Hi LtPowers,
Thank you for offering a thoughtful response.
It is hard to know the motivation of the people sabotaging this particular
on campus project. But in general I agree with your comment.
I share your perspective that many young adults are opposed to treating
people differently based on race and gender especially if a direct link is
not made to an economic or other specific type of disadvantage that needs
to be addressed to level the playing field. Even then, some people will
reject any solution that targets one group over another for special
treatment believing that the solution perpetuates the problem by continuing
to treat that group differently.
It's sad but not surprising to know that some people feel so strongly about
it that they would attempt to sabotage an on campus event.
Sydney
Sydney Poore
User:FloNight
Wikipedian in Residence
at Cochrane Collaboration
On Wed, May 6, 2015 at 2:29 PM, LtPowers <LtPowers_Wiki(a)rochester.rr.com>
wrote:
Allow me to suggest a somewhat less insidious
explanation.
Today's young adults have largely been brought up in an environment of
egalitarianism. While we know that this environment isn't actually as
egalitarian as it seems, and there are many privileges retained by the
dominant demographics, today's college students by and large haven't been
introduced to that concept yet. They're still operating under the primary
and secondary school mindset in which boys and girls are treated (at least
on the surface) equally.
(Racial privilege operates similarly.)
So young adults instinctively bristle when they see attempts to counter
systemic bias, because a) they have never been shown that systemic bias,
and b) they have an inherent predilection toward equal treatment. Any
attempt to counter systemic bias (most famously affirmative action) is thus
seen as unequal treatment and thus undesirable, unfair, or even immoral.
It takes a concerted effort to demonstrate to (and thereby enlighten)
members of the privileged categories that a modicum of unequal treatment is
necessary in order to bring about a more equal society. Until that happens,
young adults will use their newfound powers of persuasion and activism to
rebel against any unequal treatment.
If we view this more as a positive instinctual preference for fairness
rather than as a negative instinctual defense of privilege, I suspect we
might make more allies than enemies.
Trust me -- I myself have only recently (in the last 4 years or so) come
around to recognizing the inherent privilege my gender and race grant me.
It is very hard to overcome the instinct to prefer equal treatment over
unequal.
Powers &8^]
-----Original Message-----
*From:* J Hayes [mailto:slowking4@gmail.com]
*Sent:* 05 May 2015 21:20
*To:* Addressing gender equity and exploring ways to increase the
participationof women within Wikimedia projects.
*Subject:* Re: [Gendergap] Announcing Inspire Campaign Grantees (Carol
Mooredc)
the counter-flyers are like "men's rights"
it's a rhetoric of role reversal
the culture of privilege does not like to be challenged
it must maintain a veneer, with critique muzzled
it's more small group validation, than attempt at dialogue
a FUD attempt to divide and conquer
changing dominate culture to be more empathetic is a long term project.
On Tue, May 5, 2015 at 5:16 PM, Carol Moore dc <carolmooredc(a)verizon.net>
wrote:
Thanks for excellent comments. I should have been more specific than
saying "trashed" and said the flyers were torn down, per article: "The
DAAP
edit-a-thon was not met without opposition on campus, as promotional fliers
for the event were repeatedly torn down and replaced with a satirical “Wiki
Dudes” poster featuring Martin Luther King Jr., Jesus, Albert Einstein and
Abraham Lincoln."
The good news is that on so many fronts and issues, not just Wikipedia,
women are fighting back and that's the important thing... So overall I'm an
optimist! :-)
On 5/4/2015 6:10 PM, Ellie K wrote:
1. Thank you, Carol Moore dc, for writing an excellent response to what
(I agree) was a very silly and irritating comment at the
http://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/05/01/meet-the-inspire-grantees/ post.
2. Regarding the edit-a-thons, you said:
Hmmm, looks like some guys even object to
edit-a-thons, trashing
their posters on campus...
http://www.newsrecord.org/news/students-combat-gender-imbalance-online/arti…
Actually, the male students didn't trash the wiki women posters, but made
and posted separate "wiki dudes" posters of their own. The NewsRecord post
said that doing so didn't constitute a Title IX violation, yet.
I find it kind of disturbing that male students would feel the need to
react that way, by making the wiki dudes posters. It is obvious that there
is less coverage of women in Wikipedia than of men, and that most notable
figures in American and European (in fact, global) arts, history and
science have been men, who have received plenty of attention and
biographical scholarship already!
The fact that the anonymous male students went to the trouble of creating
separate posters, rather than vandalizing the existing wiki women posters,
indicates a level of forethought that is beyond mere impulse trolling. If
I were to wear my politically correct hat, I would say that even members of
the patriarchy realize and acknowledge that there is more scholarship
devoted to notable men than notable women. The truly oppressive patriarchy
would believe that that is appropriate, and go about their business. Do the
wiki dudes guys truly believe that men are being overshadowed and
under-represented on Wikipedia and elsewhere, I wonder? If so, that
demonstrates a troubling lack of awareness of reality, especially on a
college campus.
I don't have any suggestions for remedying the situation, nor am I
condemning anyone's actions e.g. for "making men feel marginalized"; I
suspect that these men are deliberately choosing to marginalize themselves.
It is just a remarkably peculiar reaction to wiki women edit-a-thon's, and
I hope we don't see more of it.
~Ellie Kesselman a.k.a FeralOink
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