Please explain to me how your gender can be "undeclared".

[undeterred]

I get not declaring a political party. Hell, I can even understand not declaring a sexual preference. But how can your profile gender be "undeclared"? Why would you not declare your gender?

[BuelahWitch]

1. Maybe they're afraid of getting hit on?

:shrug: Just a guess. I have no problem identifying myself as female.

[ThomCat]

2. Sexism.

Some people treat women differently than men. Sexism certainly exists even here. By having an undeclared gender the hope is that sexism won't come into play.

Unforutnately, it's pretty well known that if your gender is undeclared you're female.

[undeterred]

3. My profile says female and its amazing how often people call me "dude".

Women can be undeterred, you know. :shrug:

[Liberal Dose]

6. I don't think anyone ever checks the profile to see if the poster is male or female.

I've been referred to as a male here on DU several times. You'd think the "Mzz" part would be half a clue. (Tyler Durden, you know what you've done) :hi:

[AllegroRondo]

8. I thought the Mzz meant you had gone to Mizzou

very common abbreviation in these parts.

:hi:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

4. It would be an interesting experiment...

to set up a room where identities were merely numbers. I think people would still make assumptions about the genders of the participants; and many would accept or dismiss comments on the basis of those assumptions.

[ThomCat]

7. That would be an interesting experiment.

Given the content of many of my posts I'd bet some people would assume I'm female.

I've already had people assume I'm black because I speak up against racism. I've been told that I'm just hostile to white people. :P

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. I've never noticed hostility toward anyone from you!

:rofl:
You're such a warm person that I'd imagine everyone would want to identify you with their own gender and race. :beer:

[Gormy Cuss]

5. Yeah, it's the same as the ole 'first initial only in the telephone directory.'

Nearly everyone assumes it means female.


I think some of the 'undeclareds' also have little info in the other profile categories, and the gender one is the only item hard coded to three categories, so if the profile is enabled one must choose.

[xmas74]

14. My ex had only his first initial in the phone book.

He did it as a way to screen out telemarketers and such. They'd ask for "a D (last name here)" and he'd automatically tell them he wasn't interested.

He always said that if they didn't know his first name the call wasn't worth taking.

[liontamer]

17. HI!

:hi:

[ThomCat]

18. Hi Liontamer!

I hope you're not still burying yourself in work. :hug:

How are you doing?

[liontamer]

21. still largely buried in work

but my schedule should clear up a bunch in mid May. Just in time to really enjoy the weather!

[Fran Kubelik]

9. You made me look at my profile for the first time.

I am no longer undeclared. I am most certainly a female.

[Jamastiene]

10. There are many occasions where if someone knows you are

one gender or another, they will treat you differently. It may not always be in a bad way, but to have a meeting of the minds without knowing the gender of another person, IMHO, is a step higher than the ordinary.

I play an online game and recently a person on my friends list found out I was female. She totally reacted to me differently than before she found out. The thing that was so striking about it was that I had thought she knew before that. So, sexism doesn't just come from men toward women or women to men. It comes in all sorts of unsavory flavors. Many people would like to be gender neutral, especailly on a message board or a game, because they can interact on a higher level using mainly their mind. As you can see, it is very hard to explain, but once you have experienced what I did in that game, you'd totally get it. Too bad chat screens in that game could not be saved, because I would have loved to have shown how different this one person reacted and just how funny and offbase it was. We both learned something from it though. She apologized when I pointed it out to her and we are friends in the game still now that we worked it out, but it was a sharp contrast. It was amazing to watch. I wish I could have shared it here.

[undeterred]

12. Sometimes I get a nasty remark in GD

in response to something I've posted, and I say, I'll bet its a " ". And I'm right about 99% of the time. I don't know if they know I'm female when they're saying it, but I know what they are when I hear the reply.

I do agree with you that sexism runs deep, as do heterosexism and racism. But usually face to face you would know someones gender so I am surprised that so many people don't reveal it.

[querelle]

13. Hermaphrodites n/t

Q

[trackfan]

15. Giving too much information is the root of all evil.

[liontamer]

16. this site is supposed to be a fairly anonymous forum

Why would you need information such as age, race, gender, occupation, etc? It's odd that it's even a question.

[kedrys]

19. I'm an equal-opportunity offender

:P

so it technically doesn't make a difference whether you know or not.

[SPKrazy]

20. So That SPK and Other Lounge Pervs

don't start hitting on them...


:shrug:





:rofl: