Women and Wikipedia:
Perspectives on the
gender gap, harassment,
and the Gamergate
controversy
By Su-Laine Yeo Brodsky
For a Capilano University panel discussion on online
gendered harassment, March 2015
Part 1: Female Participation and the Wikipedia
Gender Gap
The Encyclopedia Anyone Can Edit
• Writers, a.k.a. editors,
are volunteers
Image: xkcd.com, distributed under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license
The gender
gap: 87-90%
male
What
people
do
articles
cover?
English Wikipediafrom “Sex ratios in Wikipedia, Wikidata, and VIAF”. Max Klein, 2013 hangingtogether.org
Wikipedia’s article on the human breast has 4634
words.* Here are the number of words on various
aspects of the topic:
• Appearance, size, shape: 3,218
• Plastic surgery: 625
• Puberty: 176
• Female sexual pleasure: 175
• Cancer: 60
• Breastfeeding (other than effects of surgery on
breastfeeding): 53
*As of March 6, 2015, excluding citations
Whose ideas do
articles cover?
College of Ontario
Universities,
Registrants by
program and
gender, 2012
We don’t know why, but perhaps…
• Editing Wikipedia requires a lot of self-confidence
• Culture is unpleasant / conflict-oriented / sexist
• Some editors become seriously harassed in real
life
• Fewer opportunities for developing social
relationships
• User interface is unappealing
Part II: Harassment of Wikipedia
Editors
Why Harass Wikipedia Editors?
Often related to disputes over
article content:
(speculative, based on
anecdotes)
• Harasser feels an article is
damaging to their reputation or
privacy
• Harasser believes editor treated
them unfairly in a dispute on
Wikipedia
Severe Harassment of Wikipedia Editors
• Outing/doxxing
• Attack pages / slander
• Contacting employers
• Litigation
Encyclopedia Dramatica, an attack site
Responding to Harassment
Wikipedia does:
• Stop / prevent the use of
Wikipedia as a platform for
blatant harassment
Wikipedia and the Wikimedia
Foundation do not:
• Respond to or help with
harassment that takes place
outside of Wikipedia
• Encourage open, public
discussion of harassment
Part III: Gamergate
Media reports,
Jan/Feb 2015
• “The Gamergaters get to rewrite their own
page… Feminists are to be purged en bloc
from the encyclopedia” - The Guardian
• “Wikipedia tacitly endorses GamerGate by
blocking its opponents from editing gender-
related articles” - Pando
• “If… a racist campaign in support of
eugenics flooded the site, there's not much
Wikipedia could do about it.” - Gawker
Dispute Resolution at Wikipedia
Discussion on article
“Talk” page
Request for Comment process
Mediation
Block accounts for
blatant infractions
Arbitration
Committee Case
Ban users for
less-blatant infractions
Nov 2014 - Jan 2015
Anti-Gamergate Editors Sanctioned for Violating
“Conduct” Policies
• Don’t edit-war
• Don’t lose your temper
• Focus discussion on how to
improve the article, using reliable
sources
• Don’t use Wikipedia as a
soapbox or battleground
Wikipedia is
used to handling
a co-ordinated
flood of
problematic
edits
“Feminists are to be purged en
bloc from the encyclopedia” - ?
Sarah Stierch
After reviewing the Arbcom case, I don't even
know who got the idea that any of the
contributing editors are feminist, per se. (Even
though I like to think everyone is a feminist!)
Laura Hale
The names of the people are not people I would
consider known feminist and outside TaraInDC,
none identify as female.
Carol Moore
The editor who called them feminists obviously
was off base
- Wikipedia Women, Facebook
Where does the “feminist purge” meme come
from?
Mark Bernstein
Who speaks for the
women of Wikipedia?
Not the women of
Wikipedia.- Wikipedia editor Adrianne Wadewitz,
2013
– Wikipedia editor SinglePurposePartier
“… Those who have tried to keep [the Gamergate] campaign
from infecting Wikipedia have become subject to harassment
themselves… There were organized campaigns against
regular editors of this project… vilified across the darkest
corners of the web.”
Silencing is
happening…
just not how
you think
• Gamergate has no special ability
to influence article content on
Wikipedia
• Gamergate has not triggered a
purge of women or feminists from
Wikipedia
• Gamergate has harassed its
opponents who are Wikipedia
volunteers
Thank you!
Su-Laine Yeo Brodsky
Twitter: @sulaineyeo
www.interelement.ca
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