Playboy image from 1972 gets ban from IEEE computer journals

mox@lemmy.sdf.org to Technology@lemmy.world – 299 points –
Playboy image from 1972 gets ban from IEEE computer journals
arstechnica.com
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I mean, the model in question was quoted as recently as 2019 as saying she had no problem with it, so hardly 50 years.

As recently as 2019, huh... How does she feel about it since then?

Exactly the same, I'd assume by your phrasing here?

While that should certainly be a bright line, it's more that from the very beginning of computer graphics, the "perfect" image for testing algorithms and showing off and laboring over and analyzing is a Playboy centerfold. I don't imagine most of those computer scientists would have been nearly as accepting of a photo with "high contrast and varied detail" if it had been a naked dude hanging dong [EDIT: or cropped from such a pic]. It was used specifically because they liked it and thought that anyone who didn't feel the same needed to stay in their lane and STFU because this is "normal" and fine but any other type of sexual material wouldn't be.

I don't imagine most of those computer scientists would have been nearly as accepting of a photo with "high contrast and varied detail" if it had been a naked dude hanging dong headshot of a male model

FTFY. If you're going to make a comparison, don't be fucking dishonest about it.

Fine, a headshot of a male model cropped from a Playgirl centerfold and making bedroom eyes and visibly shirtless, because it was a shot from a spank mag, and then justified as an ongoing thing because it's such a "perfect" image.

It was obscure and tame enough to last for a long time, but it was always creepy and its continued use as a quasi-official test pattern said more about the tech community than people would like to admit.

Headshot of a male model selectively cropped so you don't see the hanging dong, you mean. I wonder if that context has any relevance. Hmmmmm. I wonder how many men might go "ick" if they knew the source?

As a dude, I certainly wouldn't care. As long as the content itself (the crop) isn't offensive, I don't really care where it was cropped from, provided they it satisfied fair use at least (or they had permission).

Yeah, I remember learning about it in a CS class and, specifically, the claim that it's an ideal standard candle kind of image. I always wondered if we couldn't have found a better reference shot of a smooth flower growing in front of a rough stone or something.

"The shadows and highlighting on the oiled ball hairs are immaculate on this shot..."

I don’t imagine most of those computer scientists would have been nearly as accepting of a photo with “high contrast and varied detail” if it had been a naked dude hanging dong.

No shit, but apparently all the fellas in this thread seem to think it would have totally been the same. Either that or they just continue to ignore that as an option.

Maybe the mousey girl in class might get uncomfortable knowing its from a porn mag when it's thrown up on the big screen for the class to see? Maybe it's about more than just Lena herself? Maybe women don't feel comfortable going in those spaces because they feel like they'll be sexualized or worse. Why wouldn't they expect that when the men involved think its totally appropriate to use the top-half of a nude photo of a woman?

Well if Mousey Mina feels squeamish seeing a bare shoulder then I think the problem is elsewhere.. literally feels like much ado for nothing.

To end this, I will subject myself to being the test image. We'll crop on my o-face while I'm doing your mom and your dad is a cuck in the corner.

What? Some people would call that art. And it will just be my face. We won't see your dad with anal beads and cock cage in the picture.

If we only see my face in the picture what is the problem? Only you will know that the only time your mom could orgasm was with me.

You are strong enough to handle using this new picture, right?

Okay, your comment is stupid just by itself, but the fact that you used it many times just to prove some point that's clear only to your little brain really speaks volume about you.

I love for you that what you just said is literally the definition of what I'm talking about. Attitudes like "well what's her problem" are why women don't want to be in STEM fields. You even immediately came up with a diminutive nickname for her, to make sure this woman would feel chided and demeaned. Stay classy.

Anyone that gets worked up at the sight of a human shoulder needs to reasses themselves, regardless of gender

If you think this is about an exposed shoulder, you missed the point.

The point is that the point is stupid. All there is to the image is a girl with a hat and an exposed shoulder. The image came from a porn magazine, so what? All the nudity is taken out. That image doesn't even impact. A child. It takes a very fragile snowflake to be hurt by a normal portrait that just so happens to be from a nude image.

The imaged is cropped, but cropping doesn't remove the context of the image, and it isn't worth the risk of making women feel less welcome in tech, which is a big problem already.

If I may, why is it so important to you that the image continues to be used over other images, against the wishes of Lena and IEEE?

It's not important to me at all. I've only seen the photo a couple times in some Wikipedia pages. I'm just saying that the reason to remove it is stupid. Idgaf if they remove it or not.

Okay, so we'll change that pic with one of a girl with an exposed shoulder, but that's cropped from a girl with a shirt on! That way the context isn't so horrible and you, and many other girls who would otherwise drop out of STEM fields, can rest easy.

To end this, I will subject myself to being the test image. We'll crop on my o-face while I'm doing your mom and your dad is a cuck in the corner.

What? Some people would call that art. And it will just be my face. We won't see your dad with anal beads and cock cage in the picture.

If we only see my face in the picture what is the problem? Only you will know that the only time your mom could orgasm was with me.

You are strong enough to handle using this new picture, right?

To end this, I will subject myself to being the test image. We'll crop on my o-face while I'm doing your mom and your dad is a cuck in the corner.

What? Some people would call that art. And it will just be my face. We won't see your dad with anal beads and cock cage in the picture.

If we only see my face in the picture what is the problem? Only you will know that the only time your mom could orgasm was with me.

You are strong enough to handle using this new picture, right?