gender mistaken on forums

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well here on wrongplanet i have noticed several people have mistaken me for male. i am wondering why. is it my user name? i actually dislike babies, i just thought it was funny. is it the content of my posts or the way i word them?

I think people on the internet tend to assume everyone's a dude, white, and American.

true dat

People mistake me for a guy because of my nickname. Wish I hadn't chose it really, but at the time I didn't think, I got it from the name of a character from the 70s what my mum and her sisters still watch, a skinny character was named Joe-90 and I kind of admired that nickname so I just used it on here. But I do put my gender in my signature, to make things easier for others.

I always worry that people here might think I am so gay that I'm a male in denial. I am not a male at all. I've just got a nickname on WP only that might be mistaken for a male.

do you mean jo from the facts of life? i love that show

I've been here since 2010 and some people STILL think I'm a dude.

No matter.

"Gender" is not particularly important (to me).

I check gender on profiles before using pronouns.

It seems a lot of people just assume everyone is male until proven otherwise.

I've always thought it's because masculine pronouns also function as gender-neutral pronouns, and feminine pronouns exclusively as feminine. Like how in French "elles" is only used for all-female groups, whereas "ils" is used for everything else; from mixed groups to groups of unknown gender composition.

It seems rather strange to me to assume people behind posts look a certain way unless they specifically state something related to that. If you assume people are white and male would you also assume they have their hair done a certain way, wear certain clothes, etc?

I've been mistaken as a male on IMDB.

I noticed something interesting earlier today. I have a friend in crisis and I called a bunch of women's shelters and hotlines and things trying to get help, and I'm a sort of middle-of-the-road voice, gender wise, but DRASTICALLY more people gave me female pronouns when I was trying to help someone else in crisis than in any other situation I've ever been in. I get "ma'am"d occasionally in other contexts (maybe 5% of the time) but I think at least 3/4 of the people I talked to this morning assumed I was a woman.

men are the "active" ones, eh? from what I can tell when s**t needs to happen because someone is hurting or needs help, you're better off with a woman, and people are going to assume you're a woman if there's any room for ambiguity and you're trying to do something nice for someone else.

but then I'm sort of biased in that I rather resent the roles assigned to me because of my biological sex...it's just funny to notice how when I'm helpful, in a service role, being thoughtful, or anything like that I get "ma'am"d a lot more often. and as soon as they notice I'm male they freak out like calling me "ma'am" was some HUGE insult. it usually brightens my day for hours after the fact, to be honest. women make the world go round.

Maybe it's because even Aspies are falling prey to the erroneous view that Asperger's is predominantly a male condition.

There is a significantly higher percentage of people that are males on this site than females (don't know the actual percentage though)

A lot of people think I am a guy as well. If I am not sure of someone's gender I click on their profile and check.

Also Joe 90 is this the programme you are talking about actually titled Joe 90?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gtpks_0V3U[/youtube]

That's probably because all the research has been done on males, females present slightly differently and usually face a much bigger challenge to get diagnosed and recognised as Aspies. Therefore there are probably many undiagnosed females out there who have never heard of Asperger's and wouldn't even know of the existence of Wrong Planet!

Oh sorry - I thought you were male

Mainly because you have a photo of the X Files actors and a lot of males like the female actress
(can't remember her name)

and also because you have sometimes interacted with me in a sharp, abrupt sarcastic manner that I associate more with males than females

No problemo.

Like I said, for whatever the reason, most people think I'm a dude. I've been told I come off as "aggressive" even when I don't mean to, so that might be part of the issue.