[Gendergap] Hardcore images essay

[Birgitte SB]

----- Original Message ----
> From: Sue Gardner <sgardner at wikimedia.org>
> To: Increasing female participation in Wikimedia projects 
><gendergap at 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 at 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



 
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