How is gender projected?

According to the GenderAnalyzer, my website is written by a man; 56% manliness, that is.  When I input Eric’s website, it comes back 81% man (good for him!).  Catherine, my platonic wife and super-girlie friend, managed to get 57% man, beating even me out for manliness.  AV Flox, one of the sexiest female bloggers on the internet, managed to score 100% male!  Frederick Clarkson’s blog seems to be written by a female, but only barely; he scored 51%.  Steph Auteri, who interviewed me for the dating advice column, was the only female who managed to score 96% female; however, she mentions “husband” pretty often in her blogging, which probably helped her female score.

So I decided to get “scientific” with this gender thing, remembering a series I saw made by the BBC on brain sex.  I took their quiz; six parts to tell me if my brain is more man, or more woman.  If you’re interested in this (not super scientific test, more of a meme) go ahead and take it before you read more; here’s my score:

I managed to score…zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Nothing. Origin. 1>score<-1.   Gender neutral…right?

I don’t think so.  Let’s go over how this test works, part by part (note that their disclaimer reads, “Bear in mind that your performance may be affected by many factors in addition to gender, like age and intelligence.”  That’s how I’m about to debunk this.  That, and sexuality.

Part 1 of this test is angles. “This task tested your ability to identify the angle of a line by matching it with its twin. This is a spatial task, which looks at how you picture space.” Hmm…spacial tasks…I am pretty sure those are on just about every I.Q. test I’ve ever seen.  Let’s see how I did in relation to the rest of the world:

Your score: 20 out of 20
Average score for men: 15.1 out of 20
Average score for women: 13.3 out of 20

Well,  color me unsurprised that this test assumes that men are smarter at this spacial stuff than us women.  But scientist have been telling women for years that we suck at math, logic, and “spacial concepts,” and we continue to buy into this crap.  I look around myself and see…just me, the lone female engineer in my group.  It must be because I have a manly brain – not because of my I.Q., right?  Or – we could get into a discussion about how sexuality is influenced by brain architecture – gay women have more “male” brains, gay men have more “female” brains, but I fall right smack in the middle of THAT spectrum as well (did I just back up that argument? No…no, I didn’t).

Spot the difference…”This task tested your ability to identify which objects changed position. You lost points, if you incorrectly identified objects.”

Your score: 75%
Average score for men: 39%
Average score for women: 46%

Well, that makes perfect sense.  I mean, everyone knows men are totally clueless when it comes to noticing mild differences.  Did your husband ever notice when you went and got a new haircut? No. Funny, most of the men I work with can spot a millimeter difference on a lead wire…

Part 2 – hands!  I was asked to clasp my hands together and see which thumb rests on top.  (Go ahead and do it now before you read my results, in case you want to take this later and need an unbiased result).

Left thumb on top: This suggests the right half of your brain is dominant. Some studies theorize that as a right brain dominant person, you may excel in visual, spatial and intuitive processes.

Well, I was ambidextrous in elementary school until my 1st grade teacher (literally) beat it out of me, and I stopped using my left hand.  I’m pretty sure that what hand is dominant is also determined by what half of your brain is dominant, so this could be skewed by my premature rejection of ambiness…

Part 3 is all about emotions.  Well, I’m not that great of am empathizer; I can empathize if necessary, but it’s not one of my strengths (can we blame this on me being an only child? please?).  I’m logical, less willing to sympathize, more willing to say “ok, this sucks, but let’s see how we can move on from this and make it NOT suck anymore.” That’s just me – I’d rather solve problems than dwell on them. So I was not surprised when I saw my results here…

Your empathy score is: 6 out of 20
Average score for men: 7.9 out of 20
Average score for women: 10.6 out of 20

What does your result suggest?
Empathisers are better at accurately judging other people’s emotions and responding appropriately. If you scored 15 and above, you are very empathic and would be an ideal person to comfort people in a time of crisis. Women in general are better at empathising.

Next part…systemising! Now we’re talking.

Your systemising score is: 18 out of 20
Average score for men: 12.5 out of 20
Average score for women: 8.0 out of 20

What does your result suggest?
Systemisers prefer to investigate how systems work. A system can be a road map, flat pack furniture, or a mathematical equation – anything that follows a set of rules. A score of 15 and above suggests you’re good at analysing or building systems. Men in general are better at systemising.

Well, I think I just explained all this when I was talking about my empathising score. I’m glad I took this test so it could tell me more about myself that I already know.

Next part, eyes. “This task tested your ability to judge people’s emotions.”

Your score: 5 out of 10
Average score for men: 6.6 out of 10
Average score for women: 6.6 out of 10

I’ll chalk this up with my lack of empathy; I apparently am clueless about people’s emotions.  This probably explains why people have to hit me over the head with a baseball bat in order for me to know they’re interested in me.  “If you scored 4 – 6: Your result suggests you have a balanced female-male brain and find it neither easy nor difficult to judge people’s emotions.”

Next I had to measure my ring/index fingers on both hands, which essentially told me…I have women’s hands, IF the length of fingers are, indeed, influenced by being exposed to testosterone while in the womb.

Next was faces you prefer; whether they are more masculine or feminine.  Since I had to pick either men or women as a sexual preference (no option for both, sadly) I went with women, and ended up finding out – shocker – I prefer a more feminine face.  However, preferences for women tend to be gray and “influenced by menstrual cycle;” aka, scientist belive that we prefer more masculine faces when we’re ovulating (which is apparently not true for me, but we can just blame that on my pesky bisexuality).

Next test? 3D shapes. Whee! “This task tested your ability to mentally rotate 3D shapes.”

Your score: 10 out of 12
Average score for men: 8.2 out of 12
Average score for women: 7.1 out of 12

If you scored 10 – 12: Are you an engineer or do you have a science background? People with these skills tend to score in this range. Past studies have concluded that people in this range have a more male brain.

Did anyone else read that to mean “engineers or people with science backgrounds tend to have a more male brain?” Yeah, thought so.

Words; I like words; right now I’m writing just to…hear myself type ;)

Your score: you associated 14 word(s) with grey and you named 7 word(s) that mean happy. We are assuming that all the words you entered are correct.

Average score for men: 11.4 words total
Average score for women: 12.4 words total

What does your result suggest? If you produced 6 – 10 words: Most people in this range have a female-type brain. Women are said to use both sides of the brain when doing verbal tasks while men mainly use their left side. Studies have shown that girls develop vocabulary faster than boys. This difference in brain power is caused by levels of pre-natal testosterone.

Well, I have quite an extensive vocabulary thanks to my father; I especially love using sesquipedalians, and try to write every day (this blog is one exersize of that, despite my lack of readers).

So what did this test tell me, overall?  That scientists (or at least, those the BBC used for these exersizes) still think that women are more emotional, less mathematical, and more talkative.  Men are stoic, sciency types with little emotional I.Q. but a penchant for spacial puzzles.

So I’m gender neutral.  Well, I was a tomboy when I was a kid, I date both men and women (though women are much easier on the eyes, no offense guys), and my I.Q. is…well, let’s put it this way, I wouldn’t have any trouble getting into Mensa.  All of these factors influence whether this test can correctly predict my brain’s sex. Which apparently was designed to support prominent western gender sterotypes.

Take the test and post your answers, and whether you think they’re accurate or not, in the comments!