I don't know if gender has any real impact on me, but I'll admit that I draw parallels between regular posters here and people I know in real life. Some are the grouchy old men who, despite their angry exterior, actually mean well in all that they do. Some are the nice old men like my grandfather. Some are the bitter, angry women who plagued the lecture theatres when I studied literature as an undergraduate; in those cases, I assume that there is a reason for their bitterness and anger and try as hard as I can to tread lightly. Maybe this is my attempt to get to the bottom of some of the bizarre posts I see on here. Thankfully, nobody has reminded me of any of my students (yet).

For each link I draw, I think I moderate my responses. Some just don't seem worth responding to (they are the ones who, from life experience, are unlikely to see what I consider to be reason). Others I defer to, and others excite me because I can engage with them in a lively discussion. We don't always agree, but that's part of the fun.

Yes, I believe gender does influence debate on OLO, even if unintentionally at times.

I deliberately posted a female online name to show my gender, because I believe our gender colours our opinions more than anything else. I am also proud to be a woman!

Yes, our life experiences certainly account for much of what we say, but at the end of the day the gender differences of opinion make for the most lively, and often heated, points of view.

As much as I may become annoyed at some posters taking the high male road, I do enjoy giving them my differing points of view.

Of course gender influences what we think and what we post.

So does our sexual preference.

So do our politics.

So does our family situation - single, married, divorced, re-married, re-re-married...

So does our wealth. Or lack of it.

So does our age.

So does our education.

So does our religion (oh boy, ain't that the truth)

So does the work that we do. Or not do, voluntarily or otherwise.

So, probably, does what we had for breakfast, or the hangover we are nursing.

But how would declaring upfront that I am a gay, liberal, filthy rich single man, educated at the Sorbonne, a Muslim (converted from Catholicism) who spends his time healing sick puppies, and who had kedgeree and kidneys turbigo for breakfast, help the reader understand what I am saying?

I'm either readable, or not. Intelligible, or not. Interesting, or not.

No amount of additional background will change that.

Besides, I could be lying.

Except about the breakfast.

Yum

Foxy:"although I'm sometimes frustrated when
the union does its job badly. I support without
reservation the right of all working people to join
together so as to preserve and protect their livelihoods."

Sadly, in today's world the unions are no longer worker's collectives, but have become vehicles for political advancement of union officials and the workers have been left to fend for themselves. As a Public Sector employee you've never been placed in an adversarial situation with your employer, as many if not all private sector employees have been. If you had, you'd have come to realise that the Unions are not interested in anything but preserving theitr own privileges and as a result have lost nearly all the support they once enjoyed. You live in a protected world.

Collectivism is essential, but the current union model is not the way to achieve it.

Pericles, for once we agree. It must be time to examine my assumptions...

*But how would declaring upfront that I am a gay, liberal, filthy rich single man, educated at the Sorbonne, a Muslim (converted from Catholicism) who spends his time healing sick puppies, and who had kedgeree and kidneys turbigo for breakfast, help the reader understand what I am saying?*

Sheesh Pericles, that is exactly how I imagined you :)

Gender does have some influence I am sure.

I am sure we all make assumptions about people and we react differently to various posters based on their political or philosophical input - probably even moreso than gender.

I admit when I see an Antiseptic post I don't expect a glowing commentary on women and I would not expect a rehctub post to be defending the rights of workers. It is impossible to be completely bias free when it comes to the expectations built up when you have visited OLO over a period of time. Col won't be writing about some positive program the Rudd government may implement. But in saying that it must be remembered what any of us post here does not reflect ALL of who we are. Where there is difference of opinion there is also sometimes agreement. We are all not one thing or another.

But I think it more to do with value systems rather than gender in most cases.

Would we really know if we approach a post differently based on the perceived gender of the poster? I am not sure if any of us would be that 100% self-aware.