Your writing style - Feminine or Masculine?

[Dora]

Since I recently started writing again I decided to do a little research on the differences between masculine and feminine writing styles, so I googled it.  I got a bunch of links to explore and read of course, but one link that stood out was an online application, "The GenderGenie" ( http://bookblog.net/gender/genie.php ).

The Gender Genie
Inspired by an article and a test in The New York Times Magazine, the Gender Genie uses a simplified version of an algorithm developed by Moshe Koppel, Bar-Ilan University in Israel, and Shlomo Argamon, Illinois Institute of Technology, to predict the gender of an author. Read more at BookBlog, The New York Times, and The Guardian.

I entered some previously written text I've done and it came up masculine.  The GenderGenie reported the following:

Words: 523
(NOTE: The genie works best on texts of more than 500 words.)
Female Score: 677
Male Score: 724
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!

Sigh... something else to worry about while transitioning. 


-Dora

[dustbunny]

Since I recently started writing again I decided to do a little research on the differences between masculine and feminine writing styles, so I googled it.  I got a bunch of links to explore and read of course, but one link that stood out was an online application, "The GenderGenie" ( http://bookblog.net/gender/genie.php ).

The Gender Genie
Inspired by an article and a test in The New York Times Magazine, the Gender Genie uses a simplified version of an algorithm developed by Moshe Koppel, Bar-Ilan University in Israel, and Shlomo Argamon, Illinois Institute of Technology, to predict the gender of an author. Read more at BookBlog, The New York Times, and The Guardian.

I entered some previously written text I've done and it came up masculine.  The GenderGenie reported the following:

Words: 523
(NOTE: The genie works best on texts of more than 500 words.)
Female Score: 677
Male Score: 724
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!

Sigh... something else to worry about while transitioning. 


-Dora

I score very high male on these tests and online when playing MMORPG's no one thinks I am a female until they hear my voice. I think the way you write/talk is less telling than the way you look and sound as far as passability.

[ToriJo]

I wouldn't worry too much.  My actual and perceived sex and gender identities have always been male, yet this is sure my writing is female. 

On one thing I wrote:

Female Score: 1095
Male Score: 1007

The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!

Another:

Female Score: 1968
Male Score: 1507

The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!

[Lepidoptera]

Interesting. I used a passage from a novel I'm currently writing:

Female Score: 1180
Male Score: 1219

Then I tried a passage from my book that was just published:

Female Score: 1433
Male Score: 2591

And then a blog entry:

Female Score: 1210
Male Score: 915

So the more professional my writing, the manlier it gets. 

[CaitJ]

This thing is pretty LOL worthy; I put in some blog entries that I wrote recently and they came out 'male'. I put in some text from when I was trolling a transphobic radfem site, posing as a man, and it came up 'female'.
Conclusion: when I deliberately try to be male, I'm apparently coming across as more female.

[Dora]

This thing is pretty LOL worthy; I put in some blog entries that I wrote recently and they came out 'male'. I put in some text from when I was trolling a transphobic radfem site, posing as a man, and it came up 'female'.
Conclusion: when I deliberately try to be male, I'm apparently coming across as more female.

Agreed, CaitJ!  I tried entering the entire chapter, and it now GenderGenie says female:

Words: 2233
Female Score: 3186
Male Score: 2634
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!

Still, I think there is some merit to the differences between writing styles.  There certainly are differences in how men and woman speak.  (I'm referring to the content, not the tone, inflection, etc.)  Why not writing style?

[Janet_Girl]

Female Score: 183
Male Score: 166
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!

I used part of a book that I wrote.

[dustbunny]

Agreed, CaitJ!  I tried entering the entire chapter, and it now GenderGenie says female:

Words: 2233
Female Score: 3186
Male Score: 2634
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!

Still, I think there is some merit to the differences between writing styles.  There certainly are differences in how men and woman speak.  (I'm referring to the content, not the tone, inflection, etc.)  Why not writing style?

Whatever perceived difference there may or may not be, just be yourself, don't worry so much. No one it going to out you because of the way gender genie reads your writing.

[Dora]

Whatever perceived difference there may or may not be, just be yourself, don't worry so much. No one it going to out you because of the way gender genie reads your writing.

Agreed.  Although it is something I have thought about, I'm certainly not worried about it.  More of a curiosity than anything else.

[dustbunny]

Agreed.  Although it is something I have thought about, I'm certainly not worried about it.  More of a curiosity than anything else.

Ok, your first post said "one more thing to worry about" so it seemed like it was something that was bothering you. I have several TS friends, some worry about these things and some don't. I know how important it is to "pass" for some of them and anything that makes them feel like they are not is enough to really upset them.

[Victor]

Pulled a few different ones out of curiosity. First a blog post:

Female Score: 1766
Male Score: 2151
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!

then a year old fanfiction scene:

Female Score: 3333
Male Score: 4617
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!

Then an RP entry:

Female Score: 1040
Male Score: 1153
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!

Then a c/p'd post from my intro post here:

Female Score: 1719
Male Score: 1581
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!

------------

Kinda funny the intro post here is the only one that shows as female, but it's also the only one where I was talking about myself, but I noticed something. The more self or person specific words (I, myself, me, your) get a higher female rating, the more subject neutral words the higher the male rating. This page seems to base off more commonly used words than actual writing style in and of itself, mostly in regards to specific subject verses none specific subject though there are other key words in either list but those seem make the bulk of it. Basically if you're talking about yourself or someone else using more subject specific words you're going to get a higher female rating, at opposed to if you're talking about locations and actions. At least that's what I noticed with the entries I tested it out with. Hope I worded that right, just woke up not long ago.

[AweSAM!]

My scores for essays tend to be seen as very male, but the test gives me back marginally female results when it's an informal blog post.

Blog Post:

Female Score: 2813
Male Score: 2702

Opinion Piece on the topic of "compassionate conservatism":

Female Score: 5119
Male Score: 5814

[Adabelle]

I've done this a few times just for fun on different things I've written. I seem to see a pattern.

On my blog where I discuss transgender topics in every post I put in it guesses "female". So then I copy and pasted some emails I've written to a friend of mine.

In emails where we're discussing philosophy or religion or those kinds of topics the gender genie returns "male", but in other emails (I only selected longer ones that were more than 500 words) where we are discussing her kids, or talking about life, or whatever I only get "female" as a result.

I suppose this makes sense. When I'm thinking about philosophy or religion I do feel like my writing style becomes a little more technical and "point" driven, like I want to work my way through an issue and come to resolution. Or sometimes to persuade someone to consider another point of view. But when I'm not thinking about those topics, I guess my writing style doesn't trigger the "male" in this algorithm.

I don't know for sure if I would put much faith in that tool, but it was fun as an exercise.

Edit: This post:
Female Score: 254
Male Score: 238

I don't really get how this thing works!

[Octavianus]

It took me some time to find samples of English text by my hand, so here it goes:

A blog entry:
Words: 873
Female Score: 2167
Male Score: 994
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!

email:
Words: 235
Female Score: 279
Male Score: 274
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!

Application letter:
Words: 251
Female Score: 286
Male Score: 200
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!



Hrm, who should I doubt here. This program or myself? 
It is a nice little program, I wonder how it actually works. That being said, I think it is of little value.

[regan]

Blog Entry:

Female Score: 844
Male Score: 1147

The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!

Grad school paper:

Female Score: 276
Male Score: 856

The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!

A post here, earlier today:

Female Score: 231
Male Score: 127

The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!

Fun to play with, I still think its crap though.  For the grad school paper I used "the" and "and" most frequently.  How does that possibly predict my gender?

[Tad]

I decided to try submitting a few different things.

Non-Fiction - Essay 1 on Sexual Orientation

Words: 452
Female Score: 427
Male Score: 844

Essay 2 - Social Policy Analysis

Words: 685
Female Score: 1127
Male Score: 1169


Forum reply 1 Whiney about feelings

Words: 406
Female Score: 789
Male Score: 357

Forum reply 2 Whiney about feelings

Words: 328
Female Score: 376
Male Score: 449

Email 1 - About Transitioning to some female friends - so lots of I's and such

Words: 404
Female Score: 579
Male Score: 444

Email 2 -  About Transitioning and life to a male friend

Words: 157
Female Score: 95
Male Score: 315


seems like for me.. whiney blah blah blah I feel like crap posts are more feminine.. and talking to females = fem.

[Octavianus]

Just copy/pasted some well known books/plays:

MacBeth by William Shakespeare:

Words: 18529
Female Score: 24823
Male Score: 21534
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!

On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin:

Words: 129453
Female Score: 134605
Male Score: 181059
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!

The Cosmic Connection by Carl Sagan:

Words: 70414
Female Score: 68119
Male Score: 107421
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden:

Words: 192283
Female Score: 279180
Male Score: 256562
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown:

Words: 154607
Female Score: 132345
Male Score: 195217
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!

The score:
3 correct, 2 incorrect.

[Elsa]

seems like for me.. whiney blah blah blah I feel like crap posts are more feminine.. and talking to females = fem.

I tried several ... maybe 8-12 for fun so ...  lost count and just got fed up keeping track of scores...

I have to agree.. I did notice that my post/writing where I have tried to give an honest opinion (related to an object or something abstract) or a post related to a topic on something eg: post on self defense ... it came up as male... 

Whereas when I entered my more emotional post/writing where I am well .. more emotionally involved in the discussion and especially if it in involves people or myself rather than something neutral, abstract or object it comes off as female ...

[Kentrie]

Words: 121

(NOTE: The genie works best on texts of more than 500 words.)

Female Score: 199
Male Score: 217

The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!

That came from two poems I wrote.

[Sharky]

I entered some homework assignments.

Words: 827
Female Score: 716
Male Score: 1330
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!


Words: 418
Female Score: 422
Male Score: 751
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!


Words: 137
Female Score: 187
Male Score: 230
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!


Words: 242
Female Score: 244
Male Score: 386
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!

Words: 262
Female Score: 599
Male Score: 298
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!