This Wikipedia Wednesday comes courtesy of my friend Jack, who introduced me to this concept back in January. I later searched for it and, surprise surprise, found it on Wikipedia.
The Bechdel Test
This test comes from a comic strip, written by Alison Bechdel, called Dykes to Watch Out For. According to the Wikipedia article, this strip, which began in 1983, is "one of the earliest ongoing representations of lesbians in popular culture."
The Bechdel Test comes from the comment, made by a character, that she only watches movies if it meets three requirements, which are:
1. It has at least two women in it,
2. Who talk to each other,
3. About something other than a man.
In modern interpretations, the women must have names, but others simply modify the third requirement to be that two or more women must advance the plot by their dialogue. These seem like pretty basic requirements, but if you start going down the list of the top-grossing movies of all time, you'll find that very few, if any, meet them.
The greatest find in this Wikipedia article, though, is the link to a recently-started blog which reviews movies based on these criteria. It's pretty funny and certainly made me think about some of the more inane movies which have achieved recent popularity.
Share & Enjoy!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Guys and Gals
This musing relates, in some ways, to what I blathered on about on Monday. Similarly, it's something I've thought of several times in the past. It probably first occurred to me during a discussion of gender neutral language. There seem to be people out there, like the people who won't tolerate split infinitives, who aren't creative enough to write without the use of gendered pronouns. It really isn't that hard, but that isn't really what this post is about.
What it is about is my general frustration at a specific short-coming of our language. Perhaps a more visual representation will be illustrative:
What it is about is my general frustration at a specific short-coming of our language. Perhaps a more visual representation will be illustrative:
Male.......................Female
Boy..........................Girl
Man.........................Woman
Martian...................Venusian
Guy..........................???
Now, I'm fine with referring to a mix-gendered group with a casual "Hey, guys." It may not be the greatest thing to happen to gender relations, but it isn't too bad in the grand scheme of things. What frustrates me is when I'm referring to a specific female whom the person I'm talking to doesn't know. For instance, "Yesterday, I saw this ??? I know in the Commons." The two ways to fill the blank ('girl' or 'woman') both seem inappropriate.
I think the general fall-back is 'girl', but in this day and age, it seems a little demeaning to call one of my female peers a 'girl' especially when I would never refer to a male friend as a 'boy'. However, 'woman' usually connotes an older woman, or at least one who is more mature relative to the speaker. Basically, they are analogues to 'boy' and 'man' and the problem is that there is no female analogue to 'guy'. The true analogue to 'guy' is 'gal' but somehow I just can't bring myself to call my female friends 'gals'.
Any and all suggestions or made up words which would obviate this problem are welcome. For now, I may have to stick to "female contemporary of approximately equal social standing."
Boy..........................Girl
Man.........................Woman
Martian...................Venusian
Guy..........................???
Now, I'm fine with referring to a mix-gendered group with a casual "Hey, guys." It may not be the greatest thing to happen to gender relations, but it isn't too bad in the grand scheme of things. What frustrates me is when I'm referring to a specific female whom the person I'm talking to doesn't know. For instance, "Yesterday, I saw this ??? I know in the Commons." The two ways to fill the blank ('girl' or 'woman') both seem inappropriate.
I think the general fall-back is 'girl', but in this day and age, it seems a little demeaning to call one of my female peers a 'girl' especially when I would never refer to a male friend as a 'boy'. However, 'woman' usually connotes an older woman, or at least one who is more mature relative to the speaker. Basically, they are analogues to 'boy' and 'man' and the problem is that there is no female analogue to 'guy'. The true analogue to 'guy' is 'gal' but somehow I just can't bring myself to call my female friends 'gals'.
Any and all suggestions or made up words which would obviate this problem are welcome. For now, I may have to stick to "female contemporary of approximately equal social standing."
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Wikipedia Wednesday: Turritopsis Nutricula
Wikipedia Wednesday is upon us once again. Hooray! This one took a bit of hunting down, because I remembered reading about this general topic but couldn't remember the actual subject of the article. Anyway, without any further ado...
Turritopsis Nutricula
Turritopsis Nutricula is a hydrozoan (a class of species related to jellyfish) which reverts to its polyp stage after reproducing (technically, propagating). This means that this is the only species in the animal kingdom which is biologically immortal. It can repeat its life cycle again and again; theoretically, forever.
The only other possible example of this is species in the genus Hydra, which appear to undergo senescence (aging) very slowly, if at all.
Share & Enjoy!
Turritopsis Nutricula
Turritopsis Nutricula is a hydrozoan (a class of species related to jellyfish) which reverts to its polyp stage after reproducing (technically, propagating). This means that this is the only species in the animal kingdom which is biologically immortal. It can repeat its life cycle again and again; theoretically, forever.
The only other possible example of this is species in the genus Hydra, which appear to undergo senescence (aging) very slowly, if at all.
Share & Enjoy!
Monday, March 9, 2009
Whatta (Wo)Man
In a frantic dash to get something published here before the next Wikipedia Wednesday, I'm posting this in the midst of, possibly, one of the busiest weeks of the semester. Which isn't to say that this post is rushed. In fact, I've been thinking about this topic for some time.
The topic is music and, more specifically, song lyrics and their gender-ambiguity or lack thereof. Just so you know how I came across this notion, let me first say that I sing along to almost every song I own. Mostly, in the car, but I'm not shy about doing it in public. In fact, I have trouble not singing along because I have an amazing/annoying memory for song lyrics. I, however, rarely encounter the feeling of misappropriation that comes with singing a love song which is in the context of a man singing about a woman.
To put it simply, I've noticed that most songs use pronouns and language that identify the singer as male or they avoid these words altogether. I noticed this while listening to the Save Ferris album It Means Everything. This band has a female lead singer, but not once in the entire album do they use language which identifies her as such. Many earlier examples exist as well, including Aretha Franklin. 'Chain of Fools', 'Respect', and 'Since You've Been Gone' are all ambiguous. Even 'I Never Loved a Man' is somewhat ambiguous except for the title which is also the chorus. Then it gets even more complicated when you start talking about the intended recipient of these lyrics which, for those singing along, would apply to people who were attracted to men, no matter what their gender.
There isn't really a thesis to all of this. I think that we just relate to these gendered songs in different ways, though maybe we don't know it. I guess I'm interested, if my small group of female readers would care to comment, what women do when they sing along to the multitude of popular songs which identify the singer as male. There are so many, and some of them get stuck in your head so easily.
The topic is music and, more specifically, song lyrics and their gender-ambiguity or lack thereof. Just so you know how I came across this notion, let me first say that I sing along to almost every song I own. Mostly, in the car, but I'm not shy about doing it in public. In fact, I have trouble not singing along because I have an amazing/annoying memory for song lyrics. I, however, rarely encounter the feeling of misappropriation that comes with singing a love song which is in the context of a man singing about a woman.
To put it simply, I've noticed that most songs use pronouns and language that identify the singer as male or they avoid these words altogether. I noticed this while listening to the Save Ferris album It Means Everything. This band has a female lead singer, but not once in the entire album do they use language which identifies her as such. Many earlier examples exist as well, including Aretha Franklin. 'Chain of Fools', 'Respect', and 'Since You've Been Gone' are all ambiguous. Even 'I Never Loved a Man' is somewhat ambiguous except for the title which is also the chorus. Then it gets even more complicated when you start talking about the intended recipient of these lyrics which, for those singing along, would apply to people who were attracted to men, no matter what their gender.
There isn't really a thesis to all of this. I think that we just relate to these gendered songs in different ways, though maybe we don't know it. I guess I'm interested, if my small group of female readers would care to comment, what women do when they sing along to the multitude of popular songs which identify the singer as male. There are so many, and some of them get stuck in your head so easily.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Wikipedia Wednesday: Simple English Wikipedia
Well, it's Wednesday again, and I've been so busy writing papers (or not writing papers, as the case may be) that I haven't written a post since last Wikipedia Wednesday. I promise, this trend won't last. Anyway, onward and upward. Today's entry was inspired by a suggestion from my good friend Ben Lighter. He's got a podcast or some deal that I'll probably link from here in the future.
Simple English Wikipedia
This is a really cool idea and an example of how people are using the internet and wiki-tools for education. The Simple English Wikipedia is a version of Wikipedia wherein the articles are only written using the 2000 most common words in the English language and more basic sentence structure. Some articles, of course, require more than 2000 different words, and in these cases, the more complex words are explained in their own articles.
People have been using this useful off-shoot of Wikipedia as a tool for teaching people who have different needs such as children, adults with learning disabilities and people who are learning English as a second language.
Share & Enjoy!
Simple English Wikipedia
This is a really cool idea and an example of how people are using the internet and wiki-tools for education. The Simple English Wikipedia is a version of Wikipedia wherein the articles are only written using the 2000 most common words in the English language and more basic sentence structure. Some articles, of course, require more than 2000 different words, and in these cases, the more complex words are explained in their own articles.
People have been using this useful off-shoot of Wikipedia as a tool for teaching people who have different needs such as children, adults with learning disabilities and people who are learning English as a second language.
Share & Enjoy!
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