Why are Wikipedia AV actresses from A to Z, but there are very few other women?

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On Sunday morning, March 31st, the Women's Fan Paradise gradually gathered partners.

They are all members of the Wikiwomen Taiwan x #codeforgender "Art + Feminism Editor-a-thon" 2019 event.

And what is an "edit-a-thon"? Like "hackathon", it is a portmanteau of "editing" and "marathon", and refers to an event held by online communities such as the Wikipedia community to increase the amount of specific content.

On this day, Wikiwomen Taiwan and women's fans #codeforgender invited people who are interested in learning to write wiki articles to participate and write wiki articles related to women's issues and female artists.

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Group portrait of participants: from mom to engineer

Among the 57 participants, there are "veterans" who are volunteers who write wiki articles. There are also international students who are curious about what the editor's thon-thon is, news editors from the mainstream media, and mothers who want to participate but are a little embarrassed to bring their daughters with them.

Everyone came from different places, but through discussion and editing, we had a great time spending the whole day.

At the beginning of the event, Wikiwomen Taiwan partners guided everyone to register a wiki account, how to find reliable information, explain how to edit articles, and confirm that all the on-site partners were started, and it was time for free editing.

Everyone has their own topics they want to write about, and women's fans and partners, such as Crazy Design X New Attitude to Urban Aesthetics, also provide many character information, such as "Shiori Ito" (Extended reading: #METOO Interview with Shiori Ito: Breaking the Silence of Sexual Assault in Japan, Who Will I Bet on Will Believe Me), and "Shishi Yamazaki" (Extended Reading: Instagram Talent Weird Girl - Shishi Yamazaki), for participants who have not yet had a direction as inspiration.

Interspersed with "Lightning Talks", participants who are interested in sharing will take the stage to explain what they have written.

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"I am a worker in the field of art, and the entry I want to write today is Zheng Shuli. She is a very important Taiwanese artist, and many of her works have been exhibited abroad. Her work has also been screened at international women's film festivals."

"I want to write 'Farewell My Concubine'. Most people know it because of Leslie Cheung's movie. But what I want to write is Mei Lanfang's original Peking Opera, which is also very artistic."

Yes. This is such an event, everyone looks a bit homely, but behind it is full of enthusiasm and love, eager to do something for these neglected people and things.

Big changes start with small actions

As a female fan editor who works in the park on a weekday, this is a very novel image for me: watching people scattered in the day and night areas, media workers, engineers, doctors, students, and mothers, sitting side by side discussing content and modifying articles.

Of course, there are also foreign friends who come to participate. She is Temar from Eswatini, Africa (also known as the Kingdom of Eswatini) and is now writing university books. As a university student concerned about gender issues, she believes that Taiwan is a country with rich resources. Recently, she joined the Foundation as a volunteer and is excited to meet more partners through the editor's thon. We talked about the Fang Siqi incident and whether dating should be AA or not. Everyday life contains many gender issues, and Temar also said that he is also looking forward to the future of women's fans to launch English reports.

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In the evening, Wikiwomen Taiwan's partners count the completed entries and Taiwan's contribution to the event on the dashboard. Within a few hours, we created a total of 37 new entries and added a total of 166 entries in both Chinese and English.

Before the end of the show, it is like a party, and during dinner time, participants or organizations can get a microphone and casually go on stage to introduce themselves and share their latest gender projects. When you're done editing, sit in the day and night zones and chat until the event ends.

As an editor, I am honored

This is my first time attending an editor-a-thon. As an editor who spends all day with words but has little knowledge of the Internet, I am very honored to participate in this event (although Yu Xuan, an intern engineer, took the trouble to teach me various quick writing tools). I compiled an entry by American sociologist Ari Hodgchild. Engineer Xiao Crab edited two articles (if you are interested, you can read Corolan Aida Anqi and Li Zitong), and Yuxuan wrote about transgender rights in Argentina.

As a novice, after a few hours of struggle, when the messy content was pointed out by a senior "veteran", I immediately supplemented the information and corrected the format as suggested. The whole content is completely new. Shortly after submitting an article, it was really rewarding when it appeared on the Wikipedia page.

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The huge Internet allows knowledge to be connected regardless of region and language, and to build a more equal and real world.

Let's move from online feminism to real practice

One of the greatest inventions of the last century lies in the basic philosophical concept of the Internet, which is to share knowledge and resources for all people and create an equal and inclusive community.

For this reason, the emergence of "cyberfeminism" at the end of the last century has always been a word that people love and hate. It is a branch of feminism, and important scholars such as Donna Haraway, a historian of philosophy of science, and Sherry Turkle, a psychologist, believe that Internet popularization can bring resources to disadvantaged groups, especially women, to speak out on issues, connect group struggles, and become a tool for women's self-empowerment.

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Wikipedia is a community organization that embodies this spirit. I was very impressed by a quote from Winnie, my partner at Wikiwomen Taiwan:

"When we talk about women's entries, we are surprised that if you look at Japanese women alone, AV actresses can go from A to Z by name . But what about female writers? There are only a few dozen. Why is this happening? It's not because Japanese female writers are few or unimportant, but because the existing editors are too single."

According to statistics provided by Wikiwomen Taiwan, the proportion of female volunteers in the gender distribution report of Wikipedia editorial volunteers is only 9%. Such gender differences naturally make Wikipedia's content more male-oriented. It's not that AV actresses shouldn't have detailed entries to introduce them, but we need to present more diverse appearances: female writers, female painters, female entrepreneurs, all women's stories deserve to be written.

When the Internet, which was supposed to be free and equal, gradually becomes a field that only people who understand the rules can enter, it is time to stand up for change.

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This has also become the starting idea of the editor-a-thon. When we hand over the right to speak on the Internet, we are acquiescing to such social norms. What we need to do is to cultivate more heterogeneous participants and take back the right to speak. Writing a wiki is like writing a small new page of web history. Although it is only a few hundred words, it may inadvertently inspire more readers in the future. After all, the sea of the Internet is endless.

We believe that any big change starts with small actions.

If you wish, we also welcome you to join the #CodeforGender FB group, and the next edit-a-thon news will be updated in it. Let's make a difference together.

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