Getting read as male online

[AdamMLP]

I recently joined a photography forum and thought that because there might be a situation where I wanted to show someone I knew in real life - and wasn't out to - something on there I shouldn't use my male name. I'm only known on there as 'Z' because of my birth initial and have no pictures of me on there etc. Somehow I'm still getting read as male though?

Maybe it's just a lucky coincidence, or is it actually obvious from how we type what gender we are? I notice that MTFs seem to type like the women on my Facebook, but I've never noticed a style that men seem to type in?

[Joe.]

I've had this before. Nobody knew what gender I was but they said 'are you male? I can tell by the way you talk'. So yeah, I think there is a certain style that guys seem to type in. I don't have any idea what that style is, I just reckon there is one haha. Since joining Susan's I've noticed a slight change in how I type. I type 'haha' a lot more than I used to and I say 'man' and 'buddy' a lot more. I think there's just another underlying way that guys type that I just can't put my finger on.
Joey

[Tossu-sama]

I got read as male online even before my transitioning. The first website that comes into my mind is deviantART which is kinda surprising because my art isn't always necessarily that male-oriented...
In y!Gallery - which is an art website, too - I got instantly read as male. No idea how, really.

I guess the way one types and people associate it with certain gender is just subconscious. I dunno.

[Darrin Scott]

Generally, photography and music etc forums are male dominated. They probably read you as male because it's a default. It has nothing to with how you look or present. A lot of women on these forums tend to make a big deal about being a woman and post intros about it and stuff.

[Zeon Rat]

Generally, well punctuated and grammatically correct typing is more unisex anyway so the odd 'man', 'buddy' or anything to clue in will have people thinking you're a guy. It's when people get excited or start posting lots of 'xxx' (kisses, not blanks ) or smilies that people start to wonder which gender you are. Also, if you use 'hun' anywhere, it's like a certain female stamp on my facebook.

[AdamMLP]

There seem to be quite a few women on there from what I've seen so in not sure if it's jut defaulting. I don't use words like 'man', 'bro', 'mate' either in real life or online so it's not that, I just try and use good grammar especially as I'm a couple of decades younger than most of them. Maybe it's just because my photos are pretty dark...

[Elspeth]

Generally, well punctuated and grammatically correct typing is more unisex anyway so the odd 'man', 'buddy' or anything to clue in will have people thinking you're a guy. It's when people get excited or start posting lots of 'xxx' (kisses, not blanks ) or smilies that people start to wonder which gender you are. Also, if you use 'hun' anywhere, it's like a certain female stamp on my facebook.

The only time I used 'hun' much was on TG boards when I was first coming out, mainly because I was imitating other transwomen at the time who were attaching themselves to a lot of these kinds of stereotyped expressions, as a sort of exercise (at least this is my opinion) in coming to accept themselves. I don't see that nearly so much today, except maybe from a certain kind of "southern gal" subset of women. But I was frequently asked whether I was a woman, mostly by men, and possibly because I was posting online with my given (usually male-associated) name, but expressing opinions and feminist sympathies that were not very often expressed by men.  This was somewhat instrumental in coming out to myself back then, because it felt very gratifying to me that they would assume that.

[Natkat]

I dont really seam to notice, if a forum seams to be based 80% of men then I think of them as men, if a forum on the other hand is decaited to girls its more obvious to think everyone of them as girls.

I been seen as male on forum exept when im on forum with most girls or if I use terms like.. "boyfriend" or something. cause then people think "its a girl" not "its a gay boy" unless its mention.

[Seb]

I too was read male far before my transition. I am not exactly sure what makes one seem male when typing but some places I default for sure. On Tumblr I assume everyone is female unless proven otherwise. I don't consciously do this, of course.

[insideontheoutside]

Unless I slap my real name on something I get read as male online 100%.

[Felix]

I get read as male online until I start talking about my kid and using emoticons and having feelings and stuff.

[AdamMLP]

Weird how you're all saying emoticons are a female thing. I only use them to my girlfriend in texts, but online I know more guys that use them than girls. Females tend to use "(:" more than "" but that's the only real difference I've noticed there.

So really, we can't define what makes people think of us as male or female in writing, but it's awesome when it happens. I find it even more gratifying because the only British male name (its a UK forum) I can think of beginning with 'Z' is Zac and that's not very common.

[Felix]

My first crush when I was a kid was named Zachariah but I don't think I've met anybody with a Z name since (not counting Zythra).

[aleon515]

Emoticons read feminine?  I use a lot of them because words aren't visual enough and I'm used to leaning heavily on tone.

That's what I've found. If I leave them out it can get me in trouble, where people think I mean somethign in a way I don't mean it.

--Jay

[Liminal Stranger]

Somehow I manage to pass as 100% male online, even in Skype calls with people...but they just automatically assume I'm 12 or something 

I used to tell them otherwise way back in my other life and they didn't believe me. I take full advantage of that now :3

[Felix]

Emoticons read feminine?  I use a lot of them because words aren't visual enough and I'm used to leaning heavily on tone.

That's what I've found. If I leave them out it can get me in trouble, where people think I mean somethign in a way I don't mean it.

I think they should be used more, for this reason. I've had people point out my use of them as girly but yeah I agree that attaching gender associations to it hobbles us further in communicating online. The first link when I googled it was a kind of interesting blog post - http://thehairpin.com/2011/06/mr-darcy-might-have-lol%E2%80%99d-on-male-usage-of-emoticons-and-laugh-cronyms

[Shang]

I surprised the hell out of someone by saying I was physically female.   They were like "o.o No way!  You read as male!"  I've gotten that ever since I was 12/13 and started to go online.  If they found out I was physically female they were all shocked.  I've had just about everyone online tell me that I come off as distinctly male online.   

On putting in emoticons:  I use an insane amount of emoticons from " " to " ^_^ " to " <(^.^<) ", but even then, no one ever guessed I wasn't physically male.  I use the emoticons for the same reason that aelon515 said.  It helps to make sure the proper tone comes across in the post and because " ^_^ " is a silly cut icon.     They might have made me read as feminine (which I am), but never female.

[Jeatyn]

I have always been read as male online, even when I was in my phase of desperately trying to be a girly girl I couldn't always convince people I was female, they'd often think I was trolling. It could have something to do with the "no girls on the internet pics or it never happened" mentality a lot of people have, especially in the gaming community, where most of my online interaction takes place