LJ Politics Stuff

[geminigirl]

So I joined the December 2009 community a while ago-the one for people who are expecting babies in December of this year. And trust me, I totally understand people who are hung up on things like naming their babies Noelle or dressing them up in "Baby's First Christmas" outfits.

But is it totally wrong of me to be squicked by the community's userpic, which is a very cute baby in a Christmas stocking wearing a Santa hat?

Would it be totally out of line for me to ask if we could think about a less Christmas-centric icon?

And if it's not, could anyone help me come up with a polite but firm way to ask that doesn't sound like a ranting pregnant woman? Because this is something that would bother me whether or not I was pregnant...

Comments

[stenodork.livejournal.com]

that would annoy me as well.

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

K and I once had a huge argument about whether Noel/Noelle was an acceptable name for a future [Jewish] child.

If it were me, I would just say "hey, I'm Jewish and could we come up with an icon that's more inclusive?" It may help if you provide some icons as examples, so that you're not asking someone else to do the work to implement your suggestion.

[bicrim.livejournal.com]

yes, this.

[geminigirl]

I thought about providing some samples-I'm no good at icon making though.

As for Noel/Noelle...I'm not sure I'd go with Noelle, but I'm okay with Noel. Mom had a cousin Noel who grew up in Israel, and there's no question about whether or not he was Jewish. It's not on our list of names for this baby though.

[melebeth]

I'd say "It may be worth considering that there are women of many different faiths in this community, and that the extremely christmas-y icon may make those who do not celebrate the holiday uncomfortable. In the spirit of inclusion, perhaps it might be worth changing the default icon to something generically wintery instead."

[gsh]

You northern hemisphere chauvanist!

[wait.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I would just say, "Hey, joined the community, think its great. But you might not realize that the Santa baby isn't really so inclusive to those of us mamas that aren't Christian. Do you think we could find a more generic winter-themed icon?"

[xxladyjxx.livejournal.com]

Would word it similarly to this.

[n5red.livejournal.com]

Bah! Humbug!

[zurcherart.livejournal.com]

Wait. Your pregnant again?

I missed that.

WHOOOO HOOOOO.

(I was going to send you chocolates while you were pregnant the last time .... I guess I maybe should try to do that before you have this one.)

[geminigirl]

Yes. I went public about a week ago, on my birthday. I'm due the first week of December.

And seriously...Swiss chocolates? That is very kind of you. As long as it's not when we're on vacation. :)