Gender Icon below Avatar in Forum needed

Forget the gender Icon, too much controversy. How about animal icons instead.

dog, cat, horse....spayed/neutered, ready to rock

Really though, does it really matter whether you are talking to a man or woman? if you are worried about offending someone, try being more gender neutral in your posts or replies.

Hmmmmmmm

How or even why does gender identification make a differenence? Male or Female? Does it mattter. A great post is a great post it does not matter IMHO. Denying ignorance is denying ignorance no matter who does it

Stick around long enough and you'll know who is male or female. Or like others have said, "just ask". When I first signed on to ATS I was clueless of who was who and I slowly began to find out by reading their post and by clicking on their name and reading their profiles. If you still can't figure them out then it's best to leave it alone and stick to the topic at hand. Imagination is a great tool to use.

Here's a good place to post your question and ideas too.
ATS

[edit on 5/13/2008 by Solarskye]

take a walk on the wild side.

not crazy about the idea.. I've noticed debating styles often change when someone find out I'm female. I'd rather be percieved objectively.



[edit on 13-5-2008 by riley]

I think, for the most part, you can tell gender from the postings, either style or substance (picture thread might help - go check it out).

I think I have been shocked once or twice on someone's gender but that is because I assume everyone on the interwebs is a guy.

for what it's worth, I am the dude in the avatar but my doppleganger, chissler, is really a hawt 20 something lass.

I'd think people would get carried away with gender icons. Instead of gender icons, a sliding bar to indicate the percentage of either gender would be neat. Then again there should be accomodations for transgenders, hermaphrodites, neuters, etc.

Thelibra's post is one of the few here that make any sense as to the reality of ATS.

I disagree with having a gender identifier.
There's a few simple reasons for this. Thelibra's point of view is correct though I feel this can also be expanded upon.

There are those on this planet that are physically neither male nor female. There are those who are of one sex but identify on a spiritual level with both.
Then you have those who just don't want to be identified or labeled.

This site is about thoughts, opinions, research, debates, denying ignorance and unveiling the conspiracy of all that we discuss.

There are millions of web sites that ask for your gender when you sign up with them, yet I am always angered by this...It's none of their business.
It's the same when you apply for a job or get a bank account etc etc.
What the heck has your gender got to do with anything?

Would our opinions be taken any differently if we knew each others gender? Will knowing a persons sex render their thoughts to scrutinised by any who have a grudge towards the same/opposite sex?

How many times would mods have to remove a post that says "you're just a dumb male/female, what do you know?"

One thing we must all be aware of is of our origins. We all start out as female until the extra chromosone does/does not kick in and decides our final bodily structure.

There is very little difference between us except for the visually obvious and a few chemical differences.

These differences do not, in any way, affect our ability to think and converse and share or be any less human than anyone else.

I, for one, would refuse to label myself in such a manner on ATS. We all have the priveledge and the right to not reveal anything about ourselves if we so wish.

I value everyones input on ATS (whether I agree with them or not, all posts help towards a greater knowledge for all) and their gender makes no odds for me.
Some of you have mentioned that you can sometimes tell someones gender from their avatars which is absolutely correct, but in my thread on avatar symbolisms, I beg you to find one post where I have made a deliberate issue on identifying someones gender. I don't recall doing so out of pure respect and for not derailing my own thread by making comments that I may get completely wrong based on what I felt from the reading.

We are all equal. We are all human beings regardless of age, gender, country of birth or what level of education we received. And here on ATS I hope we are all in agreement that we are here for each other and all of those yet to discover ATS and the message we are all trying to get out.

Just want to chime in to say that I'm totally against this.

The last thing we need is to engender our discussions on here. Indeed the last thing we need to do is engender another aspect of our global society and continue to perpetuate the cycle of perceived inequality and discrimination.

As much as i'd hate to sound patronising, there is a quite clear lesson to be learned here;

Don't make assumptions.

I find it astonishing how many people fail to understand the imperative of this lesson and actually apply it.

There is a difference between conciously making a judgement and subconciously assuming something about someone.

Naturally, making a judgement about someone's gender isn't exactly a smart move.

Let me put it another way;

You could make an assumption, but i would hope it would be along the lines of something like:

We're all the same, we're all capable of the same intelligence, the same emotions, the same virtues and the same flaws.

We're all human (not 100% sure with that on ATS though , maybe 99.1%).


I really do fail to see why it's so nessecary for people in our society to look at one person and think to themselves "This person is better than that person" - you can replace "better" with "Funnier" or "more sensible" or anything.

You'd still be rejecting someone subconciously based on something that is entirely subjective.



[edit on 14-5-2008 by Anti-Tyrant]

I think simply adding another Mood label then renaming to gender would be good.

In my opinion, correct it doesn't matter what someone gender is. It will not change how i look at what someone wrote in a different light (BTS is the exception).

As others have stated in this thread, when on the internet most people just assume everyone is male. It is a 99% of the time a correct assumption, however, i have been pleasantly surprised at the amount of females on this board. How do i know they are females? Main reason... when you read enough on this board you end up seeing this "Ummm he's a female dude!". I will say 90% of the females i have discovered due to other people's misfortunes.

So why not give us the option to display our gender. We don't have to use it if we don't want, however, it is only going to help clear things up anyway.

It also means we can stop seeing THEY all over the board...

LET US USE MORE PRONOUNS!!! lol...

[edit on 15/5/2008 by SilentShadow]