Here is an example of Caucasian bias: the en:WP article on [[hair 
straightening]]. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_straightening
Despite the fact that this is a topic of great practical interest to black 
women, many of whom
either have straightened their hair or have thought about doing it, the article 
makes no 
mention of afro hair, and the only two images are of Caucasian women. This 
article seems 
to fail a demographic of millions; and by failing these millions, we are also 
curtailing 
our chances of recruiting editors from this demographic, because it is likely 
to leave them
with the impression that Wikipedia is not written for them.

A.



--- On Mon, 19/9/11, Andreas Kolbe <[email protected]> wrote:

From: Andreas Kolbe <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [Gendergap] Black skins
To: "Increasing female participation in Wikimedia projects" 
<[email protected]>
Date: Monday, 19 September, 2011, 13:59

My impression is that we have an appalling dearth of photographs of black 
people generally, just like our coverage of black topics in general is wanting, 
including such basic areas as hair care and skin care. 
Articles on black intellectuals are often either poor stubs, or get deleted for 
erroneous assertions of lack of notability.
In my opinion, we need a major outreach to African studies scholars, and black 
media, because we are missing out on the knowledge people of colour could bring 
to the project.
Andreas

--- On Mon, 19/9/11, Sydney Poore <[email protected]> wrote:

From: Sydney Poore <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [Gendergap] Black
 skins
To: "Increasing female participation in Wikimedia projects" 
<[email protected]>
Date: Monday, 19 September, 2011, 13:28

Very interesting point.

Sydney

On Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 8:06 AM, Arnaud HERVE <[email protected]> wrote:

On 17/09/2011 22:40, Emily Monroe wrote:

> I remember accessing Wikipedia several times throughout my teenaged

> years; we cannot expect all of our readers to be an adult with a

> better understanding of anatomy.



Just a quick note here : I've been talking to a dermatologist and she

tells me one of the main issues is black women taking all sorts of meds

to lighten their skin.



It is often detrimental to health, and also it leads to considerable

money loss in impoverished families, and unnecessary sorrow.



I just thought Wikipedia should be aware of that. Here (fr)

dermatologist are recruiting black women in the medical sector to lead

campaigns against that.



I guess one of the ways would be to show dark black women pictures more

often, not just light brown.



Arnaud



_______________________________________________

Gendergap mailing list

[email protected]

https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap




-----Inline Attachment Follows-----

_______________________________________________
Gendergap mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap

-----Inline Attachment Follows-----

_______________________________________________
Gendergap mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
_______________________________________________
Gendergap mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap

Reply via email to