On Sunday Sept 30th I participated in my first ever panel at Oz Comic Con. During the panel, a fee friends and I discussed the question “Queerness in Japanese Pop Culture: Authentic or a Fantasy Image?”

Up until this point, queerness is never something I’ve discussed in front of a crowd of people and I was nervous and excited at the same time. Part of this was because while I knew what I was talking about, I was afraid I wouldn’t have anything interesting to say, or that with a single question, an audience member would tear down every single idea I’ve ever had. If you haven’t guessed already, yes, I have major imposter syndrome.

I got to share so much of my knowledge – stuff I wasn’t even sure I knew about until, suddenly, it turned out I actually knew quite a lot – and even had the chance to talk to a few people individually afterwards. It was one of the first times that I got to see how this blog has helped not only me, but many others, how useful a tool it actually is. It was a wonderful feeling.

I definitely want to continue doing panels, and hope to do many more in the future. For now, you can watch Oz Comic Con panel through the link below – it’s a little shaky but the sound is ok, and you get to hear a few of my impassioned rants.