# Broken down by sex **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 27, 2007, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662 "2007-03-27T08:23:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662/1 "2007-03-27T08:23:37Z")
About twice a week I find something online that I want to register for, and sometimes I actually succeed. Usually, though, I have to go through too many screens of intrusive questions. For some reason the one that really gets me, the one that stops me the most often and makes me realize I don’t need to register on that site, is when they ask my sex. For some reason it just pisses me off, bad. Maybe it’s that I can give a fake name, lie about my age, give my address as Mile High Stadium (which no longer exists), but when I get to that sex thing there are only two choices: tell the truth, or lie. And it’s none of their business. What the hell, they can have my credit card number–fine, no problem. But as soon as I reveal my gender…what? Are they gonna start sending me pink things? Fashion magazines? (Or, if I lie, car stuff? Sports Illustrated?) Frankly, they don’t need my address, either. They could probably compile their insidiously sneaky statistics based on my zip code. I happen to have a very classy zip code, although I routinely give a former zip code that was a bit more skid row. They probably just want to know the demographics of their listeners (most of these have something to do with music–websites of radio stations, for instance), but you know what, I don’t want to provide them. Probably stems from a deepseated fear that once I reveal my gender, I will be treated differently than if I were the opposite gender, and this fear is based on actual data. Okay, to you it might be an anecdote, but my brain regards it as data. I can’t think of any way a streaming audio radio station could treat me differently based on sex–so it’s pointless for them anyway. Why can’t they just think of me as a person? A faceless, ageless, sexless pair of ears that are no longer listening to their playlist. Or their ads. ---
**Author:** ![Greebo\_Ogg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19adc/32.png) [@Greebo\_Ogg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greebo_Ogg)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662/2 "2007-03-27T08:29:48Z")
This thread is such a letdown after the promising title… slinks off to find another thread about sexual exhaustion… ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662/3 "2007-03-27T08:36:06Z")
[QUOTE=Greebo Ogg] This thread is such a letdown after the promising title… slinks off to find another thread about sexual exhaustion… [/QUOTE] You think \*you’\*re let down… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662/4 "2007-03-27T09:00:42Z")
Yeah, but whether or not you feel that you personally fit any of the demographics, they still actually exist. There are things that are more typically appealing to women and there are things that are more typically appealing to men. I suppose it could be argued that this is only so because of entrenched gender roles acquired as a legacy of male-dominated society, but still, these things exist, and because they exist, some companies will continue to try to cater for them - you can’t really blame them for that - they’re just trying to be relevant. If you find the questions too intrusive, you do still have a choice… ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662/5 "2007-03-27T09:08:10Z")
[QUOTE=Greebo Ogg] This thread is such a letdown after the promising title… slinks off to find another thread about sexual exhaustion… [/QUOTE] So someone else opened this after reading the first line. [QUOTE=tease] About twice a week I find something online that I want to register for, and sometimes I actually succeed. [/QUOTE] I’m not sure if I was just hoping to see where this action occurred, or wanted to know more details. slinks off to find another thread about sexual adventures on line… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662/6 "2007-03-27T11:43:50Z")
I demand a mod changes the title to: **Broken down by gender** :mad: For the OP; they just want you to answer every question they can use as a marketing tool, next they want to know your shoe size. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662/7 "2007-03-27T11:49:03Z")
Lol, most disappointing actual thread ever. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662/8 "2007-03-27T11:49:54Z")
Once upon a time, I took a class in grad school in which I was the only female. The day that it came time to fill out the student evaluations, I remember staring at the sheet in turmoil. Should I mark F, and know that my results might be identifiable? Should I mark M so that I would look like all the rest? Should I just not mark anything at all for that question? I think I ended up marking F. I just couldn’t get over the notion that marking M was lying, and not marking anything seemed to me to be pointless, if mine was the only one which was blank, and the others all marked M. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662/9 "2007-03-27T12:03:40Z")
I believe Victoria’s Secret sends different catalogs (with different special offers) to men than they do to women. It’s an important demographic point. I don’t mind answering that particular question. I get annoyed when they ask my annual income. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662/10 "2007-03-27T12:43:26Z")
I wish. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662/11 "2007-03-27T13:02:58Z")
“Could you give me a list of your employees, broken down by sex?” “Actually, liquor is more of a problem with us.” Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662/12 "2007-03-27T13:20:33Z")
To ease the disappointment from the misleading title, I nominate we start an orgy in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662/13 "2007-03-27T14:12:15Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] “Could you give me a list of your employees, broken down by sex?” “Actually, liquor is more of a problem with us.” [/QUOTE] “That’s fine, but non-penetrative is still sex, by our definition” ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662/14 "2007-03-27T14:29:36Z")
Totally disappointing thread. I don’t care if they ask my gender for registration purposes. I have found that I get a more positive response to posts if people think I’m male, which sucks completely. I do resent, however being asked my full birthdate. If you have my name and birthdate, you have too much information, Mr. Intarweb. There is no reason on earth why a website should need a full birthdate. It should be illegal to ask. QG of many birthdates ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662/15 "2007-03-27T15:04:38Z")
As a teenager my boyfriend and I really liked those Kinder Surprise eggs. There was an offer where if you sent in a certain number of wrappers you would get a free super-toy sent to you. So we saved up enough wrappers to send away for two. Sure enough, on the form we were asked to select “male” or “female.” I knew that the “boy” toy was likely to be way better than the “girl” toy so I put male for me and female for the BF (my reasoning being that since I was doing the work of ordering I should get dibs on the cool toy). Sure enough, I got a Loony Tunes school bus and he got some sort of shitty doll thing. He was really mad when I told him why, he thought he had some divine right to the cool toy just because of his ability to pee standing up. I don’t think he ever forgave me. But to this day I often put “M” when asked. I learned my lesson early. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662/16 "2007-03-27T15:09:04Z")
I think a mod should retitle this thread to something more descriptive of its actual content. Like “Split in half by sex” ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662/17 "2007-03-27T16:11:55Z")
[QUOTE=cowgirl] …Sure enough, on the form we were asked to select “male” or “female.” I knew that the “boy” toy was likely to be way better than the “girl” toy so I put male for me and female for the BF (my reasoning being that since I was doing the work of ordering I should get dibs on the cool toy)… [/QUOTE] Couldn’t you have just selected male twice? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662/18 "2007-03-27T18:23:14Z")
I, too, am disappointed, yea unto despair, by the misleading thread title. That said, I usually give info which is as inaccurate as possible when asked for demographic info as the price of entering a website. I am not, in fact, a 100-year-old black woman living in Alaska. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662/19 "2007-03-27T18:34:56Z")
… Yeah, the damn shocks really _did_ need replacing. Boy was she embarrassed! :eek: We never did it in a car again. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662/20 "2007-03-27T19:16:53Z")
Sex: - Male - Female - None of your damn business - I would always choose this option. Big Brother knows too much about me already. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-down-by-sex/397662.md?page=2)