I was kinda shocked/appauled at how not one of the single default avatars was of a woman!
Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me?
And is it really true these days that women are still not viewed as real thinkers?

I was kinda shocked/appauled at how not one of the single default avatars was of a woman!
Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me?
And is it really true these days that women are still not viewed as real thinkers?

I was kinda shocked/appauled at how not one of the single default avatars was of a woman!
Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me?
And is it really true these days that women are still not viewed as real thinkers?

In regards to the avatars, it could be that more men are on here than women. I'm almost positive about that, actually.
...

But that does not explain the total absence of female avatars among the pre-defined avatars. Indeed, given the pre-defined avatars, one might get the impression that women are not welcome here, as they appear to be regarded as so insignificant that not even one female avatar is provided. In other words, it may be a cause, rather than an effect.


I think this should be changed, which is why I have posted in the Site Feedback and Suggestions section.

And I agree with your decision.

I can tell you now, though, nothing will be changed any time soon. Robert is busy with other projects at the moment, and we won't see changes to the site until probably another month from now. And this, I think, includes even little things like adding avatars (unless you have the capacity to do so, jgweed).

Yes, I understand that, and do not have any unreasonable expectations that such changes will be made immediately. But I do think that it should be done before any other "cosmetic" change is made, and before minor alterations are done, as I do think it sends a very bad message to exclude women from the pre-defined avatars.

I was kinda shocked/appauled at how not one of the single default avatars was of a woman!
Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me?
And is it really true these days that women are still not viewed as real thinkers?

Well, I'm not even sure the new site will support avatars. I'm pretty sure titles will be hidden (like "Moderator"). We shall see.

Who told you women aren't real thinkers? Perhaps there are more known men thinkers than women thinkers (as evidenced here), but that does not mean that women don't have the same capacity to think. .

There are not a whole lot of women in philosophy because they are too busy trying to keep men from fighting and killing each other.

(This was meant as a joke, if you are offended, remember, it's just a joke.)

I think this should be changed, which is why I have posted in the Site Feedback and Suggestions section.

Well thats my point! I have never been told women aren't real thinkers, and if i was the person who told me would probably get a slap in the face! What i meant was are we still, in this day and age, subscribing to the belief that women have no place in disciplines such as philosophy... which i would hope we are not, however, the lack of female avatars did make me question that!

I know what it looks like, but there really is no intended discrimination. The man who started this site wasn't even a philosopher himself, and I imagine just picked a few known philosophers he had heard of as avatars. No reasonable person believes women should be discriminated against in respect to these sorts of disciplines. In fact, I think many of us become excited when a female joins the site, because we don't have that many, and we're often not exposed to female points of views.

I do apologize though, because I know how it looks. Unfortunately, there's nothing I personally can do about the situation currently.