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PIC: Agent of Change

Back in my first two blog posts, I discussed the research I had uncovered on the Syrian refugee crisis. In my first blogpost, I talked about how over 11 million Syrians are displaced outside of their homes, with almost 4 million being outside of the country altogether. I talked about how there are people in Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and Iraq. I discussed how people are forced out of there country for upwards of 17 years. In my second blogpost I did  my original research, where I interviewed Melissa Fleming of the UNHCR, and found even more information on the crisis. I found that the numbers of refugees is still increasing, showing no signs of slowing down. I found that refugees are having an even harder time getting out of their country, as many of the surrounding countries don’t want to allow too many people over their borders. Many groups, such as the UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) and the IRC (International Rescue Committee) are raising money towards helping refugees, and groups such as the IRC have been using social media to raise awareness of the issue. This being said, I still found that too many people know too little on the subject.

With the idea in mind of raising money, I saw that many of the organizations allowed people to donate money to them so they can get blankets, food, clean water, etc. to the refugees. I decided for my agent of change that I should help with this cause and donate money, as well as attempt to raise awareness of the issue. I decided to do a bake sale in my school, Science Leadership Academy, (SLA) to raise money and awareness. Although I only raised a small sum of fifty dollars for the refugees, I also was able to inform more people about the issue, and hopefully make more people realize that this issue is still going on, and that it is a serious problem, with people dying, and losing their families everyday. Although my Agent of Change was small, I hope that it had some impact on the issue.

The donation screen on the UNHCR website.

I’ve never been a big fan of using hashtags to try and make change happen.

I’ve never even been one to try and make change happen, so I guess my opinion is an outlier that shouldn’t be counted.

Especially since I’m a huge hypocrite when under stress.

In my previous two posts, the talk of cosplay enforced sexual harassment was the focus. In the first post, I mentioned people who were faced with the harassment, and why it’s important to know about. In the second post, I showed results to a survey I sent out to 25 cosplayers, asking them about their experiences.

I’ve mentioned a group called Geeks for CONsent a few times in the past posts, as well. They’re a group of two girls, cosplayers, that have booths set up at conventions and raise awareness about sexual harassment at conventions; such as trying to help place stronger rules against it in Convention rules. They’ve also given people a place to talk about their experiences, and even get help with it; almost like a convention buddy system. No one goes alone.

For my agent of change, I decided to go against myself and use a tag on a social media site called Tumblr.

I had rounded up a group of people and asked them to reblog/repost photos that were posted by cosplayers and tag it with:

Which would eventually link back to a post made describing the project.

(Original post found here)

Out of the people recruited, only a few actually got back to me with their participation.

The following screenshots (along with the links to the original posts with the cosplay featured, not posted directly due to personal rights.) are the few I gathered.

Original posts found here, here, and here.

Original posts found here, here, here and here

Originally, I had planned to do a video. It was to be a public service announcement type thing, where cosplayers sent photos of themselves with signs in cosplay and talked about the things they’ve gone through if they wanted. But, sadly, not many people actually wanted to take part, or just didn’t have the time. So the idea flopped/

However, a few people have given me the permission to use their photos for example. Credit being given where asked, of course. (They’re actually both from the same fandom- how funny is that?)

(http://that-multishipping-choirboy.tumblr.com)

Since starting this project, I’ve grown a lot more involved with this community. This project has changed my outlook on things, and made me realize that people become really good at covering things up about themselves until they’re actually asked about it. It’s also made people feel more comfortable with themselves. By talking about it with someone, they’re willing to face people with confidence, and they’re not afraid anymore. I think I can call this a success.

Moving forward, I think it’d be a good idea to keep this tag going, to try and expand it and make it a normal thing to do.

Make it kind of… a safe word.

There’s still a lot to do with preventing sexual harassment all together, not just at conventions alone, but we’re still fighting for it. And that’s what matters.