
> As provided in part [I.E.3](https://archiveofourown.org/tos#exposure)
> of the Terms of Service, the OTW is not liable to you for any Content
> to which you are exposed on or because of the Service.
>
> Unless it violates some other policy, we will not remove Content for
> offensiveness, no matter how awful, repugnant, or badly spelled we
> may personally find that Content to be.

<figcaption><cite>Archive of Our Own</cite>: <a
href="https://archiveofourown.org/tos#IV.I.">“Terms of Service”
§ⅠⅤ∷I</a></figcaption></figure>

As <cite>A·O·3</cite> is one of the largest fan “archives” (fannish
term of art) and a place a great many people go (or might like to) in
order to consume fanworks, this kind of blithe, cheerfully dismissive
stance _ought to_ read as a clear & obvious dereliction of duty. It
should come as no surprise that many people find the prospect of going
to a fanspace populated with “awful, repugnant” works (works which, to
be painfully clear, might suggest, threaten, or otherwise constitute
bigotry, harassment, or violence towards themselves or their loved
ones) to be _somewhat undesirable_, and that their presence has a
chilling effect (to say the least) on who feels welcome and able to
participate in fandom as a whole.

Of course, getting the O·T·W to actually revise this policy has thus
far been about as difficult as one might imagine, considering that the
O·T·W is an incredibly disorganized nonprofit run entirely by
volunteers and whose board is effectively decided by personality
contest with little actual meaningful organizational power besides.
Fans were, through much effort (starting, in a sense, in 2020, but
ongoing, in a different since, as part of an effort which has persisted
since the organization’s founding), able to at least get the O·T·W to
_entertain the idea_ of hiring a Diversity Consultant (temporary; not
staff) to help them fix some of their problems, although the farthest
they have gotten in _that_ respect so far (in 2023) is appointing a
Diversity Consultant Research Officer (a volunteer), whose job it is to
research _whether_ or _how_ the organization even _wants_ a Diversity
Consultant (because, evidently, _they just don’t know_).

<figure>

> The Board has been brainstorming the possibility of instating two new
> officer roles in the OTW: A <i>Paid Staff Transition Officer</i> and
> a <i>Diversity Consultant Research Officer</i>. The people in these
> roles would be responsible for overseeing and managing progress on
> both of these projects, since historically, the OTW tends to struggle
> to advance long-term projects due to the frequent turnover of Board
> members. […]
>
> […]
>
> […] the Diversity Consultant Research Officer would […] research
> and explore possibilities for diversity consultants and present their
> findings to the Board, who would then evaluate them and make a
> decision on how to move forward.

<figcaption>Not a promise to actually hire a Diversity Consultant, just
to research the possibility; <a
href="https://www.transformativeworks.org/board_minutes/board-meeting-minutes-11-july-2021/"
title="O·T·W Board Minutes, 11 July 2021">O·T·W Board Minutes, <time
datetime="2021-07-11">11 July 2021</time></a></figcaption></figure>

<figure>

> Avenues that we will consider and plan for addressing diversity and
> inclusion include:
>
> - <p>Contracting with an individual or organization to consult on
>   issues of racial bias and inequality within the Organization and
>   its projects. Options for this will be researched by a dedicated
>   Diversity Consultant Research Officer, appointed by the Board of
>   Directors.</p>

<figcaption>Also not a promise to actually hire a Diversity Consultant;
<a
href="https://www.transformativeworks.org/otw-vision-statement-2022-2025/"
>“O·T·W Vision Statement 2022–2025”</a></figcaption></figure>

The current timeline is for the (still hypothetical) Diversity
Consultant’s work to be “completed” within the next five years, with an
unknown percentage of that time spent actually getting them in the
position. Of course, we all know that diversity work _never ends_, so
what we really have learned is that while the O·T·W doesn’t know when
they will actually be _hiring_ someone to the job, they certainly _do_
know when they will be _firing_ them.

[This information has been extremely difficult to
extract](https://runpunkrun.dreamwidth.org/982132.html
"Notes from the March 26 OTW Quarterly Public Board Meeting") and this
schedule is obviously painfully, and unacceptably, slow.

This June will mark the three‐year anniversary of the O·T·W [beginning
to make some of these commitments][OTW-Statement], and consequently
some fans have decided to once again raise a fuss to try and get the
ball rolling a little faster. However, instead of using the usual fan
tactic of being loud on blogs, social media, and the occasional board
meeting, they have decided to instead go with **direct action**, which
I think is _excellent_. They’re calling their movement [“End O·T·W
Racism”][EndOTWRacism] and have [issued a call to action for the dates
17–31 May][EndOTWRacism-CtA]. In addition to the usual social media
campaigning, they hope to get the issue in fans’ faces through the
voluntary changing of fanwork titles to ‹ End Racism in the OTW ›—a
tactic which is disruptive _enough_ that people will definitely notice,
but not so disruptive that it constitutes a T·o·S violation that
<cite>A·O·3</cite> could reasonably retaliate against.

Now, generally speaking, I am far more interested in antiracist &
feminist & queer fandom existing _without_ <cite>A·O·3</cite> than
_within_. As the above probably makes clear, I think that the O·T·W as
an organization is inept and that the possibility of End O·T·W Racism
having any of their demands met is slim‐to‐nil. **_Nevertheless_**, I
whole·heartedly support this action, and I do so for the following
reasons :—

1. Successfully applying pressure to the O·T·W will result in one of
   two outcomes :— ① They could show their true colours, retaliate,
   and demonstrate hypocrisy by refusing to give platform and voice to
   antiracist fans even as they continue to defend their right to give
   platform to the racist ones. Or, more optimistically, ② they could
   respond favourably with change. Both of these outcomes advance the
   cause, in different ways. The third outcome—the status quo—is that
   they continue to leave the question open and fail to make any
   meaningful progress, which is an invitation to apply more pressure
   because clearly we have not applied _enough_ then!

2. If successful, this action could serve as a template for future
   feminist & queer radical actions in fandom (in addition to ongoing
   antiracist efforts). As a lesbian, this obviously matters to me, and
   I think that any lesbian who cares about lesbian fannish fiction
   should work in solidarity with this movement because we desperately
   need to learn how to organize _ourselves_. Even if the action is
   unsuccessful, it could at least serve as a warning of things to not
   attempt again.

3. I believe that the organizing potential that these sorts of actions
   provide is useful in its own right, regardless of any other result.
   I hope that the people running this programme are learning things
   and I also hope that we all are able to learn things from them. But
   I also think that the very fact that they _have_ organized
   themselves is incredibly valuable, in that it allows these
   conversations to escape the informal networks of fannish social
   circles to which they have (mostly) been contained until now. I am
   certain that I have no idea who any of the people running this
   action are, and I am also certain that if they had simply, as a
   group of friends, all decided to do undertake this action on their
   own (without any further organizational structure or competency) I
   never would have even heard about it, much less be writing a
   blogpost on the subject. This _is_ largely how antiracist action on
   <cite>A·O·3</cite> has progressed so far (blogposts on blogs I don’t
   follow and author’s notes on fics I don’t read), and the movement
   desperately needs to escape the limits that this structurelessness
   has enforced. Even if this particular action is ultimately worthless
   in terms of its direct effects, simply by existing it provides a
   cultural reference point for people outside of those cliques and
   circles to begin to think about further organizing, which is vital.

4. Fans need to _get used to_ seeing other fans organize politically
   and engage in direct, disruptive, and occasionally confrontational
   political action. Fans need to get used to seeing it because fans
   need to be _doing_ it, and until they see it happen they won’t
   realize that it is a thing they even can do. The O·T·W is a
   nightmare _in part because_ fans have no idea how to organize in a
   way which actually gets anything done. Every attempt at maybe not
   being quite so accommodating to active racists and fascists is seen
   as “anti behaviour” by some because organized harassment campaigns
   are _so much_ the only form of meaningful organization that most
   fans encounter that they have learned to treat “organized action”
   and “harassment” as equivalent. _This needs to change._

With respect to the action itself, as an author who publishes on
<cite>A·O·3</cite>, the steps I personally will be taking (beginning
17 May) are as follows :—

- I plan to set the title of *nearly* every fic I have published since
  <time datetime="2020-06-10">10 June 2020</time>—the date of [“This
  Week In Fandom, Volume 149”][TWIF-149]—to ‹ End Racism in the OTW ›,
  in solidarity. Specific exceptions will made for the following
  minority of works :—

  - **Joke fic,** where the title & summary is setting up the joke.
    Example: [<cite>In Hyrule, they don’t say
    “baka”</cite>](https://archiveofourown.org/works/31751758).

  - **Meta fic,** where the title is necessary for describing the
    subject of the meta. Example: [<cite>Zelda’s Fingers Could
    Conceivably Be Longer Than
    Link’s</cite>](https://archiveofourown.org/works/46556131).

  - **Fic with fictional authorship,** for which changing the title
    would be breaking the fourth wall. Example: [<cite>Strange Stories
    from the
    Surface</cite>](https://archiveofourown.org/works/41041395).

  (**Why make exceptions?** Because these are niche works, because I
  don’t think leaving a few fics with their original titles will
  negatively impact the action, and because these are the few instances
  where changing the title does substantially affect the work itself
  and not merely how it is presented in <cite>A·O·3</cite>’s
  interface.)

- I will include a note explaining the previous point at the beginning
  of every affected fic. The following note text is planned :—

  > This fic, which was first published after the
  > <abbr title="Organization for Transformative Works">O·T·W</abbr>’s
  > [“This Week in Fandom, Volume 149” (10 June 2020)][TWIF-149] but
  > before the implementation of meaningful antiracist policies
  > anywhere in the organization, has been titled ‹ End Racism in the
  > OTW › in solidarity with the [End O·T·W Racism][EndOTWRacism]
  > protest | movement. You can read more about [the original call to
  > action][EndOTWRacism-CTA] and [my personal take on
  > it](https://blog.ladys.computer/2023-05-14/end_otw_racism/). I have
  > no plans to further revise the title of this fic.

  For fics whose titles did *not* change, I am planning a slightly
  different note :—

  > This fic was orignially published after the
  > <abbr title="Organization for Transformative Works">O·T·W</abbr>’s
  > [“This Week in Fandom, Volume 149” (10 June 2020)][TWIF-149] but
  > before the implementation of meaningful antiracist policies
  > anywhere in the organization. In solidarity with the [End O·T·W
  > Racism][EndOTWRacism] protest | movement, the author respectfully
  > demands immediate action from the Organization for Transformative
  > Works on this issue. For more, read [End O·T·W Racism’s original
  > call to action][EndOTWRacism-CTA], or see [my own personal take on
  > it](https://blog.ladys.computer/2023-05-14/end_otw_racism/).

- I will maintain this policy *indefinitely*, until either :—

  - The demands of the End O·T·W Racism call to action have been
    satisfied, or

  - Participation in a future action requires me to act differently, or

  - I am banned from <cite>A·O·3</cite>.

  Although the End O·T·W Racism action is currently only planned for
  17–31 May, with fan·authors free to set their titles back its end, I
  _personally_ feel that it is better that the historical context in
  which these fics were created and published _not_ be erased. I
  certainly think “this fic was published during a time when the
  Organization for Transformative Works was grappling, largely
  unsuccessfully, with the racism of various fans who used its service”
  makes for  a far juicier and more interesting title than than
  anything _else_ I might come up with. If the O·T·W somehow manages to
  pull principled action out its arse and address these problems,
  perhaps at a future date I will see that history as less relevant.
  As things currently stand, its relevance is *direct* and *immediate*,
  so I don’t see any reason to scrub it off once the action completes.

**_I invite any other fan·authors who read this post to join me in
solidarity._**

[AO3]: <https://archiveofourown.org/> "Archive of Our Own"
[EndOTWRacism]: <https://end-otw-racism.tumblr.com> "End OTW Racism"
[EndOTWRacism-CtA]: <https://end-otw-racism.tumblr.com/post/716978822501875712/fandom-against-racism-a-manifesto> "END OTW RACISM: A CALL TO ACTION"
[OTW]: <https://www.transformativeworks.org/> "Organization for Transformative Works"
[OTW-Statement]: <https://www.transformativeworks.org/statement-from-the-otw-board-of-directors-chairs-leads/>
[TWIF-149]: <https://web.archive.org/web/20200610165006/https://www.transformativeworks.org/this-week-in-fandom-volume-149/> "This Week in Fandom: Volume 149"
]]></sioc:content>
        <dc11:rights rdf:parseType="Markdown"><![CDATA[
Copyright © 2023
<a href="https://www.ladys.computer/about/#lady">Lady</a>
<small>[Aspirational Fannish Organizer]</small>.
Some rights reserved.

This blogpost is licensed under a <a rel="license"
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"><cite>Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</cite></a>.
]]></dc11:rights>
</awol:Entry>