On 6/4/07, The Mangoe <the.mangoe(a)gmail.com> wrote:
One of the curious things that happens with LGBT
people is that they
tend towards the theory that homosexuality is notable, whereas
articles about social impact tend to be pushed towards the POV that
homosexuality is normal and largely accepted-- implying that
homosexuality is not per se notable.
One of the most confusing paradoxes of NPOV is the dubious concept
that norms exist for all personal attributes. There are no categories
or lists of "straight" people or "white" people because either of
these is actually perceived as the *absence" of a defining
characteristic, or in short, "the norm" (even in specialized contexts
where being "straight" or "white" would seem unusual to the
"average
reader").
Maybe something doesn't seem quite right about this? I'm not sure what
could reasonably be done, other than a general de-emphasis of people's
sexuality, race, religion, etc.
Of course the average reader who sees a random name like "Pat McFoo"
could automatically assume it refers to a straight white male,
possibly of Irish heritage (and they might be right or wrong or have
mixed results), so this might actually be a bad idea.
I guess the best rule of thumb is to assume "average readers" don't exist.
—C.W.