I've been meaning to write this post for a few days, but alas!

So: International Women's day was this past weekend. It got me to thinking about the way we use language, and how that changes our thinking patterns. So here's an experiment for all of us:

For the next month, assume that _everyone_ you interact with on this forum is female, unless they identify themselves to you as male. Try it. Default to the female pronoun. Try saying "ladies" instead of "guys". See how changes your thinking. See how it changes your interactions with people.

Maybe you can't do it for long. That's interesting too. Most of us simply don't think about the way that we think, the patterns that inform our expression and worldview. That's not a bad thing, but it can be incredibly useful to try and change something basic that we take for granted, just to see if we can.

Challenge accepted. Now go make me a sandwich.

Challenge accepted. Now go make me a sandwich.

See, that's the _exact_ sort of attitude that keeps a lot of women from wanting to be in nerd spaces. Even jokingly, that's incredibly offputting.

If I didn't say it someone else would have. It was just too good of an opportunity to pass up and I do not apologize for it.

However....

I do like your idea. I think it is clever and can do alot of good. I like ideas that make us look at social problems in a new light. Dustin Hoffman had an interview after making the film "Tootsie", and to paraphrase, after they showed him his makeup, he had said to them that they needed to make him even more beautiful, but they replied that they couldn't. That was as good as makeup could make him look. He was devastated, because he suddenly realized that is what women have to deal with every day. Not everyone is able to just be "Beautiful". So from that day forward he decided he was going to take women more seriously, regardless of their appearance.

Not exactly the same as your challenge, but I cite it because it his case, it was a drastic new way to look at a social problem.

You're talking about the internet here. Since when has /anyone/ on it not been little girls?

What !? Little girls on the internet. I have a sneaking suspicion that one could get in a lot of trouble for googling that.

In seriousness, I never look at people's profiles (sorry ladies, I just don't care enough) so I literally have no idea if the players on these forums are men or women (unless of course the OP has created a thread titled "I was playing with my wife and .." - then again, who says it isn't a same sex marriage?? - Oh, I see what you're doing Punning Pundit!)

A lot of my posts (if referring to gender) utilise both forms of the gender specific form. For example, 'lads and ladettes', 'fellas and fellettes', etc. I understand this may not be the most appropriate terminology, but it is an indication that not all players have dangly bits.

Did i miss a button or something? Because i can't find a single bit on people's profiles that says what sex they are. (And even then I'd suspect they are all G.I.R.L.s)

Not that it really matters to me what sex someone on a forum* is. I ( think I) treat them just the same.

Okay let's give this thing a try...

* (Creeper mode on) Can't have sex here anyway .... (Creeper mode off)

Okay ladies, lissen up:

As it happens i bought a friend a pack of Munchkin Princesses for his birthday. And to go with that (because i'm a bigger troll IRL than online ) I also bought him a Disney Princesses Birthday card. (Gotta stay with the theme.) In two days we'll know if he enjoyed that or not.

And speaking of getting in touch with one's inner princess I'll also be picking up Pretty pretty Smash Up (The smash up expansion full of faeries, kiettehs, ponies and...Princesses!)

'fellas and fellettes'

I'm kind of surprised that last word didn't get tripped in any censors, TBH.

Okay ladies, lissen up:

As it happens i bought a friend a pack of Munchkin Princesses for his birthday. And to go with that (because i'm a bigger troll IRL than online ) I also bought him a Disney Princesses Birthday card. (Gotta stay with the theme.) In two days we'll know if he enjoyed that or not.

And speaking of getting in touch with one's inner princess I'll also be picking up Pretty pretty Smash Up (The smash up expansion full of faeries, kiettehs, ponies and...Princesses!)

My wife refuses to play Munchkin with me, as it brings forth my inner munchkin.

It's the net thin skinned people don't belong here regardless of gender.

That goes for any forum anywhere if your going to put your ideas out there someone's going to disagree and if you take it personally that's your problem not theirs.

I've worked in retail with plenty of women and they've never wanted to be treated any differently because of their gender, hell they would constantly try to embarrass me when I was young.

Women are not fragile flowers that disintegrate if you look at them wrong, they are people and want to be treated as such.

If jokes about sandwiches offend them that much then they have no business on the interwebz

If jokes about sandwiches offend them that much then they have no business on the interwebz

I disagree. That is like saying, if jokes about slavery offend African Americans then they have no business on the interwebz.

I completely agreed with your post .. up until the last bit.

It's the net thin skinned people don't belong here regardless of gender.

That goes for any forum anywhere if your going to put your ideas out there someone's going to disagree and if you take it personally that's your problem not theirs.

I've worked in retail with plenty of women and they've never wanted to be treated any differently because of their gender, hell they would constantly try to embarrass me when I was young.

Women are not fragile flowers that disintegrate if you look at them wrong, they are people and want to be treated as such.

If jokes about sandwiches offend them that much then they have no business on the interwebz

No one likes to be treated like an outsider. Sandwich jokes do that.

In fact, I'll agree with you: "they've never wanted to be treated any differently because of their gender". That's it exactly. So stop it.