Here's a site that let's you put a block of text into a field and it'll guess whether the person who wrote the passage is male or female. It's based on this:
Similarly, what the gender-identifying algorithm picks up on is that women are apparently far more likely than men to use personal pronouns -- ''I,'' ''you'' and ''she'' especially. Men, on the other hand, prefer so-called determiners -- ''a,'' ''the,'' ''that,'' ''these'' -- along with numbers and quantifiers like ''more'' and ''some.'' What this suggests, according to Moshe Koppel, an author of the Israeli project, is that women are more comfortable talking or thinking about people and relationships, while men prefer to contemplate things.
It claims to be correct 80% of the time.
I put in a few of my posts and I get mixed results, but mostly "female." It's not the first time I've heard I have a feminine writing style - when Bil and I first met he told me he thought I would be a woman ("Alex" goes both ways, and I didn't have a photo on my old site).
Enter in some of your writing and tell us what you think here at TBP. I'm interested if this is just poppycock or if it has something interesting to say about gender and queer people.
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16 Comments
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I just entered my most recent blog post. For those who don't know me, I'm transgender, and identify as androgyne, non binary.
Words: 713
(NOTE: The genie works best on texts of more than 500 words.)
Female Score: 1634
Male Score: 868
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!
:)
zythyra | August 30, 2008 2:36 PM
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Z-
What post did you put in. Link us.
Bil Browning | August 30, 2008 2:52 PM
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The genie thought I was female. Not strongly so, and my sample was small. (400 female / 300 male over 211 words) I have boy parts and enjoy being a guy, but I felt relieved that the thing came back female. I'm not really sure what to make of that. Any pet theories?
gregC | August 30, 2008 2:37 PM
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I'm transgendered as well, identifying female. I submitted my last six blog posts: It guessed female five times, which is a little better than 80%. A couple times, including the one it got it wrong, the word counts were very close.
I don't place much faith in something like this, but it was kind of amusing.
Renee | August 30, 2008 2:43 PM
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I think I'll invent an algorithm with a 51% success rate. I'd imagine it being quite simple....
Alex Blaze | August 30, 2008 8:01 PM
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I put in my post about being bipolar since it was the last thing I wrote over 500 words.
Bil Browning | August 30, 2008 2:50 PM
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I tried a number of entries from my blog - they all came back as female, which is not my identity.
I also put the text of the entire US Constitution in the gender genie:
Female Score: 4986
Male Score: 4964
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!
And the Bill of Rights:
Female Score: 618
Male Score: 424
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!
There you have it, the founding fathers were secretly founding mothers.
Jere | August 30, 2008 3:55 PM
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I think that's proof enough - the Founding Fathers were drag kings.
Alex Blaze | August 30, 2008 6:50 PM
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Fiction Creative Writing Project:
Words: 4297
Female Score: 3910
Male Score: 6645
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!
Non-Fiction Academic Essay:
Words: 1487
Female Score: 1966
Male Score: 2276
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!
Blog Post from Pop Culture class project:
Words: 552
Female Score: 319
Male Score: 950
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!
Eric | August 30, 2008 6:00 PM
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Well, it thinks I'm female in all my more recent blog and other posts by almost 2-1. The Army and Navy thought someone with the given name of Lynn should be female too. FOOLED YOU ALL!!!
Lynn David | August 30, 2008 7:27 PM
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Well, mt non fiction story of my search for my biological parents rates.
Words: 674
Female Score: 801
Male Score: 748
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!
And my fiction with a passage from a letter by a bisexual male rates.
Words: 834
Female Score: 1039
Male Score: 915
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!
And a passage from a communication workshop that I have written rates.
Words: 1825
Female Score: 2432
Male Score: 2709
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!
For the record I am bio male who has never felt the least bit feminine in identity. I also happen to be bi and have idntified as such since I was about 13 and for a couple of years before that i thought that I was most likely gay.
Rob Barton | August 30, 2008 11:45 PM
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Well, I submitted several paragraphs from the latest chapter of serial fiction on my page - www.andreaspeed.com - and got this:
Words: 958
(NOTE: The genie works best on texts of more than 500 words.)
Female Score: 1065
Male Score: 1193
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!
Well, I'm female. But the story currently running is about a gay detective, so perhaps that played a part - no idea.
fantwho | August 31, 2008 2:35 AM
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I'm a college female.
I put in several of my journal entries, all of which came up female. However, when I switched and put in my academic papers, every single one of them came up male.
Jenni | August 31, 2008 3:24 AM
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"Enter in some of your writing and tell us what you think here at TBP. I'm interested if this is just poppycock or if it has something interesting to say about gender and queer people."
I noticed that years ago.
Amber Thompson | August 31, 2008 6:36 PM
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OK, I waited, is the "Gender genie" invented by those geniuses who invented the "Pocket Fisherman?"
Robert Ganshorn | September 1, 2008 10:55 AM
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It really depends. I get both identities with my stories. My readers refer to me as she or he. A lot of it is projedtion I feel. I have always felt bi gendered and write from the point of reference of the character I'm writing about.
My stories and plays have both genders in them and my readers enjoy them as they are, be they male or female. Playing with dolls and dressing up and playing street and playground games was just as easy for me. Being with my girlfriends or with my guyfriends was a pleasure for me according to who the people were.
Whenever anyone questioned me wearing a femme dress or outfit or vica versa I'd answer: "It takes a man to wear a dress" or "It takes a woman to play with you" When I got to High school and saw the eyes of the boys on my thighs I really began to like guys much more for awahile.
But now all grown up I'm the gender I want to be which is both.
Rolly | September 2, 2008 2:42 PM
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