Problem
"Gentlemanly Orthodoxy: Critical Race Feminism, Whiteness Theory, and the APA Manual," Thompson (2004) compared specific APA reference list entry formatting rules to those of other styles, such as Chicago Styles:
Finally, Chicago references include full names rather than surnames with initials. From a gender-blind (and to some extent a color-blind) perspective, the use of initials is preferable because it helps prevent readers from prejudging scientific work according to nonscientific criteria, such that "Allison" is accorded less legitimacy than "Arthur." Yet from a CRF [Critical Race Feminism] perspective, the use of initials is problematic, functioning to obscure gender and in some cases ethnicity. Identifying Maria Martinez Williams as M.M. Williams, for example, encourages an implicitly white, male audience to read her work as if Williams were one of them. Removing particular identifying characteristics, in other words, helps allow scholars outside of the white, male norm to be treated as honorary gentleman. (Thompson, 2004, p. 37)
Do you think Thompson's argument is valid (do you think it is important to accurately and actively reveal the gender and ethnicity of authors of sources in APA references)? Why or why not? How would you change reference list formatting rules in order to best give credit to the author's gender and ethnicity?