Can you figure out what's wrong with this picture of a half-naked 16 year-old girl with breast implants the size of her head?

[beschizza]

@technogeekagain

Beschizza flat-out demanded digression

‘‘She made me do it!’’

[beschizza]

@Kimmo

I’d have though one of the best-ever comments posted at BB would be less self-evident. But apparently you’d guess I wouldn’t agree with it, or I’d expect less of the dismissive scorn

Not everything being said in this thread is about you, Kimmo.

@Kimmo

your desperate feminist posing has some unconscious motivation…

Clickbait.

This belief, and the way you phrase it, is basically the sum of you in this thread. It’s what motivated your reaction to the headline, it’s what sent you to google to hunt down trashy porn star photos, and it’s what’s got you here, now, threatening to leave if your entitlements are not met.

[Kimmo]

@slickhead

I call bs. I can look at an women’s magazine at the depictions of males. They are analogous to the depiction of men in comics.

Your BS call falls flat; looking at the women in women’s magazines is analogous to looking at men in comics.

Or would be, if male mapped squarely onto female, but it doesn’t.

Anyway, you have to get up earlier than that to catch @Brainspore out.

[technogeekagain]

No, but you asked. You set yourself up for failure.

I wish you’d take a step back and correct the error rather than defending it. You’re better than this. Assuming that you’re serious about this not having been your intended result.

[Kimmo]

/golf clap

Nice deliberate (yeah, I’m going with that on reflection) obtuseness.

@beschizza

basically the sum of you

Wow, you actually said that. This is going well…

[quote]threatening to leave if your entitlements are not met.
[/quote]

That’s how you characterise my disappointment at the increasing bullshit factor? Nice one…

Hey look, Rob - the guy I contradicted above actually liked my comment…

I don’t think you can do that trick.

[technogeekagain]

@Kimmo

there isn’t one inaccuracy in your headline, but three.

The worse problem is that the headline is completely orthogonal to the supposedly intended topic.

[FoolishOwl]

@Kimmo

I think the bigger story in this thread is the number of folks seeking approval for their feminist pose… doubtless an indicator of progress, but still pretty annoying when much of it amounts to mere ad hominem.

A lot of it has to do with how many times I’ve seen the general points Jannelle Asselin raised, raised by women – sometimes patiently and in detail, sometimes briefly and angrily. Often those pointing this out are artists themselves, and their critiques refer directly to the flawed composition, unrealistic perspective, and bad modelling of these layouts. Others I hear complaining about it are fans of comics and other graphic arts. At least in my circles, it’s a pretty standard conversation topic these days.

And yet, I see the same sexist bullshit responses, over and over again.

I have to conclude that, among other things, there are a lot of men quite deliberately ignoring what women are saying.

[Kimmo]

@FoolishOwl

there are a lot of men quite deliberately ignoring what women are saying.

I see a bunch of guys jostling to be a knight on horseback, keen to rescue damsels from this distress, but whatever actual women have to say about it seems to have been drowned out by Rob’s orthogonal clickbait argument.

[FoolishOwl]

@Kimmo

I see a bunch of guys jostling to be a knight on horseback, keen to rescue damsels from this distress, but whatever actual women have to say about it seems to have been drowned out by Rob’s orthogonal clickbait argument.

There’s Jannelle Asselin’s article – the language in the title here comes right out of it – and there’s the comment on the reaction to her article.

[Skeptic]

@Kimmo

But most of what’s going on in this thread amounts to wannabe feminists hamfistedly painting pedants as misogynists, whether they are or not…
The obvious exaggerations ‘half-naked’ and ‘head-sized’, along with the
implant call, just sound like someone playing ‘my PC-ness is bigger than
yours’ to me,

I think that is a big part of what I object to in this thread. I think there are real topics of value to discuss in this thread, and I also think that the threatening, misogynistic driving trollies directed at Janelle Asselin and other women should be considered unacceptible; however, the polemical, indiscriminate counter driving trollies doesn’t aid the conversation.

[Brainspore]

@Kimmo

Do you think comics are any more sexist than mainstream culture in general, though?

I guess that’s debatable on some levels, but at least as far as superhero fashion goes I certainly think so. We have plenty of real-life precedent for women in crime-fighting and active combat roles but I can’t recall ever seeing an on-duty police officer or soldier in high heels, low-cut strapless top and push-up bra.

Part of the reason I’ve spent so much time thinking about this is that I’ve got twin kids (one boy and one girl) and I see how the material out there is geared a lot more for one than the other. Some months ago we were having some fun making the family into superheroes via Photoshop. It was easy to find pictures to use with my son’s face, but I had to go back to the 1960s to find a non-icky heroine’s body to use for my daughter.

[beschizza]

@Kimmo

whatever actual women have to say about it seems to have been drowned out by Rob’s orthogonal clickbait argument.

On the contrary, I expect that the numbers will go something like this, when the analytics have been posted.

1. People who read the post, then followed the linked text to Asselin’s article, her further notes, and the analysis at the Daily Beast: 60,000

2. People who read the headline, then googled pictures of porn stars with breasts the size of their heads: 1

[Skeptic]

Perfect. Clicks justify the means. Great.

Got a legit issue? Why not write an exaggerated headline then dig in your heels and blame others for it. Then dig in some more and imply the metrics will justify the title.

Next up, “You won’t believe how BoingBoing used this one weird trick to blow your mind.”

[Brainspore]

@beschizza

People who read the headline, then googled pictures of porn stars with breasts the size of their heads: 1

I’m sure there were also plenty who read the article, then googled pictures of porn stars because INTERNET.

[beschizza]

@Skeptic

You won’t believe how BoingBoing used this one weird trick to blow your mind.

Skeptics HATE this.

[Kimmo]

Yeah Rob, those are totally plausible numbers.

@Skeptic

I think that is a big part of what I object to in this thread. I think there are real topics of value to discuss in this thread, and I also think that the threatening, misogynistic driving trollies directed at Janelle Asselin and other women should be considered unacceptible; however, the polemical, indiscriminate counter driving trollies doesn’t aid the conversation.

So now I click though and read the article that Rob’s headline distracted me from, I see he’s pretty much paraphrasing.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room: Wonder Girl’s rack. Perhaps I’m alone in having an issue with an underaged teen girl being drawn with breasts the size of her head (seriously, line that stuff up, each breast is the same size as her face) popping out of her top. Anatomy-wise, there are other issues – her thigh is bigger around than her waist, for one – but let’s be real. The worst part of this image, by far, are her breasts. The problem is not that she’s a teen girl with large breasts, because those certainly exist. The main problem is that this is not the natural chest of a large-breasted woman. Those are implants. On a teenaged superheroine. Natural breasts don’t have that round shape (sorry, boys).

So it’s Asselin’s (unattributed) exaggeration there, and the way she talks about the shape sidesteps whether implants are canon; in context it’s not much to take issue with.

But (and given his form here today, it’s almost certainly a vain hope), Rob would do well in future to consider how such points translate into headlines. Given the efforts he’s gone to with the character assassination, I’m sure he’s capable of coming up with his own considered words for that.

Which brings me to another point - shouldn’t the Managing Editor conduct himself more like a mod than that?

[Seraphim]

@Brainspore

I can’t recall ever seeing an on-duty police officer or soldier in high heels, low-cut strapless top and push-up bra.

But its still OK if the medical profession and scientists do it right? Right?! RIGHT??!!

[PhasmaFelis]

@FoolishOwl

I worry that sexism is getting more widespread and more severe.

Honestly, I think what we’re seeing is the opposite. Nobody turned hoses on groups of African-Americans when they kept quiet and knew their place. It was when they started to demand their rights that the racists started to get afraid and lash back; but how did that end for them? They thought that violence would put the power back in their hands, but all it did was slip more quickly through their fingers. Change has come with bitter slowness, but the African-American condition now is a damn sight better than 50 years ago.

That’s what I see happening here. The sexists didn’t need to lash out when no one ever challenged them. The threats and nastiness we see now don’t mean that they’re pushing forwards and gaining ground; it means that they know they’re losing and they’re terrified.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

[beschizza]

@Kimmo

So now I click though and read the article that Rob’s headline distracted me from,

AND SCENE.

[Kimmo]

@beschizza

AND SCENE.

Moral of the story is left as an exercise for the reader.