7.03.2008

which applies to you?

Today I signed on to my facebook account, only to have a very interesting message waiting for me.
"Which applies to you?" was the headline. It went on to say something like, "Your mini-feed is confusing. Please select which applies to you." My choices were "Barrie edited her profile" or "Barrie edited his profile."
My instant reaction was to laugh out loud because I thought it ridiculous that the ambiguity of my name had even stretched to the facebook realm. Then, I began to wonder if facebook was confused because my gender is not listed on my profile, thus it didn't know which pronoun to use. Or, I thought to myself, what if normally when one does not list their gender on their profile, facebook assumes gender based on a name and mine was not clear? These thoughts, of course, began to make the obie in me a little disturbed.
First, it said my mini-feed was confusing, because I guess beforehand it would report things as "Barrie edited their..such and such" (I always wondered why it was doing that...). This is a lame attempt at gender neutrality because it's grammatically incorrect. "Their" implies more than one person. So, to be grammatically correct, one must use either the male or female pronoun. Herein lies the problem with a gender binary. What about those that feel as though they identify with both or neither? Not only does facebook force one to choose between only male and female if they wish to list gender (unlike the "religious views" section, one cannot write in an option not listed under gender), but if one opts to leave this section blank, they are later forced to clarify so their mini-feed is not grammatically incorrect or "confusing". One may argue here that facebook is asking for gender, not sex. Yet, forcing me to choose between "her" or "his" (yes, it gives me the option, which, arguably, is a step in the right direction), signifies to the world that you must be one or the other, even if it is letting you choose the one with which you identify. I am reminded of my days in class back at Oberlin, where we were asked to introduce ourselves (name, major, hometown, etc) on the first day, and many would take the time to tell people with which pronoun they identified. But there were still only two choices.
Having gone to a college that required at least one gender neutral bathroom per floor in dorms, had an annual event called Drag Ball, and was one of a handful of schools to begin offering coed dorm rooms recently, breaking the traditional system of gender dichotomy is important. Facebook, which some may call an unimportant aspect of pop culture, is a leading social networking site with incredible power to disseminate information and set standards for such things as gender identification.
This is obviously a very complicated issue: what are the differences between gender and sex? how can one not identify with either "her" or "him? how can one identify with both?
where do we begin in changing this in mainstream society?
A discussion on the implications of asking one to choose between only two options (public restrooms, filling out forms, sports teams, etc) is required in pop culture before we can make any changes. Maybe getting facebook to make some changes would begin a much-needed awareness.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

See, now I'm offended by Facebook's option. I didn't get that message...I guess the people running that joint just assume that Ryan is a guy's name. That's some bullshit right there.

Unknown said...

you got that right, Ry.

Lou

Unknown said...

And Facebook and just about any other entity that asks for gender (when what they really mean is your presumed biological identification)assumes that we each have one, constant gender ID. I think things are much more malleable than that---on some issues, some activities, I align more with traditionally identified male perspective. In other areas, I am more [traditionally]female gender based---why should I select only one for all situations (situational gender identity????)

Anonymous said...

May I suggest trying Tagalog (pronounced [tɐˈgaːlog]), one of the major languages of the Republic of the Philippines. All pronouns are unisex. That is why when you converse with many Filipinos, they often call a "he" a "she" or vice versa.

valmo said...

I heard about this a few days ago, as the Cities must have been hurting for headlines:

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/22033964.html?location_refer=$urlTrackSectionName

I appreciate that facebook is trying to use correct grammar; it sets a good example that way.

However, I agree the pronoun issue is being ignored. I know there is a nifty little application to add to be more gender specific, but of course facebook isn't going to integrate those specified in that box on a profile.

Bummer they had to be all sneaky about making you choose a pronoun for your profile discreetly like that. Did they list it on your profile too??

valmo said...

Mmkay, let's try that link again. Sorry it got cut off...
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/22033964.
html?location_refer=$urlTrackSectionName

Anonymous said...

i got the same message, so i'm not sure it was name ambiguity. but that's beside the point. it never even crossed my mind that i should be offended. why even bother with a gender? for update purposes, it could just read "jesus updated photos" instead of "jesus updated his photos." we all know jesus was a woman.....right?

Unknown said...

No, Alan, Jesus was the son, God is a woman though--some people miss that given the androgynous nature of the name God (and do NOT even get me going on that goddess stuff---)

Anonymous said...

oh yeah, i totally screwed that up! too early in the day perhaps. god IS a woman. looks just like Alanis Morisette. i saw it on a movie once.

MDH said...

Got that too. Must admit that it really annoyed me when my mini-feed would read "MDH updated their profile." Since when am I a plural? Why can't they say "MDH's profile is updated." I thought college kids were supposed to smart.

ap said...

So wait, you can leave the gender field blank but then you HAVE to pick a pronoun for your minifeed? That's just so unnecessary.

p.s. The minifeed is dumb anyway, why don't they just get rid of it?

Anonymous said...

No, this isn't the same anonymous person from the other posting, so don't worry. Anyways, why make a fuss about having to choose a gender on facebook?

Everyone's trying to make a big philosophical issue out of it, but in reality they just want to know if you're a male or a female. It doesn't ask how which "perspective" you "align" with more, it's just a point blank one or the other question. I'm not getting into the whole pronoun thing, just the male/female question. Anyone who is born as either a female ("of the sex that can give birth or produce eggs") or as a male ("of the sex that can beget offspring by fertilization") shouldn't have a problem answering which gender they are, because that's what they are. Stop analyzing everything so much, please.

b said...

Ok, Anon # 2, you obviously missed the point. Gender and sex are not the same thing; you can choose either female or male on facebook (although that may cause problems for people who are born intersex, which is biological), but once you choose one or the other, facebook wants to assign you the corresponding pronoun. Herein lies the problem: not ever biological female identifies as "she" and not every biological male identifies as "he". There are those that may biologically still be female (ie sex organs), but do not outwardly identify as a she.
And analyzing everything is the point of the blog.