My very brief contribution (in between exams) with something I think deserves emphasis: if we agree that women and non-heterosexual-men are already underrepresented, then having whatever representation we already have be sexualized produces the exact opposite result to the equal representation we aim for.
Isn't the entire point that we want to represent women, and not the heterosexual fantasy of women?
There are enough places that seem to insist women are only their bodies, for men's approval. If the goal of the community is to encourage more women to feel like they belong here, we don't need another picture to emphasize that overwhelming trend.
If all in all the representation was equal, then one such photo probably wouldn't have bothered us. And yet, it is, by far, not equal.
We might be there at some point in the future, where these discussions could be focused on whether or not sex in general has a place, but we're not there yet.
I believe it's a subject of much debate (even among feminists), but some of the basic ideas are covered atRyan
http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Sexualized_environment
On Wed, May 14, 2014 at 10:43 AM, Nathan <nawrich@gmail.com> wrote:
On Wed, May 14, 2014 at 1:23 PM, Valerie Aurora <valerie@adainitiative.org> wrote:
Hi folks,
I'm going to point out that posting sexually objectifying photos of
people of any gender or sexuality in a venue that is intended to be
equally accessible to all is still inherently discriminatory towards
women specifically. This is because the sexualized imagery occurs in
the context of widespread misogyny and sexism which includes the
sexual double standard for women, the objectification (in a very
literal sense) of women in sexual situations, and a much higher
prevalence of sexual violence against women than men (I don't know the
stats for people who don't identify as either but I'm sure they aren't
good either).
In other words, because the vast majority of humans alive today live
in cultures where sexual attitudes about women are so negative,
bringing up sex in a venue like this immediately creates a hostile
environment for women. I am repeating some of what Sumana already
wrote, just being very clear that pictures of male cheesecake or
sexualized photos of homosexual men also create a hostile environment
for women.
Other venues are a different matter. It is indeed possible to create a
safer and more welcoming environment in which sex can be discussed or
displayed with less or no harm to women, but Picture of the Day is not
it.
This is something I have to explain constantly to tech startups here
in the Bay Area, comprised often of mostly men who think there's
nothing wrong with literally covering the office walls with penis
jokes because "we're making fun of male genitalia, so that can't be
sexist towards women." These attitudes have real and lasting harm,
both for Wikimedia project participation and content, and for many
other areas of society.
-VAL
This is something that I don't really understand, but I'd like to. However I won't ask you to explain, since it's probably not a great use of your time, but could you point me to some concise discussion of why sexual or sexualized imagery of any kind is inherently discriminatory against women? Is this a commonly accepted viewpoint in academic feminism? Is there an easy way to draw a line between discriminatory and non-discriminatory imagery? (i.e. is a beach selfie of a woman in a bikini posted to Instagram discriminatory, regardless of intent?).Thanks for any references someone can provide where I might find answers to those questions.
~Nathan
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