Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Are You a Man or a (No Wait, Let me Rephrase That...)

GenderAnalyzer says there is a 53 percent chance that this blog is written by a woman (link). But it adds that the site is "quite gender neutral," which I think is girlie talk for "within the margin of error." I also have the impression that it is supposed to be a compliment, though why, exactly?

Thanks for the pointer to my favorite tax policy blogger (but I wish he would write more).

Afterthought: to the tiny percentage of my readers who do not actually know who I am--I guess you don't know for sure, do you?

Second Afterthought: The more I think of this, the more puzzling it gets. Aren't they conflating (a) the task of guessing the gender of the author with (b) the evaluation of writing style? By way of example only, it might be that women (say) may write in a more gender neutral style than men. If that is the case, then finding that the writing style is gender neutral might give rise to a finding that the author is a woman. So, what are you telling me? That you think I'm a girl? Or just that I write like one?

1 comment:

The New York Crank said...

Gender Analyzer thinks there's a 67% chance that I'm male.

Nya nya, my testosterone level is higher than yours!

(Little do they know that I'm actually a transgendered former lesbian gnome, living in a cardboard refrigerator box under a bridge.)

Gleefully cranky,
The New York Crank