Hi. I'm Carolmooredc and since I edit on controversial political topics I get in lots of trouble with guys who don't like opinionated females who don't shut up and go away when they are told to. I wish it got me down enough to leave and do something more profitable, but I'm stubborn - and semi-retired with lots of time on my hands.
I'd like to get more educated and retired people involved and think there are tens of thousands who could be attracted - if we could deal with the bar room brawl aspects of wikipedia as this exaggerated but amusing article describes: "Wikipedia: This is a man's world" http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/wikipedia-...
If the Egyptians can get rid of Mubarak, we can get rid of incivility on Wikipedia. (And it is catching; I tend to catch it myself when editing on one or two articles where there's lots of it and before you know it, I'm bringing (mild versions of) it elsewhere where all is peaceful. But at least I'm always willing to apologize and strike my (relatively mild) incivil comments.
Anyway, bottom line of why I am posting here is to alert people to at least one place where relevant discussions listed (now just haphazardly in talk). Which is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Feminism (I don't know if other languages have such projects.)
Perhaps "WikiProjects Women" on all language Wikipedias are necessary to draw in women who for various reasons might not go to a "Wikiproject Feminism"??
Anyway, an idea of current issues below on en. wikipedia below in case anyone wants to jump right in:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Wikipedia#Gender_bias Needs expanding
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Civility#Proposal Someone else proposed language to WP:Civility to make slurs vs. homosexuals a no -no and I pointed out it wasn't clear that slurs against women as women are not sufficiently outlawed in the proposal (or now). And of course people are now saying adding one or two words to make both clear is just too much bureaucracy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Categories_for_discussion/Log/2011_Fe... Proposal to delete in order to to try to have a unified policy because some categories allow people/organizations to be categorized who may be bigoted and others don't. Because of consensus on the talk page (formed by who?) Category:Homophobia doesn't allow it and I have a feeling Category:sexism wouldn't allow some of us to put all the overtly sexist (via WP:RS) males and organizations in that category.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Username_policy#Need_more_warnin... Do we need stronger warnings to new users (esp women) that using real names (or sex) can lead to harassment? Or even a check mark box for them to check they've read about that possibility on registering ? (Obviously, using my real name, I've had problems!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/dispute_resoluti... Main relevant proposals are relating to easier blocks for bad behavior. (Elsewhere dealing with editors who gang up on others, whether from POV or just enjoy trashing females, has been discussed so that may yet be a related proposal on that page.) I was working on a proposal when the NT TImes articles came out and got sidetracked. Anyway, we definitely need more female input.
Thanks...
Carol in dc
On Thu, Feb 10, 2011 at 4:26 PM, carolmooredc@verizon.net wrote:
Hi. I'm Carolmooredc and since I edit on controversial political topics I get in lots of trouble with guys who don't like opinionated females who don't shut up and go away when they are told to. I wish it got me down enough to leave and do something more profitable, but I'm stubborn
- and semi-retired with lots of time on my hands.
So if you were a *man* editing controversial topics, you wouldn't get in
trouble?
On 2/10/2011 11:45 AM, Oliver Keyes wrote: On Thu, Feb 10, 2011 at 4:26 PM, <carolmooredc@verizon.net mailto:carolmooredc@verizon.net> wrote:
Hi. I'm Carolmooredc and since I edit on controversial political topics I get in lots of trouble with guys who don't like opinionated females who don't shut up and go away when they are told to. I wish it got me down enough to leave and do something more profitable, but I'm stubborn - and semi-retired with lots of time on my hands.
So if you were a /man/ editing controversial topics, you wouldn't get in trouble?
First, I think we've seen a number of women here have complained about similar problems to mine (which I barely outlined). I waited til I'd seen enough before joining and posting myself.
I don't think it's appropriate to go into detail, but in general on several articles I have noticed there's a total double standard with comments by males that are quite controversial being ignored while comments by me which other males only *interpret* as being controversial are attacked.
More importantly is that in last couple years I've become effective at running to the appropriate noticeboard (especially WP:RS and WP:NPOV) to get help which often has led to my position (which often is shared with one or more males) being supported by the community. However, while the males may suffer some minor abuse (sometimes only because they dare to agree with me!), I'm the only one they are always trying to run off the article, including with sections with my name on it!! (And I won't even go into the off wiki harassment.)
It would be laughable if it weren't obvious that its systematic male bias that has run lots of women off wikipedia before it gets anywhere as bad as it has against me. And it needs to be dealt with.
I don't intend to get into a lot of back and forth on this topic, which I think women posters largely understand.
I'm just interested in seeing actual action on issues in various wikipedias.
CM
On Thursday, February 10, 2011, carolmooredc@verizon.net wrote:
I don't think it's appropriate to go into detail, but in general on several articles I have noticed there's a total double standard with comments by males that are quite controversial being ignored while comments by me which other males only *interpret* as being controversial are attacked.
Such double standards are not uncommon and is encountered frequently in Herring' work:
[[ http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.91.7687&rep=rep...
Finally, an assumption of greater male entitlement -- indeed, a blatant double standard -- is also evident in both samples, in that only male participants are entitled to express themselves freely. Women were labeled "censors" on Paglia-L for expressing concern about the content of Yaqzan's views on date rape, despite the fact that they did not attempt to exclude other views of the situation, and despite the fact that they explicitly conceded the dominant male (and Paglian) position that a free speech violation had occurred.30 Meanwhile, males hypocritically represented themselves as heroic defenders of freedom of expression, even as their behavior showed them to be intolerant of even partial disagreement with their views. When women attempted to resist or critique male tactics, they were technologically and/or discursively silenced.
A double standard is also evident in the #india sample. The three women, st, sm, and rani, were all kicked for alleged violations of language norms: ... However, the channel operators, ViCe and Aatank, also used profanity ... and youth slang ... , and addressed one another in a non-English language -- the difference seemed to be that since they were in a position of power and authority, they were not subject to the same rules. Nor were any other males kicked for language-related violations, consistent with Spender's (1980) observation that men make the rules of language but are themselves exempt from them.
]]
[[ http://www.cios.org/EJCPUBLIC/003/2/00328.HTML
Discussion on each of the lists investigated tends to be dominated by a small minority of participants who abuse features of 'men's language' to focus attention on themselves, often at the expense of others. Such abuse, which I term 'adversarial' rhetoric, ranges from gratuitous displays of knowledge to forceful assertions of one's views to elaborate put-downs of others with whom one disagrees. In the two LINGUIST discussions analyzed, 4% and 6% of the participants, respectively (all but one of them male), were responsible for the majority of adversarial rhetoric. This same 4% and 6% also posted the most words (33% and 53% of the total, respectively, or more than eight times the participant average), and thus dominated in AMOUNT as well as in MANNER of participation.
]]
[[ http://ella.slis.indiana.edu/~herring/male.resistance.1995.pdf
Judging by some of the messages protesting to this effect, "silencing" for men involves having to think carefully about what they say before they say it, or possibly not saying something that they otherwise would've said. No doubt these men are experiencing in small measure what most women experience as a way of life, nevertheless, in objective terms the men can hardly be said to be silent in the discussion, because they contributed 70% of the words overall.
]]
I've nominated the article "German women's national football team" to appear as the featured article on the English Wikipedia Main Page on March 8: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Today%27s_featured_article/requests#M...
Feel free to add comments there.
Someone should add some women-related entries to the DYK Special occasion holding area as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template_talk:Did_you_know#Special_occasion_hol...
Ryan Kaldari
--- On Thu, 10/2/11, Ryan Kaldari rkaldari@wikimedia.org wrote:
I've nominated the article "German women's national football team" to appear as the featured article on the English Wikipedia Main Page on March 8:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Today%27s_featured_article/requests#M...
Feel free to add comments there.
Other suggestions for the main page featured article on March 8 that have been made since then include:
- Olivia Manning (writer),
- Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman (feminist novel by Wollstonecraft),
- Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough,
- Gwen Stefani,
- Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom,
- Masako Katsura (Japanese professional billiards player),
- Sandra Morgan (swimmer),
- Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's road race.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Today%27s_featured_article/reque...
Views?
Andreas
User:Herostratus wrote an essay on hardcore pornography images in Wikipedia a few weeks ago. The basic premise of the essay was, "Articles about hardcore pornography subjects should not contain images which are, themselves, hardcore pornography."
The essay underwent an MfD deletion discussion, at which it was kept; one of the Keep votes was Jimbo's.
Herostratus has resisted changes like these being made to the essay:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Herostratus/Hardcore_images&a...
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Herostratus/Hardcore_images&a...
As a result, the essay has now been deleted and userfied by an admin, without a new MfD having taken place.
Herostratus's userfied essay is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Herostratus/Hardcore_images
As the essay is about alleged systemic misogynism, it may be of interest to this list.
The ANI discussion that led to userfication is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Inciden......
Andreas
--- On Mon, 14/2/11, Andreas Kolbe jayen466@yahoo.com wrote:
From: Andreas Kolbe jayen466@yahoo.com Subject: [Gendergap] Hardcore images essay To: "Increasing female participation in Wikimedia projects" gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org Date: Monday, 14 February, 2011, 16:46 User:Herostratus wrote an essay on hardcore pornography images in Wikipedia a few weeks ago. The basic premise of the essay was, "Articles about hardcore pornography subjects should not contain images which are, themselves, hardcore pornography."
The essay underwent an MfD deletion discussion, at which it was kept; one of the Keep votes was Jimbo's.
Herostratus has resisted changes like these being made to the essay:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Herostratus/Hardcore_images&a...
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Herostratus/Hardcore_images&a...
As a result, the essay has now been deleted and userfied by an admin, without a new MfD having taken place.
Herostratus's userfied essay is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Herostratus/Hardcore_images
As the essay is about alleged systemic misogynism, it may be of interest to this list.
The ANI discussion that led to userfication is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Inciden......
Andreas
For reference, the previous MfD discussion which resulted in "Keep" is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Miscellany_for_deletion/Wikipedia:Har...
Andreas
The result of the request for deletion was keep, but the author seems to insist on the essay being his way and feels he can reject contributions by others.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/User_talk:Herostratus/Hardcor...
He has now asked for mediation.
Although I agree with the position taken in the essay, and, indeed, would go much further, I doubt this is the issue to lead on. It has done me no good.
That said, it should be possible to resurrect the essay in the Wikipedia namespace if others are motivated to do so, and the author's WP:OWN issues are dealt with.
Fred
--- On Mon, 14/2/11, Andreas Kolbe jayen466@yahoo.com wrote:
From: Andreas Kolbe jayen466@yahoo.com Subject: [Gendergap] Hardcore images essay To: "Increasing female participation in Wikimedia projects" gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org Date: Monday, 14 February, 2011, 16:46 User:Herostratus wrote an essay on hardcore pornography images in Wikipedia a few weeks ago. The basic premise of the essay was, "Articles about hardcore pornography subjects should not contain images which are, themselves, hardcore pornography."
The essay underwent an MfD deletion discussion, at which it was kept; one of the Keep votes was Jimbo's.
Herostratus has resisted changes like these being made to the essay:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Herostratus/Hardcore_images&a...
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Herostratus/Hardcore_images&a...
As a result, the essay has now been deleted and userfied by an admin, without a new MfD having taken place.
Herostratus's userfied essay is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Herostratus/Hardcore_images
As the essay is about alleged systemic misogynism, it may be of interest to this list.
The ANI discussion that led to userfication is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Inciden......
Andreas
For reference, the previous MfD discussion which resulted in "Keep" is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Miscellany_for_deletion/Wikipedia:Har...
Andreas
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
--- On Mon, 14/2/11, Fred Bauder fredbaud@fairpoint.net wrote: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/User_talk:Herostratus/Hardcor...
He has now asked for mediation.
Although I agree with the position taken in the essay, and, indeed, would go much further, I doubt this is the issue to lead on. It has done me no good.
I don't think so far it has done anyone any good who has tried to argue for a more mature attitude towards pornographic content, Jimbo and Herostratus included. Or for an attitude towards this content that more closely matches that employed by what we call reliable sources. Yet it is an issue that cannot be bypassed. Once a more mature community consensus on this issue is reached, a lot of other things will fall into place. It is a key issue, and an emblematic reflection of the present community demographics which we are hoping to change.
That said, it should be possible to resurrect the essay in the Wikipedia namespace if others are motivated to do so, and the author's WP:OWN issues are dealt with.
Herostratus makes the point that --
"Look, the Britannica doesn't host porn. Are they 'censored'? Of course not. They are exercising editoral judgement. I think it'd be silly to say 'The Britannica is censored'. The Great Chinese Encyclopedia (or whatever they have) is censored, and that's totally different."
It is a sensible point, yet is always greeted with a chorus of "Wikipedia is not censored."
To be clear: Wikipedia is not Britannica, and we will cover and illustrate topics, including sexual topics, that Britannica does not. I am not saying that Wikipedia must not have nudity in an article like hogtie bondage, or that Commons must not have creampie images. Reliably published sex manuals etc. have similar images. But we should not blaze a trail on Wikipedia's pages that is way beyond mainstream publishing. We make a policy commitment not to go beyond the standards of reliable sources in our texts, and we should do the same for illustrations in Wikipedia.
The fact is that our present community standards in this and other areas are not defined by sources, but by single young males' interests. The bias of these standards relative to the real-world mainstream is very obvious in this area (especially so in Commons). Not challenging these standards where they clearly depart from mainstream publishing feeds an unreflected sense of entitlement masquerading as self-congratulatory liberalism. We need more reflection, not less.
I understand the reluctance of women, and the silent majority (if indeed there is such a silent "majority"), to get involved in this area, because it will get nasty. But it's a nettle that has to be grasped before things will get better.
YMMV.
Andreas
Question: Are female participants discouraged by the hardcore pornographic or explicit content in certain topics or articles?
Do you find it offensive, degrading, discouraging?
The women I know (other than my mother, whom I have not asked) have answered those questions generally with a "It doesn't bother me" or "I don't care".
If there is either good ancedotal or statistical evidence that women are actually discouraged or driven off by it, then let's by all means address it, both here and elsewhere. But that claim has often been made by a lot of men, who also suspiciously were themselves offended by it, many of whom do themselves in fact object to any explicit imagery without regard to NOTCENSORED, beyond reasonable values of editorial judgement.
I am not going to lump Jimmy or Herostratus into that category, but the vast bulk of energy expended to remove explicit content seems to be done by people for whom the retort that Wikipedia is not censored is, in fact, a completely legitimate and completely adequate response. They in fact make it harder for reasonable editorial judgement types to engage in discussion, as they're not very good at disguising their underlying moral contempt for that material and their fears that it will indelibly contaminate their precious children.
Actual offensiveness to women or discouragement of women contributors are a potentially valid issue, if it can be corroborated.
Thanks.
On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 3:57 PM, Andreas Kolbe jayen466@yahoo.com wrote:
--- On Mon, 14/2/11, Fred Bauder fredbaud@fairpoint.net wrote: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/User_talk:Herostratus/Hardcor...
He has now asked for mediation.
Although I agree with the position taken in the essay, and, indeed, would go much further, I doubt this is the issue to lead on. It has done me no good.
I don't think so far it has done anyone any good who has tried to argue for a more mature attitude towards pornographic content, Jimbo and Herostratus included. Or for an attitude towards this content that more closely matches that employed by what we call reliable sources. Yet it is an issue that cannot be bypassed. Once a more mature community consensus on this issue is reached, a lot of other things will fall into place. It is a key issue, and an emblematic reflection of the present community demographics which we are hoping to change.
That said, it should be possible to resurrect the essay in the Wikipedia namespace if others are motivated to do so, and the author's WP:OWN issues are dealt with.
Herostratus makes the point that --
"Look, the Britannica doesn't host porn. Are they 'censored'? Of course not. They are exercising editoral judgement. I think it'd be silly to say 'The Britannica is censored'. The Great Chinese Encyclopedia (or whatever they have) is censored, and that's totally different."
It is a sensible point, yet is always greeted with a chorus of "Wikipedia is not censored."
To be clear: Wikipedia is not Britannica, and we will cover and illustrate topics, including sexual topics, that Britannica does not. I am not saying that Wikipedia must not have nudity in an article like hogtie bondage, or that Commons must not have creampie images. Reliably published sex manuals etc. have similar images. But we should not blaze a trail on Wikipedia's pages that is way beyond mainstream publishing. We make a policy commitment not to go beyond the standards of reliable sources in our texts, and we should do the same for illustrations in Wikipedia.
The fact is that our present community standards in this and other areas are not defined by sources, but by single young males' interests. The bias of these standards relative to the real-world mainstream is very obvious in this area (especially so in Commons). Not challenging these standards where they clearly depart from mainstream publishing feeds an unreflected sense of entitlement masquerading as self-congratulatory liberalism. We need more reflection, not less.
I understand the reluctance of women, and the silent majority (if indeed there is such a silent "majority"), to get involved in this area, because it will get nasty. But it's a nettle that has to be grasped before things will get better.
YMMV.
Andreas
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
--- On Tue, 15/2/11, George Herbert george.herbert@gmail.com wrote:
From: George Herbert george.herbert@gmail.com But that claim has often been made by a lot of men, who also suspiciously were themselves offended by it, many of whom do themselves in fact object to any explicit imagery without regard to NOTCENSORED, beyond reasonable values of editorial judgement.
I am not offended by sexual content, or pornography. But pages illustrated like these (not safe for work)
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cock_and_ball_torture_(sexual_prac...
(complete with spoken version)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creampie_(sexual_act)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gokkun
make us look like something else than what we want to be: an authoritative educational resource for everyone.
As a community, we were not even able to delete the goatse image from the goatse article on the basis of editorial judgment, and to agree to content ourselves with presenting an external link for those readers unfamiliar with the image and wishing to view it after they had read a description. The image was, if I recall correctly, deleted on a technicality, despite the fact that no mainstream published source discussing the image would include it. If that is so, why should we? Because they are censored and we are not? Used in this way, the NOTCENSORED argument becomes one against editorial judgment per se.
I am not going to lump Jimmy or Herostratus into that category, but the vast bulk of energy expended to remove explicit content seems to be done by people for whom the retort that Wikipedia is not censored is, in fact, a completely legitimate and completely adequate response. They in fact make it harder for reasonable editorial judgement types to engage in discussion, as they're not very good at disguising their underlying moral contempt for that material and their fears that it will indelibly contaminate their precious children.
The fact is that most Wikipedians do not have children, or partners, and most people out there in the real world do.
Andreas
On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 4:44 PM, Andreas Kolbe jayen466@yahoo.com wrote:
[...] The fact is that most Wikipedians do not have children, or partners, and most people out there in the real world do.
I am not going to generalize from my wife not being insulted by the material, but she wasn't.
We don't have children, but my neighbors do, and my brother, and I appreciate the parents' desire to not warp their childrens' understanding of sexuality by dumping inappropriate sexual content into their lives.
That does not change my opinion on explicit material on Wikipedia, though it tempered the formation of my opinion.
For what it's worth, I am offended by the existence of pornography, for a variety of reasons none of which involve my being squeamish about sex. I am not offended by including pornographic images on articles about those types of images. Indeed, I expect Wikipedia to have images illustrating articles whenever possible; I don't see why we should make an exception for articles about sexuality.
It is reasonable to ask that drawings rather than photographs be used whenever the subject is an act of violence, barring images of historical interest. I consider pornography, in general, a depiction of an act of violence. So I'm pretty happy that most of the pornographic images being discussed here are drawings. (Honestly, I was fairly surprised that these were considered so objectionable. I was expecting something horrifically biological. They're cartoons! No humans were harmed in the making of these cartoons.)
An authoritative educational resource for everyone should include that subset of everyone who want to learn about pornography, human sexuality, death, spiders, radical political movements, and all sorts of other objectionable things.
Maybe not spiders. We could leave spiders out.
Nepenthe
On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 6:44 PM, Andreas Kolbe jayen466@yahoo.com wrote:
--- On Tue, 15/2/11, George Herbert george.herbert@gmail.com wrote:
From: George Herbert george.herbert@gmail.com But that claim has often been made by a lot of men, who also suspiciously were themselves offended by it, many of whom do themselves in fact object to any explicit imagery without regard to NOTCENSORED, beyond reasonable values of editorial judgement.
I am not offended by sexual content, or pornography. But pages illustrated like these (not safe for work)
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cock_and_ball_torture_(sexual_prac...
(complete with spoken version)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creampie_(sexual_act)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gokkun
make us look like something else than what we want to be: an authoritative educational resource for everyone.
As a community, we were not even able to delete the goatse image from the goatse article on the basis of editorial judgment, and to agree to content ourselves with presenting an external link for those readers unfamiliar with the image and wishing to view it after they had read a description. The image was, if I recall correctly, deleted on a technicality, despite the fact that no mainstream published source discussing the image would include it. If that is so, why should we? Because they are censored and we are not? Used in this way, the NOTCENSORED argument becomes one against editorial judgment per se.
I am not going to lump Jimmy or Herostratus into that category, but the vast bulk of energy expended to remove explicit content seems to be done by people for whom the retort that Wikipedia is not censored is, in fact, a completely legitimate and completely adequate response. They in fact make it harder for reasonable editorial judgement types to engage in discussion, as they're not very good at disguising their underlying moral contempt for that material and their fears that it will indelibly contaminate their precious children.
The fact is that most Wikipedians do not have children, or partners, and most people out there in the real world do.
Andreas
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 5:03 PM, Madalyn Zimbric madalyn@uchicago.edu wrote:
An authoritative educational resource for everyone should include that subset of everyone who want to learn about pornography, human sexuality, death, spiders, radical political movements, and all sorts of other objectionable things.
Maybe not spiders. We could leave spiders out.
Nepenthe
:)
This is a serious topic and thank you everyone for your honest replies, and I hope this link doesn't make anyone think I'm being flippant about the issue. BUT your comment about spiders reminded me of my all-time favorite Wikipedia proposal, which I am compelled to share: http://www.everytopicintheuniverseexceptchickens.com/
"Now there is a solution!" makes me LOL every time.
-- phoebe
p.s. thanks for an insightful post :)
On 14 February 2011 16:23, George Herbert george.herbert@gmail.com wrote:
Question: Are female participants discouraged by the hardcore pornographic or explicit content in certain topics or articles?
Do you find it offensive, degrading, discouraging?
That's a great question, George: I'm glad you're asking it :-)
Why don't we try this: let's ask every woman here to answer the question solely from her personal perspective. Let's refrain from speculating about what other women might think, and let's hold back on assessing or judging what anybody says. And let's take censorship/intervention/etc. off the table --- all we're doing here is information-gathering, we're not talking about implications.
(Oh, and we should also be aware that the women here may be unrepresentative of the general population on this issue. If explicit imagery on the Wikimedia projects _were_ a major factor in the gender gap then women who currently edit would be unusual, in that they had NOT been deterred.)
So the question is: female editors, have you come across explicit material on the Wikimedia projects that you find offensive, degrading or discouraging?
Thanks, Sue
Ok, I do not think it is negative, degrading etc.
Kim
On 2/14/2011 7:59 PM, Sue Gardner wrote:
On 14 February 2011 16:23, George Herbertgeorge.herbert@gmail.com wrote:
Question: Are female participants discouraged by the hardcore pornographic or explicit content in certain topics or articles?
Do you find it offensive, degrading, discouraging?
That's a great question, George: I'm glad you're asking it :-)
Why don't we try this: let's ask every woman here to answer the question solely from her personal perspective. Let's refrain from speculating about what other women might think, and let's hold back on assessing or judging what anybody says. And let's take censorship/intervention/etc. off the table --- all we're doing here is information-gathering, we're not talking about implications.
(Oh, and we should also be aware that the women here may be unrepresentative of the general population on this issue. If explicit imagery on the Wikimedia projects _were_ a major factor in the gender gap then women who currently edit would be unusual, in that they had NOT been deterred.)
So the question is: female editors, have you come across explicit material on the Wikimedia projects that you find offensive, degrading or discouraging?
Thanks, Sue
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
--- On Tue, 15/2/11, Sue Gardner sgardner@wikimedia.org wrote:
From: Sue Gardner sgardner@wikimedia.org So the question is: female editors, have you come across explicit material on the Wikimedia projects that you find offensive, degrading or discouraging?
Thanks, Sue.
This is a good question, but there is another important question I would like to ask women as well:
If you had been researching and working on these articles, would you have illustrated them in the same way?
Note:
For the non-cartoon version of the creampie illustration you have to go to Czech Wikipedia for example:
http://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creampie
or to Commons
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Creampie_(sexual_act)
Earlier on, we were discussing the hogtie bondage article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hogtie_bondage&oldid=385052790
(The images there have since been reduced as a result of discussion here, and it was suggested to add images of male subjects. We're working on it.)
The article on Ochre was mentioned as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochre
Andreas
2011/2/15 Andreas Kolbe jayen466@yahoo.com:
--- On Tue, 15/2/11, Sue Gardner sgardner@wikimedia.org wrote:
From: Sue Gardner sgardner@wikimedia.org So the question is: female editors, have you come across explicit material on the Wikimedia projects that you find offensive, degrading or discouraging?
Occasionally on user pages. Rarely in the article namespace.
Thanks, Sue.
This is a good question, but there is another important question I would like to ask women as well:
If you had been researching and working on these articles, would you have illustrated them in the same way?
If you want to know how erotic topics in Wikipedia are treated by women editors, I suggest to you having a look at: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Erotik_und_Pornografie http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:BDSM_und_Fetisch
Both were initiated and designed by women.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bondage was brought to "lesenswert" status by a woman.
greetings, elian
On Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 10:53 AM, elisabeth bauer eflebeth@googlemail.com wrote:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bondage was brought to "lesenswert" status by a woman.
I find this extremely interesting. Skimming the German article for Bondage and looking at the pictures, you'd think only women are practicing bondage. The English article, on the other hand, has a mix of male and female pictures (and most are of good quality, so this difference doesn't seem to be a lack of photo material).
I wonder how the "editorial" choice was made there.
Delphine
There is a story in which a fisher believed that the fishes of his lake were always bigger than 20 cm. What he did not realise is that his net for fishing did not allow to capture smaller animals. Comparing this to WP, I want to point out that it can grow and be enriched by a more active participation of more groups that can potentially give a lot of knowledge.
Some objectives I would suggest:
- To promote women´s participation in the light of WP´s editing lines
- To make adequate and confortable space for woman, in which her self-identification as female editor would be very welcome/stimulated
- To check the content of the WP in different topics and languages in order to meet the shortage of articles on women´s issues and have a policy of non-gender-discrimination (use of language, photos, etc)
- To improve the quality of the dialogue in the editing process of WP
- To maximise efforts, collecting best practices and results
WP is great! The identification of WP with a male-white-young profile took a role in the media –partially true, historical evolution of WP-. It would be good to explore strategies for compensating underrepresentation or unbalance not only in the relation between female and male, but also between old and young; white-black-native-yellow-mix.ea.
The idea of a WP café is very nice. My suggestion is to have this café (gender mix) with some additional rules to be followed by every participant: to be more polite, to recognize your mistakes, to be seriously constructive.
There is a historical gender-gap. However, this gap is diminishing progressively. WP would like to contribute effectively to this process.
--- On Tue, 15/2/11, Delphine Ménard notafishz@gmail.com wrote:
On Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 10:53 AM, elisabeth bauer eflebeth@googlemail.com wrote:
brought to "lesenswert"
status by a woman.
I find this extremely interesting. Skimming the German article for Bondage and looking at the pictures, you'd think only women are practicing bondage. The English article, on the other hand, has a mix of male and female pictures (and most are of good quality, so this difference doesn't seem to be a lack of photo material).
I wonder how the "editorial" choice was made there.
Delphine
My thoughts exactly. I've posted to the article's talk page.
Both the German portals
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Erotik_und_Pornografie http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:BDSM_und_Fetisch
look nice, but could perhaps do with one or two pictures of men as well.
Andreas
----- Original Message ----
From: Sue Gardner sgardner@wikimedia.org To: Increasing female participation in Wikimedia projects gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org Sent: Mon, February 14, 2011 6:59:47 PM Subject: Re: [Gendergap] Hardcore images essay
On 14 February 2011 16:23, George Herbert george.herbert@gmail.com wrote:
Question: Are female participants discouraged by the hardcore pornographic or explicit content in certain topics or articles?
Do you find it offensive, degrading, discouraging?
That's a great question, George: I'm glad you're asking it :-)
Why don't we try this: let's ask every woman here to answer the question solely from her personal perspective. Let's refrain from speculating about what other women might think, and let's hold back on assessing or judging what anybody says. And let's take censorship/intervention/etc. off the table --- all we're doing here is information-gathering, we're not talking about implications.
(Oh, and we should also be aware that the women here may be unrepresentative of the general population on this issue. If explicit imagery on the Wikimedia projects _were_ a major factor in the gender gap then women who currently edit would be unusual, in that they had NOT been deterred.)
So the question is: female editors, have you come across explicit material on the Wikimedia projects that you find offensive, degrading or discouraging?
In my personal experience, I when I have come across material I found offensive I was discouraged from editing in the immediate area (or even commenting) and leaving my name in any way associated with the material. I personally would never generalize this discouragement to other areas of the wiki however. It hasn't always been explicit material that I have found unpalatable. But I have always felt that there is level of material (of many varieties) on the wikis that I cannot not strongly object to as counter-mission that I wish to campaign for it's deletion, but that I object to enough on a personal level that I will not do anything to help curate it. Certainly my participation in certain topical areas is discouraged by this. But I don't know that this fact should be seen as problematic. Isn't necessary that there be some pieces of material on the Wikimedia projects for every single individual to find objectionable and offensive? I know of a great deal of material that I find prosaic does discourage others who stringently object to and are greatly offended by it. Shouldn't it work out that much of what I am discouraged by will be prosaic someone else? I don't know the answers here. But I do know that I would find it very hard to mediate with LDS editors over the image on Temple Garment if I were simultaneously campaigning for the deletion of some pornography image.
Speculation here: Women will probably always feel discouraged from contributing to the Hardcore Pornography article, no matter what images it contains. We will likely be more effective in efforts towards seeding pieces of articles that women might be feel encouraged to build upon than removing pieces of articles that may discourage women.
Birgitte SB
____________________________________________________________________________________ Bored stiff? Loosen up... Download and play hundreds of games for free on Yahoo! Games. http://games.yahoo.com/games/front
On 2/14/11 4:59 PM, Sue Gardner wrote:
So the question is: female editors, have you come across explicit material on the Wikimedia projects that you find offensive, degrading or discouraging?
I think this discussion is missing an important point—the context of the explicit material. While most people are not surprised or offended to find explicit images in articles about BDSM or pornography, I've seen plenty of women (and men) upset about explicit material being featured on the Main Page of various projects. A few examples include:
Women objecting to porn on the Main page of Commons in 2009: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons_talk:Picture_of_the_day/Archive_1#...
Female admins objecting to the following DYK hook (with picture) appearing on the Main Page of English Wikipedia: "Did you know... that after [[Melina Perez|Melina]] ''(pictured)'' stripped [[Torrie Wilson]] to win a bra & panties match at '''[[The Great American Bash (2005)]]''', referee [[Candice Michelle]] stripped Melina and herself as well?
Various people (including Jimmy) objecting to the vulva photo on the Main Page of the German Wikipedia: (Don't have a link, but I imagine it's easy to dig up if you speak German.)
I think if there is an issue to pursue, it is the use of explicit material in non-explicit contexts (which unsurprisingly seems to always involve female nudity rather than male nudity).
Ryan Kaldari
There are two questions:
Reactions of women (from nun to sex worker)
Whether the image in question has educational value in the context it is used. (sliding scale here from pairing of pinups with autos to hard core pornography)
Multiplication of sexually oriented images or material beyond informational requirements is yet another issue.
Fred
On 2/14/11 4:59 PM, Sue Gardner wrote:
So the question is: female editors, have you come across explicit material on the Wikimedia projects that you find offensive, degrading or discouraging?
I think this discussion is missing an important pointthe context of the explicit material. While most people are not surprised or offended to find explicit images in articles about BDSM or pornography, I've seen plenty of women (and men) upset about explicit material being featured on the Main Page of various projects. A few examples include:
Women objecting to porn on the Main page of Commons in 2009: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons_talk:Picture_of_the_day/Archive_1#...
Female admins objecting to the following DYK hook (with picture) appearing on the Main Page of English Wikipedia: "Did you know... that after [[Melina Perez|Melina]] ''(pictured)'' stripped [[Torrie Wilson]] to win a bra & panties match at '''[[The Great American Bash (2005)]]''', referee [[Candice Michelle]] stripped Melina and herself as well?
Various people (including Jimmy) objecting to the vulva photo on the Main Page of the German Wikipedia: (Don't have a link, but I imagine it's easy to dig up if you speak German.)
I think if there is an issue to pursue, it is the use of explicit material in non-explicit contexts (which unsurprisingly seems to always involve female nudity rather than male nudity).
Ryan Kaldari
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
I don't think there's a sliding scale of educational value from softcore to hardcore. I expect to find pictures of pinups on "Pinups". I expect to find relevant drawings on "Fellatio". I expect to find disgusting pictures on "Spider".
Does the multiplication of sexual images need to be dealt with in a different manner than the multiplication of personal snapshots? I could see proposing a new image speedy deletion criterion for unused graphic images, but the potential for such a criterion to be abused seems too great. (I apologize for my en.wikipedia centric commentary, but I have no standing to comment on other projects.)
Graphic material of any sort does not belong on the main page. Fellatio, temple garments, and adipocere are all things that one ought to go looking for to see. Our educational mission does not extend to making people spit out their morning coffee when they open up their browser to the home page: Wikipedia's Main Page.
Nepenthe
On Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 1:24 PM, Fred Bauder fredbaud@fairpoint.net wrote:
There are two questions:
Reactions of women (from nun to sex worker)
Whether the image in question has educational value in the context it is used. (sliding scale here from pairing of pinups with autos to hard core pornography)
Multiplication of sexually oriented images or material beyond informational requirements is yet another issue.
Fred
On 2/14/11 4:59 PM, Sue Gardner wrote:
So the question is: female editors, have you come across explicit material on the Wikimedia projects that you find offensive, degrading or discouraging?
I think this discussion is missing an important point—the context of the explicit material. While most people are not surprised or offended to find explicit images in articles about BDSM or pornography, I've seen plenty of women (and men) upset about explicit material being featured on the Main Page of various projects. A few examples include:
Women objecting to porn on the Main page of Commons in 2009:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons_talk:Picture_of_the_day/Archive_1#...
Female admins objecting to the following DYK hook (with picture) appearing on the Main Page of English Wikipedia: "Did you know... that after [[Melina Perez|Melina]] ''(pictured)'' stripped [[Torrie Wilson]] to win a bra & panties match at '''[[The Great American Bash (2005)]]''', referee [[Candice Michelle]] stripped Melina and herself as well?
Various people (including Jimmy) objecting to the vulva photo on the Main Page of the German Wikipedia: (Don't have a link, but I imagine it's easy to dig up if you speak German.)
I think if there is an issue to pursue, it is the use of explicit material in non-explicit contexts (which unsurprisingly seems to always involve female nudity rather than male nudity).
Ryan Kaldari
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
On 2/15/11 3:17 PM, Nepenthe wrote:
Graphic material of any sort does not belong on the main page.
This seemingly obvious statement is actually a rather controversial opinion on Wikipedia, and there is currently no policy or guideline discouraging graphic material from appearing on the Main Page of any Wikimedia project that I know of. Any time I have prodded on this issue -- as a simple matter of editorial judgement, not censorship -- I have been met with a wall of opposition. If others share the opinion above, perhaps it is time for us to begin chipping away at that wall. Considering that our Main Page is the first impression for thousands of Wikipedia users, I think this could be a concrete and achievable step towards creating a more welcoming environment for a broader array of people.
Ryan Kaldari
On 2/15/11 3:17 PM, Nepenthe wrote:
Graphic material of any sort does not belong on the main page.
This seemingly obvious statement is actually a rather controversial opinion on Wikipedia, and there is currently no policy or guideline discouraging graphic material from appearing on the Main Page of any Wikimedia project that I know of. Any time I have prodded on this issue -- as a simple matter of editorial judgement, not censorship -- I have been met with a wall of opposition. If others share the opinion above, perhaps it is time for us to begin chipping away at that wall. Considering that our Main Page is the first impression for thousands of Wikipedia users, I think this could be a concrete and achievable step towards creating a more welcoming environment for a broader array of people.
Ryan Kaldari
It is clearly incompatible with a world-wide readership, but "no censorship" is strongly held. As I have said before, a frontal attack on this point is politically punishing.
Fred
On Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 6:16 PM, Fred Bauder fredbaud@fairpoint.net wrote:
On 2/15/11 3:17 PM, Nepenthe wrote:
Graphic material of any sort does not belong on the main page.
This seemingly obvious statement is actually a rather controversial opinion on Wikipedia, and there is currently no policy or guideline discouraging graphic material from appearing on the Main Page of any Wikimedia project that I know of. Any time I have prodded on this issue -- as a simple matter of editorial judgement, not censorship -- I have been met with a wall of opposition. If others share the opinion above, perhaps it is time for us to begin chipping away at that wall. Considering that our Main Page is the first impression for thousands of Wikipedia users, I think this could be a concrete and achievable step towards creating a more welcoming environment for a broader array of people.
Ryan Kaldari
It is clearly incompatible with a world-wide readership, but "no censorship" is strongly held. As I have said before, a frontal attack on this point is politically punishing.
I don't think it's incompatible with world-wide readership in general, but editorial judgement should let us keep it from front page appearances, for all the obvious reasons. We can be proud of articles or specific explicit images which are article-appropriate, without forcing them on unexpecting readers. That's not censorship, to avoid that.
I agree that it's politically punishing - in part because some who have pushed this were actually total abolitionists.
Get more women in, have a central womens wikiproject or portal where efforts to remove material for WP:Undue/or other policy violating reasons can be advertised and the most questionable photographs (like five of the seven on the bondage article) can be removed.
The real issue here is getting women in so they can have an influence. Let's not get sidetracked.
On 2/15/2011 9:20 PM, George Herbert wrote:
On Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 6:16 PM, Fred Bauderfredbaud@fairpoint.net wrote:
On 2/15/11 3:17 PM, Nepenthe wrote:
Graphic material of any sort does not belong on the main page.
This seemingly obvious statement is actually a rather controversial opinion on Wikipedia, and there is currently no policy or guideline discouraging graphic material from appearing on the Main Page of any Wikimedia project that I know of. Any time I have prodded on this issue -- as a simple matter of editorial judgement, not censorship -- I have been met with a wall of opposition. If others share the opinion above, perhaps it is time for us to begin chipping away at that wall. Considering that our Main Page is the first impression for thousands of Wikipedia users, I think this could be a concrete and achievable step towards creating a more welcoming environment for a broader array of people.
Ryan Kaldari
It is clearly incompatible with a world-wide readership, but "no censorship" is strongly held. As I have said before, a frontal attack on this point is politically punishing.
I don't think it's incompatible with world-wide readership in general, but editorial judgement should let us keep it from front page appearances, for all the obvious reasons. We can be proud of articles or specific explicit images which are article-appropriate, without forcing them on unexpecting readers. That's not censorship, to avoid that.
I agree that it's politically punishing - in part because some who have pushed this were actually total abolitionists.
Jimbo has restored Herostratus's essay to mainspace. (Three cheers from me.)
There are some excruciatingly naive arguments being made on the essay's talk page, e.g.:
"Culturally biased. What seems misogynistic to some woman could be perfectly fine or even positive to another (e.g. a facial is considered a pleasurable sex act by some women and demeaning by other)"
This bespeaks massive ignorance of the realities of pornographic filmmaking.
In a word: HELP!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Hardcore_images#Reverted_userfic...
and following sections.
Andreas
On Tuesday, February 15, 2011, Andreas Kolbe wrote:
There are some excruciatingly naive arguments being made on the essay's talk page, e.g.:
Is this the sort of thing that would benefit from public pillory? For example, a posting on Geek Feminism blog or elsewhere? On one hand, I think such attitudes merit public critique, on the other, I wouldn't want such efforts to backfire and make Wikipedia even less appealing to possible contributors, particularly if this is just a rat hole.
How about you all contribute to the discussion proper, rather than suggesting things which, if made on-wiki, would result in an immediate block for inappropriate behaviour?
On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 3:14 PM, Joseph Reagle joseph.2008@reagle.orgwrote:
On Tuesday, February 15, 2011, Andreas Kolbe wrote:
There are some excruciatingly naive arguments being made on the essay's talk page, e.g.:
Is this the sort of thing that would benefit from public pillory? For example, a posting on Geek Feminism blog or elsewhere? On one hand, I think such attitudes merit public critique, on the other, I wouldn't want such efforts to backfire and make Wikipedia even less appealing to possible contributors, particularly if this is just a rat hole.
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
I have to agree with Oliver here. Discussions of specific article/essay/etc problems belong on - not off - wikipedia as much as possible. I got spanked/blocked once in part for going off wikipedia (when I didn't know I was), so let's not encourage it.
Again, that's why need places like relevant Wikiprojects and/or Portals to post these issues and then we need to go and opine on relevant talk pages. And we may find we have very different opinions. But the important thing is to get out there an express them.
What we need is an area for karate lessons and practice for wikipedia women editors before they go out on the public mat, i.e., talk pages :-)
On 2/16/2011 10:20 AM, Oliver Keyes wrote:
How about you all contribute to the discussion proper, rather than suggesting things which, if made on-wiki, would result in an immediate block for inappropriate behaviour?
On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 3:14 PM, Joseph Reagle <joseph.2008@reagle.org mailto:joseph.2008@reagle.org> wrote:
On Tuesday, February 15, 2011, Andreas Kolbe wrote: > There are some excruciatingly naive arguments being made on the essay's > talk page, e.g.: Is this the sort of thing that would benefit from public pillory? For example, a posting on Geek Feminism blog or elsewhere? On one hand, I think such attitudes merit public critique, on the other, I wouldn't want such efforts to backfire and make Wikipedia even less appealing to possible contributors, particularly if this is just a rat hole.
Joseph and Andreas, I think you're assuming facts not in evidence here, so to speak. If you disapprove of porn or the pornmaking process, that's got nothing to do with wikipedia. Unless you can demonstrate that a particular image exploited the person featured in it, you're arguing against a strawman to say the image should be suppressed because it might have involved some hand-wavy mistreatment. Maybe it did. Maybe it didn't. You guys seem to want to assume that all explicit images involved mistreatment, while the NPOV view really is to assume that *we can't know that*.
To take this argument to blogs, based on a guess of what people think, what they mean, and what could in some imaginary world have possibly happened or not happened behind the scenes of a photo, would be a betrayal of what we're trying to work on here on this list. Men don't know what women are thinking. We don't need you to jump to our defense and call out the dogs over something you're concerned *might *bother some women, even though there's no real evidence of that. Ask us, and read our answers. You'll find that it's not nearly as clear-cut as you're assuming.
-Fluffernutter
On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 10:14 AM, Joseph Reagle joseph.2008@reagle.orgwrote:
On Tuesday, February 15, 2011, Andreas Kolbe wrote:
There are some excruciatingly naive arguments being made on the essay's talk page, e.g.:
Is this the sort of thing that would benefit from public pillory? For example, a posting on Geek Feminism blog or elsewhere? On one hand, I think such attitudes merit public critique, on the other, I wouldn't want such efforts to backfire and make Wikipedia even less appealing to possible contributors, particularly if this is just a rat hole.
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
--- On Wed, 16/2/11, ChaoticFluffy chaoticfluffy@gmail.com wrote:
From: ChaoticFluffy chaoticfluffy@gmail.com
Joseph and
Andreas, I think you're assuming facts not in evidence here, so to
speak. If you
disapprove of porn or the pornmaking process, that's got nothing
to do with
wikipedia.
Whether a woman in Budapest derives sexual pleasure from receiving five facials a week from ten men for $200 a go, as some Wikipedians appear to believe, is not actually the issue here. The issue is this:
Wikipedia’s mission is to reflect coverage in reliable sources. We have basic policy
commitments to that effect – WP:V, WP:NOR, WP:NPOV. When it comes to sexual
or otherwise controversial images, we should be featuring the same types of
illustrations that reliable sources writing about these matters use. We should be
neither more liberal nor less liberal than topical sources are, on balance.
What happens in Wikipedia is that editors argue that we are bound to reliable sources
in text, but not in illustrations. As far as illustrations are concerned, NOTCENSORED
applies. NOTCENSORED is touted as the community’s right to substitute its own
editorial judgment in matters of illustration for the editorial judgments made by reliable
sources. Our demographics are skewed. The typical Wikipedian is an 18-year-old,
single childless male. As far as we can tell, women make up about 1/8 of our editorship.
Compounding matters, women comment very rarely at discussions concerned with
curating sexology articles. (Three cheers for Carol!)
There is no support in basic policy for the position that Wikipedia should knowingly,
wilfully and systematically depart from the standards espoused by reliable sources
when it comes to sexually explicit images. Yet this is what happens. We don’t do
this in our articles on dinosaurs, say. Our illustrations of dinosaurs look just like
the illustrations of dinosaurs in reliable sources.
This is just a gap that has opened up in our policy fabric. As a result, we are at times
more explicit, gratuitous or inept in our use of sexual or pornographic images in
Wikipedia than reliable sources would choose to be, as in the examples discussed
(and, in part, since addressed on-wiki).
Remember that these articles are some of our most frequently accessed. Both the
Creampie article and the Bukkake article e.g. are ranked among our top articles by page
views (ranks 1,300 and 2,000 or thereabouts). They are viewed significantly more often
than Hilary Clinton’s biography, say.
Frequently viewed articles like that are calling cards. They tell readers and potential
new contributors what we are about.
What we should be about is what reliable sources are about. This is not about protecting
women; it is about protecting Wikipedia from becoming something else than an
educational resource. Women do however have a key role in that, and the gender
gap is intimately related to this issue. What sets reliable sources apart from porn sites
is that reliable sources are written for a mixed readership, just like Wikipedia should be.
Reliable sources – newspapers and scholarly writing – take women’s views into
account. Our editorial process does a poor job of doing that, and the general gender gap
as well as the even more extreme gender gap in curating these articles compounds the
issue.
One thing we could do to address this, beyond increased female participation, is to
enshrine in policy the principle that editorial standards for article illustration should not
depart significantly and systematically from editorial standards in reliable sources.
That would help address the problem.
Andreas
This is true, but doesn't help with many projects. Some projects don't have WP;V as a core principle - what do we do with them? "inappropriate" images on Commons would not be bound by such standards.
Frequently viewed articles do not tell readers what we're about, they tell us what readers are about. Do you think people go to the Creampie articles for an image of line drawings? :P. I'm not saying that soft or hard porn on Wikipedia is appropriate, simply that you can't judge *us* by what our * readers* look at.
On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 12:12 AM, Andreas Kolbe jayen466@yahoo.com wrote:
--- On *Wed, 16/2/11, ChaoticFluffy chaoticfluffy@gmail.com* wrote:
From: ChaoticFluffy chaoticfluffy@gmail.com
Joseph and Andreas, I think you're assuming facts not in evidence here,
so to
speak. If you disapprove of porn or the pornmaking process, that's got
nothing
to do with wikipedia.
Whether a woman in Budapest derives sexual pleasure from receiving five facials
a week from ten men for $200 a go, as some Wikipedians appear to believe, is not
actually the issue here. The issue is this:
Wikipedia’s mission is to reflect coverage in reliable sources. We have basic policy
commitments to that effect – WP:V, WP:NOR, WP:NPOV. When it comes to sexual
or otherwise controversial images, we should be featuring the same types of
illustrations that reliable sources writing about these matters use. We should be
neither more liberal nor less liberal than topical sources are, on balance.
What happens in Wikipedia is that editors argue that we are bound to reliable sources
in text, but not in illustrations. As far as illustrations are concerned, NOTCENSORED
applies. NOTCENSORED is touted as the community’s right to substitute its own
editorial judgment in matters of illustration for the editorial judgments made by reliable
sources. Our demographics are skewed. The typical Wikipedian is an 18-year-old,
single childless male. As far as we can tell, women make up about 1/8 of our editorship.
Compounding matters, women comment very rarely at discussions concerned with
curating sexology articles. (Three cheers for Carol!)
There is no support in basic policy for the position that Wikipedia should knowingly,
wilfully and systematically depart from the standards espoused by reliable sources
when it comes to sexually explicit images. Yet this is what happens. We don’t do
this in our articles on dinosaurs, say. Our illustrations of dinosaurs look just like
the illustrations of dinosaurs in reliable sources.
This is just a gap that has opened up in our policy fabric. As a result, we are at times
more explicit, gratuitous or inept in our use of sexual or pornographic images in
Wikipedia than reliable sources would choose to be, as in the examples discussed
(and, in part, since addressed on-wiki).
Remember that these articles are some of our most frequently accessed. Both the
Creampie article and the Bukkake article e.g. are ranked among our top articles by page
views (ranks 1,300 and 2,000 or thereabouts). They are viewed significantly more often
than Hilary Clinton’s biography, say.
Frequently viewed articles like that are calling cards. They tell readers and potential
new contributors what we are about.
What we should be about is what reliable sources are about. This is not about protecting
women; it is about protecting Wikipedia from becoming something else than an
educational resource. Women do however have a key role in that, and the gender
gap is intimately related to this issue. What sets reliable sources apart from porn sites
is that reliable sources are written for a mixed readership, just like Wikipedia should be.
Reliable sources – newspapers and scholarly writing – take women’s views into
account. Our editorial process does a poor job of doing that, and the general gender gap
as well as the even more extreme gender gap in curating these articles compounds the
issue.
One thing we could do to address this, beyond increased female participation, is to
enshrine in policy the principle that editorial standards for article illustration should not
depart significantly and systematically from editorial standards in reliable sources.
That would help address the problem.
Andreas
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
2011/2/17 Andreas Kolbe jayen466@yahoo.com
--- On Wed, 16/2/11, ChaoticFluffy chaoticfluffy@gmail.com wrote:
Joseph and Andreas, I think you're assuming facts not in evidence here, so to speak. If you disapprove of porn or the pornmaking process, that's got nothing to do with wikipedia.
I'd like to second ChaoticFluffy. Andreas seems to me on a crusade against pornography in Wikipedia. I won't suggest that it hasn't anything to do with the gendergap. Maybe Wikipedia would gain a few more female editors by deleting all these pictures. I am sure Wikipedia would also attract much more Muslim editors if the pictures of the prophet Muhammad were deleted. Same goes for Baha'i and other religious groups.
We don't give in for a reason. And that's the same reason as why Wikipedia shows pornographic pictures. I fail to see why an encyclopedia article about a tractor should show a picture about its subject, but an article about a sexual practice should not show any pictures. "Mama, why are there no pictures in the articles about sex in Wikipedia?" "Oh, some men decided that such content would displease and disturb the tender souls of women and children, so they deleted it." Thank you very much. This is so 19th century.
greetings, elian PS: and just a suggestion: "Come on guys" in an edit summary is not a very inviting comment for women to participate in a debate.
On Wednesday, February 16, 2011, ChaoticFluffy wrote:
Joseph and Andreas, I think you're assuming facts not in evidence here, so to speak. If you disapprove of porn or the pornmaking process, that's got nothing to do with wikipedia.
I'll note that I've said nothing about the moral standing of porn or varied sexual practices. I personally think it is inappropriate for WP, but that is my opinion.
My concern here is how to make WP more accessible/friendly (to women and others). I'll note that the conversation is reminiscent of the old "playboy calendars in the firehouse" conversations of the 80/90s (i.e., most guys object to their removal, a few women say it doesn't bother them, someone might even put up a Playgirl in some attempt at parity) and fortunately (IMHO) we've moved beyond that in society at large. Yet, it continues in the free culture movement (why can't we have such images on WP, or display them in FOSS conference presentations, etc.?). In any case, my thinking/concern is informed by evidence that "stereotypical" masculine elements in an environment (e.g., even just Star Trek posters and Mountain Dew cans!) can affect a sense of belonging and interest. (And I say that as someone who kept Kirk and Spock toys on my desk for many years.)
[[ http://depts.washington.edu/sibl/Publications/Cheryan,%20Plaut,%20Davies,%20...
Sapna Cheryan, Victoria C. Plaut, Paul G. Davies, Claude M. Steele Ambient belonging: how stereotypical cues impact gender participation in computer science j=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology kw=gender n=6 pp =1045-1060 v=97 y=2009 r=20100105 "People can make decisions to join a group based solely on exposure to that group’s physical environment. Four studies demonstrate that the gender difference in interest in computer science is influenced by exposure to environments associated with computer scientists. In Study 1, simply changing the objects in a computer science classroom from those considered stereotypical of computer science (e.g., Star Trek poster, video games) to objects not considered stereotypical of computer science (e.g., nature poster, phone books) was sufficient to boost female undergraduates’ interest in computer science to the level of their male peers. Further investigation revealed that the stereotypical broadcast a masculine stereotype that discouraged women’s sense of ambient belonging and subsequent interest in the environment (Studies 2, 3, and 4) but had no similar effect on men (Studies 3, 4). This masculine stereotype prevented women’s interest from developing even in environments entirely populated by other women (Study 2). Objects can thus come to broadcast stereotypes of a group, which in turn can deter people who do not identify with these stereotypes from joining that group." \acite {CheryanEtal2009abh} * Section: General Discussion * when an environment stereotypically associated with computer science—containing video games, StarTrek memorabilia, and the like—was made salient, women were consistently less interested in joining the domain than men. This effect held across four different decisions (the computer science major, work teams, generic companies, and web design companies), three different gender representations (majority male, entirely female, and gender balanced), and two different methodologies (exposure to actual objects and imagining objects). Across three studies, we observed a consistent explanation for why these objects discouraged women’s participation. Men and women saw the stereotypical environments as masculine. However, this masculinity compromised women’s, but not men’s, sense of ambient belonging, which led to less interest in pursuing the field. In fact, the women who perceived the environment as most masculine were consistently the least interested in joining it. \acite[1058]{CheryanEtal2009abh} * What happened when these objects were replaced with less stereotypical ones? When sitting in a nonstereotypical computer science environment that signaled less masculinity, women expressed more interest in the field. This aversion to the stereotypical environments by women was the case even when the gender proportion, salaries, work hours, and job description were identical across the two environments, demonstrating the power of environments to signal to people whether or not they should enter a domain. \acite[1058]{CheryanEtal2009abh} * Section: Increasing Female Participation in Computer Science * Society has communicated to this young woman and countless others that they should dream in code, watch Star Trek, and read science fiction to be a computer scientist. Instead of changing the women who do not relate to this stereotype, our studies suggest that changing the field of computer science so that those who do not fit the present stereotypes feel that they have a place in the field will go a long way toward recruiting women. The present work shows that changing the stereotypes is possible and suggests a promising strategy. In our studies, a quickset up of a few objects in a computer science environment gave women the means by which to consider the field. The cost-benefit calculation is highly favorable; these are quickly and easily implementable adjustments with great potential for effecting desirable change. \acite[1058] {CheryanEtal2009abh} * But is it wise to overhaul present computer science environments if women will simply enter the field to be greeted by stereotypical objects and people who embody the stereotype? Those actually in the field claim that present stereotypes of computer scientists are highly exaggerated and inaccurate (Borg,1999). However, the stereotype discourages those who do not relate to it from trying computer science, which in turn decreases the prevalence and salience of nonstereotypical environments. Breaking the cycle may therefore involve intentionally and overtly changing the stereotypes. Once women enter the field in greater numbers, the process will hopefully build on itself by further changing environments and stereotypes associated with computer scientists and subsequently attracting more women. \acite[1058]{CheryanEtal2009abh} * Changing the stereotypes of computer science may also encourage more men to enter computer science. Indeed, in each of our studies, there were many men, albeit fewer than women, who also favored the nonstereotypical environment over the stereotypical environment. Although their gender might not be incompatible with the masculinity of the stereotypical environment, other aspects of the stereotype -- for instance, social awkwardness or an unhealthy obsession with computers (Cheryan & Plaut, 2009) -- may discourage some men (and women) from considering a future in computer science. Across all studies, the degree to which people (both men and women) felt they belonged in the environment strongly predicted whether they chose to join that group, under-scoring the importance of belonging in determining choices of members of underrepresented and overrepresented groups. Broadening the image of computer scientists to be inclusive of a greater variety of identities may therefore increase both women’s and men's sense of ambient belonging and participation in computer science. \acite[1058]{CheryanEtal2009abh} * Section: Conclusion * In four studies, we examined the role that stereotypical computer science environments play in communicating stereotypes and a sense of ambient belonging to potential majors. Our studies demonstrated that these environments broadcast a masculinity that made women feel like they do not belong in the field. However, when stereotypes of computer scientists were altered through the objects in the environment, women had the means and motivation with which to engage computer science as a possible future pursuit. Altering a group’s image by changing their environments can therefore inspire those who previously had little or no interest in pursuing the group to express a newfound interest in it. \acite[1058]{CheryanEtal2009abh}
]]
In any case, my thinking/concern is informed by evidence that "stereotypical" masculine > elements in an environment (e.g., even just Star Trek posters and Mountain Dew cans!) > can affect a sense of belonging and interest. (And I say that as someone who kept Kirk > and Spock toys on my desk for many years.)
[deletia]
2). Objects can thus come to broadcast stereotypes of a group, which in turn can deter people who do not identify with these stereotypes from joining that group." \acite {CheryanEtal2009abh}
And it is not just men who inadvertently create environments that project this kind of filtration, informally filtering based on gender. "Girlzones" can be created as well due to gender imbalance.
I have extensive close experience with a good example: yoga.
Visualize a typical (at least in the US) yoga studio that has been decorated (and perhaps originally designed) primarily for yoga. Most likely the images that come to mind are a small space resembling a dance studio with bare wooden floors, teak (or some imitation) furniture near one wall with some minimalist, Asian-art inspired floral arrangements in a ceramic vase or two, and posters of yoga poses and other related artwork on the walls, often with some Sanskrit (or, well, something in Indic letters) on them. You are probably also imagining soft New Age music from a small player (usually, these days, with an iPod plugged into it) near where the instructor sits, and perhaps the smell of burnt incense or something else meant to evoke India in the air.
This has some basis in reality. And if I asked you to imagine what the class being taught looks like, you will probably imagine a female instructor (I have never had a male) and a predominantly female class. Yes, a prospective male student would be welcomed if he expressed interest. But many will see the trappings of the studio and feel that this is not a place where they would be welcomed.
And this abundance of yoginis* creates postive feedback that reinforces the filtering in other ways. When proper studios aren't available, the spaces chosen are often physically small. In one class in a room at a former computer store smaller than my son's bedroom, I stood up in mountain pose (the very simple position that involves standing with your hands straight up over your head) ... and put my hands into one of the acoustic tiles in the ceiling, lifting it up over the frame holding them when I had fully extended my arms. That was *after* moving so I wouldn't put them into the wooden ceiling fan. I'm 6'4" (193 cm) tall, and the instructor, who like many yoga instructors has a dance background and was herself closer to 5'2" (about 158 cm), apologetically told me it had never occurred to her that that would happen because she had never had a student so tall. Because, of course, she probably hadn't had that many male students, and generally the tallest women are not anywhere near my height.
It is also next to impossible to find yoga clothing designed for and specifically marketed to men. So much so that the New York Times ran an article about this two years ago (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/fashion/29CODES.html) that goes into the subject far better than I could here. For myself I have found clothing fit for yoga from other manufacturers.
And this is not for lack of interest on men's part, I think. I am really one of the few men I know of who does yoga on a fairly regular basis who is neither Indian-American nor gay nor into yoga as part of a whole lifestyle (and yes, there are negatively-stereotypable men in yoga, or you wouldn't have the "Ogden the Inappropriate Yoga Guy" comedy videos on YouTube). Granted, I don't live in a large city; maybe the Manhattan or LA yoga communities are a little different, to say nothing of in the UK or Europe (in India, I believe, this is very different).
Last fall I went with my son to a New York Giants U.S. football home game. We came early enough to watch the Giants and the visiting team do their customary pregame workout on the field an hour or so before the game. When the entire Giants team, in full uniforms and pads, began their stretches, the first one they did was the common downward dog yoga pose ([[Adho Mukha Svanasana]] ... we use the Sanskrit names for our articles). That was not part of the standard American football stretches when I played; given that many NFL players have made no secret that they do yoga as a standard part of their conditioning and workout I'm pretty sure that came from that. I would also imagine that yoga classes are not unknown to the players in the UK Premiership, the Bundesliga or Serie A.
[[Tara Stiles]], a somewhat controversial yoga instructor who posts a lot of short videos on YouTube as part of her effort to make yoga more accessible, says she gets lots of emails about those videos from men who enjoy doing the yoga routines in them but wouldn't be caught dead in a yoga studio. It wasn't discussed further, but I know why, and it often seems to me like the elephant in the room in the yoga community. (And I bet some of them would feel more welcome at Ms. Stiles' studio).
It is not my intention in posting this for this to be seen as a complaint, rather as an observation, constituting anecdotal evidence in support of the paper in the post I followed up to that a social subspace can become gendered without any overt signs of gender politics and that it is not just men that can do this. Followups should be limited in scope to this, or its bearing on the present discussion. Any responses specific to yoga should be directed to me personally via email, or brought up on yoga mailing lists or other fora.
*Perhaps because of the gender imbalance of yoga, many women who do it not only have no problem with the feminine form of the word ("yogi") but insist on it. This is about the only instance where I can think of this being so.
Daniel Case
--- On Thu, 17/2/11, Daniel and Elizabeth Case dancase@frontiernet.net wrote:
From: Daniel and Elizabeth Case dancase@frontiernet.net
And it is not just men who inadvertently create environments that project this kind of filtration, informally filtering based on gender. "Girlzones" can be created as well due to gender imbalance.
This an interesting line of thought. If you look at our interface, does it look like it was designed by a man or a woman? Basically, we have the traditional IBM colour scheme: white, grey and blue, and lots of straight lines and boxes. There is little red, green, pink or yellow, nothing curvy. Everything is very functional. There is no place to socialise (WP:Café?).
Apple were successful, and attracted women customers, because they broke with that design language.
Browsers like Firefox and Google Chrome allow you to customise the colour appearance of your browser window, and lots of people produce colourful designs that they make available online for people to use. We offer various skins that users can set up in their preferences, but first of all they are hard to find, they are only available after you've registered, and having looked at them, they are all much of a muchness.
Offering designers the possibility to design "looks" for Wikipedia, which people can then download and use in their Wikipedia set-up, might be a way to offer users the ability to give Wikipedia windows a look they can identify with. It would also create a secondary community of designers, just as there is for browsers, creating its own momentum in the blogosphere.
In addition, the default look for unregistered users could be varied from time to time; or buttons provided for unregistered users that allow them to select a different look just by clicking a button.
Andreas
Andreas wrote:
This an interesting line of thought. If you look at our interface, does it look like it was designed by a man or a woman? Basically, we have the traditional IBM colour scheme: white, grey and blue, and lots of straight lines and boxes. There is little red, green, pink or yellow, nothing curvy. Everything is very functional. There is no place to socialise (WP:Café?).
I respond:
I understand and respect Andreas's larger point, but we have to be careful of falling into traps further down this line of thinking that will lead us to something like this:
http://videosift.com/video/SNL-ad-Chess-for-Girls
(I remember how this sketch went but, for some reason, I have never gotten it to load from this site, which seems to be the only place online I can find it).
Daniel Case
I think having options would be a good thing (that is, real options, not ones that are almost cookie cutters of one another and new defaults that "improve it worse". (I hate Vector.)
I think it safe to say that there is no one thing that is going to be the ultimate answer to the gender gap. Giving the ability to customize the look more is *one*thing that could make Wikipedia-editing more attractive to some users. If what we want is to increase the diversity of Wikipedia editors, it is among the things that should be considered.
Aleta P.S. I have a pink userpage and purple user talk page.
On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 6:03 PM, Daniel and Elizabeth Case < dancase@frontiernet.net> wrote:
Andreas wrote:
This an interesting line of thought. If you look at our interface, does it look like it was designed by a man or a woman? Basically, we have the traditional IBM colour scheme: white, grey and blue, and lots of straight lines and boxes. There is little red, green, pink or yellow, nothing curvy. Everything is very functional. There is no place to socialise (WP:Café?).
I respond:
I understand and respect Andreas's larger point, but we have to be careful of falling into traps further down this line of thinking that will lead us to something like this:
http://videosift.com/video/SNL-ad-Chess-for-Girls
(I remember how this sketch went but, for some reason, I have never gotten it to load from this site, which seems to be the only place online I can find it).
Daniel Case
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
An important point to remember about images depicting sexual practices on Wikipedia: one has to look for them. In order to see the image stirring so much controversy, one actually has to visit "Bukkake". This isn't Playboy calendars on the wall, it's Playboys under the mattress in a different city.
Unless our missing female contributors are entering through the site through pornography and sexuality pages, it's relatively unlikely that they will see any of these images. Perhaps it is possible to exclude them from "Random page", in which case a person offended by the images would never see them unless they looked for them specifically.
Nepenthe
On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 9:22 AM, Joseph Reagle joseph.2008@reagle.orgwrote:
On Wednesday, February 16, 2011, ChaoticFluffy wrote:
Joseph and Andreas, I think you're assuming facts not in evidence here,
so
to speak. If you disapprove of porn or the pornmaking process, that's got nothing to do with wikipedia.
I'll note that I've said nothing about the moral standing of porn or varied sexual practices. I personally think it is inappropriate for WP, but that is my opinion.
My concern here is how to make WP more accessible/friendly (to women and others). I'll note that the conversation is reminiscent of the old "playboy calendars in the firehouse" conversations of the 80/90s (i.e., most guys object to their removal, a few women say it doesn't bother them, someone might even put up a Playgirl in some attempt at parity) and fortunately (IMHO) we've moved beyond that in society at large. Yet, it continues in the free culture movement (why can't we have such images on WP, or display them in FOSS conference presentations, etc.?). In any case, my thinking/concern is informed by evidence that "stereotypical" masculine elements in an environment (e.g., even just Star Trek posters and Mountain Dew cans!) can affect a sense of belonging and interest. (And I say that as someone who kept Kirk and Spock toys on my desk for many years.)
[[ http://depts.washington.edu/sibl/Publications/Cheryan,%20Plaut,%20Davies,%20...http://depts.washington.edu/sibl/Publications/Cheryan,%20Plaut,%20Davies,%20&%20Steele%20%282009%29.pdf
Sapna Cheryan, Victoria C. Plaut, Paul G. Davies, Claude M. Steele Ambient belonging: how stereotypical cues impact gender participation in computer science j=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology kw=gender n=6 pp =1045-1060 v=97 y=2009 r=20100105 "People can make decisions to join a group based solely on exposure to that group’s physical environment. Four studies demonstrate that the gender difference in interest in computer science is influenced by exposure to environments associated with computer scientists. In Study 1, simply changing the objects in a computer science classroom from those considered stereotypical of computer science (e.g., Star Trek poster, video games) to objects not considered stereotypical of computer science (e.g., nature poster, phone books) was sufficient to boost female undergraduates’ interest in computer science to the level of their male peers. Further investigation revealed that the stereotypical broadcast a masculine stereotype that discouraged women’s sense of ambient belonging and subsequent interest in the environment (Studies 2, 3, and 4) but had no similar effect on men (Studies 3, 4). This masculine stereotype prevented women’s interest from developing even in environments entirely populated by other women (Study 2). Objects can thus come to broadcast stereotypes of a group, which in turn can deter people who do not identify with these stereotypes from joining that group." \acite {CheryanEtal2009abh}
- Section: General Discussion
- when an environment stereotypically associated with computer science—containing video games, StarTrek memorabilia, and the like—was made salient, women were consistently less interested in joining the domain than men. This effect held across four different decisions (the computer science major, work teams, generic companies, and web design companies), three different gender representations (majority male, entirely female, and gender balanced), and two different methodologies (exposure to actual objects and imagining objects). Across three studies, we observed a consistent explanation for why these objects discouraged women’s participation. Men and women saw the stereotypical environments as masculine. However, this masculinity compromised women’s, but not men’s, sense of ambient belonging, which led to less interest in pursuing the field. In fact, the women who perceived the environment as most masculine were consistently the least interested in joining it. \acite[1058]{CheryanEtal2009abh}
- What happened when these objects were replaced with less stereotypical ones? When sitting in a nonstereotypical computer science environment that signaled less masculinity, women expressed more interest in the field. This aversion to the stereotypical environments by women was the case even when the gender proportion, salaries, work hours, and job description were identical across the two environments, demonstrating the power of environments to signal to people whether or not they should enter a domain. \acite[1058]{CheryanEtal2009abh}
- Section: Increasing Female Participation in Computer Science
- Society has communicated to this young woman and countless others that they should dream in code, watch Star Trek, and read science fiction to be a computer scientist. Instead of changing the women who do not relate to this stereotype, our studies suggest that changing the field of computer science so that those who do not fit the present stereotypes feel that they have a place in the field will go a long way toward recruiting women. The present work shows that changing the stereotypes is possible and suggests a promising strategy. In our studies, a quickset up of a few objects in a computer science environment gave women the means by which to consider the field. The cost-benefit calculation is highly favorable; these are quickly and easily implementable adjustments with great potential for effecting desirable change. \acite[1058] {CheryanEtal2009abh}
- But is it wise to overhaul present computer science environments if women will simply enter the field to be greeted by stereotypical objects and people who embody the stereotype? Those actually in the field claim that present stereotypes of computer scientists are highly exaggerated and inaccurate (Borg,1999). However, the stereotype discourages those who do not relate to it from trying computer science, which in turn decreases the prevalence and salience of nonstereotypical environments. Breaking the cycle may therefore involve intentionally and overtly changing the stereotypes. Once women enter the field in greater numbers, the process will hopefully build on itself by further changing environments and stereotypes associated with computer scientists and subsequently attracting more women. \acite[1058]{CheryanEtal2009abh}
- Changing the stereotypes of computer science may also encourage more men to enter computer science. Indeed, in each of our studies, there were many men, albeit fewer than women, who also favored the nonstereotypical environment over the stereotypical environment. Although their gender might not be incompatible with the masculinity of the stereotypical environment, other aspects of the stereotype -- for instance, social awkwardness or an unhealthy obsession with computers (Cheryan & Plaut, 2009) -- may discourage some men (and women) from considering a future in computer science. Across all studies, the degree to which people (both men and women) felt they belonged in the environment strongly predicted whether they chose to join that group, under-scoring the importance of belonging in determining choices of members of underrepresented and overrepresented groups. Broadening the image of computer scientists to be inclusive of a greater variety of identities may therefore increase both women’s and men's sense of ambient belonging and participation in computer science. \acite[1058]{CheryanEtal2009abh}
- Section: Conclusion
- In four studies, we examined the role that stereotypical computer science environments play in communicating stereotypes and a sense of ambient belonging to potential majors. Our studies demonstrated that these environments broadcast a masculinity that made women feel like they do not belong in the field. However, when stereotypes of computer scientists were altered through the objects in the environment, women had the means and motivation with which to engage computer science as a possible future pursuit. Altering a group’s image by changing their environments can therefore inspire those who previously had little or no interest in pursuing the group to express a newfound interest in it. \acite[1058]{CheryanEtal2009abh}
]]
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
On 2/17/11 9:47 AM, Nepenthe wrote:
An important point to remember about images depicting sexual practices on Wikipedia: one has to look for them. In order to see the image stirring so much controversy, one actually has to visit "Bukkake". This isn't Playboy calendars on the wall, it's Playboys under the mattress in a different city.
Not true.
In fact, a friend of mine yelled at me about this just the other day because she went searching for "Bukkake Udon", which is a noodle dish and had no idea what she was in for.
I don't know whether it's possible to deal with unfortunate search terms. To extend the metaphor, sometimes one is changing the sheets and the playboys fall out.
I use the program LaTeX for creating math documents. Terrible terrible things have happened as a result of oblivious googling.
Nepenthe
On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 11:55 AM, Brandon Harris bharris@wikimedia.orgwrote:
On 2/17/11 9:47 AM, Nepenthe wrote:
An important point to remember about images depicting sexual practices on Wikipedia: one has to look for them. In order to see the image stirring so much controversy, one actually has to visit "Bukkake". This isn't Playboy calendars on the wall, it's Playboys under the mattress in a different city.
Not true. In fact, a friend of mine yelled at me about this just the other day
because she went searching for "Bukkake Udon", which is a noodle dish and had no idea what she was in for.
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
It's absolutely possible to deal with this by simply following the principle of "least surprise".
In this specific case, the problem could easily have been avoided by:
a) Moving "Bukkake" to "Bukkake (Sexual Act)" b) Making the "Bukkake" page a disambiguation page with a pointer to "Udon" and one to the sexual activity.
On 2/17/11 10:12 AM, Nepenthe wrote:
I don't know whether it's possible to deal with unfortunate search terms. To extend the metaphor, sometimes one is changing the sheets and the playboys fall out.
I use the program LaTeX for creating math documents. Terrible terrible things have happened as a result of oblivious googling.
Nepenthe
On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 11:55 AM, Brandon Harris <bharris@wikimedia.org mailto:bharris@wikimedia.org> wrote:
On 2/17/11 9:47 AM, Nepenthe wrote: > An important point to remember about images depicting sexual practices > on Wikipedia: one has to look for them. In order to see the image > stirring so much controversy, one actually has to visit "Bukkake". This > isn't Playboy calendars on the wall, it's Playboys under the mattress in > a different city. Not true. In fact, a friend of mine yelled at me about this just the other day because she went searching for "Bukkake Udon", which is a noodle dish and had no idea what she was in for. _______________________________________________ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
It's absolutely possible to deal with this by simply following the principle of "least surprise".
In this specific case, the problem could easily have been avoided by:
a) Moving "Bukkake" to "Bukkake (Sexual Act)" b) Making the "Bukkake" page a disambiguation page with a pointer to "Udon" and one to the sexual activity.
Please do that.
Fred
Well, the issue is the rules around page titles on en-wiki, at least. I'd suggest starting a discussion, not arbitrarily doing it.
On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 7:44 PM, Fred Bauder fredbaud@fairpoint.net wrote:
It's absolutely possible to deal with this by simply following the
principle of "least surprise".
In this specific case, the problem could easily have been avoided
by:
a) Moving "Bukkake" to "Bukkake (Sexual Act)" b) Making the "Bukkake" page a disambiguation page with a pointer
to
"Udon" and one to the sexual activity.
Please do that.
Fred
Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
While I had a problem with general discussion of the topic, once I got to Bukkake article, a term I never had heard of before, I could easily see the problem and that there are needed solutions both to make it inviting to women and to discourage any kind of sexism related to extensive editng of these articles. (After looking at a dozen of these articles in last couple days I noticed I've had run ins on other types of articles with a few of the editors that were uncomfortable.)
First, note that Bukkake is an example of the infamous "circle jerk" (a notable male only activity with lots of WP:RS) but not only is there *no article about it,* but the term forwarded to an article about people masturbating each other - not even accurate.
And of course Gay Bukkake which I just searched and has WP:RS isn't mentioned. So instead of two similar graphics of a woman being the object, they obviously need one with a man being the object. The "snowballing" article, something else new to me similarly showed two women doing it, even though overwhelmingly it is gay men and heterosexual couples doing it. All that just shows quite a bit of sexist and even homophobic POV.
Anyway, more females and gay males (another under-represented here?) willing to deal with these POVs would help. Plus two suggestions below.
Also, admin wise, maybe Sexual Content needs its own ANI do it doesn't freak out all the people who don't want to hear about it.
On 2/17/2011 1:15 PM, Brandon Harris wrote:
It's absolutely possible to deal with this by simply following the principle of "least surprise".
In this specific case, the problem could easily have been avoided by:
a) Moving "Bukkake" to "Bukkake (Sexual Act)" b) Making the "Bukkake" page a disambiguation page with a pointer to "Udon" and one to the sexual activity.
--- On *Thu, 17/2/11, Ryan Kaldari /rkaldari@wikimedia.org/*wrote: Yep, try http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:People_using_vacuum_cleaners
So do we all agree that the Principle of Least Astonishment needs to be encoded into some kind of policy or guideline? In other words, images with a sexual context should only appear in articles/categories that also have a sexual context. Otherwise, Wikipedia naturally tends towards an editorial policy dictated by 20-year-old single white males who see no problem with keeping pictures of naked women in every corner of Wikipedia and Commons.
Not true.
In fact the careless way that these images are categorized and linked to inappropriate articles is one of my main concerns.
Often sexually explicit or sexually titillating images placed in very mundane categories like electric fan, couch, or coca cola.
So when these topic are linked to Commons the sexual content appears without the person expecting it.
My attempts to fix this on a case by case basis are often reverted.
When I discuss it with the some of the people reverting, I'm told that I denying people the ability to find these images...censorship.
Sydney
On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 12:47 PM, Nepenthe topazbutterfly@gmail.com wrote:
An important point to remember about images depicting sexual practices on Wikipedia: one has to look for them. In order to see the image stirring so much controversy, one actually has to visit "Bukkake". This isn't Playboy calendars on the wall, it's Playboys under the mattress in a different city.
Unless our missing female contributors are entering through the site through pornography and sexuality pages, it's relatively unlikely that they will see any of these images. Perhaps it is possible to exclude them from "Random page", in which case a person offended by the images would never see them unless they looked for them specifically.
Nepenthe
These are not just pictures hidden under a mattress. They are much more like the babecalendar in the office, to use Joseph's apt example, and are a symbol of a prevalent mentality. This is reflected in how editors are treated who complain. There is currently a discussion atthe Bukkake article about whether it is really necessary to have two almost identical imagesportraying men ejaculating on a woman. A female editor, who first expressed reluctance toeven post there, because she suffered abuse from male editors in French Wikipedia in asimilar situation, in the end did post, saying: ---o0o--- Bonjour, Goodmorning, the Illustration depicting the act of bukkake seems to meinappropriate for a site serious as Wikipedia. The woman seems to have hands attachésbehind? Has when then the images of rapes the back. Wikipedia go to tolerate imageswhich degrade the women ? This image must be removed, thanks, merci ---o0o--- A male editor responds: ---o0o--- Looking at that image, I can't see any reason that someone would assume that the imagedepicts that the woman has her hands tied. I see no rope or anything like that. So, if animage makes one reader think that she could have her hands tied, and hands being tied isnot a necesary component to Bukkake, then we should not have an image that makes themthink that might be the case? That seems a stretch to me. She seems to merely have herhands behind her back. Perhaps she is supporting her weight? Perhaps she is relaxing? ---o0o--- This is *excruciating*. He claims the right to invalidate her feelings, her views. The same editor has now three times reverted the second bukkake image into the article,edit-warring against two editors, despite the fact that four people on the talk page express apreference for having just one (or none) of these images, vs. one in favour of having bothimages; while he himself claims he is undecided as to whether the second image addsvalue and is doing his reverts purely in the interest of "article stability". http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Bukkake&diff=prev&old... http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bukkake&action=historysubmit&a... http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bukkake&action=historysubmit&a... http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bukkake&action=historysubmit&a... claims the discussion has been running for four hours. It has run for a day and a half.) This is atrocious. Are you surprised if women don't bother turning up for these discussions? Andreas
Yep, try http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:People_using_vacuum_cleaners
So do we all agree that the Principle of Least Astonishment needs to be encoded into some kind of policy or guideline? In other words, images with a sexual context should only appear in articles/categories that also have a sexual context. Otherwise, Wikipedia naturally tends towards an editorial policy dictated by 20-year-old single white males who see no problem with keeping pictures of naked women in every corner of Wikipedia and Commons.
Ryan Kaldari
On 2/17/11 11:55 AM, Sydney Poore wrote:
Not true.
In fact the careless way that these images are categorized and linked to inappropriate articles is one of my main concerns.
Often sexually explicit or sexually titillating images placed in very mundane categories like electric fan, couch, or coca cola.
So when these topic are linked to Commons the sexual content appears without the person expecting it.
My attempts to fix this on a case by case basis are often reverted.
When I discuss it with the some of the people reverting, I'm told that I denying people the ability to find these images...censorship.
Sydney
On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 12:47 PM, Nepenthe <topazbutterfly@gmail.com mailto:topazbutterfly@gmail.com> wrote:
An important point to remember about images depicting sexual practices on Wikipedia: one has to look for them. In order to see the image stirring so much controversy, one actually has to visit "Bukkake". This isn't Playboy calendars on the wall, it's Playboys under the mattress in a different city. Unless our missing female contributors are entering through the site through pornography and sexuality pages, it's relatively unlikely that they will see any of these images. Perhaps it is possible to exclude them from "Random page", in which case a person offended by the images would never see them unless they looked for them specifically. Nepenthe
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This seems reasonable to me, though I'm a little wary of drawing the line so firmly just in case there's a case I'm not thinking of where sexual image would best illustrate something on a non-sexual page.
-Fluff
On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 3:15 PM, Ryan Kaldari rkaldari@wikimedia.orgwrote:
Yep, try http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:People_using_vacuum_cleaners
So do we all agree that the Principle of Least Astonishment needs to be encoded into some kind of policy or guideline? In other words, images with a sexual context should only appear in articles/categories that also have a sexual context.
Ryan Kaldari
IMO, this section of the Commons Sexually explicit content policy was well received by most people discussing it. It is only controversial among a subsection of editors who do image categorizing in this area and want the issue to be black and white that everything in the image should be identified and add to the matching category.
Sydney
On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 3:31 PM, ChaoticFluffy chaoticfluffy@gmail.comwrote:
This seems reasonable to me, though I'm a little wary of drawing the line so firmly just in case there's a case I'm not thinking of where sexual image would best illustrate something on a non-sexual page.
-Fluff
On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 3:15 PM, Ryan Kaldari rkaldari@wikimedia.orgwrote:
Yep, try http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:People_using_vacuum_cleaners
So do we all agree that the Principle of Least Astonishment needs to be encoded into some kind of policy or guideline? In other words, images with a sexual context should only appear in articles/categories that also have a sexual context.
Ryan Kaldari
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--- On Thu, 17/2/11, Ryan Kaldari rkaldari@wikimedia.org wrote: Yep, try http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:People_using_vacuum_cleaners
So do we all agree that the Principle of Least Astonishment needs to be encoded into some kind of policy or guideline? In other words, images with a sexual context should only appear in articles/categories that also have a sexual context. Otherwise, Wikipedia naturally tends towards an editorial policy dictated by 20-year-old single white males who see no problem with keeping pictures of naked women in every corner of Wikipedia and Commons.
Yes.
I think that's too strict in some ways; it depends. If we're talking about commons, certainly. If we're talking about wikipedia, I'd prefer a necessity test. In other words, would a non-sexual image do a worse job at illustrating the article? If so, include a sexual image. If not, don't.
On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 8:38 PM, Andreas Kolbe jayen466@yahoo.com wrote:
--- On *Thu, 17/2/11, Ryan Kaldari rkaldari@wikimedia.org* wrote:
Yep, try http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:People_using_vacuum_cleaners
So do we all agree that the Principle of Least Astonishment needs to be encoded into some kind of policy or guideline? In other words, images with a sexual context should only appear in articles/categories that also have a sexual context. Otherwise, Wikipedia naturally tends towards an editorial policy dictated by 20-year-old single white males who see no problem with keeping pictures of naked women in every corner of Wikipedia and Commons.
Yes.
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Yes, this. Oliver's done a better job phrasing what I wanted to communicate. The necessity test is really what needs to be in play.
On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 3:41 PM, Oliver Keyes scire.facias@gmail.comwrote:
I think that's too strict in some ways; it depends. If we're talking about commons, certainly. If we're talking about wikipedia, I'd prefer a necessity test. In other words, would a non-sexual image do a worse job at illustrating the article? If so, include a sexual image. If not, don't. _______________________________________________ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
Can you give an example of what you are considering when you want to give a sexually explicit image preference out of necessity.
For example if the only image uploaded of a United States State Park was a nude female laying on a blanket in tent and masturbating in the the state park, would you say that it should be included so we have an image of the State Park?
Sydney
On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 3:41 PM, Oliver Keyes scire.facias@gmail.comwrote:
I think that's too strict in some ways; it depends. If we're talking about commons, certainly. If we're talking about wikipedia, I'd prefer a necessity test. In other words, would a non-sexual image do a worse job at illustrating the article? If so, include a sexual image. If not, don't.
On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 8:38 PM, Andreas Kolbe jayen466@yahoo.com wrote:
--- On *Thu, 17/2/11, Ryan Kaldari rkaldari@wikimedia.org* wrote:
Yep, try http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:People_using_vacuum_cleaners
So do we all agree that the Principle of Least Astonishment needs to be encoded into some kind of policy or guideline? In other words, images with a sexual context should only appear in articles/categories that also have a sexual context. Otherwise, Wikipedia naturally tends towards an editorial policy dictated by 20-year-old single white males who see no problem with keeping pictures of naked women in every corner of Wikipedia and Commons.
Yes.
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On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 1:10 PM, Sydney Poore sydney.poore@gmail.comwrote:
Can you give an example of what you are considering when you want to give a sexually explicit image preference out of necessity.
For example if the only image uploaded of a United States State Park was a nude female laying on a blanket in tent and masturbating in the the state park, would you say that it should be included so we have an image of the State Park?
Sydney
I think it's valuable that we seem to have reached consensus that sexualized media is one factor in this whole effort to attract and retain women editors.
But rather than continuing a general discussion about what degree of sexual content is okay, how about we take what we've discussed and add it to a list of issues that affect the gender gap? I just want to make sure we stay focused on welcoming women editors here, rather than on controversial content at large.
Now done - see http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Proposals_for_more_female_editor...
On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 9:22 PM, Steven Walling swalling@wikimedia.orgwrote:
On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 1:10 PM, Sydney Poore sydney.poore@gmail.comwrote:
Can you give an example of what you are considering when you want to give a sexually explicit image preference out of necessity.
For example if the only image uploaded of a United States State Park was a nude female laying on a blanket in tent and masturbating in the the state park, would you say that it should be included so we have an image of the State Park?
Sydney
I think it's valuable that we seem to have reached consensus that sexualized media is one factor in this whole effort to attract and retain women editors.
But rather than continuing a general discussion about what degree of sexual content is okay, how about we take what we've discussed and add it to a list of issues that affect the gender gap? I just want to make sure we stay focused on welcoming women editors here, rather than on controversial content at large.
-- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org
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--- On Thu, 17/2/11, Sydney Poore sydney.poore@gmail.com wrote:From: Sydney Poore sydney.poore@gmail.com For example if the only image uploaded of a United States State Park was a nude female laying on a blanket in tent and masturbating in the the state park, would you say that it should be included so we have an image of the State Park? If this issue came up in Commons the argument that would win the day is: "Of course the image should be included in the State Park category. It shows a part of theState Park, adds educational value compared to having no image of the State Park at all,and we are NOTCENSORED." Please do not think that I am joking. Andreas
I think we may be getting away from the point slightly by posing such silly examples as possibilities.
On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 10:54 AM, Andreas Kolbe jayen466@yahoo.com wrote:
--- On *Thu, 17/2/11, Sydney Poore sydney.poore@gmail.com* wrote:
From: Sydney Poore sydney.poore@gmail.com
For example if the only image uploaded of a United States State Park was a nude female laying on a blanket in tent and masturbating in the the state park, would you say that it should be included so we have an image of the State Park?
If this issue came up in Commons the argument that would win the day is:
"Of course the image should be included in the State Park category. It shows a part of the State Park, adds educational value compared to having no image of the State Park at all, and we are NOTCENSORED."
Please do not think that I am joking.
Andreas
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It's not a silly example if these are the attitudes and experiences women are encountering. It's actual a complete embarrassment that this is even the "norm" encounter.
Sent from my iPhone
On Feb 18, 2011, at 6:19 AM, Oliver Keyes scire.facias@gmail.com wrote:
I think we may be getting away from the point slightly by posing such silly examples as possibilities.
On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 10:54 AM, Andreas Kolbe jayen466@yahoo.com wrote: --- On Thu, 17/2/11, Sydney Poore sydney.poore@gmail.com wrote: From: Sydney Poore sydney.poore@gmail.com For example if the only image uploaded of a United States State Park was a nude female laying on a blanket in tent and masturbating in the the state park, would you say that it should be included so we have an image of the State Park?
If this issue came up in Commons the argument that would win the day is:
"Of course the image should be included in the State Park category. It shows a part of the State Park, adds educational value compared to having no image of the State Park at all, and we are NOTCENSORED."
Please do not think that I am joking.
Andreas
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Not true.
In fact the careless way that these images are categorized and linked to inappropriate articles is one of my main concerns.
Often sexually explicit or sexually titillating images placed in very mundane categories like electric fan, couch, or coca cola.
So when these topic are linked to Commons the sexual content appears without the person expecting it.
My attempts to fix this on a case by case basis are often reverted.
When I discuss it with the some of the people reverting, I'm told that I denying people the ability to find these images...censorship.
Sydney
You might try elaborating and refining the proposed policy at Wikipedia:Sexual content
Fred
On Tuesday, February 15, 2011, Andreas Kolbe wrote:
There are some excruciatingly naive arguments being made on the essay's talk page, e.g.:
Is this the sort of thing that would benefit from public pillory? For example, a posting on Geek Feminism blog or elsewhere? On one hand, I think such attitudes merit public critique, on the other, I wouldn't want such efforts to backfire and make Wikipedia even less appealing to possible contributors, particularly if this is just a rat hole.
A ham-handed approach is sure to set us back. Some quite "nasty" images are very informative; most images with sexual content are kind of like window-dressing, prosaic and repetitive. There are good arguments for including some explicit images, but not for endless cruft.
The "no-censorship" crowd will predictably take the position that any restrictions will involve removal of illustrations of explicit, but significant information.
Fred
Oliver Keyes wrote:
This is true, but doesn't help with many projects. Some projects don't have WP;V as a core principle - what do we do with them? "inappropriate" images on Commons would not be bound by such standards.
I see Commons as different in nature from Wikipedia. Pages like this one
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Jean_shorts
are in many ways an embarrassment for an educational project.
On the other hand, that page is pretty much the same as what you get when you do a Google image search for jean shorts:
http://www.google.co.uk/images?q=%22jean+shorts%22&um=1&ie=UTF-8&...
Commons is just what it is. But I would like to retain the idea that Wikipedia is an educational resource. Wikipedia can link to Commons, including its collection of pornographic images, in articles on these topics.
Frequently viewed articles do not tell readers what we're about, they tell us what readers are about. Do you think people go to the Creampie articles for an image of line drawings? :P. I'm not saying that soft or hard porn on Wikipedia is appropriate, simply that you can't judge *us* by what our * readers* look at.
What I was getting at is that the kind of material we host attracts both a particular kind of readership and a particular type of new editor. The fact that we have extensive coverage of Pokémon and professional wrestling for example (have you ever done recent changes patrol? it's amazing how many edits are about wrestling) attracts editors that like these topics and join Wikipedia to contribute to them. This is what drives and shapes our community demographics (including the gender gap).
Like attracts like.
---o0o---
Earlier today there were these comments from a female editor at WikiProject Feminism:
"Disturbed and shocked by the presence of these images on Wikipedia. Nothing surprises me on Wikipedia now. In when images of pedophilia?"
When I encouraged her to express her views on the articles' talk pages, she replied:
"Thanks Jayen for your opinion but I already see the conflicts if I intervene. I have already made a similar intervention in the French Wikipedia and 2 or 3 men have me made a fool. Nobody of the French administration Wikipedia came to defend me. The men have the law of the number on Wikipedia: 13 % are women and 87 % are men. It is that the sad reality in Wikipedia."
I've invited her to join us.
Andreas
P.S. Sorry about the horrid line breaks in the previous post, at least as it displays on the list archive page. It didn't look like this when I sent it off.
The line breaks are fine. I see your point about like attracting like (obscure bits of LOTR trivia and Bollywood films are our other main import). I do a ton of new page patrol - a couple of days ago I cleared the entire 30 page buffer, actually - and thinking about it, I tend to encounter the same thing.
I think the standard we need to set isn't "are proper images found in reliable sources" but "are proper images *necessary*". In other words - could, for example, a line drawing, provide the same quality of informative content as a photograph? If so, we go for the line drawing. If not, we go for the photograph.
On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 2:19 AM, Andreas Kolbe jayen466@yahoo.com wrote:
Oliver Keyes wrote:
This is true, but doesn't help with many projects. Some projects don't
have
WP;V as a core principle - what do we do with them? "inappropriate"
images
on Commons would not be bound by such standards.
I see Commons as different in nature from Wikipedia. Pages like this one
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Jean_shorts
are in many ways an embarrassment for an educational project.
On the other hand, that page is pretty much the same as what you get when you do a Google image search for jean shorts:
http://www.google.co.uk/images?q=%22jean+shorts%22&um=1&ie=UTF-8&...
Commons is just what it is. But I would like to retain the idea that Wikipedia is an educational resource. Wikipedia can link to Commons, including its collection of pornographic images, in articles on these topics.
Frequently viewed articles do not tell readers what we're about, they
tell
us what readers are about. Do you think people go to the Creampie
articles
for an image of line drawings? :P. I'm not saying that soft or hard porn
on
Wikipedia is appropriate, simply that you can't judge *us* by what our * readers* look at.
What I was getting at is that the kind of material we host attracts both a particular kind of readership and a particular type of new editor. The fact that we have extensive coverage of Pokémon and professional wrestling for example (have you ever done recent changes patrol? it's amazing how many edits are about wrestling) attracts editors that like these topics and join Wikipedia to contribute to them. This is what drives and shapes our community demographics (including the gender gap).
Like attracts like.
---o0o---
Earlier today there were these comments from a female editor at WikiProject Feminism:
"Disturbed and shocked by the presence of these images on Wikipedia. Nothing surprises me on Wikipedia now. In when images of pedophilia?"
When I encouraged her to express her views on the articles' talk pages, she replied:
"Thanks Jayen for your opinion but I already see the conflicts if I intervene. I have already made a similar intervention in the French Wikipedia and 2 or 3 men have me made a fool. Nobody of the French administration Wikipedia came to defend me. The men have the law of the number on Wikipedia: 13 % are women and 87 % are men. It is that the sad reality in Wikipedia."
I've invited her to join us.
Andreas
P.S. Sorry about the horrid line breaks in the previous post, at least as it displays on the list archive page. It didn't look like this when I sent it off.
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I'm a bit late to the party on this, but for the record, I do not find sexually explicit images offensive. There is nothing inherently unencyclopedic about an explicit image, and often they do a better job than a line drawing might (see [[Coital Alignment Technique]], for example. If that line drawing actually gives you an idea of what's going on, you have better x-ray vision than me. A photo would work far better).
There of course exist images that make me personally twitchy, in an "ew I don't want to see that" sense. But that's true of many areas. I will not, cannot, load the [[spider]] article, for example. Can't. I'd have nightmares. I solve this by not being an active editor on the topic of spiders.
There is perhaps a valid argument to be made that our stock of sexually explicit images is unbalanced toward featuring more women than men, and possibly that some of the photos depict women in degrading positions. However, this is true of the sexually explicit world in general, and it is intensely unfair to assume that any woman depicted in a sexual image was being abused or exploited, or not enjoying herself. Any of these things *could *be true; none of them are certain to be so. Though I absolutely assume the best faith of everyone discussing this topic, it can give off potential concern-troll vibes to assume that women in explicit pictures need to be protected from the evil men photographing them, or that they didn't want to be photographed, or that they didn't know that their photos would be used for illustrative purposes.
-Fluffernutter
On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 7:59 PM, Sue Gardner sgardner@wikimedia.org wrote:
On 14 February 2011 16:23, George Herbert george.herbert@gmail.com wrote: Why don't we try this: let's ask every woman here to answer the question solely from her personal perspective. Let's refrain from speculating about what other women might think, and let's hold back on assessing or judging what anybody says. And let's take censorship/intervention/etc. off the table --- all we're doing here is information-gathering, we're not talking about implications.
So the question is: female editors, have you come across explicit material on the Wikimedia projects that you find offensive, degrading or discouraging?
Thanks, Sue
I am a man and heterosexual, but I identify with you, although for other reason: when I first came to Wikipedia, the very first thing I started to do was improving the style of all the Wikipedia:xx pages I could find and asking about possible changes to the look of the main page. Some users thought that I was just disturbing, and finally, after some time, it all came up to a really drastic situation which almost made me leave Wikipedia (I won't tell).
Now what I came to post:
Since more than a year ago I've been improving several articles in the Spanish Wikpedia which I'm sure that women visit a lot: [[:es:Amor]] (love) and [[:es:Autoestima]] (self-esteem) are two of them. The article [[:es:Risa]] (laughter) could also be interesting for women, I think. And nursing is a profession with a majority of women (I am a nurse), so the articles about nursing science are not well developed, at least in the Spanish Wikipedia, which I know better.
Miguel Ángel
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimado Carolmooredc,
Con fecha jueves, 10 de febrero de 2011, 17:26:44, escribió:
Hi. I'm Carolmooredc and since I edit on controversial political topics I get in lots of trouble with guys who don't like opinionated females who don't shut up and go away when they are told to. I wish it got me down enough to leave and do something more profitable, but I'm stubborn
- and semi-retired with lots of time on my hands.
I'd like to get more educated and retired people involved and think there are tens of thousands who could be attracted - if we could deal with the bar room brawl aspects of wikipedia as this exaggerated but amusing article describes: "Wikipedia: This is a man's world" http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/wikipedia-...
If the Egyptians can get rid of Mubarak, we can get rid of incivility on Wikipedia. (And it is catching; I tend to catch it myself when editing on one or two articles where there's lots of it and before you know it, I'm bringing (mild versions of) it elsewhere where all is peaceful. But at least I'm always willing to apologize and strike my (relatively mild) incivil comments.
Anyway, bottom line of why I am posting here is to alert people to at least one place where relevant discussions listed (now just haphazardly in talk). Which is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Feminism (I don't know if other languages have such projects.)
Perhaps "WikiProjects Women" on all language Wikipedias are necessary to draw in women who for various reasons might not go to a "Wikiproject Feminism"??
Anyway, an idea of current issues below on en. wikipedia below in case anyone wants to jump right in:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Wikipedia#Gender_bias Needs expanding
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Civility#Proposal Someone else proposed language to WP:Civility to make slurs vs. homosexuals a no -no and I pointed out it wasn't clear that slurs against women as women are not sufficiently outlawed in the proposal (or now). And of course people are now saying adding one or two words to make both clear is just too much bureaucracy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Categories_for_discussion/Log/2011_Fe... Proposal to delete in order to to try to have a unified policy because some categories allow people/organizations to be categorized who may be bigoted and others don't. Because of consensus on the talk page (formed by who?) Category:Homophobia doesn't allow it and I have a feeling Category:sexism wouldn't allow some of us to put all the overtly sexist (via WP:RS) males and organizations in that category.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Username_policy#Need_more_warnin... Do we need stronger warnings to new users (esp women) that using real names (or sex) can lead to harassment? Or even a check mark box for them to check they've read about that possibility on registering ? (Obviously, using my real name, I've had problems!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/dispute_resoluti... Main relevant proposals are relating to easier blocks for bad behavior. (Elsewhere dealing with editors who gang up on others, whether from POV or just enjoy trashing females, has been discussed so that may yet be a related proposal on that page.) I was working on a proposal when the NT TImes articles came out and got sidetracked. Anyway, we definitely need more female input.
Thanks...
Carol in dc
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