Comments on: Response Assignment # 7

By: Carinna Franco

Carinna Franco — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 01:31:57 +0000

The Gender Guesser told me I was male. In reading all of the other blog responses, it sounds like it guessed that everyone else is male too (except for one person).

a) Its hard to say how a program like this could be developed. It somehow seems that any intelligent writing comes off as male. By intelligent, I mean “big” words, aggressive, probably not too many adjectives, etc. Because we are all college students, it is possible that anyone sounding like they have any sort of edcation may be labeled as being male?

b) The response I had the gender guesser analyze was fairly informal, I think, because I pretty much wrote it as my thoughts were going. Maybe that is why I only got a 64%, because it wasn’t well written so it wasn’t 100% male.

c) Very plain, to the point language, not showing much emotion but stating the facts would probable default as male. Depending on how many emotional words were found probaly determined the score. It kind of validates Tannen’s point in SOL, there is no unmarked woman, but that is not to say that I agree with her. I think there is no unmarked man either. The color of his skin, his height, anything he wears will automatically mark him. How can you look at anyone and not have a preconceived notion of who they are? Its not like looking at a blank canvas.

By: lisa coleman

lisa coleman — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 18:17:58 +0000

when i put my paragragh into the gender guesser i came out as a weak european male.when it said weak i could understand why because the words that i use when writing aren’t as strong and the vocabulary that i have isn’t so demanding for me so i write as i would speak. i’m not this walking dictionary. my words could have been read as a male. in a females language we tend to use more “es” sounds and lighter words, nicer sounding words. the female is suppose to more intelligent than the male so we use words that are to the point and say something. language is gendered because if a person reads another random persons paper they go by what is being said, how its being said and the words that are being used many a people can mistake a females paper for a males because of the phrasing and all grammatical stuff

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 23:15:42 +0000

Blog—–gender guesser.
I submitted to the gender guesser one the blogs I am more proud of. The gender guesser was exactly right according to it I am male. It said in both formal and informal contexts I am man. Language is definitely impacted by our word choices and how often we use filler words and what filler words we use. Language is so impacted by our race, gender, ethnicity, and geographic location, in fact there are often many dialects to each category and combinations of the four create sub dialects for each other. The theory tool box this week started by asking the questions do race gender media etc. impact our decisions as writers, teachers and artists and more so does it effect us as viewers, students and audience members, I agree I think that everything effects how we look at things for example art and how we would approach creating a piece of art. Even in my classes I see how each persons unique background and story effects the way the do anything from communicate their idea to how they comment in class during debates and discussions. I know in my life I have been impacted by being many things; white, male, a Christian, American, a student. And to say that I have not learned from different things in my life would be silly. In closing I think both the identity we think of ourselves as and the identity we have based on others perceptions of us are so important to us and effect everything we do.

By: Geoff Firestone

Geoff Firestone — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 22:22:39 +0000

I used two examples from different blog entries I’ve responded to and both came up with similar results. They both said I was a “weak male” which could indicate I’m European. (Which Isn’t true) but at least it still said I was male which was good. The thing I am finding most interesting about this gender guesser is the fact that it guess nearly everyone as a European male…. are there any other options?! The thing I am most curious about is how do males and females differ in their writing. If i read a book by someone like J.K Rowling, if i didn’t know she was a woman before hand I certainly couldn’t tell from the Harry Potter stories. The same can go for any writings, if you don’t know the authors name I would imagine it would be extremely difficult to attempt to guess their gender. I’m not sure what about my writings made the guesser believe I am a European male, but it guessed nearly all of us were that so I’m skeptical of its abilities. I totally agree with what Olivia says about women being “marked” in every aspect in life. It’s a shame that is the case but women are making tremendous strides towards being totally equal I think. If you compare today to even just 50 years ago and what women could and couldnt do, and what would have been shunned in society… its amazing. Thanks for reading..

By: samantha p.

samantha p. — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 22:18:22 +0000

I did the first option: the gender guesser. I thought the reading about the he or s/he was very interesting because i always find myself getting upset when a person will say he or him instead of them or they when they are speaking of a person whose gender they dont know. So i was interested to see what the gender guesser would say about my writing. First, i entered one of my shorter blogs that was just kind of my opinion and very laid back and whatever. Well, it told me i was a weak female. So i was kind of like, “what? wait a minute. whats up with that?” So then i put in a longer more aggressive blog with a lot of exclamation points and more of an aggressive feel and then all of a sudden i was mostly male. So, i dont know if that aggression factor is really what makes it say whether you are male or female but i do think that maybe this gender guesser was based on sexist ideas? I dont think that men are more observant about their markings and spellings in things. i think that some people are more gramatically correct than others whether they be male or female.

By: Jamie Weisinger

Jamie Weisinger — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 22:15:51 +0000

I didn’t pick anything from this blog, because I feel like when I write in here, even though it’s a “blog”, I’m still formulating a response. I took something off of my personal blog page and posted it in the gender guesser. My results were: Informal, 44% (weak?) European females, and 52% (weak?) European MALE.

In both cases, my results were incredibly close. I’m not exactly sure what the program analyzes, aside from my choice and repetition of key words. I looked on the Gender Genie website and saw that there are key female and male words. I know that I definitely use certain words a lot when I write, and I try not to sound repetitive. I just don’t understand though how or why or if woman and men use different words more often.

So I did something kind of interesting- I went to a blog site and started reading through random journals of anonymous people and tried to guess if they were males or females speaking. I guessed correctly every time, but I’d assume that a lot of it had to do with content. I’d be very interested to see some sort of actual facts and statistics about this Gender Guesser study.

And in response to the SOL reading, I’m gonna have to agree with Olivia- a woman is measured no matter what she does; if she hasn’t shaved, someone is going to make assumptions about why. I think that people always ask WHY about people in terms of their hairstyle, clothing choice, make-up. We are marked and people make assumptions about everything we do! Such a shame.

By: Andrew Oda

Andrew Oda — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:48:17 +0000

I also thought the Gender Guesser was interesting and informative. I was rated as a European Male. Being half Canadian myself, I thought that was pretty interesting. I’m still not even sure how the whole thing works out with the way one writes, but I find it pretty amazing. I don’t really think how writing can determine masculinity or feminity.I think it just shows how stereotypes and labels even work in the way someone writes. I agree what Dwight said about how it seems like women have to prove themselves in the world, like its a competion or something. I think that is awfully degrading toward women because it may seem like they are not good enough in a “man’s” world. Thats not to say that I don’t think women should stand up for their rights, its just that it suddenly becomes a competion and people become hostile towards one another. Which misses the point. And I think I might be off topic, so I’ll stop. Anyway, I think you get the idea..

By: Olivia J.

Olivia J. — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:40:50 +0000

Personally I really don like that gender guesser program. When I submitted my longest work which even then wasn’t that long it came back to say i was a weak male. That was somewhat of a shock to me. After it told me my writing was one of a weak European Male I was mad. I really don’t think I write anything like a man because I’m such a girly girl. And then I have to find it somewhat funny because I’m usually extremely whiney in my writing and I tend to complain a lot. Like I am right now.
I also enjoyed reading Debroah Tannen’s piece. It was easily relatiable for me and I can also somewhat relate to what Evelyn said about girly girls liking to be marked. As a girly girly that is what I am like everyday.

By: Whitney Hoffman

Whitney Hoffman — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:40:47 +0000

Like others who have responded, I put multiple entries into the gender guesser out of curiosity about differing results. My first entry was from last week and dealt with misogyny. I felt it was one of my better, more formal arguments. It tested about 75% male for both formal and informal. I then tested my post about consumerism, a post that I felt was a little more informal and not my best, though it was more personal. For informal, I was a weak male, possibly indicating European, and about 57% male. For formal I ranked about 60% male. My last test included a post about Hitler and Martin Luther King, Jr. This test came out about the same as the consumer post, but it was the formal that indicated I could be a European male this time.
Judging from the other posts about this topic, the gender guesser often guessed male and possibly European. So my question is, how are they defining male and female writing, and where does the European fit into gender guessing at all? Is it educated argumentation/discussion that marks a person as male to the makers of this gender guesser? If I had put something with frivolous writing or less argumentative tone would they recognize the writing as female? I think that this relates to Deborah Tannen’s argument because it addresses how women are approached in use of language. I’m not sure it is the same idea, because I haven’t seen an example where a person was declared female by the gender guesser, but the fact that there wasn’t a writing labeled female from our class also makes me question, like I said before, what kind of criteria for writing they expect from a woman.
Deborah Tannen’s argument immediately caught my attention because I have long questioned the use of “he” as a universal and the placement of man before woman in speech and text. Even when I was younger I thought it was odd that very seldom did I read or hear “woman and man” or “she” referring to an unspecified gender. How about I now pronounce you man and wife? Why not I now pronounce you woman and husband? I still do not understand. Is man supposedly better than woman? Is that why he is mentioned before she?
Also, like Evelyn and the author, I find the female word endings to sound silly, like a doctorette is somehow less capable or intelligent than a doctor.
I think women are marked. Yet, I don’t think that gender guesser has it right. There are some parts of language that are engendered, like Tannen shows. She also showed that we are marked way beyond language through expectations of women to fit into a certain little idea of a female. It happens with some men, obviously not her male subjects, but with metrosexuals now being acceptable and certain subcultures embracing formerly female styles (tight jeans on guys, make-up on guys, longer hair, etc.)the boundaries are changing. However, women remain most affected by gender expectations. Women, no matter what action they take, or inaction, will be judged for their decisions.

By: Olivia Cole

Olivia Cole — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:30:38 +0000

First off, I would like to direct a comment at Dwight’s post: I’m not cutting you down, dude, but you said “I’m not a feminist being that I am a man” and I just have to take issue with that. A feminist is not always a woman. A feminist is anyone who believes that men and women should have equal rights. Do you believe that women should be allowed to vote? Do you believe that we should be able to hold the same jobs as men? Do you believe that we are equal citizens? If so, then you are a feminist. Period. People have turned the word “feminist” into a slur, when it really is a title of empowerment given to anyone who does not encourage the sex-class system. Don’t let society make you think badly of the word “feminism” because of the often-harped-on slang “femi-Nazi.” Dwight, you are not a femi-Nazi. You’re just a feminist, a male one, and that’s FINE.
Now onward to actually answering the question…
The Gender Guesser analyzed all of my posts as 70% (and up) male; the outlier was one where I was a European male, which seems to suggest a little more femininity. Does this mean that my writing is less “marked” than a typical woman? What women was this study based off of? My English teacher my senior year of high school told my class constantly that words like “so” and “really” were to be eliminated from our essays because not only were they weak, they were “girly.” After reading the chapter by Tannen, I think that by “girly,” Ms. White meant “marked.” Perhaps because I eliminate such flimsy words from my writing the Guesser identifies me as male. In this way I am marked by my own sexism…why did I feel as if I was being commended when the Gender Guesser marked me as male? “Female” writing seems as if it should be weak to be considered so, or more emotional. I would be interested in seeing which of the blogs the Guesser marked as female. I agree that language is engendered, but not innately. Valley Girls didn’t come out of the womb saying “like” and “totally,” after all; these are learned behaviors.
Tannen’s argument was gorgeously constructed. From clothing to hairstyles to speech to legal practices, she had all the bases covered. Try as I might, I could not come up with a scenario in which a woman is unmarked. Even naked, stripped of all the societal bullshit that we are laden with, a woman is marked, weighed, and measured by whether she shaves or not, whether her eyes are on the ground or straight ahead. Everything brands us!