This is, perhaps, a provocative question and one which could lead to all sorts of inaccurate conclusion about the author. I am sure, that perception of gender is a very individual reaction when responding to visual or intellectual stimuli.
As I wonder around the web reading and learning, I have developed an awareness of a perceived gender of the web owner. For instance, one of my favourite sites is Notsosoft. This (again, my perception) is a site that exhibits female gender. Firstly, I consider the design and content to be one of the most elegant and precise expressions of an owners personality that I have seen. It is amazing that a few days spent reading Meg’s comments and content that I feel I know the person. Even without the indication of female gender in the name, I have come to think of this site as female. There is a feeling of sweeping curves in the site, no hard (squared off edges??) in the narrative and thinking, an openness and self- awareness that is fresh and revealing. There seems to be a flexibility in thinking combined with an undercurrent of “I am in control and I don’t really give a shit what you think about me”. That appeals to my sense of what life should be about. There is a certain delicate style to the design that I find indicative of female gender.
Compare that site to Lou Quillio’s site where the design is more abrupt, less whimsical and more ‘matter-of-fact’. The writing, while more technical and less personal or introspective is every bit as informative and fun to visit as the aforementioned. This site, to me, has male gender and I am not sure why I think that.
Finally have a look at what the young gentlemen at SilverOrange have done. This site appears gender neutral to me. When I visit this site, I have no sense of gender of any sort. Clever, I would say - as this site is a commercial site that presents their product to a gender-mixed audience.
Conclusions:
20 Feb 2003 at 12:27 pm | #
This business of website (maybe weblog) author identity has been on my mind lately, too. Know what visitors want to know more than anything? They want to know what you look like.
I’m thinking the next redesign of Quillio.com will slap a photo right at the top. Folks coming later to this game don’t hesitate at all (example: CalPundit). Where did the “man behind the curtain” convention come from, anyhow? It annoys people, even if they can’t place the source of their annoyance. I think that pretty soon a faceless mystery man will seem like he’s got something to hide.
Re prose style and design decisions, left-brain and right-brain, curlicues or brass tacks ... it all comes back (for me) to “why do it?” Why blog? To let the words go, I think. To dump them in some modestly irrevocable way and move on. If what comes out has a sex, then it does. The widest gulf is between doing it and not doing it; having cleared that, I think the content informs everything beyond. But back to your point, Craig …
[Quillio.com], to me, has male gender and I am not sure why I think that.
I am. It’s got to do with the amount of daily time I spend thinking about tits and ass, which is lots.
20 Feb 2003 at 12:34 pm | #
One word.."priceless"