New-fangled technologies are destroying our society!

The New Yorker typically carries many cartoons per issue - in fact on several occasions when I mentioned reading something in the New Yorker, I've been told by someone that they "like it for the cartoons" - as if to say, I guess, they're not one of those lah-dee-dah pretentious eggheads who reads New Yorker articles.

The New Yorker makes its archives available online, and you can see that its covers have grown more editorial, as opposed to simply decorative and seasonal artwork in the past 15 years.

So the sheer quantity of cartoons has inevitably lead to sacrificing originiality.

Case in point is this week's New Yorker cover, which expresses the New Yorker's typical curmudgeonly approach to technology - 

As one Facebook commenter said - and approved by 24 Likers last time I checked:

Lovely cover. The smartphone and tablet illuminating their respective users tells a lot about where we are right now as a society. We are "more connected" to each other, yet alienated from the very person sitting next to us.

I find this incredibly irritating. People who say such things must have a memory-span of a goldfish. It took me a couple of minutes to search the New Yorker Cartoon Bank to find several other examples of how demon technology is thwarting human social interactions - with fax machines, cell phones, and yes, newspapers.

This cartoon is from 2000.

Here is a cry for simpler days of human handwriting from 1996.

And here is a portent of the death of human face-to-face interaction from 1993 thanks to newspapers - curse you Johannes Gutenberg!

Parity Report update: I stopped doing a regular series on the lopsided ratio of male to female contributors to the New Yorker, but a quick spot-check of this May 5, 2014 issue is 3 female contributors out of a total of 11 (not counting cartoons/illustrations or poetry) - a 27% parity rate - which is typical of the New Yorker for its entire run to date. 

Our Contributors

I've neglected the New Yorker Parity Report in the past several months. My only excuse is that the monotony was getting to me.  During the time I was tracking the female contributor ratio - almost a year - not a single issue of the New Yorker had an equal number of male and female contributors.

The closest to parity was July 30, 2012 issue which had a 38% female contributor rate (parity would be 50%) and would even have made parity except for the three male poets in the issue.

This week (December 10, 2012) the parity rate is 15%.

They no longer allow a non-paywall link to the magazine's table of contents but they do to the "Shouts and Murmurs" pages (posted here for your convenience with a star next to each female contributor) and the list of contributors demonstrates a parity rate of 17%. These are their regulars, not one-off writers, and is probably the real barometer of the New Yorker's acceptance of female participation.

As an experiment, I clicked on a back issue of the New Yorker at random. I got the February 9, 1981 issue - 30 years ago. Out of the ten bylines, four are female. That's right, 30 years ago the parity rate for a randomly-selected issue of the New Yorker was 40%.

At the rate the New Yorker is going it will have an equal number of male and female bylines... never.

New Yorker Parity Report September 10, 2012

I think this is the all-time low since I began keeping track last fall - a parity score of 10%. Only Ariel Levy keeps this issue from being 100% male. And this is supposedly the "style" issue - a subject that has traditionally been open to women's participation.

September 10, 2012
Total writers: 10
male: 9
female: 1
gender parity score: 10%

New Yorker Parity Report - multi-issue

I got waaaay behind on the New Yorker parity report. I'm still fiddling with the formatting. This week I'm keeping it simple since it's a multi-issue report.
There seems to have been a quota of 4 women per issue for the past four issues. BTW the average parity for these four issues is 32%.

August 6, 2012
Total writers: 12
male: 8
female: 4
gender parity score: 33%

August 13/20, 2012
Total writers: 13
male: 9
female: 4
gender parity score: 31%

August 27, 2012
Total writers: 13
male: 9
female: 4
gender parity score: 31%

September 3, 2012
Total writers: 12
male: 8
female: 4
gender parity score: 33%

New Yorker Parity Report - July 30, 2012

Looks like The New Yorker is doing things differently now - it no longer provides a permanent link per issue date to its online table of contents, so I can't provide a link to it from this blog as I have been doing since October 2011.

Now you have to link directly to the online copy of the magazine, which only subscribers can view.

So the New Yorker parity report will look a bit different from now on, as you can see. Now you can count the authors and determine the gender imbalance yourself by looking at the table of contents image... but I'll still do the math.

And they were SO CLOSE to parity for July 30, 2012. But since the reckoning is done by the bylines, and I do include poetry, they failed - the three male poets skewed the gender balance once again.

---

The New Yorker Parity Report

The New Yorker, July 30, 2012

A regular report on the gender parity - or lack thereof - of the current issue of The New Yorker based on table of contents by-lines
Includes fiction, non-fiction, poems. Does not include illustrations.

---

A score of 50% means that half of all writers in the issue are female.
A score of greater than 50% would mean more female than male writers. This never happens.

---

Parity change from previous week: +13%

Total writers:13
male:8
female: 5
gender parity score: 38%

Last week
Total writers: 20
male: 15
female: 5
gender parity score: 25%

New Yorker Parity Report - July 23, 2012

Dammit, every time the New Yorker has a double issue, it throws me off my schedule and I forget to post the parity report for the next week.

We're back down to 25%. Same number of writers as last issue, but one fewer female writer, one more male writer.

The New Yorker Parity Report

A regular report on the gender parity - or lack thereof - of the current issue of The New Yorker based on table of contents by-lines
Includes fiction, non-fiction, poems. Does not include illustrations.

---

A score of 50% means that half of all writers in the issue are female.
A score of greater than 50% would mean more female than male writers. This never happens.

---

Parity change from previous week: -8%

July 23, 2012

Total writers: 20
male: 15
female: 5
gender parity score: 25%

Last week
Total writers: 20
male: 14
female: 6
gender parity score: 33%

New Yorker Parity Report - July 9 & 16, 2012

Well at this rate the New Yorker will never reach gender parity in its by-lines. But at least it is reliably anti-Libertarian, and the article in this week's issue about the power struggle at the Cato Institute contains the most accurate description ever of the Libertarian "philosophy" -

By 2008, BB&T’s foundation had, according to the Charlotte Observer, given twenty-eight million dollars to twenty-seven different colleges, in order to, in the Observer’s words, “support the study of capitalism from a moral perspective.” Seventeen of those colleges promised to make “Atlas Shrugged” required reading in a class.

In several instances, Allison and the Kochs have supported pro-free-market curricula at the same schools, such as Florida Gulf Coast, a public university in Fort Myers, Florida, and Clemson, a public university in South Carolina.

What these programs and their donors share seems to be a view of society’s haves as not just lucky and talented but also as virtuous, and the have-nots as letting others carry their load. Government, meanwhile, is described as immorally aiding and abetting society’s losers at the expense of its winners.

The New Yorker Parity Report

A regular report on the gender parity - or lack thereof - of the current issue of The New Yorker based on table of contents by-lines
Includes fiction, non-fiction, poems. Does not include illustrations.

---

A score of 50% means that half of all writers in the issue are female.
A score of greater than 50% would mean more female than male writers. This never happens.

---

Parity change from previous week: +1%

July 9 & 16, 2012

Total writers: 20
male: 14
female: 6
gender parity score: 33%

Last week
Total writers: 21

male: 15
female: 6
gender parity score: 32%

New Yorker Parity Report - July 2, 2012

As I was saying yesterday, the New Yorker was only 2 - 3 writer gender-flips from parity in last week's issue. As if the New Yorker suddenly woke up and realized it was on the very edge of gender parity, it veered off in the exact opposite direction - two more male writers and two fewer female writers this week, to "achieve" a parity reduction of 5%. That was a close call, New Yorker!

The New Yorker Parity Report

A regular report on the gender parity - or lack thereof - of the current issue of The New Yorker based on table of contents by-lines
Includes fiction, non-fiction, poems. Does not include illustrations.

---

A score of 50% means that half of all writers in the issue are female.
A score of greater than 50% would mean more female than male writers. This never happens.

---

Parity change from previous week: -5%

July 2, 2012

Total writers: 21
male: 15
female: 6
gender parity score: 33%

Last week
Total writers: 21
male: 13
female: 8
gender parity score: 38%

New Yorker Parity Report - June 25, 2012

I completely forgot to do the New Yorker Parity Report last week. I'll have to do last week's now and this week's tomorrow. And the parity rate was in the almost-party range again - two or three female writers more and two or three male writers fewer and we'd be there. But that's really too much to hope for in my lifetime.

The New Yorker Parity Report

A regular report on the gender parity - or lack thereof - of the current issue of The New Yorker based on table of contents by-lines
Includes fiction, non-fiction, poems. Does not include illustrations.

---

A score of 50% means that half of all writers in the issue are female.
A score of greater than 50% would mean more female than male writers. This never happens.

---

Parity change from previous week: +7%

June 25, 2012

Total writers: 21
male: 13
female: 8
gender parity score: 38%

Last week
Total writers: 19
male: 13
female: 6
gender parity score: 31%

New Yorker Parity Report - June 18, 2012

Back down to 31% - because that's how the New Yorker likes it.

The New Yorker Parity Report

A regular report on the gender parity - or lack thereof - of the current issue of The New Yorker based on table of contents by-lines
Includes fiction, non-fiction, poems. Does not include illustrations.

---

A score of 50% means that half of all writers in the issue are female.
A score of greater than 50% would mean more female than male writers. This never happens.

---

Parity change from previous week: -3%

June 18, 2012

Total writers: 19
male: 13
female: 6
gender parity score: 31%

Total writers: 23
male: 15
female: 8
gender parity score: 34%

The New Yorker Parity Report - June 4 & 11, 2012

I thought for a moment we might reach a 39% parity rate this week (or two weeks, it's a double issue) but China Miéville turned out to be a male. I will say there was a surprisingly high number of women represented in their science fiction section. But the parity score is exactly the same as last week's.

Henceforth I will ignore the reviews of Anthony Lane, who seems to have a problem with the film "Hysteria" being a romantic comedy instead of a treatise on the development of the vibrator. He also claims it has few laughs, which I can attest is wrong. But then Anthony Lane thinks hideous bromance swill like Knocked Up is swell. Or as he says "even if you tire of Apatow’s vomit jokes..." - I mean how could anybody ever tire of vomit jokes? What a concept! But even if you, inconceivably, tire of vomit jokes, well there is still so much comedy gold. After all, there are fart jokes too! This is what Lane considers a good romantic comedy. Idiot.

The New Yorker Parity Report

A regular report on the gender parity - or lack thereof - of the current issue of The New Yorker based on table of contents by-lines
Includes fiction, non-fiction, poems. Does not include illustrations.

---

A score of 50% means that half of all writers in the issue are female.
A score of greater than 50% would mean more female than male writers. This never happens.

---

Parity change from previous week: 0

June 4 & 11, 2012

Total writers: 23
male: 12
female: 8
gender parity score: 35%

Total writers: 20
male: 13
female: 7
gender parity score: 35%

New Yorker Parity Report: May 28, 2012

This week the parity rate nudges up one point to 35%. However one female author, Lizzie Widdecombe, is counted twice with an article and a restaurant review.

And Woodie Allen (ugh) does Shouts and Murmurs this issue. As with Mac Wellman's intro to "The Bad Infinity" which I blogged about last week, Allen also name-drops Kierkegaard, although in his case it's a feeble attempt at humor. I guess Kierkegaard is the prestige name to drop for 70-something men. The New Yorker just can't stop worshipping Woody Allen, no matter how old and tiresome his schtick grows. I would look forward to his finally dropping dead, but no doubt an entire issue of The New Yorker will be devoted to his wonderousness. It's always a trade-off, isn't it?

I will say that Allen's son Ronan Farrow has turned out to be quite the hotty - mainly because he looks much more like his mother.

The New Yorker Parity Report

A regular report on the gender parity - or lack thereof - of the current issue of The New Yorker based on table of contents by-lines
Includes fiction, non-fiction, poems. Does not include illustrations.

---

A score of 50% means that half of all writers in the issue are female.
A score of greater than 50% would mean more female than male writers. This never happens.

---

Parity change from previous week: +1%

May 28, 2012

Total writers: 20
male: 13
female: 7
gender parity score: 35%

Last week's score
Total writers: 23
male: 15
female: 8
gender parity score: 34%

New Yorker Parity Report - May 21, 2012

This week the parity rate nudges up to 34%, thanks to one more female and one less male than last week - the overall number of bylines is again 23. If this keeps up we may reach parity in a month. But it won't.

And speaking of the New Yorker, I couldn't help responding to this trashing of DEATH OF A SALESMAN with this:

DEATH OF A SALESMAN may have flaws, but as even Giles Harvey admits, that hasn't kept it from being deeply moving to many people. Although Harvey quotes Thoreau in a rare positive comment on SALESMAN, Thoreau has more in common with Harvey than with Miller:

"Thoreau was tilting at a century earlier, when he wrote, in “Walden,” “We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.”

The people who have friends and family living in Maine and Texas, who believe that a magnetic telegraph might contain communications that could be deeply meaningful to them personally are fools to the anti-social Thoreau, who, like Giles Harvey, is certain that the only way to respectably experience worthwhile meaning is through pristine austere self-contained perfection.

The New Yorker Parity Report

A regular report on the gender parity - or lack thereof - of the current issue of The New Yorker based on table of contents by-lines
Includes fiction, non-fiction, poems. Does not include illustrations.

---

A score of 50% means that half of all writers in the issue are female.
A score of greater than 50% would mean more female than male writers. This never happens.

---

Parity change from previous week: +4%

May 21, 2012

Total writers: 23
male: 15
female: 8
gender parity score: 34%

Last week's score
Total writers: 23
male: 16
female: 7
gender parity score: 30%

New Yorker Parity Report - May 14, 2012

This week the parity rate nudges up to 30%, the high-end of the typical female parity range. Although it must be said that three of the by-lines are by one woman, Joan Acocella. I like the cover this week, and James Surowiecki's Financial Page is always great.

The New Yorker Parity Report

A regular report on the gender parity - or lack thereof - of the current issue of The New Yorker based on table of contents by-lines
Includes fiction, non-fiction, poems. Does not include illustrations.

---

A score of 50% means that half of all writers in the issue are female.
A score of greater than 50% would mean more female than male writers. This never happens.

---

Parity change from previous week: +3%

May 14, 2012

Total writers: 23
male: 16
female: 7
gender parity score: 30%

Last week's score
Total writers: 22
male: 16
female: 6
gender parity score: 27%

New Yorker Parity Report - May 5, 2012

Back up to the average parity rate - 27%. The New Yorker is in a groove of having about 22 bylines per issue with the number of female bylines somewhere in the 3 - 7 range. In other non-parity news, the situation for women in Australian theatre is getting worse, and the artistic director of the Guthrie Theatre thinks anybody who isn't a white male playwright and director can suck it - white males are just the best at everything and that's why they get their stuff produced and that's why they get to direct.

The New Yorker Parity Report

A regular report on the gender parity - or lack thereof - of the current issue of The New Yorker based on table of contents by-lines
Includes fiction, non-fiction, poems. Does not include illustrations.

---

A score of 50% means that half of all writers in the issue are female.
A score of greater than 50% would mean more female than male writers. This never happens.

---

Parity change from previous week: +9%

May 5, 2012

Total writers: 22
male: 16
female: 6
gender parity score: 27%

Last week's score
Total writers: 22
male: 18
female: 4
gender parity score: 18%

New Yorker Parity Report - April 30, 2012

Well the Alison Bechdel article did not talk about the Bechdel Test and I was rather disappointed - I think more people have heard of her through that than through anything else. Anyway, the parity score is a crappy 18% this week (50% would be gender parity.)

The New Yorker Parity Report

A regular report on the gender parity - or lack thereof - of the current issue of The New Yorker based on table of contents by-lines
Includes fiction, non-fiction, poems. Does not include illustrations.

---

A score of 50% means that half of all writers in the issue are female.
A score of greater than 50% would mean more female than male writers. This never happens.

---

Parity change from previous week: -14%

April 30, 2012

Total writers: 22
male: 18
female: 4
gender parity score: 18%

Last week's score
Total writers: 22
male: 15
female: 7
gender parity score: 32%

New Yorker Parity Report - April 23, 2012

Slightly higher than usual but still of course a comfortable distance from parity this week. I was intrigued to see an article on Alison Bechdel - I wonder if they mention the Bechdel test? Certainly I've done my part to raise awareness of it with the NYCPlaywrights April Play of the Month. I could read the issue online and find out now, but I'm waiting for the print edition - I prefer to read the hard copy whenever possible.

The New Yorker Parity Report

A regular report on the gender parity - or lack thereof - of the current issue of The New Yorker based on table of contents by-lines
Includes fiction, non-fiction, poems. Does not include illustrations.

---

A score of 50% means that half of all writers in the issue are female.
A score of greater than 50% would mean more female than male writers. This never happens.

---

Parity change from previous week: +5%

April 23, 2012

Total writers: 22
male: 15
female: 7
gender parity score: 32%

Last week's score
Total writers: 26
male: 19
female: 7
gender parity score: 27%

New Yorker Parity Report - April 16, 2012

Back to the usual 1 out of every 4 writers is a female territory. If the critics columns weren't so completely male-dominated they might almost reach parity once in awhile.

The New Yorker Parity Report

A regular report on the gender parity - or lack thereof - of the current issue of The New Yorker based on table of contents by-lines
Includes fiction, non-fiction, poems. Does not include illustrations.

---

A score of 50% means that half of all writers in the issue are female.
A score of greater than 50% would mean more female than male writers. This never happens.

---

Parity change from previous week: +8%

April 16, 2012

Total writers: 26
male: 19
female: 7
gender parity score: 27%

Last week's score
Total writers: 21
male: 17
female: 4
gender parity score: 19%

New Yorker - April 9, 2012

The New Yorker was getting unusually close to parity last week, so to make up for it, the parity score is only a little more than half of last week's score. So don't get too uppity, bitches.

The New Yorker Parity Report

A regular report on the gender parity - or lack thereof - of the current issue of The New Yorker based on table of contents by-lines
Includes fiction, non-fiction, poems. Does not include illustrations.

---

A score of 50% means that half of all writers in the issue are female.
A score of greater than 50% would mean more female than male writers. This never happens.

---

Parity change from previous week: -13%

April 9, 2012

Total writers: 21
male: 17
female: 4
gender parity score: 19%

Last week's score
Total writers: 19
male: 13
female: 6
gender parity score: 32%

New Yorker Parity Report - April 2, 2012

Well we are almost within hailing distance of parity - as close as it's gotten since I started to keep track, except of course the food issue. And still it's 18% short of parity.

The New Yorker Parity Report

A regular report on the gender parity - or lack thereof - of the current issue of The New Yorker based on table of contents by-lines
Includes fiction, non-fiction, poems. Does not include illustrations.

---

A score of 50% means that half of all writers in the issue are female.
A score of greater than 50% would mean more female than male writers. This never happens.

---

Parity change from previous week: +8%

April 2, 2012

Total writers: 19
male: 13
female: 6
gender parity score: 32%

Last week's score
Total writers: 21
male: 16
female: 5
gender parity score: 24%