social media : digital project management

Digging the Superficial Web

Posted by Chel in Uncategorized on 12 1st, 2007 | Comments

So my Twitterstream erupted into an “I voted” pool this afternoon after a link was twittered to vote at DigATechGirl . com for several girls. I really distaste this site and others like them.

No one’s accomplishments should be lessened by their beauty or their sex appeal or other said physical features. These sites are celebrating hotness and not a lot more than that. Last I checked my intelligence quota test bypassed analyzing a photo of me.

Society assigns more importance to beauty, to the “correct” features, to a specific beauty quality than it should. We (usually) learn as adults that it is more than about beauty but yet we continue to frequent and vote and post to these sites, never quite leaving our high school incentives behind. So is hard work lessened by not so hyper beautifulness? How do accomplishments rate against beauty and should it matter?

A friend pointed out that it was Friday afternoon lighthearted fun. Maybe some people took that way, but iJustine opted out posting the link to her page. Perhaps she was seeing what was not leaving a good taste in my mouth? An excellent conversation followed on Twitter but (hat tip @ericrice) you can’t link the conversation as a whole just parts. @pistachio has a couple of good questions to get us thinking.

Why diminish the accomplishments of women by promoting sites like DigATechGirl? Each time we post a link like this or participate in voting we’re also giving a little bit of credence to the thought that sexuality/beauty is the most important quality one can have.

What about intelligence and originality? There are more important things than a beautiful face. Don’t you remember?

  • tibbon
    Thanks for responding. I see what you're saying.

    At the same time, I have no problem is anyone wants to praise me for anything- even if it objectifies me or has only to do with my looks. Maybe I just like attention and enjoy any praise. All news is good news for me. I can totally see however why people wouldn't want that attention.
  • Scott,

    Beauty is not at all hard to accept. It's not the beauty I'm objecting to. It's the sexualization of the girls that *have* worked hard to get where they are and they deserve to be recognized for THOSE accomplishments.

    I'm glad you don't see a problem with it, but I do. I see a huge problem with celebrating women for the way they look rather than what they've done.

    No objectification here. I think they are all beautiful women, but, I also think that they've done much more than being beautiful.

    David, I really value what you're trying to say here, but I can't see fun in this really. I summed up my thoughts at Julia's blog (http://clipper.typepad.com/juliapatriciaroy/200...) but I'll say it again. I don't think it's a beauty contest, but I do think there's a lot better value in a) not judging at all and b) celebrating what someone has accomplished.

    That is the frustrating point here, guys.
  • tibbon
    I honestly have to say that I think the site is just in pure fun. I don't think that the site is just a beauty contest. It does mention what each of them do, and what they do has a lot to do with the votes. One person having 2x as many votes as the next doesn't mean anything asides that the person has a great social network of friends that find that person awesome. I'm guessing that 90% of the votes are from people that personally know that person. Of course I'm going to vote for my friends. The people I know on there aren't just some beautiful bimbos, but some of the most highly intelligent AND beautiful women I know.

    We can try to tell ourselves that beauty doesn't have anything to do with success, but in all honesty it doesn't hurt at least. Sex sells. Many of our jobs involve some sort of convincing/selling, and having the sexuality side down really helps! I know I am personally more effective at communication and business relationships when I look better. It all still comes down to working hard. I know at least one person on there works at least 70 hours a week.

    It's not sexist at all. While less trafficked, there is a digatechguy.com as well. I'm actually going to get myself on there later and see if I can beat Larry Ellison.

    Why is it wrong to appreciate external AND internal qualities of a person?

    If anything I see that page as a page of women that I would love to get to know. That's the type of person I want to be around. Someone that's doing something, making things happen, and looking damn good while doing it. Looking good takes work too!

    I know where you're coming from and appreciate your opinion, but I think it's just in fun.
  • Why does this diminish their accomplishments? I'd say it promotes them. Maybe you are the one objectifying them. Maybe I am too, so sue me for enjoying a pretty face. Society is a collection of people. That's you and me and many others. We have opinions individually that get aggregated into 'societal standards' but they are what they are. If people didn't find certain attributes attractive, we wouldn't be seeing them.

    Hard work is hard work. Beauty is beauty. Why is that so hard to accept? When I am looking for a hard worker, I know where to go, when I want to see beauty, well, what's wrong with a place for that too. In all honesty, this site features both and I don't see a problem with it. Of course, I completelyenjoy the feminine form, so I guess that invalidates my intellect on anything because I'm just objectifying and diminishing. Hey, I'm not the hottest guy out there, that's why I do an audio podcast. And I'm ok with that. That's life.

    Besides, many of the pictures used on the site are promotional pics, and promo pics are used to highlight physical attributes, not intellectual ones.

    Oh yeah, thanks for twittering about this site. I wouldn't have found it otherwise. ;-)
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