Unless you’re a reader of Tolkien. Of course, even then it’s no sure thing – after all, I’m Voronwe over at imladris.net. Which, being the name of a male bit player in the Silmarillion, used to lead people to assume I was a guy (in fact, I know of one poster who thought I was a guy even knowing my real name, which I never thought was that gender-ambiguous) but now I’ve been there long enough and have enough posts for most people to know otherwise.
BTW, why is Sexy- an indicator that the poster is female? Men can be sexy too…
I would have just used my real name (like on the other postboards I frequent) but I thought I’d use this name to be different. It’s what a few of my friends nicknamed me…I never consciously thought of it as advertising.
Yeah, me too. I figured that my screenname (through-back to a high school nickname) was “cutsy” enough that people would automatically assume I was a girl. Lo and behold, on my old favorite haunt- Buzzsaw, no longer in existance- most people thought I was a guy at first. Go figure. Then again, they many thought I was a couple decades older, too. Guess a (then) 19 year old girl wasn’t supposed to be such a cynical smartass.
Where it’s appropos to the discussion, etc., I’ll drop the fact that I’m female. I assume that people will tend to assume otherwise, partly because Melville’s Ur-existential character was male (to the extent that he was anything at all), and partly because it just sounds masculine (the article; possible confusion with “scrimshawing,” perhaps).
(Then again, “real men” don’t usually drop as many parenthetical asides as I tend to do, tee hee.)
Gender is sufficiently upfront in all our lives. The gleeful opportunity to chat each other up from behind our figurative Venetian masks on boards such as this is largely what makes the Internet the free-wheeling, profane, and no-holds-barred carnival that we love!
If no female Doper will take the name Doc or Dr, how will I ever find the scientist-babe of my dreams?
I’ve always had this vision of the moment we fall in love. Wprking together, we’ve just completed a unified field theory. Startled by our discovery, we look into eachother’s eyes. We kiss huingrily. One of us, it is hard to know who is who in our merging, sweeps the beakers and tubes from the table. On the floor, chemicals mix among the broken glass. The reaction causes a fire. In the heat of our passion, oblivious to everything but each other, we fail to notice…
Anyhoo, the lack of female doctors makes it hard to find a woman who shares my interest in mad science.
Speaking as a person with an (apparently) ambiguous username, I think I should have chosen something more obviously female. I would have thought that spelling Scotti with an I would have been enough of a clue, if I had thought about it…which I didn’t. But it does get a little old sometimes when someone thinks I am Scott. It isn’t really a problem, but having been female all of my life, I sort of identify with BEING female, you know? It is always a tad bit disconcerting when someone addresses me as a male.
I guess they missed the “Busty Redhead” thread. A rollicking good time was had by all in that thread, but alas I am inept at linking stuff. Trust me…it is worth a search. Maybe some kind soul could leap in here and link it?
Of course, I suppose I COULD be a busty redheaded male. But somehow it just doesn’t FEEL right.
I think there should be no references to gender at all. It would be reat fun to have everyone looking at a great post someone made and thinking “Should I be attracted to this person?”
I do not really have a nickname IRL, and I prefer my online tag over my name anyway. I was also not really aware that I was advertising when i chose it.
As for myself, I was actually expecting people to mistake my gender, and was mildly stunned when people figured it out so quickly. I mean, the “Lindy” part sounds so…femme.
