E-Passing?!

[Red_Rachel]

So I've been chatting with random people on Omegle recently, and in chats that haven't asked for asl, I find that 9 times out of 10 I'm assumed to be male. And every time it happens, I grin even though it could just be a fluke. So other than to share my random slice of happiness here, I guess I'm also posing a question. Do you guys think that there's a difference in speaking mannerisms, even through text that's noticeable? Or maybe it's just kind of that male is assumed until proven otherwise.

[Autumn]

As this website proves, everyone on the internet is male, even the women.*

lol hon pretty much unless u talk like this ur gonna b assumed 2 b a man (( srry *hug* lol ofc u shud still feel good bc u dont type like dis

lol have a flower @-'--,---- ^_^ lol



*It's a joke.


Also, people still ask/give ASL? You'd think the kids these days would think that's old and lame and just link their myspace address as their user handle...

[petzjazz]

*Warning: bubble-bursting ahead, Captain!

I've always found that on sites which aren't overwhelmingly dominated by female users, a gender-anonymous user is almost always (and just plain always in my experience) referred to as "he". Since the English language lacks a proper gender-neutral single-person pronoun, "he" is used as the default in a gender-unsure scenario. Yes, they are probably assuming you're male, but no, it has nothing to do with your true identity shining through your text - and everything to do with "male" being falsely regarded as the default sex in our society. I say "falsely" because biologically, the female is the default sex of which the male is a mutation.   

[Mister]

I doubt you're "passing" because of anything you're doing or not doing-- there have been studies that indicate that users are most often assumed to be white and male.

[Lachlann]

I doubt you're "passing" because of anything you're doing or not doing-- there have been studies that indicate that users are most often assumed to be white and male.

Yep, unfortunately.

For some people girls don't exist on the Internet, though they aren't being serious... but, some might be:
G.I.R.L. = Guys In Real Life

[kestin]

I dunno, back when I used to post regularly on UtB that turned into YTDAW, the biggest CSI boards on the net. Everyone was assumed female XD at least by me since it was fairly female dominated.

[Lachlann]

I dunno, back when I used to post regularly on UtB that turned into YTDAW, the biggest CSI boards on the net. Everyone was assumed female XD at least by me since it was fairly female dominated.

I'll agree to that. It depends on the general audience a lot of the time.

[Jamie-o]

Er, O.K. ... showing my e-ignorance here -  ASL?  The only ASL I know is American Sign Language.  Doesn't seem to fit.  Will someone please enlighten me?

[Lachlann]

Er, O.K. ... showing my e-ignorance here -  ASL?  The only ASL I know is American Sign Language.  Doesn't seem to fit.  Will someone please enlighten me?

Age/Sex/Location

[Jamie-o]

Age/Sex/Location

Thanks!  That reminds me of something that happened at work a few weeks ago.  The boss announced that he had a list of people who needed to undergo CBT.  Eventually I got someone to explain that he was referring to Computer-Based Training.  I have to admit, the CBT I had heard about sounded much more entertaining. 

[Silver]

There are supposedly gender norms for typing as well. Generally unfocused on emotion, more focused on the outside world, not too much time spent on description, etc.. Stuff like that. Also stating opinions as facts.

Autumn was definitely right. And gender neutral is male. There are no girls on the internets.

SilverFang

[findingreason]

I went on that website...the occasional people I ran into that I could actually talk to and have a smart chat thought I was female, so I guess that may have said something about me perhaps lol.

[maxxwell]

Oddly enough, I find that when I'm having a basic chat with someone, they always think I'm female. It isn't until I actually start talking about my interests or whatever that they think overwise. I think, maybe, it's the names I use on the video games I play(since my sister is generally the person who picks out my character names), but they almost always assume I'm female at first. Lol, then I get into a conversation about music, television, movies...and that's when I get A LOT of "Huh...wait...are you a guy or a girl? I thought you were a girl, but now I'm just confused."(especially when I start talking about Digimon or Ninja Turtles..)

It depends on where you go, in my opinion. I play a shockwave game called Inklink, and I get ASL'd there every 5 minutes(huge hookup place..but I just like the game), and unless you have a masculine name...you are automatically assumed to be female. In fact, I use a somewhat gender neutral name on there(in my opinion), and yet I'm constantly told to change my screen name, because it's not masculine enough. Which is unlike World of Warcraft, where I(and my sister) am automatically assumed to be male. In fact, even if I meet a girl on there myself, I honestly don't believe it till I see proof, haha.