Shadow of gender: “Lena” in the eyes of her users in China

• In Event: That Which Arises from the (Human or Mechanical) Eye

Abstract

For professionals in image processing which is an important field in electrical and electronic engineering, the name “Lena” which represents a standard testing picture of image processing might sound familiar. The picture coming from the famous male adult magazine Playboy was originally a centerfold with an image of a naked female model. After being used for the first time in a scientific conference of image processing in 1973, the picture has been widely used in the field and has been blamed for the gender bias in the picture and in the field. However, even until now, we could hardly find a specified study on what “Lena” is like in the eyes of her users. In vision studies which is a newly rising field of STS (Science, Technology and Society), studies about what arises from the eyes of scientists would be very meaningful and constructive. In my study of “Lena”, I attempt to explore and present what the professionals who are the users of “Lena” have seen in “Lena” about the gender aspect of the picture. As an empirical study, I use semi-structured interviews as the main approach to make the insiders related to “Lena” speak for themselves in a top university of China. My study has found the vague attitude of the insiders towards the gender aspect of “Lena” and discovered their mechanism of solving the ambivalences in their interpretations. There is a manifest interpretation system of scientific “Lena” and a potential interpretation system of social “Lena” existing in the eyes of “Lena”’s users at the same moment. The factor of gender in “Lena” walks with each of her users, like a shadow. In such an image-reading time in contemporary China and many other districts, we cannot underestimate the influence of image. With the rapid development of digital technology, by what we see, we are reshaped. Gender should be a significant issue to be seriously considered in image studies. I believe the study of “Lena” could contribute to empirical and transnational studies of STS concentrated on the gender aspect in vision.

Author

• Dian Zeng, Institute of Science, Technology and Society, Tsinghua University