The design of sexism: the case of an army maintenance manual

Author

Bernhardt, Stephen A.

Author_Institution

Dept. of English, New Mexico State Univ., Las Cruces, NM, USA

Volume

35

Issue

4

fYear

1992

fDate

12/1/1992 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

217

Lastpage

221

Abstract

The author compares 1970 and 1990 versions of the US Army publication PS: The Preventive Maintenance Monthly. it is seen that visual communication becomes dated even more quickly than does textual communication. The later version of PS offers a visual design that has been toned down, tamed, subdued; what had been a visual rhetoric with clear (in hindsight) sexist assumptions has yielded to a rhetoric with more professional, more inter-racial, and more neutral assumptions that reflect the changed demands of contemporary culture. Nevertheless, it is asserted that a rhetoric of visual attractiveness will probably continue to exploit gender, and that attempts to neutralize gender bias are likely to fail (to some extent), for only the distance of time allows sexism to be seen

Keywords

economic and sociologic effects; military systems; technical presentation; user manuals; army maintenance manual; design of sexism; gender bias; neutral assumptions; sexist assumptions; textual communication; visual communication; Computer aided software engineering; Engines; Graphics; Pressure control; Preventive maintenance; Professional communication; Rhetoric; Vehicles; Visual communication; Wheels;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Professional Communication, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0361-1434

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/47.180282

Filename

180282