On Wed, 20 Oct 1999, Ingrid Schupbach wrote:
> BEWARE! THE MESSAGE BELOW IS AN ANGRY RANT:
>
> I am fed-up with all these screenshots that include pictures of scantily
> clad or otherwise sexually charged pictures of women. When I was trying
> to find a good new theme from e.themes.org I was really turned off by
> this. I find that this is just another example of how the Linux community
> often -- probably largely unknowingly and unwittingly -- creates a boy's
> lockeroom atmosphere. As a woman, it just doesn't make it seem like I'm
> really invited.
As a woman, I still really enjoy looking at pretty people. Male AND
female. Not to mention, when I go to themes.org to look for a theme, I am
looking at the THEME, not the pics that people have in their screenshots.
> I respect the Linux mantra that everyone should be able to design their
> computers and their piece of cyberspace in whatever way they choose. But
> messages should not be sent out carelessly and thoughtlessly. If there
> really is a commitment to making Linux inviting to everyone, then I
> believe there needs to be a change in the horny-male-geeks-only atmosphere
> that's awfully pervasive. I'm tired of being asked whether I'm a
> perky-breasted-Linux-chick, and I'm tired of endless references to penises
> and to porn in Linux-related irc channels.
It sounds like you are just a little too worked up over this.
Realistically, the Linux community has a lot more men than women.
I don't see that themes.org is inundated with images of scantily clad
women. I see a low ratio, in fact, and most of the time the images are of
a model or actress, rather than some piece of web scoured porn. In all
cases, I have found the images to be tasteful.
I think its a matter of realizing that you are there to look at the
THEMES, rather than to judge the quality and/or kind of images people use
in their screenshots. The two are totally unrelated, as far as I can tell.
Just becuase you don't like the images people have in their screenshots,
you feel uninvted? You feel there is a male-lockerroom atmosphere? Ok.
What if it were that there was a majoity of SF/Fantasy based images? If
you don't like those, would you still feel uninvited and would you think
that the atmosphere was overbalanced, in favor of SF/Fantasy geeks? How
about country music stars? How about images of animals? Is your response
not so strong to these categories, because they are not so "sexually
charged?" Would you feel better if there were an equal number of scantily
clad men in these screenshots?
Really. Most of the people in the Linux community are men, and if they
want to put sexy women in their screenshots, then GREAT. I will start
protesting the day they put in things like images of dismembered children,
and not a day before.
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