Gender of Members

[theawakenedone]

Was curious to know which gender is the greatest number amongst us? =]

[Vlad Moskovski]

looks like the males outweigh the females heavily. I wonder if this is true across the entire forum, or just the little pole that is here. Only 10 ppl participated after all.

Vlad

[aelle]

I have a vagina, if that's what you meant to ask. But when it comes to gender, there are more than these 2...

[Gene]

I am a male! I do believe on the boards it is sometimes hard to determine whether a poster is male or female from the user name and posts made from the user.

[Brutha]

I have a vagina, if that's what you meant to ask. But when it comes to gender, there are more than these 2...

I forget to add the undecided option this time...

[Cochonette]

Undecided option? LOL. That doesn't cut it.

I wonder why it's twice as many males. *raises brow* That's an interesting figure.

[TheGoddessMaria]

Originally Posted by Gene

I am a male! I do believe on the boards it is sometimes hard to determine whether a poster is male or female from the user name and posts made from the user.

I always wonder how folks in transition answer this question. I think it must be similar to my feelings on the questions that absurdly categorize race and identity. My heritage is from Mexican and Irish people. I identify myself as Hispanic. I rarely get a satisfactory way of describing myself, but at least it always stays the same. Gender, for some people, is fluid. I have had days where I felt more butch or more femme, to borrow two common terms from the Queer* community.

The question of gender on the forums makes me wonder how the issue of gender is relevant. I understand that men and women are socialized differently to some extent, but also that generalizations are not usually good enough for collections of smart people.

I would welcome a network that was devoid of any indication about the person's looks, age, or even gender, just to see how the conversation would be different.

It is interesting to me that this seemingly simple issue : M/F? : could provoke a response of such complex ideas.


*"Queer" is not a pejorative in this context, please do not pelt me with hailstones; in my world and my community, its just another reclaimed old term. Thank you!

[TheGoddessMaria]

Originally Posted by Cochonette

Undecided option? LOL. That doesn't cut it.

I wonder why it's twice as many males. *raises brow* That's an interesting figure.

I'm speculating, but it's not always easy to "come out" as a woman in an intellectual setting. I have had conversations change after the person I was engaging found out I was female. All of a sudden, the intellectual edge was dulled - well, all of a sudden after I got hit on first, and then told, "of course you think that way, you're a girl!" about a different subject later, that had nothing to do with gender! I was defended by lots of men that time, so it didn't sting for very long.

I've set my profile on Facebook to "male" out of the frustration of seeing diet pills and cosmetic surgery marketed to women my age. (I'm 37) I'm very happy with myself, but like most women, I'm not sure that I remain completely unscathed by the message those ads send : "You'll only be miserable without our product!"

[Bobbie Schroder]

That is true, Gene. Your statement reminds me of a humorous situation on a forum I used to frequent, when I debated heavily on politics, religion, and sex.

On occasion, I would have it out with the most challenging, vicious man on the block who spewed intimidating venom with his arrogant, pseudo-intellect, at anyone who dared to disagree with him. Well, every great once in a while when I could manage to checkmate him, he would change the subject and angrily proclaim to everyone that I wasn't really a woman, even though my avatar displayed otherwise. He swore that I was actually another man from the forum he knew who was a writer, and suspected that he was posing as a woman to debate him. I guess he figured that only a man would be able to meet his match, and have what it takes to sportingly "rip him a new one", level-out his ego, and basically deep-fry his mental mountain oysters.

But I really don't like doing that anymore, since I've become privy to the Law of Attraction and where I stand on the Emotional Guidance Scale. When I debate, I feel a sense of restriction. When I allow, I feel freedom.

"I am woman, hear me mew..." ?.... Not!

Originally Posted by Gene

I am a male! I do believe on the boards it is sometimes hard to determine whether a poster is male or female from the user name and posts made from the user.

[dulaney0330]

Female.

I am surprised by the results. I did not think it was that lop-sided.

[karentax]

I'm super surprised and pleased! It's nice to know so many men are interested in personal development .... or is there another draw?!
--Karen

[Lucid Dream]

I hope it is not too late to add to this topic.

I have had experiences where my gender was unknown (not asked for) when contributing or commenting. I don't think my gender has any great bearing on what I am expressing. The question of gender never came up nor was it required to contribute in the place I refer to. It was just a fairly open and free place where people basically went to have a good old uncensored work rant. Or share humorous experiences etc. And so, there was a great deal of freedom to be silly, and no cencorship for anything but the obvious things that should not be tolerated.

My intention was never to hide my gender, it just never came up and I never really thought about it. It was, however, available to anyone who looked at my original profile where I had indicated it. In the one instance where I actually referred to my gender (about two years into being a member), there was a reaction of surprise. It was very strange, because I had never gone out of my way to not mention it, however, apparently had not done so. It just didn't seem relevant to anything I was expressing, and in some weird way, I expected that people would know.

There are definately preconceptions around gender and how each reacts or expresses themselves. I think knowing it influences how you perceive the message or opinions of someone. I'm not saying it is a bad thing, because there are differences in the way genders express themselves. And if you don't know it, you will automatically assume one way or the other based on your preconceptions.

Interesting.

Lucid

[Sophie2]

I have found that at least 99% of poles are marked with male first and then female. Since female comes first in the alphabet then should it not come first on surveys? Just a question to all regarding our sexist society.

[Sophie2]

Wow, You may be correct! I think our biases come out in situations like this. It is really sad that you were even called a girl? I am wondering if the person was male if he minds being called a boy?
I have found that most of the people I truly admire and have learned the most from are intellectual females. In intellectual forums with women there is not the competition and proving who is right. They are intellectual discussions with true expression without judjment and competition.,

[Sophie2]

Thanks! Nice response

[Cochonette]

Originally Posted by TheGoddessMaria

I'm speculating, but it's not always easy to "come out" as a woman in an intellectual setting. I have had conversations change after the person I was engaging found out I was female. All of a sudden, the intellectual edge was dulled - well, all of a sudden after I got hit on first, and then told, "of course you think that way, you're a girl!" about a different subject later, that had nothing to do with gender! I was defended by lots of men that time, so it didn't sting for very long.

I've set my profile on Facebook to "male" out of the frustration of seeing diet pills and cosmetic surgery marketed to women my age. (I'm 37) I'm very happy with myself, but like most women, I'm not sure that I remain completely unscathed by the message those ads send : "You'll only be miserable without our product!"

Whoa. My question is why do you even need to list your sex on Facebook? I have never put down my sex, so I don't get gendered ads. If you put male, you're still going to get stereotyped ads.

I've thought about telling people I am a man online for an experiment... I want to see if women generally treat me differently. And I was thinking the same thing about transgendered people. You could be male, but you may identify as a woman and with a female body.

I always find it interesting when different spaces are dominated by one gender. A general vegan forum I go to has a poll that says 65% female (there are also a lot of gay men), but the vegan fitness forum I go to seems pretty male-dominated. Are women not into fitness? I understand the vegan bodybuilding forum being male-dominated, but I hadn't noticed a gender difference in general fitness before.

I suspect there are a lot of men here because...
-Steve posts about being "a man" (I always find that weird, frankly...)
-There are posts about business, which more men seem interested in than women.
-And just generally... people may identify with Steve's masculinity/maleness?

[Kindred]

Biologically I'm male, but I identify as androgyne.

I find gender roles limiting to my personal growth, so I assume a genderless identity.

Originally Posted by Cochonette

I've thought about telling people I am a man online for an experiment... I want to see if women generally treat me differently.

When not stating my gender explicitly online, people tend to assume I'm either male or female. I can't say much for women, but men talk to women much differently than they do to other men. It's hard to generalize, but men speak in ways that connect more with women, whereas when talking to other men they are more critical and closed-off.

[Cado]

I am a MAN!

[Cochonette]

Originally Posted by Kindred

Biologically I'm male, but I identify as androgyne.

I find gender roles limiting to my personal growth, so I assume a genderless identity.

I also consider myself genderless. It's nice to see the rare other person who does.

When not stating my gender explicitly online, people tend to assume I'm either male or female. I can't say much for women, but men talk to women much differently than they do to other men. It's hard to generalize, but men speak in ways that connect more with women, whereas when talking to other men they are more critical and closed-off.

People tend to assume my sex/gender as well, as demonstrated in a recent thread I opened. But I can't say I haven't assumed of other people as well, although I like to see when people don't reveal this information about themselves, if I can guess. Just as an experiment.

I would expect for straight men to be more closed-off from other men. A lot of straight men tell me they connect better with women and don't have any close male friends. Although I am not particularly attracted to men, a LOT of my close friends identify as men; I don't know if it's because generally men just like me more than women do or what.

Oh, it would also be interesting to see how gay men would respond if I told them I was male... I used to go to a chat room that had a lot of gay men.

[aelle]

Kindred, Cochonette, cool I am a pretty cis woman myself, although I don't believe in the gender binary and support those who want to identify outside of it.

Speaking of which, have you heard of this Swedish couple who raised their kid without telling their sex to strangers? I find it pretty awesome that the child will be able to develop a gender identity without every random person's pressure (the parents do identify within the gender binary). And frankly, I think that for the most part, whether one has a vagina or not, or identifies as a woman or not, is no one's business. Why would you need this information to interact with a preschooler, or on an internet forum?

[rgmwilliams]

I'm glad they use the word, "Gender" . . . If the poll was on "Sex" , my mind would be required to make the joke, "Is this frequency per unit of time?" or "Total times in life".

[Andrew Brunelle]

We got about a 60/40 split of males to females. That seems about right.

[aelle]

Funny that this thread should pop up again when we're having this discussion! I find it highly relevant.

[CODIE]

I would have thought it would be more female but how wrong I was lol.

Hi I am a laydeee BTW!!

[Ashton Cartwright]

*looks in shorts*

Hmmm. I guess that means I'm a male. . . :-)

[GeorgeMagister]

I find it sort of odd to see a thread on a discussion forum oriented toward personal development that focuses on and reinforces the male/female binary. I know that its intent was not exclusionary, and not to erase the people that fall outside of it, but the poll as it is seems very much counter-intuitive.

I do identify as male, have always been biologically male, and am cis. I guess that just makes me really boring then, now doesn't it? At least, I think so.

[secrets0stolen]

Originally Posted by Kindred

When not stating my gender explicitly online, people tend to assume I'm either male or female. I can't say much for women, but men talk to women much differently than they do to other men. It's hard to generalize, but men speak in ways that connect more with women, whereas when talking to other men they are more critical and closed-off.

I've definitely experienced this. I also find I'm more likely to not be taken as seriously in arguments when people know I'm female, but I'm more likely to be personally attacked when people think I'm male.
I don't tend to identify with the gender binary either. It honestly depends on my mood

[T2000]

Male....

Why There is no gender sign beside the avatar?

[vicente]

el doctor dijo, es nene... mmm...

[Folly]

I'm a female/lady/woman