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Subject:Re: This is interesting... From:"Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> To:"Evelyn Lee Barney" <evbarney -at- comcast -dot- net>, "Emily Berk" <emily -at- armadillosoft -dot- com>, <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 6 Jun 2007 15:32:09 -0700
I tried four different writing samples and for each of them
my "female" outscored my "male" by about 2:1.
Gene Kim-Eng
----- Original Message -----
From: "Evelyn Lee Barney" <evbarney -at- comcast -dot- net>
> Well HMPH!
>
> What does this say about how we are taught to write, and by whom? About who decides what style is "best?" Or, what does it say
> about the test? I admit to being a bit of a hoyden, but I am decidedly female. I took this test three times. The first piece I
> plugged in was an essay on the uses of sound and silence in the classic Frtiz Lang film, "M" -- my score was overwhelmingly male.
> Next, I tried part of an article I'm working on about the use of electronic portfolios for professional writers. Again,
> overwhelmingly MALE! Last, I found the piece I thought was perhaps the most "feminine" of anything I've done in the past few
> months, based on the subject matter, a defence of melodrama as an art form (a la Douglas Sirk). Well, that one did come out
> female, by a mere 120 points. The point spread on the other two was over 400 points. Just as an FYI - each sample I used was
> between 550 - 620 words.
>
> Now I'm curious - have any of you played with this? What were your results?
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