I wanted to discuss the relationship zodiac articles today.
I understand the simple zodiac relationship articles, such as Attract a Taurus Man
, Date a Scorpio
, or even Make an Aquarius Man Miss You Like Crazy
.
But the ‘articles’ such as What Age Will I Meet My Soulmate According to Astrology
, or How to Make a Scorpio Female Fall in Love with You: 10 Steps
, and 11 Ways to Attract a Taurus Man As an Aries Woman - wikiHow
, along with many more, assume a lot of things. You can’t know someone’s entire personality solely based on their zodiac, and I find that it’s a quite silly thing to do so.
Originally, I wasn’t going to bring this up, since I was thinking: “there are only so many zodiac articles you can publish; the ‘wave’ of these will pass.” But that isn’t necessarily the case, and I feel like the ‘list’ format articles are being ‘massed produced’, and they are beginning to take over the site. wH doesn’t feel so much like ‘how to’ anymore, it feels like a website with one half being Relationship articles, and the other half being ‘everything’ else. Examples:
1. 12 Ways to Make a Capricorn Man Obsessed with You
2. Is a Virgo Ignoring You or Pulling Away? 11 Things to Do When a Virgo Woman Stops Talking to You
3. The Early Stages of Dating a Scorpio Man: 13+ Things to Expect
I think they are being ‘produced’ very quickly.
I know that wikiHow is trying to expand dating articles, but (dare I say) it seems wikiHow is becoming more of a relationship site than anything:( Upcoming Project - Improving our Relationship Content
)
I also noticed that the articles are generally "How to: Get a Taurus Man
as a Libra Woman
. I’m not saying the articles are homophobic or lacking diversity; but I’m saying that I haven’t seen any zodiac relationship articles like “How to: Get a Taurus Woman as a Libra Woman/Nonbinary Person”. Not only that, but I see a lot of “How to Attract a (zodiac sign) Female
”. Not woman
, but female
. Same for men
and male
. I know that a lot of people don’t understand the difference between sex and gender, but it can be frustrating to trans folks, genderqueer folks, etc. who are AFAB (assigned female at birth) but don’t identify as their sex. Also, I’ve seen how the articles with the reader being the ‘woman’ and the ‘opposite’ partner being a man, pronouns are assumed (With the articles assuming that women are feminine and use she/her/hers, while men are generally masculine and use he/him/his) but gender, sex, and pronouns are a completely different topic for another time.
Besides, let’s get real here–if I’m looking for dating advice, am I gonna search “How to Attract a Woman”, or “Ways to Attract a Taurus Woman as a Libra Man”? I suppose it depends on the person.
But of course, every negative can have a positive. There are some benefits to these articles: they can be pretty accurate (I’ve read a few Cancer articles, and as a Cancer, I can tell you that some of the information in them is frighteningly accurate) and can help people start relationships, or help them get along with their partner. I don’t like to complain without a solution, so is it possible that all those ‘extra’ relationships articles could be moved to another site, still relating to wikiHow? (An example of this would be wikiFun: wikiHow Fun - Clever How To Instructions
, a WH site just for fun articles)
I know this is a long read, and a lot to digest. This might just be me, but I would love to know what other editors think about these articles.
