Sci-Fem
WisCon marks thirty years of blending science fiction and feminism.
Drawn back as if by some mysterious, gravitational force, future-minded feminists returned to Madison in May for the thirtieth annual WisCon science-fiction and fantasy convention. But though the gathering now attracts a crowd big enough to fill the convention facilities at the Concourse Hotel, it began its life a long time ago — twenty-nine years, to be exact — at a campus not far away.
WisCon was the creation of Jeanne Gomoll ‘73 and Janice Bogstad ‘72, MA’80, MA’86, PhD’92, who were looking to fuse genre studies with gender studies while they were working at the UW in the mid 1970s. Both were fans of science fiction, but were put off by the male-centered focus of so many authors and readers.
“I read a little science fiction when I was young,” says Gomoll, “but I stopped when I was in high school because so much of it was so sexist. I didn’t really rediscover the genre until I was in college.”
After graduating, she and Bogstad created Janus, a sci-fi magazine with a feminist bent. In 1975 they began attending “cons,” or conventions, but found them frustrating. “At most, they had one panel devoted to women in science fiction,” Gomoll says. “Janice and I figured that there was enough interest in women’s issues to be the focus of a whole convention, but if we wanted to see one, we’d have to run it ourselves.”