On to the next thing - Answers to the "What Gender am I" exercise.

[featherynscale]

As promised, the results and answers to the first round of the "What Gender Am I?" game.

1. Courk. 95% of respondents thought that Courk was male, and they were wrong. Courk is female.
2. MeMe. 95% of respondents thought that MeMe was female, and they were right.
3. Jadesmar. Most people (80%) thought that Jadesmar was female, but they were also wrong. Jadesmar is a guy.
4. Sofis. 70% thought that Sofis was female, but they, too were wrong - Sofis is a beautiful and decadent boy.
5. Werebear 80% thought that Werebear was male, and indeed he is, and apparently quite furry.
6. JDTAY. 85% thought that JDTAY was male, and they were also right.
7. Hitchhiker. 80% thought that Hitchhiker was male, but she is, in fact, a girl.
8. Lepton. 90% thought that Lepton was male, which is true.
9. Pie_is_good. The populace was divided on the issue of Pie_is_good, with 50% choosing female and 45% choosing male. Pie_is_good lists himself as male.
10. The Critic. 90% thought that The Critic would be male, but no. She is female.
11. Serenity. 95% thought that Serenity was female, but they were wrong.
12. EEEM. 70% thought that EEEM was male, but they were also wrong. EEEM is a beautiful redheaded chick.
13. L'lanmal. Also a divider, not a uniter, 50% thought that L'lanmal was female, and 45% said male. L'lanmal is male.
14. IrishDrums04. 63.2% thought that IrishDrums04 was male, but she is a girl.
15. TANSTAAFL. 60% thought TANSTAAFL was male, but she is also a girl.

So here's the scoop. On 11 of 15 items, 70% or more of respondents chose the same option. (N=20, for those keeping score at home. Sample is small, but this is for personal amusement, not for publication.) On the 11 items that 70% or more agreed on, the crowd was correct 4 times, and incorrect 7 times. On the closer items, the majority was incorrect on all 4 items. The simple majority of respondents were able to correctly determine gender 4 times out of 15.

So now what I want to know is this: Why did you answer the way you did? What made you think that a name was male or female? You don't have to tell me about everybody, just the ones you're able to articulate a reason on (or just the ones you want to talk about).

Also, apologies to saberkitty, who knew everybody.

Comments

[agrnmn.livejournal.com]

My question is what made you choose the ones you did? I figured that most were not what they seemed (in effect trick questions) and almost reversed any of the ones I was "sure" of, which would have brought my correct score up. In the interest of science I stuck with my gut reaction. Many of my gut reactions related to whether the name had "tough" or "rough" connotations for male (hard consonant sounds predominant) and "soft" connotations for female.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Actually, these were chosen at random - I randomly pulled a load of names (about forty) from the mafiascum and grey labyrinth member lists, and eliminated those with explicit gender clues (including words like boy/girl, Mr., Miss, and first names). I then took the first fifteen on the list that remained. More than half had to be eliminated, which I thought was interesting. I wasn't intending them to be trick questions, just names without explicit cues.

[agrnmn.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it was the originator of the name who desired a level of confusion/annonimity. (I just hate being wrong about anything mostly)

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Hard to say. "Why did you choose your screen name?" is perhaps a question for another day. :)