That's funny.
I'm trying to figure out why I immediately assumed the character was female. Lack of obvious male speech characteristics? Or maybe because I like female main characters more? I dunno.
This here's a recipe for unpleasantness.
Mal ,'Objects In Space'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
tommyrot - Sep 16, 2014 2:42:20 pm PDT #22670 of 28343
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Polter-Cow - Sep 16, 2014 4:22:34 pm PDT #22671 of 28343
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
I like female main characters more too, but I think I assumed male partly because the author's main characters are usually male and partly because of inherent sexism: FBI agent = man.
meara - Sep 16, 2014 4:39:37 pm PDT #22672 of 28343
I am intrigued now....but would probably default male given a male author. (And vice-versa if it were a female author)
Pix - Sep 16, 2014 4:51:41 pm PDT #22673 of 28343
The status is NOT quo.
That’s great, P-C! Also happy belated birthday!
Polter-Cow - Sep 16, 2014 6:13:30 pm PDT #22674 of 28343
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
I am intrigued now....but would probably default male given a male author. (And vice-versa if it were a female author)
Yeah, I think that's a common bias. But another bias could be that the reader defaults to their own gender. I read a cool story by A.C. Wise called "The Last Survivor of the Great Sexbot Revolution," which is a neat use of second-person because the gender of the main character is never specified. (And even there I did default to female-by-author (and/or thinking of sexbots as female per male heteronormativity), I think, but the fact that the character is "you" seems to invite the reader to project their own gender.)
Also happy belated birthday!
Thanks!
And thanks to everyone for congratulations! It's wild.
Consuela - Sep 16, 2014 6:33:32 pm PDT #22675 of 28343
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix
Bravo, P-C! That sounds like great fun!
meara - Sep 17, 2014 4:23:20 am PDT #22676 of 28343
Thanks for the link, PC! Interesting--I couldn't say whether I was thinking of the narrator as male or female, because I knew going in, so it felt more gender-neutral in my head.
tommyrot - Sep 17, 2014 4:42:47 am PDT #22677 of 28343
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
...but would probably default male given a male author. (And vice-versa if it were a female author)
When I was reading it, the character felt like a female character as written by a male author.
Brains are weird.
erin_obscure - Sep 18, 2014 2:44:38 am PDT #22678 of 28343
Occasionally I’m callous and strange
Congrats p c! Use those powers for good!
Tom Scola - Sep 19, 2014 2:08:21 pm PDT #22679 of 28343
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
Hemingway or a children's book? [link]