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September 27, 2008
Written by a female person
Note - I've posted an update below
I recently read a story in which a government leader is interviewed by the press. The press is represented by Reporter 1, Reporter 2, and Female Reporter. I guess the implication is that people are generally men, unless noted otherwise. The story was published in 1960. I smirked at how dated it seemed.
Then today I came across Boston Globe photo gallery, with recent scenes from North Korea. It includes eight pictures of "soldiers," and four other pictures of "female soldiers." Seven pictures of "soldiers" are photos of men; the eighth is an aerial view with many soldiers of indeterminate sex. It seems as though women soldiers are fairly common in North Korea. So why do they get a gender label, when male soldiers don't? In September 2008, do women remain the "other" sex, while men remain the default? What's the deal, Boston Globe?
Update at 11:12 p.m.: I was pleasantly surprised to just hear from Alan Taylor, the guy behind the Boston Globe's Big Picture blog, who gave me permission to share his explanation for the photo captions. In an e-mail he told me: "First, you're spot-on right, labeling the gender is beside the point, unless it's particularly relevant or indeterminate (even then, it's rarely necessary), so mea culpa." These photos come from multiple sources, with captions written by editors, reporters and photographers and then edited by Taylor, he said, adding that because of the work involved he sometimes he misses things - like this gender labeling - that he might prefer to edit out.
I guess that makes sense. I know what it's like to be an overworked journalist trying to get everything right - and not always doing as well as I might like. I also really appreciate the quick explanation.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at September 27, 2008 10:24 PM