Saturday, January 14, 2006

Gender bias

Lynette Long, a psychologist in Bethesda,Md., feels the Postal Service is intentionally slanting portrayal of Americans and American culture on stamps towards males.

Writing in The Baltimore Sun, she points out from Jan. 1, 2000, to Dec. 31, 2005, the Postal Service issued 618 commemorative stamps. One-hundred, forty-nine honored individuals. Of those, 123 were men and 26 were women.

Long is quoted as saying, "Even more disturbing is that many of the topics the Postal Service selects for multiple stamp blocks fundamentally exclude women, such as the "Legends of Baseball" (20 stamps); "Baseball Sluggers" (four stamps); "Distinguished Marines" (four stamps); "Classic Movie Monsters" (20 stamps); or "Early Football Heroes" (four stamps).

She goes on to say," The Postal Service is aware of the skewed portrayal of Americans and American culture on stamps. In fact, it does so intentionally, since the vast majority of stamp collectors are male and it believes male collectors prefer to buy stamps about certain topics."

To read her entire article, click here.
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posted by Don Schilling at 12:01 AM