Some of us took ethical stands with professors on far more egregious issues of sexism, bigotry, and bad data analysis without also getting public acknowledgment or the benefits of claiming victimhood.<p>I guess it’s different for those of us who voiced our issue with the offending academic privately first.
An article that interviews Lena in Sweden when when was 67: <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/finding-lena-the-patron-saint-of-jpegs/" rel="nofollow">https://www.wired.com/story/finding-lena-the-patron-saint-of...</a><p>The article says she spent many years working in a very similar role: “[She] took a job working as a Kodak model. She became one of the company’s ‘Shirleys’—beautiful women whose images were used to calibrate color film. (The moniker comes from the first woman to hold the position, Shirley Page.)”.<p>“When I asked her if she had heard anything about the recent controversy around her image, she seemed alarmed at the thought that she could have a part in hurting or discouraging young women. I sent her some articles about the Lenna and later gave her a call to see what she made of them.”<p>“Lena doesn’t harbor any resentment toward Sawchuk and his imitators for how they appropriated her image; the only note of regret she expressed was that she wasn’t better compensated. In her view, the photograph is an immense accomplishment that just happened to take on a life of its own. ‘I’m really proud of that picture,’ she said.”<p>Disclaimer: I understand why this image has become a symbol that brings out strong emotions in some people, but I have little emotional comprehension of the actual issue because I rarely interact with anyone that would have cause to feel upset by it. I have met one playgirl in her sixties, at a thanksgiving, and she seemed very happy with her past from the little it came up. I do think how the rest of society is affected by images matters too, not just how the model feels.
I don’t understand what the issue is. It’s a nonsexual picture of a woman looking at the camera. As a male, if I reverse the genders I wouldn’t be offended in the slightest.<p>She is also a consenting adult that posed for Playboy, so what? Power to her.<p>Am I problematic?
I don't think the image used at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenna" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenna</a> of a woman's face is overtly sexual or that using it to illustrate image processing is "misogynistic". Quoting Wikipedia:<p>'This scan became one of the most used images in computer history.[5] In a 1999 issue of IEEE Transactions on Image Processing "Lena" was used in three separate articles,[6] and the picture continued to appear in scientific journals throughout the beginning of the 21st century.[4] Lenna is so widely accepted in the image processing community that Forsén was a guest at the 50th annual Conference of the Society for Imaging Science and Technology (IS&T) in 1997.[7] The use of the photo in electronic imaging has been described as "clearly one of the most important events in [its] history".[8] In 2015, Lena Forsén was also guest of honor at the banquet of IEEE ICIP 2015.[9] After delivering a speech, she chaired the best paper award ceremony.<p>To explain Lenna's popularity, David C. Munson, editor-in-chief of IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, noted that it was a good test image because of its detail, flat regions, shading, and texture. However, he also noted that its popularity was largely because an image of an attractive woman appealed to the males in a male-dominated field.[10]'<p>Yes, men chose the image because Lena was attractive, but that does not mean they "objectified" her.
This is older generation sexism, it will run wide and deep with him if he does this shit. Types like him are incorrigible - insist it is 'all in good fun' Bull. It is incremental sexism, he will push and persist until he gets slapped down, maybe hard.
Still, dealing with him and the bureaucracy is a little like mud wrestling with a pig, you will both get dirty and the pig likes the action, and silent sexists in the admin under the radar will remember your role, so you will get praise as well as dirt - good luck, keep up that GPA.
I had a prof who was accused of taking underwater photos of women swimming in the Hart House pool - guilty as charged, but he whined, wiggled and denied and finally lost his case at a hearing. He has passed on now, but it resembles your case. This was 30+ years ago. His ilk have been cleaned out of responsible universities, but I see they persist in places.