Women : was: Re: Logo

[Jan Schaumann]

E L Tonkin <py7elt at bath.ac.uk> wrote:
> 
> > >> > [...] we would suggest a nice girl (Europa) riding on a GNU [...]
> > 
> > > Shouldn't she rather be "... a splendid woman whose eyes were as soft as
> > > a feather and as deep as eternity itself, and whose body [...]
> > 
> > I don't dislike the general idea, but I think we must avoid images
> > that may be unfair to someone. Even though male people are (curently)
> > the majority in the software field, I wouldn't depict ourselves with
> > an image that's more aimed at male viewers.
> 
> This is an interesting point... given that most organizations don't blanch
> at doing exactly this ;)
> 
> I noticed recently that "Linux Format" magazine (UK) use a 'geek' system
> to define the difficulty level of configuring a given piece of software.
> ie. StarOffice gets 'clean-shaven young man, probably from Anderson
> Consulting', whereas nfsd gets 'geek with goatee beard, BatBelt(TM) and
> probably Jesus sandals'.
> 
> A beautiful example of stereotyping and a perfect description of many
> kernel hackers, but do you really need a minimum of 2mm beard stubble, XY
> chromosomes, and the ability to enjoy 'xv -roo NakedPammieAnderson.gif' to
> shell script (or use /etc/exports)?

While we're being paranoid and 150% politically correct - what about
homosexual women? They surely might enjoy the NakedPammieAnderson.gif,
and a naked Europa on the GNU.

Gimme a break!
Just b/c we said "a woman riding on a gnu" - how is that sexist? Europa
happens to be a woman, nothing we can do about it. And noboy ever said
that she would have to be naked or anything, so I really don't see
anything sexist about it.

Real paranoid people might evenargue the other way around: by
substituting a male geek riding the gnu for Europa, some peopley might
say that we try to diminish women and want to make a male image the logo
of FSF or Europe.

Quite frankly, I think people gotta relax a bit on the political
correctnes.

-Jan

P.S.: Pleae feel free to intersperse happy smileys all throughout the
above text, I don't wanna sound too uptight either ;-)

-- 
Jan Schaumann <http://www.netmeister.org>

   What's the point of wearing your favorite rocketship underpants if nobody
ever asks to see 'em?  -- Calvin