End Binary Gender Orientation!

[Vlasky 1,803]

I've noticed that in edition or establishing our profiles here on the Simtropolis we have only two gender options - Male and Female.

In today's day and age I somewhat think that's unfair. I also find the third option Not telling a little bit forceful and oppressive as the it is the only option for the people who do not feel like Male or Female. Therefore, I propose establishing more options such as:

- Male

- Female

- Transgender

- Other

- Not telling

The Ideal situation would be if the user who chose option Other could get the field where a gender qualification could be filled in (typed in) by the very user.

I rely on the good moderators and administrators of Simtropolis to do something about this, as they have always been very open and welcoming toward improvements of the site which serves our little community.

Thank you,

Vladimir

[Duke87 1,070]

You forgot the "Yes, please" option. Or is that "other"?

Kidding aside, while I would agree that broadening the options there would be more inclusive, I wonder how much it matters for us right now. In years of having the closet thread, not a single person has come out as being transsexual or anything other than male or female. So who would use the extended options? If it's an easy modification to make, then might as well, but if it takes substantial time and effort then there are higher priorities.

(just my 2 cents)

[Vlasky 1,803]

So? Maybe some people don't know about the closet thread or simply don't wanna post there but would like to have that option. And please, that thing with priorities? Omg, how many times do the people not willing to change anything used that as an excuse.

So, Yes please kind sir, understand that giving an option is more important than the fact if there are people who are going to use it or not. You simply can't know for sure if there are or there are not people with the need to use that.

[T Wrecks 10,210]

Another option would be to eliminate that field altogether. In terms of what we are doing here - sharing our passion for a computer game, making custom content, being creative, and helping each other out (and bashing Maxis for SC2013 ) - I couldn't care less who of you considers him/her/whateverself to be male, female, or anything inbetween. I cannot think of any context in which this would be relevant at all. Besides, anybody can feel free to write stuff like "I'm a guy from Maxisland, and you can call me Herp McDerp" in the profile anyway.

[TekindusT 3,809]

I guess that's not a matter of knowing if you're a male or a female but for software matters. Just guessing here, but other websites based on IP.Board may have the capability of treating the user as "Mr." or "Ms." and the software decides which treatment to put before the username starting from what the user has selected. In the case of ST, however, being a male or a female is totally irrelevant; but I'm afraid this is a feature hardcoded in the forum language.

Of course, all of the above are wild guesses...

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

The simplest solution would be remove that drop box and maybe replace it with a box for Title: Mr. Ms. Miss. Mrs. Dr. etc. On this board the sex of a member is irrelevant.

[Vlasky 1,803]

Sure, your arguments about gender not being relevant in a SC4 community stands, but as it is now, it seems a little exclusive.

I am not sure about programming and stuff like that but I just think that it is possible to have a simple box which can be filled in by user. I'm sure that's not so hard to do and demanding.

[LexusInfernus 908]

Doesnt most forum software have an option somewhere to add more genders? I know vBulletin allows you to add all kinds of stuff to 'Gender' besides male, female and other. Granted, this isnt vBulletin but it could be worth looking into.

And if it makes members feel more comfortable, is that such a bad thing?

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Well, it is only a drop box, which is a simple control. However, it depends on the source code and just how accessible it is.

[LexusInfernus 908]

Well, it is only a drop box, which is a simple control. However, it depends on the source code and just how accessible it is.

Indeed, lets leave it to the people who would have to implement such a thing and see how much trouble it is for them to add such a feature.

[Duke87 1,070]

Also, forgive me if I'm missing something here, but how is "transgender" itself a gender identity? If you are born with a woman's mind and a man's body (and, perhaps, have had surgery to alter the latter), would it not suit you to simply put "female"? I have a friend who is in this position - she firmly identifies as female and prefers to act as though she were never anything but.

This leaves the affected people as those who prefer to identify as both or neither, which are exceedingly uncommon and will all nonetheless physically be one or the other if not mentally. And you do of course still have the option of choosing neither male nor female, which is more than many places will allow.

This really is a minor issue.

[hym 358]

I am not sure about programming and stuff like that but I just think that it is possible to have a simple box which can be filled in by user. I'm sure that's not so hard to do and demanding.

One of the odd quirks of forum software is that things that can seem very simple to the user can be an absolute nightmare on the back end of the site.

[Cockatoo 2,262]

My two cents: this is all a little too overly PC, isn't it? If for some reason you're not happy picking male or female... well you can always just opt to not fill it in. It's just a switch on a forum after all...

If the real intention here is to simply to raise the issue though (as the title implies), it'd be better to have a thread in off-topic.

[Duke87 1,070]

If we're going to talk about things being binary, we actually offer 11 choices as is.

Maybe we should go for hexadecimal gender orientation instead. Or maybe we can call it sexadecimal.

Of course, everyone must go through gender orientation before they can gender full time.

(okay, stopping now...)

[Vlasky 1,803]

I think the question is, and may I add that we haven't heard from people who are actually acquainted with the software that this forum uses, how much trouble (if any) would this change make to the programmers? If it's easy to do it, than just do it, if it's not, I just wanted to bring this topic up and next time software upgrades/changes/be modified, change this as well.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Actually, are there not only four choices:

Male, Female, Hermaphrodite, and Eunuch/Freemartin.