As is the plastic surgery craze. Fred

On 17/09/2011 22:40, Emily Monroe wrote: Just a quick note here : I've been talking to a dermatologist and she tells me one of the main issues is black women taking all sorts of meds to lighten their skin. It is often detrimental to health, and also it leads to considerable money loss in impoverished families, and unnecessary sorrow. I just thought Wikipedia should be aware of that. Here (fr) dermatologist are recruiting black women in the medical sector to lead campaigns against that. I guess one of the ways would be to show dark black women pictures more often, not just light brown. Arnaud

My impression is that we have an appalling dearth of photographs of black people generally, just like our coverage of black topics in general is wanting, including such basic areas as hair care and skin care.  Articles on black intellectuals are often either poor stubs, or get deleted for erroneous assertions of lack of notability. In my opinion, we need a major outreach to African studies scholars, and black media, because we are missing out on the knowledge people of colour could bring to the project. Andreas --- On Mon, 19/9/11, Sydney Poore <sydney.poore(a)gmail.com> wrote: From: Sydney Poore <sydney.poore(a)gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Gendergap] Black skins To: "Increasing female participation in Wikimedia projects" <gendergap(a)lists.wikimedia.org> Date: Monday, 19 September, 2011, 13:28 Very interesting point. Sydney On Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 8:06 AM, Arnaud HERVE <arnaudherve(a)x-mail.net> wrote: On 17/09/2011 22:40, Emily Monroe wrote: Just a quick note here : I've been talking to a dermatologist and she tells me one of the main issues is black women taking all sorts of meds to lighten their skin. It is often detrimental to health, and also it leads to considerable money loss in impoverished families, and unnecessary sorrow. I just thought Wikipedia should be aware of that. Here (fr) dermatologist are recruiting black women in the medical sector to lead campaigns against that. I guess one of the ways would be to show dark black women pictures more often, not just light brown. Arnaud _______________________________________________ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap

On 9/19/11 4:26 PM, Andreas Kolbe wrote: Topical to this, there is a documentary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Hair That points out that hair straightening (Relaxer) is a billion dollar industry. This is a clear bias; I'm actually flabbergasted by this.

History continues to be written by Anglos and it's just as apparent in Wikipedia..and add a male dominated voice, and well...that's history. The same goes for topics about Native American subjects. I say it in my lecture about Indigenous peoples working with Wikipedia - it's just like any other history, it's primarily written by white males, and that has to change (followed with a picture of Kevin Costner). (I'm sure the same goes for other communities/races/ethnicity/skin colors articles, whatever you prefer, as well, these are just two areas I tend to write in..) Malcolm X described history being "bleached," and I couldn't agree more. And here is one of my favorite Onion slaps: http://www.theonion.com/articles/white-history-year-resumes,139/ Having dialogue like this is a great start - I'd love to see it develop into a larger community discussion, like the gender gap publicity did. There is a lot of work to do, but, if we can develop successes with women, I like to think we can develop opportunities with more specific communities - and perhaps both at the same time. -Sarah On Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 7:28 PM, Brandon Harris &lt;bharris(a)wikimedia.org&gt;wrote;wrote: -- GLAMWIKI Partnership Ambassador for Wikimedia <http://www.glamwiki.org> Wikipedian-in-Residence, Archives of American Art<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:SarahStierch> and Sarah Stierch Consulting *Historical, cultural & artistic research & advising.* ------------------------------------------------------ http://www.sarahstierch.com/

I've mentioned my concern about the lack of "non-Anglo voices" also on Wikipedia and related project websites. I'm hoping that outreach projects within the gender gap "agenda" through WMF can help develop programming and outreach ideas that will be usable within diverse populations beyond just "men and women." In regards to skintones, anyone who watches American commercials, and perhaps this depends on where they live, might notice that many companies use lighter skinned African American men and women who can be perceived as "mixed" or even Anglo in some circumstances, it appeals to a broader audience, in theory. Just as it's important for Wikimedia to broaden relationships with women, it's important for us to broaden relationships outside of the "White world" (as seen in the last survey, Wikipedia is primarily Anglo). Again, voices * are* heard through neutrality and coverage of topics will expand. I also think it's important for Wikimedia to start to reach out to Latino populations as well - and this is in the United States specifically (and beyond, but, here, they are the fastest growing population). We do need more photographs of all types of populations doing things that are deemed "Educational in nature", and we also need content related to those communities - whether artists or writers, doctors or fashion designers, quotes or sources, etc. Then again I spent my undergrad writing about the representation of minorities in popular culture and you become obsessed with representation (let's just say..don't watch movies with me)... -Sarah On Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 8:32 AM, Fred Bauder &lt;fredbaud(a)fairpoint.net&gt; wrote: -- GLAMWIKI Partnership Ambassador for Wikimedia <http://www.glamwiki.org> Wikipedian-in-Residence, Archives of American Art<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:SarahStierch> and Sarah Stierch Consulting *Historical, cultural & artistic research & advising.* ------------------------------------------------------ http://www.sarahstierch.com/

Arnaud, I've just remembered a documentary related to your post that is very much worth watching. Here is a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXG38QxXY-s Andreas --- On Mon, 19/9/11, Arnaud HERVE &lt;arnaudherve(a)x-mail.net&gt; wrote: From: Arnaud HERVE &lt;arnaudherve(a)x-mail.net&gt; Subject: [Gendergap] Black skins To: "Increasing female participation in Wikimedia projects" &lt;gendergap(a)lists.wikimedia.org&gt; Date: Monday, 19 September, 2011, 13:06 On 17/09/2011 22:40, Emily Monroe wrote: Just a quick note here : I've been talking to a dermatologist and she tells me one of the main issues is black women taking all sorts of meds to lighten their skin. It is often detrimental to health, and also it leads to considerable money loss in impoverished families, and unnecessary sorrow. I just thought Wikipedia should be aware of that. Here (fr) dermatologist are recruiting black women in the medical sector to lead campaigns against that. I guess one of the ways would be to show dark black women pictures more often, not just light brown. Arnaud _______________________________________________ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap

Arnaud, I've ordered a copy of Good Hair as well. :) There are excellent scholarly sources on [[hair straightening]] in the black community. I dropped a few on the article's talk page, but it's just the tip of the iceberg. I may do some work on the article. Any help by editors better qualified than me welcome! I agree about the Black Girls video. My wife showed it to me a few months ago, and it's stayed with me ever since.  As for your other point, about unnecessary surgery, Sarah spotted that we had some frankly misleading before/after plastic surgery pictures in a number of articles on female genitalia (uploaded by a plastic surgeon, no less). There were also two (2) in the vulva article. I found that quite perturbing. Best, Andreas --- On Wed, 21/9/11, Arnaud HERVE &lt;arnaudherve(a)x-mail.net&gt; wrote: From: Arnaud HERVE &lt;arnaudherve(a)x-mail.net&gt; Subject: Re: [Gendergap] Black skins To: "Increasing female participation in Wikimedia projects" &lt;gendergap(a)lists.wikimedia.org&gt; Date: Wednesday, 21 September, 2011, 0:15 On 20/09/2011 01:10, Andreas Kolbe wrote: Not only worth watching but compulsory watching, I think. Thanks Andreas for this great link. I'll be watching the movie Good Hair next week-end. Yes I suspect light brown caffelatte skin is becoming a sort of norm now. In fact by watching American TV series, I would not be surprised if the light brown woman is the one who's here to stay and join the team, and the dark brown woman is the one being killed during the episode, or not a recurring character. On a more general scale, I first became aware of the dangers of unnecessary surgery by working for sports instructors a few years ago. If you imagine that sports physical enhancement will remain forever the mere injection of chemicals, well you're wrong. There is going to be carbon-fiber bones, all sorts of weird things. Now as far as average women are concerned, there is a deadly combination of : - the natural tendancy of women to take care of their appearance - new bio technologies - business interests eager to combine the two. But that will create Frankenstein's monsters really. Uneducated women are going to get convinced that their shoulders are too large, their hips to narrow, their humerus too long... it will really become crazy and extend to whatever possible. And then there is the problem of the consequences when growing older. In this case of skin whitening, even if the laboratory says it's safe, it nevertheless compulsorily means intervening in the skin as deep as the pigments, so frankly it doesn't sound that good to me. So I would compare it to food disorders or pathological gambling. Even if adults do that of their own free will, responsible institutions should not go that way. Arnaud _______________________________________________ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap