4 ms·

Why not simply reword the question to ask whether you prefer to be referred to as a "he" or "she"? In the rare case that it doesn't align with your genetic or a

• tiddchristopher 15y ago
  That sounds like a great option for use within your account. On the other hand, someone could easily want to be referred to as "he" in his UI, but not want to present that to other users.
  • pyre 15y ago
    That's because there are really two questions at play here: 1. What gender do I want to identify myself as? 2. Do I want to publicly publish this information? The issue is being muddied because some people that answer 'no' to question #2 are using the gender of 'Other' as a hack around the system, when in reality their gender identity is not 'Other.' This in effect co-opts the gender identity of 'Other' from the people that truly want to be gender-identified as 'Other.' Now when you view a profile with a gender of 'Other' you can't be sure if the person really identifies as 'Other' or if they identify as male/female, but are trying to hide it. We could easily frame this problem in a different light without getting into the "OMG! There are really only two genders! I hate all this PC bullshit!" discussion. If Google+ made mandatory both choosing a gender (only a binary male/female choice) and publishing that choice publicly, then a lot of women that wish to hide their gender would choose 'Male.' Now the gender field is useless because you've designed a system that doesn't fit your users' needs, forcing them to provide you with wrong information.
• dazzer 15y ago
  At first glance at your comment I said "how would that help". Then I thought about it a second time, and I think this is actually a legitimate way to approach the problem of gender identification. So +1 for me. Wonder what others think
  • lhnz 15y ago
    Some might prefer the gender-neutral pronoun "they". However, I think doing things this way is going to be quite difficult to implement when you consider multiple languages. Male/Female/Other with an option to hide this information is much easier a solution.
    • parfe 15y ago
      They is traditionally plural.
      • epochwolf 15y ago
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they#Generic_they http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they#Generic_they It's been around for a very long time.
        • parfe 15y ago
          Are you saying that usage is common or are you showing me the exception that proves the rule? I Don't think I'd ever use a "They" in a way such as being described here. "John was late for dinner. They were caught in traffic." Or is it "They was caught in traffic." ?
          • lhnz 15y ago
            I'm British: I use it quite often. Maybe it's rarer in the US? "John was late for dinner. They were caught in traffic." is perfectly correct usage (however if you'd just called somebody by a gender-specific name there's not much point in then being gender-neutral).
            • parfe 15y ago
              If you said "They" I would wonder who else was in the car with John.
          • klipt 15y ago
• zb 15y ago
  That already is the definition of "gender". The issue here is whether there should be an option to make the data non-public.
  • andreyf 15y ago
    I can't imagine why I wouldn't want someone to know I prefer to be referred to as a "he"...