Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
I get that bullying happens, with tragic consequences, on Facebook, where everyone uses their real names, and some people see some of their FB friends in-person. But I don't quite understand how bullying can be very forceful on a site where we only use handles, and most of us don't disclose much, if any, of our personal info. We're all sock puppets he ...[text shortened]... someone is female just because they have 'Queen' in their handle. There's no way to really know.
Yes, sock puppets. I hear this out on the greater internet all the time. "I just assume everyone is a guy, because they usually are." This is 2015. Yes, there are women on the internet. It's about time the neanderthals out there made room for them.
I don't assume someone is female by their "handle". How shallow is that? Yes, it's as shallow as just lazily assuming everyone is male. Usually, if a post is long enough (or if there are enough posts over time), one can get a feeling of gender easily just by content. If you can't, then yeah, maybe you're just socially inept, but most people can. How about just giving people the benefit of the doubt? By assuming "everyone" is male, this doesn't insult men, but it does insult women, so it's just providing an unequal starting point, which is inherently unfair.
On another point, women are far more likely to talk about themselves and other people, whereas men are more likely to just talk about "things" (the old "feelings" vs. "football" discussions). Naturally, this opens women up to personal attacks, as Red Night easily demonstrated in this thread.