[WikiEN-l] Systemic bias wrt gender

Wed Nov 22 11:18:37 UTC 2006

Puppy wrote:
> Sarah wrote:
>   
>> On 11/21/06, niht-hræfn <nihthraefn at gmail.com> wrote:
>>   
>>     
>>> Most of the
>>> women I know spend one or two hours in the morning with a
>>> straightening iron and a blow dryer. Wikipedia has http://
>>> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowdryer and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
>>> Hair_iron . These two articles are considerably out of date and do
>>> not begin to encompass the complexities of these appliances (and
>>> there is not even separate articles for straightening irons and
>>> curling irons!). Compare to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer and
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television , the two appliances I have
>>> known men to use most.
>>>     
>>>       
>> Keitel, your e-mail is itself a good example of bias. The women you
>> know who spend two hours every morning with a straightening iron and a
>> blowdryer need to find a good hairdresser. The cut is everything. :-)
>>
>> Seriously, it's kind of disturbing to see that women should be editing
>> [[Blowdryer]] while the men get to grips with [[Arab-Israeli
>> conflict]].
>>
>> Sarah
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>>   
>>     
> Speaking as a woman who does not even own a blowdryer or curling iron, I 
> concur with Sarah - the cut is everything. I also am closer to losing my 
> temper than at any other time ever on Wikipedia. Keitel, your entire 
> email is insulting in the extreme. No one is claiming women handle all 
> the "serious" articles and men edit only Beer and NASCAR articles. You 
> are taking one tiny stereotype and applying it across the board. I 
> personally use a computer, I am a programmer by trade, and have not 
> touched a curling iron in 30 years. I know men who won't touch a 
> computer. If "most of the women" you know actually have more interest in 
> their hair than in current events, history, the rise and fall of 
> nations, influential novels, paradigms which have reshaped society, etc, 
> all I can say to you is that you need to meet some new women.
>
> --pissed puppy, who doesn't care for stereotypes
>
>
>   
Now you see what happens when I don't have a preview button. Apologies 
to all for getting irritated...
-puppy, chastised by self