What is it about Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics that attracts the socially inept? I’m not just talking about the lack of hygiene issues some dorks have, the tendency of geeks not to bathe, or even the very disturbing lack of respect for personal space some open source weenies display. Specifically I’m talking about the inability of many dweebs, especially in technology, to understand when and where certain types of jokes or behaviours are appropriate. It has lately come to my attention that the cadre of foul smelling basement trolls, behind the (incredibly useful) open source plotting tool gnuplot, have decided it’s perfectly professional to throw up a pornographic picture on their tool’s manual. Sure it’s “just a line drawing”, but it’s the kind of line drawing that if you used as your background at work would get you sued for sexual harassment, and rightly so.
Evidently the nerds behind gnuplot don’t get out of their filth ridden cave very often, or if they do, rarely see beyond their bristly neck beards, because otherwise you’d think they would realize that this sort of objectification of women, *especially* in a field where women are under represented, and often intimidated by the chauvinistic exclusionism which pervades the field, is not cool in a professional context. I’ve talked to many people who are angry about this particular infantile prank, and the worst part is, it seems the folks at gnuplot have been asked several times to take down the image, or move it off of the professional portion of the site. A quick Google search turns up a lot of irate messages from people who have been trying to get the gnuplot folks to have shred of adult conscience with no avail.
I’d like to ask our readers to write to the gnuplot dev team (gnuplot-beta@lists.sourceforge.net), and ask them to move this image off of their tool’s site. It’s degrading to women, disrespectful to professionals in the field, and utterly unprofessional. I’ve sent my own message, and if I don’t see some change, will likely be reporting their behaviour to the IEEE and ACM, both of which have codes of conduct which prohibit this sort of behaviour in professional contexts.
Hopefully this is a very poor representation of the men in the field. I’d like to believe professionals in technology have grown up a bit, but displays like this one make me doubt the maturity of anyone who works with computers. Left unanswered, stunts like this reinforce the unfortunate opinion that behavior like this acceptable in a professional context. Its no secret that the field of CS is currently lacking in raw talent, there simply aren’t enough Computer Scientists at the present as evidenced by the current trend of outsourcing amongst top companies. The field needs more creativity, diversity, and skilled professionals. By behaving in a way that excludes women, the socially ept, and men with an adult sense of humor these bozos are pretty much ensuring CS won’t be recruiting the kinds of people it needs.
The 12 Angry Men Blog 
April 3, 2009 at 9:22 am
That plot is not even remotely pornographic. Are you offended by the paintings in museums as well? Did you approve of Ashcroft’s draping of the statues? “if I don’t see some change, will likely be reporting their behaviour to the IEEE and ACM”– and you call other people dweebs?
April 4, 2009 at 12:31 pm
You will comprehend much about Angry Midwesterner when you understand that he has been playing around with a ouija board contacting, among others, the shades of Andrea Dworkin and, most importantly, Gladys Schatzenheimer, a very bitter seventy five year old church lady who died in 1956…. When he grows up, he plans to be this Maryland state senator:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2009/04/sex_senators_and_stupidity.html
IMO a good answer to the “sexist” charge would have been to post a piece of beefcake line art!
April 6, 2009 at 6:04 pm
If that is a pornographic drawing, the Sistine Chapel just became XXX rated. In poor taste for a professional tool? Perhaps; but certainly far from pornographic.
April 8, 2009 at 12:04 am
And MPA needs to work on his reading comprehension, as usual.
April 9, 2009 at 7:35 am
We can debate what the definition of “porn” is until we are blue in the face. All depictions of nude women are not art, or porn. It doesn’t matter. The point is that the image is offensive to women. Would an image representing negative stereotypes of an African American man be allowed? How about an unflattering image of a stereotypical Jewish man? While the image of a large breasted pin-up girl in a sexually suggestive pose may not be offensive to the people who have commented above, it’s unprofessional to allow it to remain. Women are under represented in CS, and it’s hard for them to believe that they are taken seriously and seen as equals when something like this is allowed to happen. It’s hard to shrug it off, laugh about it, and respond by posting a picture of a beefy guy in a man-thong when you spend your days struggling to be taken seriously and respected in a male-dominated field.
April 9, 2009 at 1:22 pm
“The point is that the image is offensive to women.”
Really? All women? How did you determine this?
If you mean that the image is offensive to you, I think I need to explain that the world is under no obligation to avoid offending you.
“Would an image representing negative stereotypes of an African American man be allowed? How about an unflattering image of a stereotypical Jewish man?”
“Allowed”? I hope so. Do you really feel confident that the dictatorship you seem to pine for will faithfully reflect your tastes in imagery?
I know plenty of women in “male-dominated fields” who excel without having to “struggle to be taken seriously,” because they are competent. It sounds as if your experience differs from theirs.
April 9, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Personally, I am not offended by that image. I think it’s unprofessional to leave it in the manual, especially if a large number of women are offended by it. Just like inserting a racist image in the manual is also offensive to a large group of people. Sure, these images are “allowed,” but they’re unprofessional. You don’t see pictures like this in the manual for other software, do you? Imagine the uproar if someone went to read their MS Office manual and found a picture like this.
Angry Midwesterner is right that at a lot of workplaces, mine included, a person could get in trouble for using this image as a desktop background.
“I know plenty of women in “male-dominated fields” who excel without having to “struggle to be taken seriously,” because they are competent. It sounds as if your experience differs from theirs.”
And I know “plenty of” highly educated women who must face adversity in male dominated fields, despite being quite competent at their jobs. A software writer who copes with men staring at her breasts and following her around with cameras. A surgeon who ended up switching specialties after being treated terribly, and later bluntly informed that she was not welcome in the OR because she was a woman. An attorney at a law firm who, when she became visibly pregnant, was no longer allowed to see clients in person, and wasn’t given any more hours to bill, despite earing the highest bonus for hours billed the prior year.
Sexism exists, and in a field like CS where there are so few women, and that number is decreasing instead of increasing, it’s a really big problem.
It’s nice to know that you know people who aren’t sexist, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a problem.
April 10, 2009 at 2:38 pm
AML, I think you’ve been reading Schopenhauer a little too much lately. I love the part where you try to tell the “foul smelling basement trolls” to treat others with dignity and respect. Truly a master stroke!
Anyway, just to clear up a few facts. This image is not included in the the manual (HTML | PDF) nor the set of demos that are built and installed with gnuplot (HTML). At least if it is, I haven’t been able to find it, and I have looked longer than I really wanted to…
The only place this image is located is below the fold on the website’s demo page in a section titled “Miscellaneous Screenshots.” It’s hardly an item that most visitors will even notice.
Also, note that the title is “Une belle fille,” which is French for “A beautiful girl.” It is not titled “Some Hot Naked Chick” or “Big Tits McGee.” Rather, they chose an appropriate and respectful title, in my opinion. I’d be surprised if someone was not able to see some amount of beauty in that image.
As Lee points out very well, perhaps the sexual lewdness AML and other comment writers are seeing in this image are actually coming from their own imaginations and are not actually inherent in the image. I am a relatively young male and when I look at this image, I am impressed by the beauty of the image, but, honestly, I am much more impressed by the craft of the creator. Furthermore, I am genuinely interested in reading the code that the creator wrote to create an image that is not of the normal sort you see coming from gnuplot. And that, inspiring the viewer to expand their paradigm of what gnuplot can be used for, is what I would wager was the real reason the website owners have posted that image. I can only speak for myself, but I do not see this as pornography, I am not aroused by this image, and I appreciate the minor humor of using an image of a human female to demonstrate that “gnuplot can plot any curve” as it is an indisputable fact that, on average, women possess more curves in their form than men. And yes, if the image was of an equally well-drawn man in the nude, I believe I would have the same reactions I have stated thus far.
As for the struggles of women in technical fields, it is not images like these that are holding women back. I would argue that it is actually the childish behavior of women who get all flustered by stuff like this. People’s prejudices cannot be changed by sensitivity training or whining about trivial offenses. All people must earn respect through achievement in order to change the minds of people. I happen to be in such a field and I have a deep respect for many of my female colleagues because they have earned that respect. My male colleagues are treated exactly the same.
If you really want to effect some change, I recommend you craft a similar image of a drooling, dumb-looking man in the nude scratching his butt and make sure it is plainly clear that it was a woman who create the image. You will earn respect for both being able to poke fun at our collective stereotypes in a mature way and for providing an example of a woman who can draw something really complicated using gnuplot. It’s actions like these that earn women respect in the eyes of men, not starting a letter drive to the gnuplot maintainers.
April 10, 2009 at 5:17 pm
I love the part where you try to tell the “foul smelling basement trolls” to treat others with dignity and respect.
I’m guessing you crawled up from a similar basement, given your poor reading comprehension, and poor grasp of social etiquette. I’m asking for folks to act professionally in a professional setting. *Looks at the title of the page*, hmmm, this appears to be a blog where the authors rant about issues that make them angry, and not in fact a professional setting. Imagine that!
You see Irritated Commie Heathen, context matters, which is exactly the problem us adults were discussing on this matter. The context of this blog is one where we, the authors, write scathing articles on things which annoy us. The gnuplot website is a professional website about a scientific tool built for the workplace.
Again, context is especially important. Gnuplot isn’t some WoW plugin that you can use to go raiding with the n00bs. It’s a tool used to plot statistical data. A certain level of decorum and adherence to sexual harassment guidelines is required.
Anyway, just to clear up a few facts. This image is not included in the the manual… yadda yadda yadda
It appears your ability to comprehend links, and their purpose in documents is nearly as underwhelming as your social intellect. You’re a fun one!
Also, note that the title is “Une belle fille,” which is French for “A beautiful girl.” It is not titled “Some Hot Naked Chick” or “Big Tits McGee.” Rather, they chose an appropriate and respectful title, in my opinion. I’d be surprised if someone was not able to see some amount of beauty in that image.
Ah yes, because giving it a fancy french name makes it ALL better! Let’s try an experiment shall we? Presuming you’re an adult who is employed (I know, I know, you probably are a 10 year old kid, or a basement bound manchild with no hopes of gainful employment), show this image to a female co-worker and let’s place bets on the count down to the sexual harassment suit, shall we? Personally I think it’ll be fun to watch the national television coverage of you whimpering apologies to the judge.
As Lee points out very well, perhaps the sexual lewdness
Sexul lewdness? Who said that was the issue? The issue is, again, context and appropriateness of the material in a professional setting.
I am a relatively young male
Translation: “I’m in middle school.”
and when I look at this image, I am impressed by the beauty of the image
Translation: “It’s the first time I’ve even seen breasts!”
but, honestly, I am much more impressed by the craft of the creator.
Translation: “I have no friends.”
As for the struggles of women in technical fields, it is not images like these that are holding women back.
You couldn’t be more right! Images aren’t holding back women, the inability of dweebs to understand which behaviors and topics are appropriate for professional environments, thus leading to a hostile and threatening workplace are! Maybe you’re learning!
I would argue that it is actually the childish behavior of women who get all flustered by stuff like this.
And there goes your moment of intelligence. Well let’s enjoy it while it lasted, the darkness of ignorance is the only thing I can see in your future. 😦
If you really want to effect some change, I recommend you craft a similar image of a drooling, dumb-looking man in the nude scratching his butt and make sure it is plainly clear that it was a woman who create the image. You will earn respect for both being able to poke fun at our collective stereotypes in a mature way and for providing an example of a woman who can draw something really complicated using gnuplot.
Oh wow. You are a RARE catch. Yeah, sorry, this isn’t the boy’s locker room in your middle school. That sort of behavior is actually NOT considered mature in professional adult settings. It’s pretty much the definition of petty childish behavior.
April 10, 2009 at 5:41 pm
LOL. I guess that’s what I get for feeding the trolls…
How does the old adage go? Something like, “You can always tell the people who are losing their argument because they will be the first ones to get angry and start slinging insults…”
April 10, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Yes, I agree with AM. Fancy French names are dumb…
April 10, 2009 at 6:09 pm
How does the old adage go? Something like, “You can always tell the people who are losing their argument because they will be the first ones to get angry and start slinging insults…”
Thanks for conceeding the point.
April 17, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Hah. Comments here suggest someone smells worse than the rest of us. There is nothing professional about 90% of free software, especially if it has “GNU” in the name.
The bit about not enough workers is bull too. Plenty of workers, companies just do not want to pay real wages for them.
February 16, 2010 at 7:02 am
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Truly yours