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by Bostonian 1689 days ago
I don't think the image used at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenna of a woman's face is overtly sexual or that using it to illustrate image processing is "misogynistic". Quoting Wikipedia:

'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.

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]'

Yes, men chose the image because Lena was attractive, but that does not mean they "objectified" her.

1 comments

I think the issue is that a topless image from Playboy, even if cropped, isn’t necessarily a workplace-appropriate image.

Would a crop of a well-known topless photo be appropriate for hanging in, for example, a workplace restroom, break room, office, or cubicle?