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From the Gendergap list, a really nice post, IMHO, from a newer
female user from Australia. Shared with permission. <br>
<br>
-------- Original Message --------
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<th valign="BASELINE" align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap">Subject: </th>
<td>Re: [Gendergap] [Commons-l] Fwd: Photo of the Day on
Wikimedia Commons</td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap">Date: </th>
<td>Tue, 17 May 2011 13:52:44 +1000</td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap">From:</th>
<td> <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:whiteghost.ink@gmail.com"><whiteghost.ink@gmail.com></a></td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap">Reply-To:
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<td>Increasing female participation in Wikimedia projects
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org"><gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org></a></td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap">To: </th>
<td>Increasing female participation in Wikimedia projects
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org"><gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org></a></td>
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<br>
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<style type="text/css">p { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }</style>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">This anime image is not appropriate
on
the front page. Questions of art, of education, and of
publication,
all require judgement. Judgement in these matters is normal and
necessary and is not of itself something which needs apology. Here
are some reasons why I think it is okay to decide NOT to put this
picture on the front page. This is not to say that it should be
deleted, it is simply not appropriate for the front page – and
that
does not constitute censorship.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The commonality of discriminatory
product placement</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Most areas of endeavor exercise care
and some discrimination about their products. It's not that they
are
illegal or censored; it's that they are inappropriate in some
places.
For example, at a recent exhibition in the Art Gallery of New
South
Wales, a very explicit drawing was placed at the far end of the
exhibition and a sign was placed discreetly to inform members of
the
public who had to make a choice about whether to view them. In the
case of Wikimedia, there might be gory images, for example, of the
effect of land-mines which explode in children's faces. They are
probably valuable – encyclopedic and even educational – but
would they be appropriate on the front page? Their value is not
diminished by leaving them in the body of the repository and it is
not censorship to make some small efforts necessary to access
them.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The woman's body</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">If you put a large-breasted
indigenous
naked woman in an image, people would not be commenting on the
size
of her breasts. They would see them as part of the woman herself,
whereas the breasts on which people have commented in this anime
are
plainly “designed” for service to (some) viewers. In fact, this
image's offensiveness to many comes not from the size of the
breasts
but rather from the whole backbreaking pose of the woman. </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Art and education</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">If this is a form of art, the
question
is not whether or not you like the breasts (there are lots of
breasts in art) but whether the art has its own integrity. That is
an
aesthetic question, which is why the colour palette is not under
challenge as it contributes to the integrity of the image. Commons
has criteria for aesthetic quality, but they do not specify or
restrict subject matter. However, whether you like this art or any
component part of it in any image is irrelevant. Audience approval
of
the “tits” is only relevant if the image is about titillation.
Only if this is the purpose, does the approval of the pose and
body
parts become relevant.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">If the image is not about art but is
rather about education, then the subject's body and pose are
misleading, as are the clothes and everything else, even the
colour
palette. Above all, if it is about education, then an argument
that
its primary purpose to educate about the art form (manga) or the
medium (the software) is spurious and disingenuous.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Thanks,</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Whiteghost.ink</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">PS I am a newbie female Ĺustralian
Wikipedian and have been following this list for a while but this
is my first contribution to it. I really think this is the wrong
sort of image for the front page. Apart from all the other
arguments, I think it is likely to deter whole demographics
(plural) from contributing to any of the WM projects.<br>
</p>
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