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Male Domination?

During my time on English Misplaced Pages, I’ve come to realize just how male dominated it is (I myself am male). Seriously, how many Wikipedians are female? If these legendary creatures do exist, they would be classified as “rare and endangered”. But perhaps they are more common than I think, as it is difficult to tell and we tend to assume the user is male. But I digress; Female Wikipedians are few and far between. Unfortunately - we need Female Wikipedians, to continue effectively as an encyclopedia, as they can offer insights that males cannot. Male/female insights and interest differ radically. Compare:

• F-35 to Madonna (entertainer)
• System of a Down to Destiny’s Child
• Soccer to Netball
• Prada to Half Life 2

The truth lies within the Article quality. How can we overcome this?

If I am wrong, and every second editor is female – correct me. I also apologize for stereotyping and generalizing. I am also unsure of how Misplaced Pages’s Homosexual community rates in this.

User:Dfrg.msc File:DFRG. MSC.jpg 06:58, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

I do feel rather stereotyped and generalized by the selection of articles you feel I should be editing. Do you want me to be barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen as well? --Serie 08:13, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

But wait, according to Plato and Jung, among others, we have a male side and a female side, each of us. This is well-known to those who uphold the ideas of yang and yin. Perhaps it is merely a matter of considering NPOV when writing. And, those who seek their "other side" might even become more sensitive to the views of "the other" in their relationships. A win-win situation. --Ancheta Wis 09:15, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes, the examples picked were stereotyped, but I believe the point holds. The very fact that a man trying to make the point picked these examples speaks volumes. Male contributors, even well-intentioned ones, often don't know what topics women are likely to want to read or write about. The gender imbalance results one of the more significant unintended biases of Misplaced Pages. - Jmabel | Talk 22:47, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

No offense, but I was just wondering what this discussion could possibly achieve. --Nscheffey 00:49, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Some issues are easy to address. Look for false assumptions that all people are men (e.g. by searching text for 'he', 'him', and 'his'). See an example edit. bobblewik 16:44, 19 August 2006 (UTC)

This isn't an "issue". When gender is unspecified, it is accepted in English grammar to use the masculine pronoun. It's arbitrary; it doesn't imply everyone is male. ~ Booya 14:26, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

"Accepted" is rather overstating the case. It is traditional, and is accepted by some people, while being opposed by others and now uncommon. See also grammatical gender. Warofdreams talk 16:43, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

Maybe wikipedian women just have better taste than the music and clothing you've picked. soccer is BY FAR more popular than netball. I think I know just as many women who listen to system of a down as men. your point is probably true in anycase, but by stereo typing what men and women are interested in, you're probably making the problem WORSE, not better. perhaps you should be looking more at truly gender specific topics, such as erectile disfunction Vs breast cancer. personally, I can't see any solution anyway... hey, wait! why don't we change the theme colours of wikipedia from blue to pink! --naught101 23:15, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

I suspect this has more to do with presumptions than anything else. Despite my username's derivation from the first female officer of the Russian army, and a statement at the top of my userpage to that effect (including a portrait), when other editors refer to me by a personal pronoun it's usually "he." I've created nine new warfare categories and quite a few military articles, but have yet to edit Madonna. Maybe I should change my username to G.I. Barbie. Durova 04:36, 23 August 2006 (UTC):

The gender of people from nationalities other than European/American may not be obvious to Europeans and Americans. Most people get MY gender wrong, even though I'm here under my given name. (PS: this seems to be catching, because now at least one South Asian has got it wrong as well. How mortifying.) The gender imbalance is probably going to change in the future. I suspect many women edit without logging in, as they may not necessarily want to have to deal with user talk and community stuff as well as simple edits. I used to do that before I created a user ID. PS I'd also like to say that all your examples are very occidental. I have played and liked Half Life (not 2, it hasn't come to these shores yet) but neither Prada nor netball have any associations for me. Nor does Madonna. --Rimi 13:14, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

I'm guessing that this topic has already been much discussed and researched on WP:BIAS. nadav 08:17, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

1. I am a female.
2. It is super-easy for people to deduce that from my username (but I don't mind).
3. I've never been a Madonna fan and would rather eat my own vomit than listen to En Vogue ripoff artistes Destiny's Child.
4. I like soccer.
5. I could give a rat's arse about Prada or most any other big-name designer. Exceptions are Ralph Lauren and any of the Kahn & Bell-style New Romantic designers, but the former is due to his egalitarian designs and the latter is due to my overall interest in that whole scene/genre (and the only "name" in the whole scene was Antony Price anyway).
6. I've never really thought about any apparent male "bias" here on Misplaced Pages.
7. I do enjoy hammering a point home so many times the poor point has got no actual point to it.
8. BTW, something I WAS interested enough in to try to create a new article for is the fantastic group the Scars, which has since been contributed to by at least one other person. (Yay!) It certainly ain't no Destiny's Child-type thing. And I like that.  ;)
9. I'll go now. I promise. (Krushsister 02:50, 2 September 2006 (UTC))

• Yes, the examples picked were stereotyped, but I believe the point holds. The very fact that a man trying to make the point picked these examples speaks volumes. Male contributors, even well-intentioned ones, often don't know what topics women are likely to want to read or write about. The gender imbalance results one of the more significant unintended biases of Misplaced Pages. - Jmabel | Talk 22:47, 9 August 2006 (UTC) . Yes! he (or she) gets it! This is what I am on about! Dfrg.msc 22:57, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

Don't you see that that mindset just perpetuates stereotypes? As a woman, I do not think I have distinctly different tastes in articles I like to read than any man. I like to read about sports, construction, books, mathematical concepts, people, etc. I like to pull from a wide variety of knowledge and learn about many different things. Any differences that do occur in male/female tastes of article reading etc. are only a result of socialization. Ex: maybe more women read about "beauty" because they grow up thinking this is a higest good. Although, lately it seems more pressure is put on males to be attractive as well, so perhaps they read about beauty, just the same. Who knows - there is no clear brightline. The point is that this is silly. It's ridiculous to think we should write articles thinking "ahh this is an article men will be interested in reading" or "ahh this is an article women will be interested in reading." By saying: "Male contributors, even well-intentioned ones, often don't know what topics women are likely to want to read or write about" --- you are just perpetuating stereotypes. Gender is a social construct. Sex (anatomical differences) do exist, but gender, does not. (Or at least, is very questionable and insubstantial). Information should not be gendered. Free knowledge.

• One of our most prodigious and esteemed contributers, User:SlimVirgin, is a woman. Batmanand | Talk 11:30, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

  Have you read our article on tokenism?

  OK, quite separately from the sort of list User:Dfrg.msc presented, feminism is tremendously under-covered—a topic that may not be a uniquely female concern, but it is hard to imagine it would be so neglected if Wikipedians were 50% women. Some glaring examples are that the articles on Mary Daly and Ti-Grace Atkinson are little more than stubs, as is women's studies. I'm not saying all women are interested in these topics. I am saying that most of the people interested in these topics are women, and that the relative absence of women is probably why these topics are being shortchanged. In general, articles on women are shortchanged. Until I got to it, the article on Marie of Edinburgh (Queen Marie of Romania) focused almost entirely on where she fit the British Royal Family; it didn't even mention that she represented Romania at Versailles after World War I; and it still doesn't say a third of what it should say about someone who was arguably the most politically powerful woman in Europe in her time (I can't think who else would have been a contender). - Jmabel | Talk 06:05, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

Wikipe-tan makes a cameo appearance in UK magazine Games TM

Wikipe-tan, the Misplaced Pages OS-tan has found its way into the latest edition of games™ magazine (issue 48). It's found on page 30 beside a regular column on the Japanese Gaming scene by correspondant Tim Rogers. The article is absolutely nothing about Misplaced Pages, but instead about the maid cafe culture in Japan. - Hahnchen 01:01, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

Their caption seems a bit inaccurate, considering Wikipe-tan has nothing to do with video games. Oh well, one more point for Wikipe-tan as mascot. --tjstrf 04:13, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

Did they ask permission? (Somehow I doubt they included a copy of the GFDL.) Or at least a nice reference to Misplaced Pages? Dragons flight 05:02, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

No, it was a copy-vio. :P They violated her only right, copyright. --Cat out 15:24, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

Jimbo to Britannica: You're doomed!

A long debate facilitated by the WSJ

EXCELLENT JIMBO. You're showing spine against these fools. For too long we took crap from their executives, editors, and a pensioner even, and you didn't defend us.

lots of issues | leave me a message 20:45, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

Well, it wasn't quite THAT strong of a statement, but the interview at least demonstrates the Britannica guy's lack of understanding of how Misplaced Pages actually works. For instance:

Mr. Hoiberg: Mr. Wales's explanations of Misplaced Pages's procedures were surprisingly unsatisfying on such issues as: Who actually decides when an article has been worked on enough and should be protected from editing for a period; How and when that status changes; and, What qualifications the people making these judgments have.

Articles are not semi-protected once they have reached a certain level of quality, they are semi-protected only if it is necessary to prevent their deterioration by vandals. I believe Hoiberg was confused by the mentions of the German edit authorization idea, but it still reflects poorly on him to have not accquainted himself with the policies in question. The discussion took place via e-mail, after all. It's not like he was on a clock and couldn't have spent 3 minutes reading WP:SEMI. --tjstrf 20:58, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

The tension between these two men is obvious. To look at Britannica's position, how many more people do you suppose would pay $70 a year to read their online version if Misplaced Pages didn't exist? And in light of Misplaced Pages's growth, how much longer can they sustain their business model? That discourse does give me an idea... :) Durova 07:32, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

Danny's contest ... WP:DC

Folks ought to know about Danny's contest! As you can read in more depth at WP:DC, Danny is running a new contest (his 3rd), this time with the goal of improving articles, specifically focusing on references... there are hundreds of thousands of articles on the english wikipedia that don't have any references at all, including some shockingly important ones. Danny is putting up prizes for the most improved one or ones, to be judged by a panel of 5 judges. If you know of an article that you're interested in, and that needs improvement (and there are over 200,000 that do!) why not enter today? There's plenty of time, as the contest will end on 7 October. Please spread the word. ++Lar: t/c 03:10, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

Tell the Wikitruth

Once you've read Wikiruth, it's hard to think of Misplaced Pages as anything other than an autistic care group for the obese and the underemployed. - Andrew Orlowski, The Register

Oh yeah, 'n Sanger is no Super-Sales Wales, nerver mind Citizendium is the lamest name ever. I mean, what is with the friggin' Latin thing anyway? edia-endium my Aunty Fanny :) Wyss 19:31, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

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