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Pink and blue icons

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Active Ink Slinger
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I know I’ve only recently joined so maybe this has been discussed before but why do we have gender icons?

It puzzled me at the time and I read this today on another site and it made me decide to ask in here.

“Many female writers have adopted male nom de plumes, or otherwise gender-ambiguous pseudonyms, for a number of reasons: to publish without prejudice in male-dominated circles; to experiment with the freedom of anonymity; or to encourage male readership.”

we all know about P.D. James, J.K. Rowling yada yada yada so why do we so blatantly publicise our gender in here?

I’d like to be read as an author, not a male or female author and the stereotypical pink or blue tags (I do see the odd natty yellow one) just pigeon hole us immediately.

is there some deep dark reason that I didn’t get the memo about when I joined?

Crazy old ape
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It's a carryover from the base code and the other site that we seem to be stuck with. Not sure if there is a plan to deal with it

A mighty warrior meets an unusual challenger. The Last Challenge of Jadek Prynn.

Magnificent Bastard
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Quote by Ceebees

I know I’ve only recently joined so maybe this has been discussed before but why do we have gender icons?

It puzzled me at the time and I read this today on another site and it made me decide to ask in here.

“Many female writers have adopted male nom de plumes, or otherwise gender-ambiguous pseudonyms, for a number of reasons: to publish without prejudice in male-dominated circles; to experiment with the freedom of anonymity; or to encourage male readership.”

we all know about P.D. James, J.K. Rowling yada yada yada so why do we so blatantly publicise our gender in here?

I’d like to be read as an author, not a male or female author and the stereotypical pink or blue tags (I do see the odd natty yellow one) just pigeon hole us immediately.

is there some deep dark reason that I didn’t get the memo about when I joined?

Great point. I’ve not thought about it like you have so eloquently expressed here. I suppose there are possibly reasons of curiosity, perspective, and insight for wanting to know an author’s sex or gender in terms of doing a deep dive on better understanding what they have written, but do we need that labeling here? Probably not. Again, great point.

Iconoclastically incorrigible or just a silly dumb ass...
Active Ink Slinger
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Quote by Mendalla

It's a carryover from the base code and the other site that we seem to be stuck with. Not sure if there is a plan to deal with it

Who would know if there is a plan to deal with it?

I understand the mothership symbios has links to more adult orientated sites but Audible doesn’t look exactly the same as Amazon prime so why should a story site open to all including minors contain elements of a swingers site?

It just seems wrong. But I’m new here so pardon me if I’m stepping on toes.

Crazy old ape
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Quote by Ceebees
Who would know if there is a plan to deal with it?

Molly, Sherzahd (hope I got it right), and MagnificentRascal are the admins for this site and work with Symbios on it.

A mighty warrior meets an unusual challenger. The Last Challenge of Jadek Prynn.

Munching on Mangos
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My fingers are crossed that this gets addressed when the design gets updated since Stories Space doesn't link to other sites that could argue needing everyone to be compartmentalized into an arbitrary set of genders. Same with the account registration. Ideally for Stories Space, choosing gender would be irrelevant and eventually not a necessity to sign up. Might be tricky from a coding perspective, but I'm choosing to hold onto hope lol.

Waves | Red Tide (Poetry)
Notes of Melody (Competition winner) | The Wonderful World of Wally Weasel(Spooky Tales 2nd Place) | When the Cicada Sings (Survivor shortlister)

Crazy old ape
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Quote by Violet_the_Verbose
Ideally for Stories Space, choosing gender would be irrelevant and eventually not a necessity to sign up.

Agreed. Many other forums do not require it and some do not even have it. Xenforo, the software I use to run Wondercafe2 does not have a Gender field out of box anymore and if you want one, you have to add it as a custom field. And we have ours as "Male/Female/Fluid-Non-Binary" with no flags or colours tied to it.

A mighty warrior meets an unusual challenger. The Last Challenge of Jadek Prynn.

Chasing Dragons
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Quote by Ceebees

Quote by Mendalla

It's a carryover from the base code and the other site that we seem to be stuck with. Not sure if there is a plan to deal with it

Who would know if there is a plan to deal with it?

I understand the mothership symbios has links to more adult orientated sites but Audible doesn’t look exactly the same as Amazon prime so why should a story site open to all including minors contain elements of a swingers site?

It just seems wrong. But I’m new here so pardon me if I’m stepping on toes.

SS has always struggled to break free from the influences of another site. I wonder if it would be worth raising a ticket on the gender issue? At least you should get a response from someone at Symbios. 🤔

If anyone wishes to find the beginning of this epic saga, here it is:
https://www.storiesspace.com/stories/drama/the-nurses.aspx

However, since this story is now available in paperback, only the first few chapters remain. Buy at:

https://www.vbay.info/thenurses

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana

Crazy old ape
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Quote by AnnaMayZing

Quote by Ceebees

Quote by Mendalla

It's a carryover from the base code and the other site that we seem to be stuck with. Not sure if there is a plan to deal with it

Who would know if there is a plan to deal with it?

I understand the mothership symbios has links to more adult orientated sites but Audible doesn’t look exactly the same as Amazon prime so why should a story site open to all including minors contain elements of a swingers site?

It just seems wrong. But I’m new here so pardon me if I’m stepping on toes.

SS has always struggled to break free from the influences of another site. I wonder if it would be worth raising a ticket on the gender issue? At least you should get a response from someone at Symbios. 🤔

Actually, there is big discussion of sex and gender and the difference in a thread on changing how profiles work over there so might be a good time to raise it here.

A mighty warrior meets an unusual challenger. The Last Challenge of Jadek Prynn.

Active Ink Slinger
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Well I asked if there was any way to get rid of the rather classy 1950s pink and blue options and they said..

“I can see your point, so I've updated your "gender" to "non-binary"which makes your profile icon yellow. I know that's not ideal, and may not be in line with the way you wish to express yourself, so please feel free to change it back, or make it something more acceptable to you.

In the meantime I can confirm this has been raised with the site management to see if they can offer a better option in a future site release.“

which doesn’t address the main point that gender icons and sexual identification are irrelevant on a story writing site.

Anyway, back to trying to finish a story 🤪

Chasing Dragons
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Well, it was worth a try, Jay. I agree gender is irrelevant here. let's just enjoy the minds of each and every one of us, regardless.

If anyone wishes to find the beginning of this epic saga, here it is:
https://www.storiesspace.com/stories/drama/the-nurses.aspx

However, since this story is now available in paperback, only the first few chapters remain. Buy at:

https://www.vbay.info/thenurses

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana