Gender anonymity

I have a question for those authors among us who choose not to identify their gender here: why not? I don't mean to provoke or offend, and for those who do not identify as a binary gender, I respect that. But I'm curious what other reasons people have as authors not to identify gender. Does it make a difference in reader acceptance? Does it create a different audience, or a broader audience? Or is it a matter of enhanced privacy?

I realize people may not want to explain for the same reason they choose not to divulge an identity, so I respect that too. Just curious.

It's an extension of a general desire to keep various areas of my life isolated. I maintain a couple of online identities that are isolated to one particular interest or hobby if it's something that opinions can run hot on. . This is one of those. It's easier to draw a hard line that no information is given rather than trying to figure out how much info to give.

ChasingAnna said:

It's an extension of a general desire to keep various areas of my life isolated. I maintain a couple of online identities that are isolated to one particular interest or hobby if it's something that opinions can run hot on. . This is one of those. It's easier to draw a hard line that no information is given rather than trying to figure out how much info to give.

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Makes sense. Thanks for the input.

Any author who can keep their gender secret here is probably a good writer. My attempts at using a female alt to post stories here, as Jeanne D'Artois has done, have been failures.

I just farted. I'm male. Really.

ChasingAnna said:

It's an extension of a general desire to keep various areas of my life isolated... It's easier to draw a hard line that no information is given rather than trying to figure out how much info to give.

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I'm Hypoxia Smurf here and there; beyond that is nobody's business. I'm others elsewhere; that doesn't matter here. I may cite some of my past; might even mostly be true-ish. Or maybe I'm a constipated poodle.

Two reasons. First, I like to write in first person from both a male and female perspective. I think it helps the storytelling if readers accept the author as the same gender as the narrator. It can't help if the reader is skeptical right from the by-line. I guess I've had some success—I've had flirty comments from guys who read my female POV stories assuming I'm chick, and from women who read my male POV stories assuming I'm a guy. I don't want to burst anyone's bubble.

Second, I've said frequently that I work in an industry that subjects me to frequent background checks. I don't need a bible-thumping investigator deciding my hobby makes me a security risk. Gender is a data point that narrows down your real identity by 50%. As a security precaution, this is probably outdated. I know there are AIs out there that can probably determine my gender from my writing with a reasonable degree of accuracy. But I still prefer not to give them any confirmation.

There are a few people at Literotica who have come right out and asked, and I'll tell you in a PM if you really want to know. Most people guess right.

LoquiSordidaAdMe said:

I know there are AIs out there that can probably determine my gender from my writing with a reasonable degree of accuracy. But I still prefer not to give them any confirmation

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There's at least one of those online. I gave it samples from a lot of my stories, and it failed miserably. Most often it didn't know my gender, but sometimes it gave a decision (which went either way) with a small confidence.

I had to go check mine to see what I put in...it's been a long time ago. I see that I put gender and pretty much nothing else. For the most part, I feel it's all unimportant to the purpose of what I do here. In the internet world, it's all meaningless anyway. I can't remember the last time I paid much attention to the bio of any author.

As a tangent to what Chasing Anna said, I'm slow to warm up in new settings. So, right now, I don't have any personal info in my profile here. But a few months from now, once I get more familiar with the personalities, and more comfortable interacting, I'll probably add some detail. My lack of gender identity here has less to do with gender itself, and more to do with a general reticence for telling anything.

I picked a name that most people will assume is one particular gender, because it sounded good in my ear. In other places where I comment frequently I have much more gender neutral sounding names. In those arenas I'm almost always assumed to be male.

I haven't thought much about how my perceived gender might impact my audience. "Course, I'm new enough that it's kinda early to be talking about having an 'audience' anyway....

Another question related to this is: how many writers with non-gendered account names (like mine, for example) have received comments from readers who didn't spot the actual gender of the writer?

I think in most cases (but definitely not in every case) one can over time make a pretty convincing guess as to a writer's gender, especially if they are also active in the forums. Some writers, though, I'm either not quite sure about or it never occurs to me to bother wondering. Which proves to me that it doesn't matter at all.

But I was quite surprised to get this comment not so long ago:*

I stumbled on this story in a very roundabout way, so knew absolutely nothing about the author. Was really surprised to find out it was written by a man, I was 150% sure it was a female writing.

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and, about the same time, a new-comer to AH thought I was female (until I mentioned in another thread that I wasn't). I'd have thought my gender comes through in my writing and my persona here, but apparently not one-hundred per cent, which I find curious.

* even more curious - it was a completely auto-biographical piece, where I was recounting actual events.

electricblue66 said:

Another question related to this is: how many writers with non-gendered account names (like mine, for example) have received comments from readers who didn't spot the actual gender of the writer?

I think in most cases (but definitely not in every case) one can over time make a pretty convincing guess as to a writer's gender, especially if they are also active in the forums. Some writers, though, I'm either not quite sure about or it never occurs to me to bother wondering. Which proves to me that it doesn't matter at all.

But I was quite surprised to get this comment not so long ago:*

and, about the same time, a new-comer to AH thought I was female (until I mentioned in another thread that I wasn't). I'd have thought my gender comes through in my writing and my persona here, but apparently not one-hundred per cent, which I find curious.

* even more curious - it was a completely auto-biographical piece, where I was recounting actual events.

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Have to admit, when I was just new on the forums I did assume you to be female. As I saw more of your posts and got more familiar with the way they're written that shifted towards male, though. Couldn't tell you why I thought you were female at first.

I am transgender where I was born male but I identify as female so that makes it kind of confusing. I publish under my real male name when I write my serious stuff but I publish fetish stuff under both male and female pseudonyms and the people who have read them can't seem to find any deception involved. I feel that a good writer would be able to write well from both the male and female perspective because the whole idea of writing is getting into the head of someone who is not yourself and putting yourself in their shoes.

ThisNameIsntTakenYet said:

Have to admit, when I was just new on the forums I did assume you to be female. As I saw more of your posts and got more familiar with the way they're written that shifted towards male, though. Couldn't tell you why I thought you were female at first.

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I've been told (by women) that my writing taps into a feminine side - but I wouldn't have thought my forum persona would be so ambiguous, so there you go . It might have something to do with the fact that I've always preferred the company of women to that of men, but to see that percolate through words on a screen is indeed curious.

electricblue66 said:

Another question related to this is: how many writers with non-gendered account names (like mine, for example) have received comments from readers who didn't spot the actual gender of the writer?

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I've only been asked once, and I think the person was hoping to hit on a female author.

A few years back, somebody claimed that women writers generally get higher votes than men writers. I don't know if that's true anymore (or even if it was ever true) but that might be a reason why some people don't post gender preferences.

But it doesn't seem to be anything worth worrying about.

SimonDoom said:

I have a question for those authors among us who choose not to identify their gender here: why not? I don't mean to provoke or offend, and for those who do not identify as a binary gender, I respect that. But I'm curious what other reasons people have as authors not to identify gender. Does it make a difference in reader acceptance? Does it create a different audience, or a broader audience? Or is it a matter of enhanced privacy?

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Bunch of reasons. Some of these are mine and some aren't.

Avoiding unwelcome attention is a common reason for women to pick male or neutral identities, pretty much anywhere online but especially in places like this. Even with a gender-neutral profile, I get more PMs from slavering fuckboys than I'd like.

Perceived gender can influence how readers react to stories. Rightly or wrongly, a man writing in Lesbian or a woman writing in Gay Male may feel, rightly or wrongly, that they'll get a better reception if they don't advertise their gender.

For people whose gender identity isn't straightforward, online can be a good place to explore different options or just take a break. A man who feels social pressure to be macho, a woman who feels pressure to be feminine - a neutral or cross-gender persona can be a bit of a break from that, space to evaluate who they want to be.

For me, it's also a way to learn things. When people assume me to be a particular gender, that's info for me about how people make assumptions, and also about how I come across when I'm not trying to project one or the other.

(Also, as LSAM noted, it's potentially identifying information.)