Can you often tell sex from writing style in relationship threads?

Research suggests that people can tell the sex of people from writing style with about 80% accuracy.

It is stereotyping, but it's a stereotype that's relatively accurate because the way we communicate is socialized to a fairly extreme extent.

When I was young and fed up of being patronised, I used to post on anonymous forums without specifying my sex. I found men tended to assume I was male and women tended to assume I was female.

Went out of the window when I had babies and wanted to talk about the uniquely female experiences that involved.

Ah yes, because women only write in dainty little paragraphs.
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No, people on here can't usually tell and "Urg. Man" gets thrown about all the time, usually when it's someone posting in disagreement with a comment.

Not just in Relationships - all topics.

And yet I'm right a lot of the time.

I don't mind men who come here and chat, hang out, comment helpfully. I do mind men who wouldn't normally be seen dead talking to groups of women, want to slag off their overworked wife on Relationships, complain she's not shagging him enough, and get a lot of women to agree with them.

Men have a million places online. A million. About a 60:40 split male:female on most online fora. More in tech, sports etc. 70:30. Men have space to talk. A lot of fora are opening hostile to women, harassing, threatening and sexually repulsive. Gamergate anyone? They don't need MNers to be handmaidens.

You only have to see how many of them turn when challenged on their behaviour. "I knew this place would be full of feminazi bitches." Off you fuck then.

But nice men? Great.

And yet I'm right a lot of the time

😂 If you say so. How would you even know?!

Not always but I often find if a poster mistakes their own opinion for a fact, states it and then seems surprised when people disagree then they turn out to be male. However I think this is part of a wider societal issue of men being incorrectly considered less emotional than women so therefore them believing that their opinions are grounded in fact and logic whereas ours are just our feelings!

I’m not really sure why you are scoffing at this. There’s plenty of research into the fact that generally men and women’s writing styles differ. And spend enough time both online and in the workplace exchanging emails you see patterns. Of course there will always be outliers but there is a pattern.

Usually after having a strong suspicion the man will make himself known after a few posts by self-declaring anyway.

Not MN but I remember reading a new book by an initialled author I assumed to be male until I’d read a few chapters and went hmm I’m sure this was written by a woman.

It was - it was a pseudonym.

I know it’s 50/50 but it was a crime novel and so many of the male writers write through the male gaze and this …wasn’t. Made it obvious.

I’d consider it more male socialisation people are picking up on - ie that special brand of entitled and aggressive.

Mostly I think, but I’m not infallible and I’ve got it wrong a few times that I know of. I do think there are more frequent posting styles associated with each sex. Yes it’s stereotypical but there you go.

I think @ohfook made a good point.