Writing Style and Gender

[Cheshire Cat]

Is there a way to distinguish gender through writing style? For example, if you were given 2 poems or stories, one written by a man and the other by a woman, would you be able to guess correctly who wrote what? And if so, how?

I've always wondered about women who have had to use male pen names in the past, and nobody really knew until their works became successful.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by Cheshire Cat

Is there a way to distinguish gender through writing style? For example, if you were given 2 poems or stories, one written by a man and the other by a woman, would you be able to guess correctly who wrote what? And if so, how?

I've always wondered about women who have had to use male pen names in the past, and nobody really knew until their works became successful.

I certainly am unaware of a way to determine gender from reading the written word. I do know that some males have written romance novels from the feminine perspective and some female authors have had male pen names and written as if their primary characters were male.

[Cheshire Cat]

Thanks for replying, Gene! I was just curious since it always amazes me that there are wonderful male authors such as Nicholas Sparks who can write such sensitive and eloquent romance stories like The Notebook or incredibly gifted female authors like JK Rowling who can write such magically, epic adventures like the Harry Potter series. In the beginning, I assumed JK Rowling was a man! Maybe the opposite genders aren't so opposite after all?

Does anyone have a favorite book where it surprised them to learn the gender of the author?

[Indiana]

Actually, there is an online writing analysis tool that predicts with a high degree of accuracy whether a paragraph is written by a male or female.

It didn't work for me, technically, since I am a female and it picked several pieces of my writing as being penned by a male. But then again, in other tests I have done that determine whether you think like a man or a woman, I come out strongly on the male-brained side (86 percent tendency - which is higher than a lot of men get). Those tests measure stuff like spatial grasp, use of emotive words, use of pronouns, etc.

I can't find the link right now but will post it if I do.

When I was reading Lionel Shriver's book "We Need To Talk About Kevin", I found myself marvelling that a male writer could write such an incredibly convincing female lead. But then I realised that Lionel is actually a woman who changed her name when she was a teenager (born Margaret Ann). So I guess her gender came through despite my initial misunderstanding.

[brendannz]

Apparantly females are more likely to use more emoticons in instant messaging.

I don't know if you can tell by poems and stories, but I think through instant messaging you do get a feel for conversation styles, and it may be much easier to tell female from male.. Just by how they respond.

I googled male /female brain test, and found this one; BBC - Science & Nature - Sex ID

and I got 50% male and 50% female, and I prefer feminine faces (according to the test). That makes quite a bit of sense to me, I've got tenancies towards logic and emotion, and not really one or the other... But I wouldn't read too much into it still..

[Cheshire Cat]

My personal brain score also fell squarely in the center. Nice test, thanks!

Nowadays, the author's gender shouldn't really matter in order to succeed as a writer so why do you think a woman would use a male pen name or vice versa? Are we that subconsciously biased before we even start reading through the first paragraph? When I decide to choose a book, I tend to look at the title and cover first but not usually the author's name unless the story really impresses me.

[brendannz]

Originally Posted by Cheshire Cat

My personal brain score also fell squarely in the center. Nice test, thanks!

If everybody's brain is 50/50 male/ female, then maybe it's not such a good test.

I'm not sure but I had a transvestite flatmate once, and I flatted with her for 4 months, and didn't know she was a guy for the first 3 months of flatting with her, until one of the other flatmates told me.. That was a bit weird, but if I really wanted to know, I could've figured it out..

Anyway, with writing styles, I think maybe it would depend if it was narrated from 1st or 3rd person..

[Cheshire Cat]

How would you have figured out the transvestite without physically examining him/her?

Can you give an example of a 1st person or 3rd person narrative that would be typical of a male or female writer? Really great writers should be able to easily fool their readers, I think.

[brendannz]

Originally Posted by Cheshire Cat

How would you have figured out the transvestite without physically examining him/her?

Can you give an example of a 1st person or 3rd person narrative that would be typical of a male or female writer? Really great writers should be able to easily fool their readers, I think.

The transvestite was Filipino and her english was textbook english, "where is the milk located" etc. So it wasn't easy to figure out by her way of talking. She had a fairly male face, and with facial stubble, and a male body shape of course. (shoulders, hips etc) So if you did examine, it would be easy to figure out..

I wouldn't be able to give an example with 1st or 3rd person actually. I'm more of a non-fiction reader than fiction, I have trouble concentrating when reading fiction sometimes for some reason, (I still read a bit, Douglas Coupland, Nick Hornby) but i just guessed it would be easier to write about the other gender from 3rd person than 1st person..

I think some writers can write mainly about things they're familiar with by their own experiences though, and still be good writers, I'd think. (going from song-writers, and also film writers)

[Cheshire Cat]

I don't read as much fiction as I used to either. Not sure why, but non-fiction writing (history, science, nature, etc) holds more interest for me at this time. It's easy to see how writing about facts is gender-neutral, but when it comes to the emotional quality of words, can we really say that one gender naturally tends to be better than the other at expressing it? Weren't many of the greatest love stories written by men or is it unfair to make that general conclusion when women weren't often given the same opportunities?