Sunday, April 14, 2013
Welcome to the Woozles
Yeah sitting there scratching your head? Or maybe you are thinking back to reading Winnie the Pooh as a Kid? Well I actually want to look at the Woozle effect or the less fun name of evidence by citation. I started looking at this because of a discussion with a friend who gets his information from what others have been saying.
So where did the word Woozle come from? Yes it came from Winnie the Pooh chapter 3 which is titled "In Which Pooh and Piglet Go Hunting and Nearly Catch a Woozle" which is of course where Pooh and Piglet walk round and round a tree following more and more tracks in the snow from supposedly a Woozle and then more and more Woozles. Except there are no Woozles it is just Pooh and Piglet leading themselves a merry chase (how many people already can see where this is going?)
So what does it mean when used to discuss evidence presented about striptease? Well a Woozle effect occurs when frequent citation of previous publications or research that lack evidence mislead individuals, groups and the public into thinking or believing there is evidence, and nonfacts become urban myths and factoids (thanks wiki for a good definition). It describes a pattern of bias seen within social sciences and which is identified as leading to multiple errors in individual and public perception, academia, policy making and government. A Woozle is also a claim made about research which is not supported by original findings.
Okay so we now know what a Woozle effect is so how does it apply to striptease? Well Lilith and Eden both would be Woozles in my mind as would the quoting of Holsopple for the UK. Remember the research has to be full of errors (Lilith and Eden) or in the case of Holsopple lacks relevance due to the age of the research and where the research was done.
Must admit I have a picture in my head of leading anti striptease proponents walking around a tree and them dragging in people who are not aware of the errors and more and more footprints are left in the snow and the belief gets bigger and bigger even though there is nothing there. So now we know what a Woozle is and how the anti striptease people use it..... OH BOTHER
TonyN
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Well i see the Woozle effect strikes again:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentish_gazette/news/2013/april/11/lap_dancing_club.aspx
what a joke! The editor really should have done their homework before allowing such a ridiculous article.
Scaremongering seems to be just the easiest form of journalism. Guess that I am going to be hunting Woozles ;)
DeleteWelcome to The Woozle Club - It amazes me that the term "Woozle Effect" has been about for so long and yet hardly gets used. It's also fascinating that literately all Woozles are, as Dutton (Rethinking Domestic Violence), observed:
ReplyDelete"Woozles are usually not simply a matter of authentic misreporting. They also reveal a desire to read into the data an a priori position that is really not there, what Bacon calls "idols of the theatre". ... All the data reporting mistakes I have found in the literature, without exception, were made in the direction of supporting feminist preconceptions."
I also Look at the very pertinent observation of Val Yopung:
“Whilst there are reasons why feminists limit discussion on the subject of women abusers, these reasons are valid only to feminism.”
From Female Sexual Abuse of Children - http://goo.gl/mdqCT
The Woozles are very significant as are the reaction to anti-woozle evidence. Look at Erin Pizzey, Founded Refuge - The First DV Sherlter in the world, Chiswick Women's Aid, in 1971 - She says Domestic Violence is not just women as Victims, she is attacked threatened and family pets killed - she went into exile after Bomb Threats that the Bomb Squad found Credible and a real threat.
There seems to be a Constant Stream of Woozles and It's always claimed to just be an error, a mistake an honest slip up, oh it's not because it's women or women's issues (No Sexism or Stereotypes please) ... But the scale and focus warrants Academic Study due to the Massive Statistically Significant bias inherent in where the Woozles lead - see this YouTube and watch Over half a million Domestic Violence Victims Vanish By magic - because they are men, and the number of Women grow by 200% - a Double Edged Woozle. http://youtu.be/NDoMaikQr24
I'd love to know how The Woozle Effect is cropping up on your field of interest - I take it that it's linked to claims of increased rates of Gendered crime - and always against women. I't all plays to supposed common sense and Intuition and not reality?
Are there any refutations of such claims and stats in legit journals - they would feature in any update of Wiki pages and definitions.
The Woozle effect is cropping up around the Lilith Report and its follow up the Eden report but primarily Lilith. Which stated there is an increase in rape associated with the increase in clubs in Camden. The report stood for several years until it was refuted. The work is by Dr Brooke Magnanti and there are pieces all over the web about it. Object who have been quoting the work for years know that the work is wrong but continue to roll it out as they have nothing else that is valid to quote.
Delete"Woozles are usually not a simply a matter of authentic misreporting. They also reveal a desire to read into the data an a priori position that is really not there, what Bacon calls "idols of the theatre". ... All the data reporting mistakes I have found in the literature, without exception, were made in the direction of supporting feminist preconceptions."
DeleteDutton, Donald g., "Rethinking Domestic Violence", UBC Press, 2011, ISBN 0774859873, 9780774859875, pp. 28-29
Click Here To Read It At Google Books