In a standard signals and systems course the topic of image processing using signal analysis is usually covered. Signals and systems can be a very math heavy course and gets abstract fairly quickly. Since many people are visual learners and like to see the real applications to this abstract math, image processing is a great way to make those connections and see math/engineering really do something interesting.

In our class, our awkward male teaching assistant started talking enthusiastically about image signal processing and how much we were going to like it. This particular teaching assistant was often excited about random things we learned in class, but was extra excited about this topic. He showed us an example of the image we would be working with. A “classic” picture in image signal processing commonly referred to as Lena, a face and bare shoulder of a young woman in a large feathery hat. He went on to explain that the girl’s face and the feathers in her hat provided contrasting textures, good for seeing the effects of image processing on various textures. He then proceeded to explain the very interesting history of this image. The guys (and I do mean all males, not the general “guys”) that were doing research on this topic originally needed an image with various textures to work with and, so, used something they had lying around the office: a playboy centerfold. Yup, that hat is the only thing Lena is wearing. Though, they “modestly” cropped the picture to just her face, which is still the standard picture used today.

To me, this exemplifies the boy’s club background in math, science, and engineering. I was appalled that something so blatantly aimed at the immature straight male would still be standard in our present-day, supposedly gender-unbiased curriculum. There are no barriers for women to be respected in math, science, and engineering today? Bullshit. Women are still fighting against the boy’s club mentality rooted in the history of these technical fields. And, unfortunately, only time and women who refuse to be turned away by such an environment will change that.

For the assignment in my signal and systems course, I decided to make a statement by using my own image for the assignment. I wanted to counter the female porn star image with a male porn star, but the only one I knew was Jeff Stryker the gay male porn star (maybe another statement about our society) thanks to one of Margaret Cho’s comedy acts. So, I found a full body nude picture of Mr. Stryker and “modestly” cropped it above the waist. I then did the image processing assignment using this picture, and wrote a note to our teaching assistant about how I disliked the connotations of the Lena picture and decided to use my own porn image that better fit my perspective. I still do not know if he really got the point I was trying to make, but I’ve never gotten to look at gay porn for a homework assignment before, so at least it was interesting. All I know is that if I ever teach a signals and system course, I definitely won’t be using Lena as my image of choice. I’m still debating whether I’d require my class to the use Jeff Stryker image or not, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.