[Web4lib] Libraries, the Web, and persistent gender issues

[K.G. Schneider]

Despite that lengthy title, this is not going to be a long post. As one of
the people who first blogged about the NYT article, it intrigues me (though
it doesn't really surprise me) that responses to it separate less upon *age*
lines then upon *gender* lines (with some attention to *type library* and
*specialty* as well). 

I wrote about gender and Second Life earlier on Web4Lib, and though my
comments were refuted (not impolitely, but refuted all the same... and of
course, mostly by men), I received a number of private posts from women for
whom my comments rang true - and who shared their own concerns about a
virtual world where we are represented by physically improbable avatars,
including avatars like Barbie dolls that have been microwaved and pulled
like warm taffy. Even Scarlett O'Hara didn't have a 16" waist, not without a
lot of help, anyway.  

Yes, as I noted in my blog post, the NYT Styles section is not noted for its
deep scholarship. (I read it mostly for the Modern Love column and to count
the number of gay couples mentioned in the wedding section.) In a way, that
makes this article even more interesting to ponder, disingenuous as it is. 

I'm not really proposing this get discussed on Web4Lib, but if some group
(such as the Feminist Task Force or COSWL) wanted to do a program at ALA on
representations of gender and librarianship on the Web... "My Avatar,
Myself" ;-) ... well, I'm up for it.

Karen G. Schneider
kgs at freerangelibrarian.com