Gendered Writing?
Apr. 17th, 2007 10:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bowtrunckleApparently, there is a female and a male style of writing. Weird. At least that's what three studies suggest, two of which were conducted on undergraduate students' papers and one done on published writers. The results:
Men used more "bold" sentences 1/3 more than women. They wrote simple sentences and were more quantitative, drawing conclusions using words like therefore. In argumentative essays, 25% of the men acknowledged the legitimacy of the opposing viewpoint. They used 50% more illustratives like for example.
Women used more "tentative" sentences. They wrote more questions, used exclamation points three times more than men, and employed figurative language and color terms. Women used I think, I guess, I feel twice as often as men. In argumentative essays, 50% of the women acknowledged the legitimacy of the opposing viewpoint. Women used more parentheses and 50% more causatives (because, for, since) than men. Women use the word really a lot and use and or or to separate elements in a series rather than a comma.
There were no gender differences relating to sentence length, simile use, inclusion of nonessential information, numerals, and markers of audience acknowledgment. Blah blab blah....
Anyway, I found this really interesting. (Yes, I'm a dork ... and, oh look, I just used parentheses - 1 point for a female writing style *laughs*). In 2003, some Israeli computer guys came up with an algorithm that supposedly predicts the gender of a text's author within an 80% accuracy. You can test your gender writing style by using it here.
I write like a man. LOL!!! (Oo, multiple exclamation points - a zillion points for a female writing style)! The random LJ entries I tested were slightly male except for a couple where I was competely spazzing out (hm, imagine that ... me spazzing out). I tested the styles for my short stories - they turned out to be gender appropriate except for one male character (Emanuel), but he was a male nurse so maybe that had something to do with it *snort*. Then I moved onto my old fanfic stuff, and because I like alternating POVs or else wrote in first person POV, I could test most of them. Ron and Mulciber were definitely male style, Dean and Tav sort of, Ginny, Hermione, Molly, and Hope were written in a female style (THANK GOD), and Dumbledore was written in an androgenous style (2725 female vs. 2722 male). Heh. My Harry apparantly is neutered and walks around with his bits in a purse because he was written in an overwhelmingly feminine style (and I tested multiple Harry POVs). LOL!!! Lupin also turned out to be girlish *limp wrist*. Go figure. So,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hyacinthgirl, I also write slightly in a feminized style for male characters *giggles*. Now you have a sort-of method to test out the gayness of your male writing style. Ah, the insanity.
Men used more "bold" sentences 1/3 more than women. They wrote simple sentences and were more quantitative, drawing conclusions using words like therefore. In argumentative essays, 25% of the men acknowledged the legitimacy of the opposing viewpoint. They used 50% more illustratives like for example.
Women used more "tentative" sentences. They wrote more questions, used exclamation points three times more than men, and employed figurative language and color terms. Women used I think, I guess, I feel twice as often as men. In argumentative essays, 50% of the women acknowledged the legitimacy of the opposing viewpoint. Women used more parentheses and 50% more causatives (because, for, since) than men. Women use the word really a lot and use and or or to separate elements in a series rather than a comma.
There were no gender differences relating to sentence length, simile use, inclusion of nonessential information, numerals, and markers of audience acknowledgment. Blah blab blah....
Anyway, I found this really interesting. (Yes, I'm a dork ... and, oh look, I just used parentheses - 1 point for a female writing style *laughs*). In 2003, some Israeli computer guys came up with an algorithm that supposedly predicts the gender of a text's author within an 80% accuracy. You can test your gender writing style by using it here.
I write like a man. LOL!!! (Oo, multiple exclamation points - a zillion points for a female writing style)! The random LJ entries I tested were slightly male except for a couple where I was competely spazzing out (hm, imagine that ... me spazzing out). I tested the styles for my short stories - they turned out to be gender appropriate except for one male character (Emanuel), but he was a male nurse so maybe that had something to do with it *snort*. Then I moved onto my old fanfic stuff, and because I like alternating POVs or else wrote in first person POV, I could test most of them. Ron and Mulciber were definitely male style, Dean and Tav sort of, Ginny, Hermione, Molly, and Hope were written in a female style (THANK GOD), and Dumbledore was written in an androgenous style (2725 female vs. 2722 male). Heh. My Harry apparantly is neutered and walks around with his bits in a purse because he was written in an overwhelmingly feminine style (and I tested multiple Harry POVs). LOL!!! Lupin also turned out to be girlish *limp wrist*. Go figure. So,
hyacinthgirl, I also write slightly in a feminized style for male characters *giggles*. Now you have a sort-of method to test out the gayness of your male writing style. Ah, the insanity.
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no subject
Date: 2007-04-17 10:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-18 05:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-18 06:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-19 03:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-18 09:41 am (UTC)Hm.
I have trouble believing this is in any way accurate, though *g*. For one thing, you can manipulate the results. For example, I have been taught not to use "I think/feel" in scholarly texts, and sounding confident is a plus. So - well, small wonder that type of writing sounds what they call 'male' :D.
BTW, since you mention 'gayness of gay writing style': I entered a fragment from Wilde's Dorian Gray and boy, is it male! :P
It's a fun tool, though *g*.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-19 03:32 am (UTC)LOL! It seems like slightly worried posts with heightened emotion tend to be written in a female style (mine included). Interesting, isn't it?
you can manipulate the results
Yes, for sure. I think my formal writing style is overly male because of the nature of scientific papers and such. I got the wordiness pounded out of me. However, my hobby writing tends to be verbose and can be very girly. :)
I entered a fragment from Wilde's Dorian Gray and boy, is it male! :P
Heh. Good to know. :)
no subject
Date: 2007-04-18 12:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-19 03:44 am (UTC)Politically Correctd
Date: 2007-04-18 08:34 pm (UTC)Even putting pen on paper or quill on parchment could not escape the gender divide! Honestly!
Darling... as long as you are pleased with anything you put on paper or parchment... that is all that mattters.xxxxxLourdes
Re: Politically Correctd
Date: 2007-04-19 03:47 am (UTC)cool!
Date: 2007-04-21 10:47 pm (UTC)Re: cool!
Date: 2007-04-22 08:10 am (UTC)I loved your Justin! Even though I'd love to say "other" just because he was so unique (LOL!), I bet your writing style would be classified as female. That's not to say Justin's "voice" was female (he was pretty male), but that your underlying style is female (the long, complex sentences and such). :) If you end up testing some of your J stuff, let me know what the results are. I'm curious!