The Fanstastic Ms. Fox

I want to get back into geekery - especially sci-fi and roleplaying. I find geek spaces are intellectually engaging in a way which I find few other spaces to be. The problem I find is that a lot of geek spaces are disinterested in applying the intellectual vigour they value so highly to social justice and/or anti-oppression. This said, geekery is changing in this regard - the larp gender dynamics have shifted, and I've seen more women playing cross-gendered. This said, I find that I've changed more.

I like anti-oppression activist spaces too, but a girl needs some hobbies, y'know?

For those of you into Queer psych, this is an example of stage 6 of the Cass Identity Model. In this state, known as "Synthesis" the... uh... homosexual (the Cass is kinda old, and while I'm up their on the Kinsey scale, it's not the main source of the changes in my life if you know what I mean) stops seeing The Gay as their locus of their identity, and reintegrates zerself with society, just from a different point of view..

One possible solution: find other geeks with an interest in social justice.

I just sent this email off to a queer speed-friending/dating site.

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I would love to know how you solved the combinatoric/organizing problem inherent in queer speed friending/dating. I've filled many a piece of paper trying (and failing) to figure it out and present it in a simple form so that participants could follow instructions.

Hetero speed dating is fairly simple - everyone in group A (i.e. women who like guys) has to meet everyone in B (i.e. guys who like women), but neither A nor B is to meet anyone in their own group - you just form an inner and outer circle and one rotates. There are n people; n/2 in A and n/2 in B and you have n^2/4 meetings with n/2 happening at per turn with n/2 turns.

Same-sex speed dating is a more complicated as it requires n*(n-1)/2 meetings and the double-circle method fails to introduce everyone to everyone else. How did you do it so that everyone meets each-other without making the instructions too complicated for participants to follow? Did you group everyone into groups A and B, do the double-circle for one complete rotation then subdivide A and B and repeat with two double circles, repeating until done?

I could see it work if you had 4, 8, 16, 32 and so on people and could give everyone a slip of paper with who they need to talk to next, or a number slightly below an exponent of two, with a few people sitting out each round

I'd love to know how you did it - and I'd like to attend the next 19+ Rhizome event too,

- Amy