7 ms·
"If a professor makes a sexist joke, a female student might well find it so disturbing that she is unable to listen to the rest of the lecture. Suggestive pictu
by thangalin 5y ago
"If a professor makes a sexist joke, a female student might well find it so disturbing that she is unable to listen to the rest of the lecture. Suggestive pictures used in lectures on image processing are similarly distracting to the women listeners and convey the message that the lecturer caters to the males only. For example, it is amazing that the Lena pin-up image is still used as an example in courses and published as a test image in journals today." ~D. P. O'Leary, 1999
http://www.cs.umd.edu/users/oleary/faculty/node8.html http://www.cs.umd.edu/users/oleary/faculty/node8.html
Alternatives:
http://sipi.usc.edu/database/database.php?volume=misc http://sipi.usc.edu/database/database.php?volume=misc
- 1970-01-01 5y agoThe sources for D.P. O'Leary's references are all dead.
- re 5y agoThe links are dead, but the citations are valid. Here are working links: J. Gutbezahl, How Negative Expectancies and Attitudes Undermine Females' Math Confidence and Performance: A Review of the Literature. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED380279 https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED380279 E. Spertus, Why are There so Few Female Computer Scientists? https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/7040 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/7040
- 1970-01-01 5y agoSo I looked into these links. On [3] there is no data that backs this quote of hers: "Suggestive pictures used in lectures on image processing are similarly distracting to the women listeners and convey the message that the lecturer caters to the males only." The 30 (!) year old Spertus paper even states that most of the data collected was anecdotal.
- young_unixer 5y agoHow is Lenna's picture disturbing or suggestive?
- comex 5y agoThe full photo it was cropped from has her posing mostly nude: http://www.lenna.org/full/len_full.html http://www.lenna.org/full/len_full.html While the test image itself doesn't show much, the fact that it originated from Playboy magazine is widely known – and presumably has contributed to the image's popularity. It's a sort of in-joke: you can't understand it just by seeing it, you need the context. But it's an in-joke that recalls sexist tropes.
- Const-me 5y ago> it's an in-joke that recalls sexist tropes Sex-related sure, but why do you think that's sexist? Because playboy discriminated against male models?
- tyingq 5y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenna#Criticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenna#Criticism
- Dylan16807 5y agoThat doesn't answer the question.
- Dylan16807 5y agoTo elaborate, the wikipedia article cites some organizations moving away from Lena, but there's only one source calling things disturbing and suggestive, and that source is the exact same quote that's being questioned. Linking to that is not a useful answer. It does nothing to explain why that particular quote is correct.
- tyingq 5y agoWhat do you mean by "correct"? That Dianne O'Leary said it? It's up on her pages, here: http://www.cs.umd.edu/users/oleary/faculty/node8.html http://www.cs.umd.edu/users/oleary/faculty/node8.html If you mean "correct" as in "true", it's an opinion. I don't know what I could post that would sway you on a matter of opinion.
- nicetryguy 5y agoIf you appease the complainers they will only find something new to complain about. They do not seek justice or a better world but only attention for themselves and complain simply for the joy of complaining.
- captainmuon 5y agoI personally think the Lenna image has transcended it's origin and is to me not more sexist than, say, an antique nude statue. But if people are bothered by this - if they are weirded out or feel even a bit uncomfortable - then it is a no-brainer to just take a different picture!
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- ohnonottits 5y agoThere will always be people who feel uncomfortable for whatever trivial reasons. Let's not be like Saudi Arabia here.
- wizzwizz4 5y agoNobody's saying “don't use pictures of women” – or even “don't use pictures of models”. They're saying “don't use a cropped Playboy pin-up”. That's not “like Saudi Arabia”.
- 1_player 5y ago> don't use a cropped Playboy pin-up Answer me this. Why not? Has the model herself lamented and regretted the fact she posed for that picture? No. * Quit being prudish and embrace the human body. There is no sin in appreciating beauty. And it's not like it's forced nudity, it's always the offended ones resurfacing the Playboy original. This article doesn't deserve any hate for using an innocent and historically-relevant picture. * 'In January 2019 [Lena Forsén] said that while she wished she had been better compensated, she was "really proud of that picture"'.
- bregma 5y agoMight I suggest using an image of used tampons and spatters of menstrual blood as a standard. Surely no one is disturbed by something so natural and none of the boy who like to play with their woodys under the desk while giggling over centrefold pictures will be discouraged from continuing with the class when forced to look at it.
- ohnonottits 5y agoWhy be so prudish? It's not like the lady in the Lenna test image has her tits out or is proudly displaying her fanny and arsehole, or anything like that.
- andai 5y agoThe original [nsfw] is a Playboy pin-up: https://womenlovetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/distressed-lena-image-1-scaled.jpg https://womenlovetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/distres...
- 1_player 5y agoBut the lena.jpg used in tech circles is a very innocent portrait. Who cares if it came from a consensual naked person picture from the 70s. The human body can surprisingly be very beautiful and there is nothing wrong with it.
- hutzlibu 5y agoI take offense in the proposed alternative pictures. There are lots of war related gear shown - military propaganda - potential disturbs pacifists. Also there is a pretty lady shown, too. (I actually did not get, why this is supposed to be sexist?) Seriously, I doubt you can find any picture at all, where no person find reasons to be offended.
- mypalmike 5y agoBowl of fruit. Easy peasy. It's really not that hard to avoid using a photo from Playboy.
- hutzlibu 5y agoI would not be so sure about it. I am pretty sure, there are parents whose children have a (imagined or real) fructose malabsorption and therefore have to avoid fruits as unhealthy, or will investigate, that the fruits in the picture are from too far away, propagading a climate-harmful livestyle etc. etc. And I bet most people did not know, that the picture in question is from Playboy, I did not. But still, so what? It shows a attractive women in a slightly seductive pose. Is that really sexist? Why?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- nix23 5y agoWe could use David Michelangelo (in it's full glory) and i bet not a single Man would be disturbed (maybe quite the opposite)...problem he's mostly white. It's a shame that a ~naked body is "disturbing" for US-Females. BTW: Why so many human killing machines as alternatives? I feel offended now.
- pityJuke 5y agoI find it disheartening that so many people object to changing a single picture. I think this account by Maddie Zug [0] summaries most peoples objections to the image. Women just want to participate in tech, but the male dominated field already makes it hard enough, especially when images with a very sexual origin (again, it isn't the pretty woman, but the origin of the pretty woman) are used. It is that difficult to use another picture from the above database? "I retired from modeling a long time ago. It’s time I retired from tech, too.” - Lena Söderberg [0]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-playboy-centerfold-does-not-belong-in-tj-classrooms/2015/04/24/76e87fa4-e47a-11e4-81ea-0649268f729e_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-playboy-centerfold... [1]: https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/How-a-Nude-Playboy-Photo-Became-a-Fixture-14878319.php https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/How-a-Nude-Playboy-Photo...
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]