2021 Shortlist
The Physical Traits that Define Men and Women in Literature
Country/area: United States
Organisation: The Pudding
Organisation size: Small
Publication date: 1 Jul 2020
Credit: Erin Davis, Liana Sposto, and Matt Daniels
Project description:
This project mines the text of 2,000 books to find the adjectives used to describe men and women’s body parts.
Impact reached:
The project confirmed quantitiatvely what women have known qualitatively: that women are often described in streotypically sexist ways.
Techniques/technologies used:
The data collection was done in Python. Then, we worked with an illustrator to weave drawings throughout the narrative. They were imported as SVGs and the animated with Javascript. The project also used D3.js and Scrollama.js for scrollytelling.
What was the hardest part of this project?
The hardest part was pacing all of the illustrated elements and making sure that even the dataviz, which often is rendered pixel perfect, looked sketchy.
What can others learn from this project?
The more different types of skills you bring into a project, the better the output.
