Gender Equity Issues on DVX User

[BrianMurphy]

So a member posts a link to his web blog and has called his web blog CAMERAMAN HACKS or something like that. I post to his thread that it seems out of place in this day and age, 2018 to use the term CAMERAMAN. This was in no way meant to hijack a thread as some have indicated. It was my intent to remind a fellow MAN that times have changed and he might consider that change.
Well it sparked many to be sarcastic, some nasty and the few enlightened men who agreed I salute you. With all the horrible publicity our industry has recently gotten with Wiensteinn leading the pack, and with most of that negative news coming from the USA, well I expected a more enlightened response from DVXUSER members. I have been a member here since 08-18-2006, a long time by looking at the naysayers info. I am 67 years old and still working in the industry and work with women all the time. I have employed several women as camera operators and camerapersons as well and I live with a woman who was one of the first female camera assistants on the west coast of Canada. They all have stories to tell not many of them flattering.
So I am upset that what I wrote was for all intent and purposes given the Roman thumbs down by some very narrow minded men who give those of us who get it, a bad name. Dumb very very dumb. Grow up and get with the program and fix what has been wrong for many years by making things equitable for women. This has nothing to do with politics it is about human rights.

 

[FrameFarmMedia]

Well said Brian!

 

[Jason R. Johnston]

Actually, the Roman thumbs down meant approval. Thumbs up meant someone was getting their head chopped off. I’ve never seen a Hollywood movie get that right because frak total historical accuracy. /nerd

Back on topic:

The age of the cameraMAN is dying away (though the word infers “mankind” man, not “penis” man), and for the sake of equality and/or gender equity, “camera operator” has always been my preferred choice when performing that job. Camera person is too indistinct, those people on the camera crew have specific titles wether it’s operator, AC, PA, etc. I was once called a cameraman and I told the guy to either call me Jason, DP, or sir. (I don’t remember which he decided on.)

I’ve had the pleasure to work with a lot of women and they were all strong, motivated, individuals, who were beautiful not because they were female but because they were willfully working against the grain in a male-dominated industry, ney world, and succeeding...with visible scars. I’ve seen women with bigger backbone than a lot of dudes I’ve known, and men still don’t have to suffer the physical act of childbirth.

If getting rid of the word cameraman will make professional women more comfortable I say we should have gotten rid of it 50 years ago if you know what I mean.

 

[dcoughla]

Ironically the people who most need to understand and respect that there is a problem with the way women are treated in this industry are the same ones whose first instinct is to feel threatened and complain/object whenever it comes up.

Further irony is the ones accusing you of derailing the conversation were actually doing far more on that front themselves.

You really can't win with people who operate like that. Don't let it get to you.

 

[Jaime Valles]

Well said, Brian! Nowadays I prefer either Videographer, Camera Operator or Camera Op. Everybody understands those terms, and nobody feels left out or slighted.

It's a new world. Get with it.

 

[Barry_Green]

Look -- I get your point. As a husband, father of two daughters, and grandpa to a baby granddaughter, I am very alert to the issues. And women should absolutely be treated equally and with proper respect, and anyone who thinks otherwise is free to meet me in a back alley somewhere where it can be properly explained.

That said, DVXUser is not a place for social activism, political advancement, lobbying or any other type of discussion of that nature. Never has been, and never will be, no matter how justified the cause may seem in any particular user's eyes. Them's the rules for this forum.

You want to use a particular term, you go right ahead. You want to lambaste others for not doing what you see as right? Sorry, this is not the place for that, there are approximately 13,000,000,000,000,000,000 other websites where you can share those feelings. I'm not telling you you're wrong, I'm telling you that this is not the place to discuss it. This place is about craft and gear, not social activism.