I have seen that a lot of dating articles on wikiHow assume that if you’re a female, your date is automatically male and vice versa. Also, the ones for girls are somewhat sexist, most say that females ‘have to’ or ‘need to’ wear makeup but have to be very careful not to overdo it, and not to wear anything that’s short or revealing, etc and they also go into detail about how to act.
Here’s an example:
http://www.wikihow.com/Act-on-a-Date-(for-Girls)
So, I was wondering if anyone else thinks this kind of language is a bit annoying? I’ve tried to replace it on a few articles but wanted to know if I should be replacing it and if anyone else wanted to help.
Um, I don’t mean to point out the obvious, but when you say that the articles go into detail about “how to act” and then you link to an article that’s titled “How to Act on a Date”, it kind of negates the entire point. That’s what the article is devoted
to - how to act on a date. :s That being said, I did make a minor edit to the makeup step - what do you think of this
?
To respond to what you initially said, I’m not a fan of heteronormativity, but I’ve definitely noticed the articles seem to get divided up by whether you’re “straight” or “gay”. As someone who’s bisexual, I don’t really mind what the gender of my assumed date is, but I can see how it would get annoying for all the dates to supposedly be boys or girls. Personally, I’m irritated by the fact that articles about behaving around a same-gender crush seem to automatically think that the reader is gay, but that’s for another topic.
I don’t think the articles should say that the girls have to wear makeup, or that they have to dress a certain way. I don’t there’s anything that anyone, regardless of gender, has to do on a date (besides not be a self-centered jerk), and wikiHow should reflect that. I’m more than happy to help change that type of language, but I’m a little uncertain about changing the genders of your assumed date - would it work to change it to neutral terms like “date” or “partner”?
Sorry, I just realized that the example was a how to act article, I meant that some articles that I came across went into detail about how to behave, e.g ‘You need to play hard to get’, ‘You need to act mature and ladylike’. And thanks for changing the makeup section of the article, I think that it’s better if people don’t feel like they have to wear makeup.
And yes, I think it’s better to change them to neutral terms. Some articles seem to be specifically geared towards girls going out with boys even though their title doesn’t specify this, so I think that if people don’t want to specify the genders in the title, then they shouldn’t set the genders in the article.
Alrighty. Is anyone else willing to help out with this or share their opinion?
Count me in! I totally agree with what you two are saying. People are people - you should act with respect on your date, whoever you are dating. There’s not a certain way that men, women, boys or girls should act, dress, behave or ‘be’ whilst on a date. I will chip in.
@MissLunaRose
That’s great
@HumanBeing
@SarahB
Thanks for joining
if anyone finds any articles like these then feel free to post them here if you want help changing them.
I think that all articles here are written by opinion rather then fact but everyone is entitled to their opinion so I think that they should be the same and if you dislike it edit it.
@Zachariah05
I’m not sure I really understand what you mean. What I find is that some articles guess the gender of reader, like if an article is about finding a boyfriend then the reader is automatically female, which isn’t always the case since a lot of people aren’t just either a boy or a girl. Also, I have found articles that describe girls as being certain annoying words if they dress or act a certain way.
There are also other examples like this, like Galactic Radiance pointed out some articles about having a crush of the same gender means that the reader must be gay, when they might be bisexual or something else. So you may see why I wanted to ask if it was okay to change some words in these articles. I’m not sure what you mean about articles being opinions and everyone entitled to their own opinion, it should be a common opinion, not just one person’s that others may find offensive. I hope you understand what I mean and feel free to reply if you disagree or something
@WithGlitter
I apologise for the inconvenience and I completely agree with what you said and I think it is fair you edit the article but I do think it is slightly inconvenient to make a whole discussion on it and I meant that there are articles on here that will offend and impress because people express their opinion on here and some people believe that same sex marriage I wrong (Peoples Opinion) And that’s y I mentioned the opinion thing. I have friends who are not str8 but I have friends who disagree with same sex love its just that everyone has a different view so really there is no point changing it because other people may bring up a discussion but on the opposite sides so be careful when you change your words because we are also here to stop people from getting offended.
@Zachariah05
I see your point about people having different opinions, but same-sex marriage is legalized and widely accepted in 22 countries. And I’m not sure how making the gender more open is ‘offensive’ anyway, it’s not like I’m telling people that they have to accept it, I’m just saying that in a lot of places people don’t have to go out with people of the opposite gender.
If for some reason they do get offended, then I won’t really be sorry, because they’re just creating barriers in society. But anyway, what I’m trying to say is that if someone believes that same-sex marriage is wrong, changing the gender of an article to neutral won’t offend them, surely. But, since we both have contrasting opinions, I’m not sure we’re ever going to agree so let’s not argue.
My point as long as you make it neutral, its fine but once again everyone is open to their opinion and that is why we have there forums. I also ask that you comment about this on my discussion. It is a remake of this but opening it up to any stereotype things or other problems. I just want you to put in your point because I think it is a good point and more people need to read it. @WithGlitter
