A little over a week ago, I got the following email:
Hi Dan —
I was updating the link to your Technician study guide, and was VERY disappointed to see that you’ve changed the “human” image on the front cover from the gender, race and age neutral red blob to a white guy. I am so sad about this, you have no idea.
We’re working hard over here to expand the demographics of Amateur Radio and one of the things I most LOVED about using your manual with our courses was the non-specific image of the radio operator. Any way I can convince you to change it back? Actually NO image at all is better than this new one.
We have around 100 demographically mixed new students who are queued up to attend our next wave of courses that will be starting in about 3 weeks. PLEASE consider a quick change. At least just for the free PDF. I really don’t want to have to apologize to all of my students on the first day of every class about why Ham Radio materials continue to be so blatantly biased.
I was seriously taken aback by this. My intent was certainly not to be biased. Anyone who knows me that I am maybe the least biased when it comes to helping others get into and enjoy amateur radio. I never did like the “red blob” and I wanted to put a more human face on amateur radio.
I suggested deleting the cover on PDFs that were distributed to the students, but that suggestion was dismissed:
I don’t distribute the PDFs of your manual, just the link. So my deleting the cover for your product is not what I view as a good fix. I also know that you have long used unbiased covers for your books, so I should not need to provide suggestions.
My correspondent then provided a few links to articles about the need to be inclusive in advertising. She continued:
I feel very dismayed that you, of all people — a highly recognized online influencer in amateur radio, with a leadership role in AR|DC — believe that the continuation of the perception that a white male on the cover of your latest technician training manual IS “a good image for amateur radio.” Gender and race bias in any product, is NEVER appropriate, especially in U.S. ham radio and STEM, where people who are not white males often lack confidence and feel unwelcome. Speaking from personal experience over 4 decades as a licensed Ham, as well as in my professional career as an Engineer and Computer Scientist, I know very well that these perceptions are not imagined. Rather, it is because in some of these settings we are actually NOT welcome, can be treated as inferior, verbally chided, and even literally pushed aside (such as by not being given mic time or mentoring in club shacks, or relegated to non-technical roles in Ham clubs).
We swapped a few more emails about what I could do. She suggested that I use pictures of amateur radio equipment instead of a person, but I’m bored with pictures of equipment. As shown at right, the 2014 Tech study guide actually did have an image of an HT.
I noted that the latest version of the ARRL license manual features a young woman on the cover, but she replied, “I’d say no on the female (as ARRL has, after many decades finally done), because that raises other issues — what race should the female be? ”
After all this, I’m still unsure about what I should do next. I’m definitely not going back to the “red blob.” It’s just too impersonal, and even though it’s gender-neutral, not a good image for amateur radio. On the other hand, I certainly don’t want this cover to dissuade anyone from taking up ham radio.
So the question is is there a way to put a human face on amateur radio and not be biased? I’m open to suggestions.
Gary Mastenbrook N8DMT says
While requested change is sometimes unexpected or uncomfortable, inclusiveness is a recognized challenge for the future of Amateur Radio. Thus agree illustration of a white male ranks lower on that scale than many other approaches. Thought your HT was pretty good, but understand how authors/creators like to keep moving forward. How about illustration of a radio set with a microphone and with the speaker emitting sounds (maybe Hello in multiple languages or CQ in morse code)? Maybe include an antenna and weave feedline around/through the title page words? This request might be just another creativity challenge on your authoring and teaching journey. And, thanks for all that you do to support and grow Amateur Radio!
Paul Butzi says
How about a bunch of smaller ‘human’ graphics of varied skin tone and gender appearance all holding something like an HT, with little radio wave graphics suggesting they are all talking to one another? Maybe one or two could be wearing hi-viz vests suggesting CERT or something.
You get the diversity you want while also suggesting that ham radio is about community, not just radios.
Downside: might seem sort of cluttered visually.
Kevin P says
Hi Dan,
Upon reading your blog, my initial thought was “What? Are you serious???” So, I read it again… And then, I had to read it one more time… Wow… There is something very disturbing here! I was offended by the accusatory tone used by your correspondent in approaching the topics covered in her note to you. I would immediately question what I had done wrong.
Were you to change the image on the cover of your manual to a woman of color for example, I’d fully expect that your correspondent would then be disappointed by the color of the skin on your black or brown woman, and after you’ve reached a compromise with her on that, the hairstyle you chose would become an issue. Once that was resolved to her satisfaction, the size of the woman in the image would come into question… I think that you’d then be accused of assimilating the culture. And on and on…
I don’t have an easy answer to this dilemma. But based simply on the accusatory tone of your correspondent, I’d have to respond in a combative way and simply tell her to “take a hike”… This racial equity thing is just going a bit too far, I think. Racial inclusivity is fine by me, but everything that we do or say cannot be judged on whether it’s “appropriately” racially inclusive or not.
George Tower says
I can understand your frustration, Don, and it seems to me as if you are being attacked by the movement of destroying the values of America. I would consider the source and continue doing your work as usual. I find it hard to believe that that person would feel their “100’s of demographically mixed students” would be offended by an image on the cover of a publication as opposed to what your publication ( No nonsense Technician Class Guide) is going to instruct them in. Do you think that perhaps this post was not even by a concerned person or educator, but just an attack on the values of rational human beings ? I believe you are just a victim of the crazy times we live in and I hope you don’t cave into societies stupidity of the times.
OliverK says
This. This is the answer. Things have gone to far, and people need to earn how to be offended and how to let that go. It’s a hard lesson, but a valuable one.
Patrick says
I hadn’t thought about this but I suppose that’s the point. And the tone of the message is a little overstated. And I don’t know why they can’t remove the first page and distribute the PDF for now. But I do agree with the sentiment, because if this person is as they say they are and bringing more diverse people to the hobby and if there is anything to encourage that, lets do it. I’m tired of talking to 99 percent white male hams in the USA. 73 de AC3K
Ralph says
How dare you, being a white guy, put a white guy on the cover of your book! Shame!
Richard says
Taking offense is itself exclusionary. I’m offended by that person’s very argument.
Joe Sammartino says
How about the very familiar evolution of man chart (species, not gender) with the last guy holding an HT?
Himay says
You should put whatever image you want on your cover. There is no absolute requirement that it reflect the current state of HAM radio, the people you’d like to be involved in it, and it certainly does not need to convey any awareness on your part of the stereotypical public perception that all HAMs are old white guys.
However if you’d like to reflect not only your own lived experience as a HAM, but also perhaps what you think a prospective beginner in the hobby might look at and say, “That’s something I can get into!” rather than, “HAM radio, right, those old neck beard dudes with too many antennas hanging off their 1980’s van”, then you might want to consider who you’re selling this thing to.
No need to overthink it and no matter what you put, somebody will be offended or feel the need to criticize it. That’s not the point. The point is, who is your prospective audience? Do you want to reach that audience?
There is definitely a perception problem with amateur radio. Maybe you can change that. Good on you for the self-reflection.
Female Ham says
I am a female ham and am not offended by a picture of a man. It’s your book, so you choose the image.
KeepTheCover says
I think the new cover looks great. I don’t think you should change it because of this email. If you (as the creator) want to change it for other reasons, then that’s fine. But the person that emailed you is looking for something to complain about. And she represents a very very small minority of people (not even in amateur radio, but just in the population), a very small but very vocal minority that only cares about finding things to be offended about. Anyone that is turned off to amateur radio simply by a book’s benign cover graphic isn’t that interested anyway.
“I really don’t want to have to apologize to all of my students on the first day of every class about why Ham Radio materials continue to be so blatantly biased.” Your materials are very much NOT biased and her implying that because of your graphic choice is just ridiculous. Your cover will not “dissuade anyone from taking up ham radio” unless they’re more interested in finding things to be offended about than they are about amateur radio.
I would suggest that she take her “4 decades as a licensed Ham” and her “professional career as an Engineer and Computer Scientist” and write her own book if it’s such an issue for her – then she can put whatever impersonal blob on the cover she wants to.
Walter Underwood says
It is a fair point.
There’s the old “back of the head” trick to add some ambiguity. You might recognize this activity.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/walter_underwood/48937302091/in/album-72157711437854946/
John Thacker says
It’s your book. Do as you please. You can’t satisfy all the people all the time.
Adam Davis says
There are a lot of things going on here. First, I’d like to suggest that given the complainant is utterly unsatisfied with an approach that specifically solves their problem for their specific use indicates that they are not being honest with you – their intention is for you to change your product for everyone due to their personal experiences, desires, beliefs, and biases. So on the surface I would provide a link to a copy of the manual customized for their needs, indicate that as future editions are released their comments and suggests will be taken into account, and moving on. Making a huge deal about this detracts from the great deal of good your work and product does for the community, and this hyper-focus on one detail should not become a burden. It’ll lead to burn-out faster than a lot of other criticism types.
Second, don’t be reactionary and immediately re-release a new version just for this issue. Objectively speaking, there is nothing offensive about the issue. As with any work, individuals may take something away from the work you never put in or intended – and that’s a reflection of their lived experience.
In response to this, many call for everything to be sanitized, so that no possible discomfort could occur to anyone with any lived experience.
That’s an impossible goal, though. It’s part of the reason we have movie ratings, for instance.
What’s happening here is you’re running into a classic rock and hard place problem – you’ve long adhered to the principle that Amateur Radio should be approachable, and you bend over backward to implement any and every good suggestion that will enable that.
Unfortunately, there will be people who, through no fault of your own or their own, will be uncomfortable with aspects of your work. You can’t please everyone, even with a topic that should be as universal as language. Which, incidentally, is also offensive to some – for instance there are those who posit that written language is ableist for those with dyslexia, and that anyone who creates written works without also presenting them in other formats must necessarily be ableist.
At some point you’re going to have to accept that while you’re putting a lot of effort into making Amateur Radio more accessable, you can’t lose focus of the goal while you chase the unending list of possible improvements that would be required to eliminate all sources of offense, known and unknown.
I don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish with the cover, so can’t give you any specific advice. For most books the cover is intended to grab visual interest from 10-20 feet away, provide enough detail that as approached new interesting things are discovered, and to entice the viewer into opening the book and getting caught up in it.
I’m not interested in human faces or blobby bodies, so neither cover attract my attention – but I’m not sure I’m your target audience.
What interests me is what I can do with the information in the book, and what sets it apart from things I can already do. Even up through the 90’s communicating around the world was enticing enough to get into radio, but now that’s at everyone’s fingertips – connecting with others is trivial, as is finding those with similar interests.
Disaster preparedness is still a useful target, but I’m not sure it’s compelling for others.
There’s a lot of technology that could be applied to Amateur Radio – LTE on the ham bands, for instance – but that’s not the subject of your book, and not interesting to the average person.
It’s a tough call, but about the only thing you can be sure of is whatever you choose it’s going to offend someone.
Be kind and thoughtful. Acknowledge others’ experiences and feelings, and appreciate the time and effort they spend to convey their thoughts. But don’t lose site of the goal, and, while keeping other opinions in mind, design the cover that achieves your goal. Then move on.
Dave New, N8SBE says
Just had to point out, but every single one of the comments so far are apparently from males, and if I was a betting person, I’d say white and old, as well (including myself).
It would be amusing if it wasn’t so sad. No matter how hard we (old, white males) try, we can’t put ourselves in place of those that try to get us to see things their way. The best we can do, it seems,
is to keep our mouths shut (too late) and keep our biases to ourselves.
I try every day to improve. I recall my folks who were born in the 1910s say things out loud that I found offensive, so I swore I’d never say things like that. I can only hope that as each older generation dies off, the next one will be better.
Sometimes that’s all we can hope for.
OliverK says
If even we do manage to understand what the other people feel – we’re told were wrong. We’re never given a chance to be right and no understanding is extended to us.
Just my opinion. Frankly, I just want to be left alone and I think that’s smething everyone should be able to get behind.
John says
This sounds very similar to the complaint about the Gil cartoon on the ARRL mug being sexist. The person complaining just wants you to remove the “white” guy from the cover and isn’t interested in helping you find a solution as stated in her comment: “I should not need to provide suggestions”.
You provide your Technician Class manual for free as a PDF. If it is unacceptable for her use, she can ask her “100” students to purchase copies of the ARRL manual, Gordon West’s manual, or some of the other offerings.
Ricky Nelson made an astute observation when he sang “You can’t please everyone so you’ve got to please yourself” in his “Garden Party” recording. You are never going to make all of the snowflakes happy.
Oleg, UB8M says
I don’t understand and can’t even imagine such a situation here.
I would not change anything on principle and would answer something like this: – Everyone has the right to choose. If you don’t like something, just go to another source.
Don says
There is nothing wrong with your cover.
Larry Works says
It’s important to note that Race is a social construct. And, the society we live in is a social construct. Together this results in a culture in which a) white dominance plays the lead role and b) implicit biases exist in all of us. Now comes the tough bit Dan… ignore what I’ve just written.
Ignore it because your goal, and that of the person writing the feedback, are virtually identical. That goal is to expose amateur radio, as a fun hobby to as many people as possible. And in doing so, you both hope some will be be inspired enough to study for their Technician ham radio license.
The person who wrote you the feedback showed courage by identifying an unintentional barrier your cover of the No-Nonsense Technician License Guide may introduce in some people. A barrier they are aware of and wanted you to know about too. It’s a racial justice barrier for people who are black, indigenous, people of color. While not a barrier for white people, mostly because we are the dominant culture, it’s one that need not be ignored once known.
Your question is… ” Is there a way to put a human face on amateur radio and not be biased?
Unfortunately, I’m sorry to share, the answer is NO. Here’s where anyone can test themselves for hidden biases of all kinds. In this thread… I suggest taking the Racial Bias Test AFTER clicking the “Test Yourself for Hidden Bias” https://tinyurl.com/49jt3znw FYI – there’s no right or wrong result… there’s simply a result based on your personal responses.
You have a choice to make Dan. A choice that WILL affect how some people will act when they see the current cover of your amateur radio guide. Hardest bit to accept here… no matter which way you decide to go, you will never know by how much, or how little, your choice will increase or decrease getting more people interested in getting their very first amateur radio license. What you can, and in my opinion, should accept, is that one choice will discourage some people.
To put the decision you may be facing another way… “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” ― Maya Angelou
With peace and love,
73 – Larry KD8MZM
Henry N6HCM says
Honestly? Put a bunch of mixed race kids enjoying radio. Theoretically, kids are the future of what we’re doing here, and so this aims front and center toward this goal.
Or not.
Some of the feedback about this proposed change is just as dramatic as the radio amateur who wrote in about the cover in the first place. People going on about this and relating it to “destroying the values of America” is pretty silly (especially since the values of America have included people from all walks of life).
I think representation and inclusion are important, This feedback can guide a future edition of the work.
Robert Koechl VE3IXX says
Hi Dan.
Why not make it a picture of a racoon character holding the HT and antenna.
Oh, wait! Then maybe the cats or dogs would feel left out and complain.
A solution is to make it a dinosour character. As they are extinct, only other extinct animals would be left out and they are not around to complain.
Problem solved!!!
Bob Norris says
Dan,
I think that what matters is not what/who is on the cover, but what is in the book. Personally, I really had not paid any attention to the race, ethnicity or sex of the character on the cover until I saw this post. And I am still not offended by it now.
And when you do change the cover again, maybe use a small cameo of yourself. It is your book for all persons looking to get into Amateur Radio. For now, I would leave it as it is and not worry about it. Changing the cover does not change the content nor will it change the number of units sold.
Bob AK5U