Reason No. 128 why trusting Wikipedia can be dangerous territory: Harvard students recently held a Wikipedia “edit-a-thon” in an effort to “dismantle the patriarchy,” The Harvard Crimson reports:
With the stated purpose of changing and adding Wikipedia pages related to feminist, BGLTQ, and human rights issues, the group of about eight students went on an editing spree, taking out phrasing they saw as offensive and otherwise tweaking the site.
In a mass email advertising the event, student-run feminist publication Manifesta Magazine described the event as part of a movement to “dismantle the patriarchy” on Wikipedia.
As an aside, it seems Wikipedia is growing on Harvard professors. The Crimson reported in April that professors are warming up to the site as a reliable source.
Meanwhile, these college feminist Wikipedia attacks have become something of a regular thing:
Dec. 2012: Prominent gender and media studies professors from across the country converge to help host what was dubbed by organizers as a “Feminist, Anti-Racist Wikipedia Edit-a-thon” to create or influence dozens of entries on the online encyclopedia.
Sept. 2013: Universities including Yale, Brown and Pennsylvania State offer college credit to students who “write feminist thinking” into Wikipedia.
Feb. 2014: Feminist groups at more than a dozen universities hold another mass “edit Wikipedia day” to combat sexism.
And, wait for it …
July 2014: Feds dole out over $200K to study why Wikipedia is sexist.
So if you start finding words like “heteronormative” and “patriarchalism” randomly dispersed throughout the next Wikipedia article you read, now you know why.
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