posted
I started thinking about this after being mistaken for a guy a couple of times, and then managing to do the same to Brinestone.
I wonder why some people have their gender mistaken more than others. Obviously, SNs have something to do with it - some are unmistakably gendered: either the same as their RL owner (Jon Boy, Papa Moose, Porcelain Girl, Annie, Anna, the two Bobs and so on) or the opposite (such as Ralphie - but no-one makes that mistake for very long.)
Some people have more ambigous SNs, but it seems no-one gets confused over their gender: Hobbes for instance, I always viewed as male, even before I read anything that even implicitly confirmed it (and yes, that includes kissing Annie ). Similarly Eruve Nandirial always appeared female to me. On the other hand, I thought dkw was a man for about 2 months. (Sorry Dana...)
So, are there masculine and feminine posting styles? I'd say probably yes.
Can you tell what gender people are from how they post in general, if no reference is made to aspects of their life which would give it away? In my case, I associate a SN with a gender almost unintentionally (its easier than thinking of them as an it), and I guess I get it right more than half the time.
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posted
It's harder for me to tell gender through posting styles, but I can tell in chat, for some reason. It's also helpful when they have pictures online.
I also sometimes get mistaken for a guy, since my name isn't gender-specific at all.
posted
Criminy! I can't tell people's gender even when I meet them in person! How do you expect me to do it from a few lousy posts.
Actually, I have the problem of not being able to "re-code" someone's gender once I find out online. I picture so and so as a female and then find out 1000's of posts later that he's a guy. And I'll persist in believing that the person is female. I guess my ability to process in the abstract realm of cyberspace is limited.
Am I the only one who is so afflicted?
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Edit: Bob, I have the same problem, unless I see a photo that confirms they are in fact the gender they claim to be. Then my mind will accept the shift.
posted
Maybe three times I've been mistaken for a guy in a chatroom. I guess because I'm somewhat of a tomboy. I was talking to someone about TMBG once and we discussed playing guitar and various things. Later he asked what I did for a living, and so that didn't give it away. I forget what he said that made me realize that he thought I was a guy. It was fairly subtle, but then I thought back over what we had been talking about and yes 95% of the people who play electric guitar are male, as well as around 75% of engineers, etc. It wasn't surprising that he made that mistake. It felt sort of interesting. I didn't ever tell him differently. I kind of wanted to see what it would be like, though I would never deliberately pretend, I don't suppose.
Another time, and I think this is funny, I was talking to Paul Jay in parachat. I thought he knew who I was by then. I certainly knew who he was. Oh but then I always take a different name in parachat so probably earlier everyone had guessed me, and maybe Paul wasn't there then and only joined later. Anyway, we happened to be talking about hunting, and being in the woods, and from there got onto guns and all sorts of cool guy-bonding topics like that, and after a long time it came out that he thought I was a guy. <laughs> I still think that's hilarious since Paul and I later became really close friends. I don't think I come across as a guy, in general. I feel like I'm very feminine. It's just that some things that I think are cool are considered guy things.
I have no idea how people make up their minds about gender in chat. To me it's never obvious, unless the name says it. (Eruve Nandiriel is obviously an elvish name for a girl, for instance.) I mistook both Yozhik and Cary Bass back when this topic first came up. It's a complete mystery to me.
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posted
Being mistaken for the opposite gender is a price to pay for having an ambiguous name, but I was still shocked the first time someone actually referred to me as a he. As much fun as I thought it would be to keep people guessing, I think I prefer for it to be known that I am, in fact, female. I'm just not a girly girl. At all. Even though I own way too many shoes...
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quote:(Eruve Nandiriel is obviously an elvish name for a girl, for instance.)
Maybe on your planet. Here where I live we had no clue what it means or where it came from. (the name that is)
--- Everyone without a gender specific screen name defaults to male until they say something that changes that perception.
Posts: 1458 | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
Names ending in "iel", a Quenya (and I think Sindarin too) word element for "maiden" or "daughter of" (can also mean "garlanded"), are always feminine. Have you not read Lord of the Rings? If not, please correct this deficit immediately!
[ December 09, 2003, 12:10 AM: Message edited by: ana kata ]
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quote:Everyone without a gender specific screen name defaults to male until they say something that changes that perception.
Everyone with a new screenname defaults to Jon Boy until they say something that changes that perception.
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posted
meh, I started Lord of the Ring once made it through the prelude and was bored to tears, although I have been told that the rest of the book is worth the time.
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5 points if you get my Gender right 10 points if you get my *real* Hatrack identity correct additional 5 points for any other accurate things you can discern about me from this post.
Edit to add: Naturally, though, I'll want a pretty decent justification for your answers...
posted
I'm male, unbeknownst to many. "Taberah" is not a name (at least, not for a person), so in theory my gender should be ambiguous to those who do not know me. Still, there are some people who think it sounds feminine. I can't quite figure out why this is.
The name is a semi-obscure reference, so I suppose I should have realized that people would make this mistake.
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posted
Androgynous, you are male. Females wouldn't have made a point system, and then required justification. These things are intuitive. They have no justifications.
Identity guess: Papa Moose.
Taberah, I see you as HareBat backwards. And, yes, it sounds female because of being close to names like Tamarah.
[ December 09, 2003, 12:24 AM: Message edited by: ana kata ]
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posted
AK - I agree with you that these things are largely intuitive, but I've also known a number of women who use bullet points regularly and effectively.
Not Pop, either
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quote: People think "Imogen" is a boy's name? Doesn't anyone read Cymbeline anymore?
I think I love you Ophelia! You are the first person who *ever* has known its from Cymbeline - and that includes other Imogens. (I usually just settle if people know its Shakesperean)
As for Androgynous - it's Jon Boy. By Papa Moose's own logic.
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quote: I'm male, unbeknownst to many. "Taberah" is not a name (at least, not for a person), so in theory my gender should be ambiguous to those who do not know me. Still, there are some people who think it sounds feminine. I can't quite figure out why this is.
The name is a semi-obscure reference, so I suppose I should have realized that people would make this mistake.
Edit: There was another post righ above mine that has since been deleted, as side effect of said deletion is remove the sense (if any) that this post had. However it remains thus.
posted
Nobody ever knows what, exactly, gives you away. I've played this game a million times in parachat. Just something undefineable about you says "you".
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quote:I think I love you Ophelia! You are the first person who *ever* has known its from Cymbeline - and that includes other Imogens. (I usually just settle if people know its Shakesperean)
Well, if there are three things I know, they're my Shakespearean comedies, tragedies, and tragicomedies. (I'm pretty shaky on the histories, though.) Although I don't know them nearly as well as I used to.
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posted
Now I'm going to have the Bob problem and keep thinking of you as a guy even though I know you're not. I'll try hard to think of you as a girl to compensate... maybe you'll end up somewhere in the middle Posts: 4393 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
Actually, I had a discussion about this with pooka on the other side. Forgive me, I don't know how to make the link go sttraight to the specific post, but it's towards the bottom.
posted
I think I'll start identifying fiazko in my head as "fia" -- the final "a" should do the trick.
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posted
I thought my screenname was somewhat on the feminine side, even though I created it after my teacher compared me to the old men in the balcony once. It took one or two hissy fits and a fobonic photo to assert that I am, in fact, a girl . I try not to be a hyprocrite, but I mistake females on the 'rack for guys all the time (hansenj, dkw, and Saudade/sosento come to mind immediately). I almost never confuse guys for girls, so I think luthe has a point with the whole gender assumption thing.
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posted
So are the gender assumptions we make purely SN related, or is there more to it than that? (I always thought Sarcasticmuppet was female with a cool SN, even before I knew for sure...)
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