User:Zmm98/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
LGBT themes in mythology - LGBT themes in mythology

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose this article because I am really interest in some of the mythological origins of the LGBT and queer themes we see in modern society now. I think it is very important to recognize how these societal themes, issues, and schools of thought have evolved, for better or worse, to the mindset of our modern Western society. Many modern themes regarding LGBT and queer-ness have been negative, acts of sodomy being illegal, homosexuality being classified as a mental disorder, etc., for example. But, this hasn't always been the case, with other societies and civilizations, including the ancient ones, having an entirely different concept of sexuality, as opposed to the strict binary our society has built.

The article was pretty extensive in direct examples of differing sexualities in ancient myths from across the world and varying cultures. It especially had an extensive list of examples from the mythologies of now-Europe, but I thought it was still lacking in some extensive examples from the mythologies deriving in Africa and the Americas.

Evaluate the article
Lead section

Does the lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic?


 * Yes

Does the lead include a brief description of the article's major sections?


 * Yes, but only in the "Contents" subsection, not as a part of the lead paragraphs

Does the lead include information that is not present in the article? (It shouldn't.)


 * No

Is the lead concise or is it overly detailed?


 * Very concise, it does mention some about 20th century to current queer studies applied to these myths, but I do think that inclusion is warranted

Content

Is the article's content relevant to the topic?


 * Yes, it all includes direct example of myths with LGBT themes, including links to those myths of there is an article for it or for the culture it derives from

Is the content up-to-date?


 * I think so, I don't know if there's any other additional research into the modern application of queer studies into these myths yet

Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong?


 * No content that doesn't belong. I do think that it is missing some more inclusion of myths from Africa or the Americas, as it does focus a lot on the mythologies of Europe and Western cultures

Does the article deal with one of Wikipedia's equity gaps? Does it address topics related to historically underrepresented populations or topics?


 * Yes, it is focusing primarily on LGBT individuals from myth and the modern application of sexuality

Tone and Balance

Is the article from a neutral point of view?


 * Yes, because it is focusing on historical myths and the cultures they came from, it is providing information and opinions of LGBT information in accordance with the contexts of those myths and their cultures

Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?


 * No, all claims are in context of the myth and its culture

Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?


 * I think the myths of European and Western cultures are quite extensive, in comparison to the myths of Africa, the Americas, and the indigenous of Oceania. But, I can't be quite sure if that is biased Eurocentrism or simply that the Western cultures had more mythological instances of varying sexualities in their myths.

Are minority or fringe viewpoints accurately described as such?


 * The article does have a "critical perspective" section that mentions the research being done into this topic, and how minority or even out-of-context modern and Western academia may be distorting the contexts of some myths

Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another?


 * No, the article just lays out information, links to examples, and reminds the reader that modern research will not be 100% historically or culturally accurate to the ancient and pre-modern civilizations they come from.

Sources and References

Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information?


 * Yes, it has extensive sections for the references and bibliography section. And, every subsection for every part of the world has addition articles with their references as well, for example the subsection for myths of Judaism also links to a separate article of LGBT themes in the Bible and in Judaism specifically.

Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic?


 * Yes, much of the references in the bottom of the article link to current research being dome into the topic and the exiting literature available

Are the sources current?


 * Yes, the 20th century research is cited a few times, but it also includes many research papers and literature from modern queer theory, modern research into classical literature, and modern study into ancient myths and cultures.

Are the sources written by a diverse spectrum of authors? Do they include historically marginalized individuals where possible?


 * The bibliography cites many authors and researchers of queer theory, many of whom are members themselves of the LGBTQ community. As for the primary sources of these myths, they of course span throughout the world, and the researchers that specialize in these civilizations and cultures.

Are there better sources available, such as peer-reviewed articles in place of news coverage or random websites? (You may need to do some digging to answer this.)


 * I don't think so. Especially with the primary sources of myth, you can't really get a better source of an ancient Roman myth than Ovid himself.

Check a few links. Do they work?


 * Yes, many link to other Wiki articles, and some to direct papers and research. All I checked do work.

Organization and writing quality

Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read?


 * Yes, some sections are even just lists of myths, so the reader can go directly to that rather than read about a myth in a separate Wiki article that doesn't focus primarily on that myth

Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors?


 * Not that I saw. All grammatically correct and no spelling errors.

Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic?


 * Yes. I especially like that it is split into different areas of the world, then split again into the different cultures of that area. For example, there's a sections for the Americas, that then has smaller sections for the Aztecs, then Mayans, etc.

Images and Media

Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic?


 * Yes, it has some images of the subjects of a few of the myths it lists

Are images well-captioned?


 * Yes, and links to the art or original artist as well

Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations?


 * Yes

Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way?


 * Yes, the art for a particular myth is alongside the listing of that myth

Talk page discussion

What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?


 * Some conversations include adding "folklore", splitting the article into two, one for LGB themes and one for transgender themes, and a whole section on adding myths that were excluded and a whole new section for LGBT related myths in Hinduism

How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?


 * Yes, the WikiProjects include Mythology, LGBT Studies, Religion, Sexology & Sexuality, and Gender Studies. Rated B-Class for all.

How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?


 * I don't think we've really talked about this in class, but it was interesting to me how it was still similar. Much of the article does speak of how the modern thought of homosexuality/heterosexuality is a strict binary that is very new and fabricated by our society, and the article says that exactly, that many of the cultures spoken of in the article did not have that strict binary we define LGBT and queer-ness by today

Overall impressions

What is the article's overall status?


 * I think the article is great and has a lot of information. There isn't too much room for improvement because it does have a lot of examples and links to those myths, but it can expand on non-Western cultures a bit more

What are the article's strengths?


 * I think the article does a really great job of listing all myths with LGBT or queer themes with links to this specific myths and their contexts, cultures, and civilizations of origin

How can the article be improved?


 * I think it has a great list of myths from Western cultures such as the extensive list of Greek and Roman myths, but not much for the Americas, Africa, or even Oceania to an extent. It'd be great of those sections were just as extensive and well-developed, if possible

How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed?


 * Well-developed, the examples of myths and their links are all there and all work