Online Gender Identity Revisited

[Swamp]

If you email or twitter me, you don't have to reveal your forum ID until after Swamp makes her selections.

   I find this extremely hilarious and ironic.  I guess I need to get more involved in the forums again.  Just for future reference for everyone, I am a male.  But hey, it's no skin off my nose, but it did start me to wondering so I started a new thread.

The reason I find this so funny is because I did this in reverse to Rachel Swirski, but back when her name was "palimpsest".  This wasn't the only time that it happened to Rachel; and the forum had a big, long discussion about online gender identity.  Aside from other opinions, one of the basic premises of that discussion was that by default the male gender was assumed due unconscious sexism.

So how does that apply to the reverse situation?  I am really fascinated by the whole online gender ambiguity thing.  I mean unless I talk specifically about being a father or husband or say I think [insert female actress] is sexy, or use my own picture as my avatar, there is no reason for anyone to assume I'm not a woman, and even then...  But it is interesting that something that we say in a post or the types of things we talk about, set off a cue for someone to perceive us one way or another.

I remember I thought, as did others, when Steph first came on, that he was female.  Steph can be "Stephan" or "Stephanie", but in my mind, it went for Stephanie, but I think for me it also had to do with his initial Eyore avatar (now it's Hello Kitty).  Why does Eyore mean female?  I don't know, for me it did.

It very fascinating.  Any other thoughts?

[Zathras]

The original mix up is what caused my confusion.  I read a lot of threads (and still am) to catch up on the history of the forums.  I didn't remember all of that, but it must have lodged in my memory somewhere and gotten all twisted.  I've said that my mind runns 100 mph and that it's more like a tornado.    

[DKT]

Clearly, you need a new user picture

[Swamp]

Clearly, you need a new user picture

You know, I think you're right.  I don't know if this one helps with the gender thing, but I like it.

[Ocicat]

It's a good start.  But you could take it further.

[stePH]

I remember I thought, as did others, when Steph first came on, that he was female.  Steph can be "Stephan" or "Stephanie", but in my mind, it went for Stephanie, but I think for me it also had to do with his initial Eyore avatar (now it's Hello Kitty).  Why does Eyore mean female?  I don't know, for me it did.

I get that a lot.  It's actually "Stephen" not "Stephan".  (In RL, people often miscall me "Steven".)  As for Eeyore, I think people tend to associate Winnie-the-Pooh imagery-in-general with girls. 

And of course, I'm just asking for it with the HK picture 

[MacArthurBug]

It's a mistake I make often as well- I try to err on the side of neutral (as in if unsure wait until they clarify). It's something that has been applied to me- since I prefer to use non gender specific online names.  This leads me to wondering if a bigger percentage of what online communities prefer to stay gender neutral, and if their reasons are simular to mine (to initially mess with peoples heads).

[izzardfan]

With my avatar, I suppose people might guess either way.  I did give away my gender somewhat here

Why does Eyore mean female?  I don't know, for me it did.

In my case, it would be correct, as I have a major obsession with Eeyore

[Russell Nash]

Why does Eyore mean female?  I don't know, for me it did.

stePh's original Eyeore was also sitting in a bunch of flowers with butterflies around his head.  There was also a lot of pink.  I don't know what my impression would have  been if it had been a shot of Eyeore looking for his tail.

[gelee]

Yeah, I try to keep things non-gendered for a couple of reasons.  I some people do it to stir things a bit, but I think it simply doesn't matter very much, at least in these forums.  Also, there's the anonymity thing.

[Listener]

Yeah, I try to keep things non-gendered for a couple of reasons.  I some people do it to stir things a bit, but I think it simply doesn't matter very much, at least in these forums.  Also, there's the anonymity thing.

It doesn't matter, true, but I think it makes forum posts flow more clearly when we're trying to talk about what someone else said (ie: stePH said in his/her post vs stePH said in his post).

[DKT]

Clearly, you need a new user picture

You know, I think you're right.  I don't know if this one helps with the gender thing, but I like it.

That's what I'm talking about!

[gelee]

Yeah, I try to keep things non-gendered for a couple of reasons.  I some people do it to stir things a bit, but I think it simply doesn't matter very much, at least in these forums.  Also, there's the anonymity thing.

It doesn't matter, true, but I think it makes forum posts flow more clearly when we're trying to talk about what someone else said (ie: stePH said in his/her post vs stePH said in his post).

That is a good point.  English doesn't really have a good singular non-gendered pronoun.  I wouldn't object to being referred to as an "it," but I know some folks would.

[Zathras]

There was a short (?) I read once.  It was in the future, and the human race had 3 sexes.  I think they used Ne or something like that for the 3rd gender.  Basically they took all our male and female pronouns and replaced the beginnings with N.

[Swamp]

There was a short (?) I read once.  It was in the future, and the human race had 3 sexes.  I think they used Ne or something like that for the 3rd gender.  Basically they took all our male and female pronouns and replaced the beginnings with N.

I've seen this done effectively in stories as well.  I gave this example in the previous discussion:

In his story Dream Engine, Tim Pratt uses the pronouns zie (he/she) and zir (his/her) when talking about a character who can transform to different species/genders.  It was very effective for the story.

[Ocicat]

I've certainly had people guess my gender incorrectly.  This bugs me not at all.  My online persona is pretty gender neutral.  I think some people assume male because it's the default, and some people assume female because they associate cats more with feminine traits.

[Poppydragon]

Folk tend to assume I'm female, or when they find out I'm not, gay  When all along its simply a nickname a friend gave me years ago I was actually told that "You don't look like a Poppydragon" when I gave my email address at a hotel the other week. Strangely she couldn't tell me what a Poppydragon DID look like 

[Raving_Lunatic]

The whole online gender identity thing is something I hate. Case in point, there was a poster on some other message board who had a masculine screen name and I had no idea she was a girl until she told me, which was a facepalm moment after weeks of referring to her as "he".



TBH, I think that the stereotypical image on an internet/forums user is the typical male geek type image, and this tends to influence people. Plus, I don't know about you but I automatically assume people are male if I can't tell.

[Heradel]

I've linked stuff that's published under my real name, and the photo to the left of what you are reading (yes, these words here, right now) is my left eye, so I've never really felt a strong need for anonymity. I have self-portraits in my flickr stream (which is linked below these words right here).

Then again, I'm young and don't have a job where I could get in a lot of trouble for what I post. I also have people who I see in person (on streets and such, physical streets) on a regular basis that call me by my handle so I don't really see the identities as being that separate. I don't really think gender should be a big secret, nor do I think you really need to broadcast it. The same can be said for orientation.

That said, I try to avoid gender-specific pronouns unless I'm reasonably sure.