I dunno where else to put this so...

CathleenT · Oct 17, 2014

Don't mind winks. She's still reeling from all the fluffy pink avatars.

I notice regdog has a pink, sparkly...weapon. Probably okay in that case.

And I've never been mistaken for a guy, but I write like a girl, and you'd REALLY have to work hard to overlook the name, and my avatars are usually feminine.

The Sojourner Truth story...wow. I definitely didn't know that bit of historic trivia.

And Mary Cassatt was so good they said she painted like a man. *sighs*

regdog · Oct 17, 2014

**Transformers geek moment**

Barricade's weapon is purple. In some Transformer verses Barricade is black and purple, hence purple blaster.

**Transformer geek moment over**

CathleenT · Oct 17, 2014

My deepest apologies for my inaccurate color perception, regdog. I should have know better than to think you'd have a pink, sparkly ANYTHING.

tiddlywinks · Oct 17, 2014

CathleenT said:
Don't mind winks. She's still reeling from all the fluffy pink avatars.

And Mary Cassatt was so good they said she painted like a man. *sighs*

SSSSHHHHH! Those were dark times. Dark times indeed. (At least when reg schmoos, she uses appropriately gothic colors. *said in polite tone so as to avoid any pink transformers with bows incidents*)

Normally I detest pink. With a passion. I will grudgingly say that Mary Cassatt did the color pink proud in the Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge painting. Saw it the other weekend. Stunning. Absolutely stunning.

regdog · Oct 18, 2014

CathleenT said:
My deepest apologies for my inaccurate color perception, regdog. I should have know better than to think you'd have a pink, sparkly ANYTHING.

It wasn't the pink, it was the inaccurate description of my beloved Barricade. I had to stand up for his bad aft Decepticon self

heyjude · Oct 19, 2014

I belong to a couple of financial sites where it's disproportionately men. Definitely get mistaken for a guy there.

dclary · Oct 19, 2014

Stew21 said:
About 20,000 posts ago. It used to happen to me, but I chose an ambiguous screen name on purpose, as I didn't necessarily want to be labeled by gender when I came to AW.
They found me out, of course. (And I use my photo as my avatar, which probably keeps it from happening now).
Mostly though, after a while most folks here know me. And the ones who don't, who think I'm a man just aren't paying attention. I "write like a girl". If they were careful, thoughtful readers, they would know. Not that it matters. Doesn't bother me either way. It says far more about them than it does about me, or you, for that matter.

You could have gone with Stewette.

tjwriter · Oct 19, 2014

I can't count the number of times alleycat's been mistaken for a lady. *Has a loooooooong memory.*

I get mistaken for guy, but I am usually pretty good at figuring out who is who with sentence structure and word choice.

Ol' Fashioned Girl · Oct 19, 2014

Haven't had that problem lately... but in the beginning, when I was playing Doom and Quake Capture the Flag and playing under the name 'Babycakes', I was constantly barraged with 'Are you really a GIRL?!' - usually after I'd just fragged the hell outta someone.

I loved answering... "Yes, I am. And I'm old enough to be your grandmother."

CassandraW · Oct 19, 2014

It happens to me in real life all the time --not when people meet me, but when they just see my name. My real first name is not Cassandra -- it's very unusual and I suppose could be a man's.

I thought I was safe on AW, having chosen an obviously feminine screen name, but no -- I've been mistaken for a dude more than once.

I have no problem with people thinking my writing is masculine. But really, a glance at my screen name should give the game away.

Chase · Oct 19, 2014

For what it's worth, I corrected about twenty English papers a week (most weeks times five classes) for over twenty-six years.

I got fairly good at telling male writing from female writing, especially when it involved young folks. The older and more broadly read, the more they tended to write similarly.

Some clues are many ladies tend to use "this" and "that" phrases more than their counterparts. Also more "just" and "so" as an intensifier.

A tie-breaker is women tend to use "so" without "that"; men tend to pair "so" with "that."

More guys begin sentences with "There are" and "There is," and they write "He looked over at her," whereas gals tend to write "He looked at her." Men "head out" somewhere. Women like to "walk" or "proceed" to a location.

Those and other subtleties identify about 80% of the writing of sisters from 80% of their brothers. The other 20% of both sexes have learned the art of gender sameness.

Putputt · Oct 19, 2014

Heh, apparently the pink hippo thing means "chubby man" to many people, so yuh, I get mistaken for a man a lot.

Ken · Oct 19, 2014

CathleenT said:
And Mary Cassatt was so good they said she painted like a man. *sighs*

Great painter. It's not cool that after all someone like this goes thru to get to that level of expertise they have to deal with such nonsense. To the extent maybe where they say why did I even bother? But I for one am glad SHE did

CathleenT · Oct 19, 2014

The fine art world is the last great holdout for sexism. This information is ten years old, but at that time, there were more Renaissance female painters taken seriously than modern ones.

Real bummer when you're a woman painter.

ETA: source of info, college art history course.

regdog · Oct 20, 2014

CathleenT said:
My deepest apologies for my inaccurate color perception, regdog. I should have know better than to think you'd have a pink, sparkly ANYTHING.

Have you met my new teddy?

Ken · Oct 21, 2014

CathleenT said:
The fine art world is the last great holdout for sexism. This information is ten years old, but at that time, there were more Renaissance female painters taken seriously than modern ones.

Real bummer when you're a woman painter.

ETA: source of info, college art history course.

Cool your an artist. Maybe I can pick up some tips from you

Art is very competitive. Even more so than writing. So maybe the slights have something to do with the fierce competition, along with sexism, putting things in a possibly better light.

CathleenT · Oct 21, 2014

Ken, in the art world, I think you have to just follow your heart. I'm not seriously weird enough. And get used to incomprehensible crit. I decided to go down for what I was, rather than what I wasn't. (I'm mostly a landscape painter.) Writing crits are both more understandable and quite often kinder. And more people succeed at it. I've decided art is definitely a hobby.

Regdog, you did that pink, fluffy teddy to yourself? I thought there'd be avatar war when you found the culprit. I hope for Barricade's sake there's a wicked laser secreted in there somewhere. You know, just in case.

Faye-M · Oct 21, 2014

Chase said:
For what it's worth, I corrected about twenty English papers a week (most weeks times five classes) for over twenty-six years.

I got fairly good at telling male writing from female writing, especially when it involved young folks. The older and more broadly read, the more they tended to write similarly.

Some clues are many ladies tend to use "this" and "that" phrases more than their counterparts. Also more "just" and "so" as an intensifier.

A tie-breaker is women tend to use "so" without "that"; men tend to pair "so" with "that."

More guys begin sentences with "There are" and "There is," and they write "He looked over at her," whereas gals tend to write "He looked at her." Men "head out" somewhere. Women like to "walk" or "proceed" to a location.

Those and other subtleties identify about 80% of the writing of sisters from 80% of their brothers. The other 20% of both sexes have learned the art of gender sameness.

Wow... that's fascinating! I don't think I would have noticed that.

I don't think I've ever been mistaken for a man, but people always seem to think I'm a child. An exuberant online personality isn't always an indicator of youth, unfortunately. I've been called "sweetie" by people almost half my age.

Which is sooooo not the topic being discussed here... *slinks away*

Ken · Oct 21, 2014

Having it as a hobby is fine. Landscapes are neat. Nature always makes for a cool subject. Nude models too, hee hee.

Haggis · Oct 21, 2014

mccardey said:
I often get mistaken for a pup.

<-

Go figure...

I'm sometimes mistaken for a Doberman.

Chase · Oct 22, 2014

Faye-M said:
Wow... that's fascinating! I don't think I would have noticed that.

Which is sooooo not the topic being discussed here...

I rest my case. Most guys would have written something like:

Fascinating. I don't think I would've noticed.

and

Which isn't the topic being discussed here.

Mr Flibble · Oct 22, 2014

Not normally here

I do get mistaken for a guy on the phone though....

Cella · Oct 28, 2014

Everyone always thinks I'm a chick...

cray · Oct 28, 2014

not when they see those meat hooks you call hands.

Cella · Oct 28, 2014

I wish I could be feminine....

Teach me, cray...oh, will you!?

I dunno where else to put this so...

I write

The Scavengers

I write

Chaser of Shineyyyy Plot Bunnies

The Scavengers

Making my own sunshine

Unabashed Mercenary

Emerging Anew

Hand? What hand?

It Takes All of Us to End Racism

permanently suctioned to Buz's leg

I write

The Scavengers

I write

Evil, undead Chihuahua

It Takes All of Us to End Racism

They've been very bad, Mr Flibble

Cella

Superior Life form

Cella