MartaLina wrote: And may i also point out that the use of the word gender is an inaccurate presentation of what you really want to achieve namely , acknowledgement to be called whatever the heck you want to be called , so how do you want to be adressed ? Lets for instance say that you are a Drama Queen? That is fine is that Drama Queen a He or a She ? People keep thinking that a dropdown menu for the word Gender will cover it all , but it will not , an open space will where we can tell stuff about ourselfes , ow wait , dont we have an about ME section .. Hi i am Marta Lina , one day i am a Drama Queen , tomorrow i am Butch Sunday ...
And now for the piece de resistance for arguments sake , how many of you actually LOOK at someone elses profile , i did and guess what i found , the person i wanted to look at has...restricted acces , the irony loll
To be fair, sociologically speaking gender very typically dictates the way we address people. Because gender is a fluid concept and being recognized more and more as non-binary by academics, those pronouns are expanding and becoming far more numerous than any single drop down box should even try to handle. LMAO That said, I recognize that this is also going to vary a bit from culture to culture. Within my own family culture, I have individuals who are very pro binary gender definitions and feel any deviation from said binary status is a mental illness at best, and Satan's scheming at worst. I can only speak to what I know of sociology, anthropology, and psychology. It'd be nice if we had evolved as a society to the point where having a visual display of this sort of thing wasn't necessary; unfortunately we haven't because we're still actively fighting for non-binary gender rights and the terminology that comes with it. Providing it as a fill-in option alleviates the need for an individual to come up with all non-binary terminology without risk of offending those who are cisgendered and makes it more inclusive as a whole.
As for your profile question, I actively look at profiles all the time, particularly with new members. If someone comes into chat I've never spoken with before, rather than assume gender, I usually go to their profile first to see if they've got anything there. That's my first stop. Always. I also know other individuals who actively look at profiles all the time, looking for the same information or like information. One individual looks for information through introduction posts and the profiles to come up with information on how to address the individual, how to respect them, what they like, what they dislike... Things that can prevent miscommunications, unintentional offenses, and make for more interesting conversation and less idle chatter.
