Is it an April Fool’s joke, or is it real? In any case, it raises an important point: Lenna, a woman who appeared as a centerfold in Playboy in 1972 and is actually called Lena Forsén, no longer wants to be used in tech. It is her image that is often used as an example when it comes to image processing. Not only she would be fed up with it: computer organization IEEE also indicates that it no longer wants to see this image in tech research.
Lena Forsen
Given the level of some April Fool’s jokes this year (we’re looking at you, Staedion), we wouldn’t be surprised if it is an April Fool’s joke: after all, it is something that takes effect on April 1 and a subject such as Playboy, is of course it was often laughed about. According to the news, the image of Lena Forsén would in any case cause controversy in the tech field and should therefore no longer be used.
It is a sexually suggestive photo of a woman and this would make women uncomfortable in the male-dominated tech field. This ties in with how many male-dominated fields don’t always make it a very welcoming place for women. The products that are made are also not always made with an inclusive idea: for example, phones are becoming increasingly larger, making them less suitable for the relatively smaller hands of women, but wearables are also often made for larger arms and have a bulky design. . And there are more examples of how technology certainly has something to gain in the field of inclusivity. And such an image does not help.
Playboy record in tech
Female scientists have expressed their dissatisfaction with Lenna, especially because they find the contrast with the serious work they are doing very great. And this discussion has been going on for years. A documentary was even made called Losing Lena, in which Forsén himself says: “I stopped modeling a while ago. It is time for me to also enter my tech retirement.” You can watch the trailer above.
This is probably not an April Fool’s joke: this woman who now appears in more than 267,000 scientific papers may be done for. Especially because no one is worse off when this happens: not even tech. There are numerous other images that can be used as examples. It is a shame that such an unfortunate date was chosen to stop Lenna, but the fact that she has to be stopped seems to be finally getting more publicity after all these years. April Fool’s joke or not: it’s good if more people know about Lena.
Laura Jenny
When she’s not tapping, she’s traveling around the wonderful world of entertainment or somewhere cool in the real world. Mario is the man of her life,…
