Ok. I need some help. My friend announces the Dead Man of the Year on his blog every year. He says
I'm not sure if you read this year's DMOTY yet, but Hartnell was one of the runners-up. Damn it all, though... I still haven't had a woman DMOTY. I've had runners up that were women, but no winners. I figure if I just MAKE it a woman simply due to gender that's as bad as insisting that it be a man, so I try to be fair with each award. We'll see.
I said
Now, here's the part where I get slightly preachy. I agree that having a woman just because she's a woman is redic. However, it wouldn't be *just* because she's a woman. Obviously there was something that made her a runner up-so it wouldn't be based on gender alone. Secondly, I think there are some inherent biases that prevent you (or me, for that matter) from being completely objective. You're going to recognize and relate to characterisics in a man more readily and easily than you would a woman. Maybe try to make one of your female runners up DMOTY and see if she doesn't stack up.
He says
Maybe in most men, but not me. There were runners up that were female the past two years. The thing is that I had to recognize the person fairly. It's not as if I shunned the women in any way. I think if you look at the Runners Up for 2006 and 2007 you'll see a lot of quality commemoration on them. However, for example, to me the biggest splash in entertainment of 2006 was in relation to Superheroes. Superman was the first superhero, and he was all over entertainment in 2006, he was created by two men. I honored them both. 2005 was linked heavily to King Kong. It was an unlikely candidate, but Obie won (pun intended). There may have been influences over 2007's world of entertainment that were more noteworthy than Phil Hartman's by women, but not any that were actually Dead, which, by definiton, is a requirement.
I want to fight back with examples, but I'm blanking.