Dragoncon 2022
I am getting ready to give a talk about transgender issues at Dragoncon 2022. It will be given the day before this is published. You will be able to see my talks on YouTube in a few days.
Dragoncon is:
“the largest multimedia, pop culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music and film in the universe.”
So why do I always attend every year? I am a scientist after all, not a cosplayer or extreme fan of Marvel or DC Comics, Star Wars, or Star Trek.
The basic reason I go is that, while the participants are acting fantasies, they have an abiding respect for what is real. They experience non-reality to put things in perspective.
For a long time, cons or conventions represented unique opportunities for people to crossdress—or dress in other than their usual gender presentation. It helps for crossdressers to get immersed for a few days in their congruent gender predisposition, without penalty from family or job or community. And they can be as flamboyant as they please.
But I can honestly say that I have never crossdressed at Dragoncon. Sure, I dress up in my best feminine skirt suit but that is because I am a woman. While the attendees of my talks have elaborate costumes, I am the only one who is not in cosplay.
In addition to all the non-real science fiction and fantasy, Dragoncon emphasizes real science. There are tracks—sequences of presentations and panels that present advanced science and some that help sci-fi writers by filling in plot holes with plausible science.
I have always presented in the SkepTrack which was inspired by James Randi, a Canadian-American magician (aka the Amazing Randi). After a successful career in magic, Randi set out to skeptically challenge paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. He set up a one million dollar prize for anyone who could prove such claims (e.g. ESP, Psi) of phenomena which could not be explained by science and reality. He exposed such fakers as Uri Geller (the spoon bender) and faith healers.
A Dragoncon Spartan.
The Skeptrack at Dragoncon is dedicated to get to the truth about whatever issue is under discussion. And I like that. I started researching transgender science because I wanted the truth about why I am transgender. I was fully ready to accept the claims of psychiatrists that being transgender was just a fetish—a sexual perversion if I found that the evidence supported that. But that is not what I found, as you know from reading these blogs.
I found a home in the Skeptrack. I have been speaking the truth about transgender people based on science and evidence and it feels good. This will be my 4th appearance.
You should be able to see my talk in a few days and maybe some of you will have seen it Live on YouTube Sunday night.
Category: Transgender Fun & Entertainment
About the Author (Author Profile)
Dana Jennett Bevan holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University and a Bachelors degree from Dartmouth College both in experimental psychology. She is the author of The Transsexual Scientist which combines biology with autobiography as she came to learn about transgenderism throughout her life. Her second book The Psychobiology of Transsexualism and Transgenderism is a comprehensive analysis of TSTG research and was published in 2014 by Praeger under the pen name Thomas E. Bevan. Her third book Being Transgender was released by Praeger in November 2016. She can be reached at [email protected].Subscribe
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