October 29, 2014

"About what fraction of your regular readers are male, do you think?"

Asks Bearing in the comments to the previous post. I ramble:
It's really hard to say, because screen names don't always come across as gendered and one might pose as the other sex, and most readers don't comment.

I think readers of political blogs and the large number of readers who've come here by way of Instapundit tend to be male.

I assume the readership here is majority male, though it probably doesn't skew male as much as most political blogs, not that I see this as mainly a political blog.

I think I've been subjected to criticism for years from the feminist blogs, and I'm sure this means that many potential female readers are lost. I'm very familiar with the way people who lean left get the idea that those who don't signal acceptance of their ideology are toxic.
Then I decide to do a poll:

What sex are you?
 
pollcode.com free polls

42 comments:

great Unknown said...

Great poll: four choices, no way to enter your choice.

Chris said...

Another cock-tease!

Ignorance is Bliss said...

You need to include the picture of the Genderbread person so that I can be sure I'm answering the right question.

n.n said...

Does a combination of XX and XY exist in Nature? There may be a crossover of features and orientation, but not the actual sex of an individual.

chickelit said...

XY

traditionalguy said...

Sexist !


KLDAVIS said...

A poll with no button to submit your response is Althouse saying, "Go ahead and make your choice, but I don't have to accept it."

Anonymous said...

"About what fraction of your regular readers are male, do you think?"

I choose to understand this sentence as saying that all of your readers have a fraction of 'male' to them, it is just a question of the size of the fraction. It is always about the size of the fraction.

Mark Caplan said...

Poll instructions: Click the appropriate box. Press ENTER.

Brennan said...

I'm disappointed these options are not reflective our new found humanism that confines me to nature's wicked selection of gender.

DKWalser said...

I have two X chromosomes. One is defective (one of the legs of the X is missing). I'm told about half the population suffers from this genetic defect. Currently, society opts to treat those afflicted with a combination of behavior modification therapies and drugs.

campy said...

"I have two X chromosomes. One is defective (one of the legs of the X is missing)."

Are you sure it's one of the legs? What if it's one of the arms and you're just looking at it upside down?

Lyssa said...

n.n. asked: Does a combination of XX and XY exist in Nature? There may be a crossover of features and orientation, but not the actual sex of an individual.

Yes, actually, it does. There are unusual circumstances where people have an extra sex chromosome, making them either XXY, XYY, or XXX.

Here's an article on Kleinfelter syndrome (XXY), which presents as male (mostly): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klinefelter_syndrome

Anonymous said...

I always thought it was an 'X' and then a "V" with a penis.

Also: my 'prove you are not a robot' text is "kingdue pence". That would make a great screen name. Makes me think of Kipling.

Salamandyr said...

Thank you for using the grammatically correct "sex" rather than politically correct and grammatically egregious "gender".

Ann Althouse said...

Okay, I redid the code on the poll, and it should work now.

Sorry to go so long without noticing it was off.

Ann Althouse said...

"Thank you for using the grammatically correct "sex" rather than politically correct and grammatically egregious "gender"."

You're welcome, but it made it challenging to word the fourth option. I felt that if I wrote "none" it would distract people into saying things like why wasn't there an option "a lot" or "every night."

Michael K said...

"There are unusual circumstances where people have an extra sex chromosome, making them either XXY, XYY, or XXX. "

Of whom a good number are in prison. There are also a number of XYs with female phenotype, like a famous, and gorgeous, movie star. It's called Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome.

It's more complicated than genetics but not a "social construct."

Fernandinande said...

Salamandyr said...
Thank you for using the grammatically correct "sex" rather than politically correct and grammatically egregious "gender".


Second that. When presented with "gender", I temporarily socially reconstruct myself into the wrong answer.

Birches said...

Not to rag on my sex too much, but a fb friend once asked everyone what their favorite blog was. About 30 or 40 women answered. It was a mix of mommy blogs, fashion sites, home and food stuff, and hollywood gossip sites. I answered althouse. I am probably an anomaly though. I visit you, Megan McArdle, Taranto, RCP and FoxSports religiously. I don't even have a pinterest account.

madAsHell said...

80/20 male/female

About what I figured...

William said...

What percentage of your readership would lie about their sex just to prove that polls are invasive and inaccurate and not to be trusted?

Birches said...

I am also probably an anomaly because I didn't find your blog through instapundit, but through Taranto's BOTW.

Æthelflæd said...

Birches said...
"Not to rag on my sex too much, but a fb friend once asked everyone what their favorite blog was. About 30 or 40 women answered. It was a mix of mommy blogs, fashion sites, home and food stuff, and hollywood gossip sites. I answered althouse. I am probably an anomaly though."

This.

john said...

Early returns are overwhelmingly male. However, this is indicative of the typical household in which females have generally left for work, leaving the males at home to blog comment while enjoying that extra cup of coffee and putting off, again, fixing the leaky sink.

Expect later returns to heavily swing to females, once they come home from work, finish dinner and the dishes, and have a bit of time to catch up before the polls close and while hubby is watching game 7.

Shanna said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Shanna said...

while hubby is watching game 7

Man, that isn't over yet??

I have no idea what blogs my facebook friends read, except huffpo stuff does get passed around a bit. I just try to ignore all politics on facebook.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Michael K said...
It's more complicated than genetics


No. It is complicated genetics. Every imaginable mutation has happened to someone somewhere.

Meade said...

Birches said...
"Not to rag on my sex too much, but a fb friend once asked everyone what their favorite blog was. About 30 or 40 women answered. It was a mix of mommy blogs, fashion sites, home and food stuff, and hollywood gossip sites. I answered althouse. I am probably an anomaly though."

That's funny — my favorite mommy blog, fashion site, home and food stuff, and hollywood gossip site is also Althouse.

Salamandyr said...

also appreciate that the sexual choices are presented adjectivally. Male and Female (and Neither, as well as the clause in the third option) are not nouns.

Cynicus said...

I read you, because you are never boring, you never spout talking points-unless it is to analyze them in an interesting way. You have great moderation and commenters and most importantly you are a muse for betamax3000. I am female.

Christy said...

After voting, I saw "Sorry, you voted already." Has the government hacked my Kindle?

David said...

It's the internet. I can be what I want to be.

Joe said...

I predicted 70%, it's now at 80%, though to be more accurate, you aren't measuring regular readers, but a very crude poll of those who took the poll (and didn't like just to mess with your head.)

Meade said...

David, aren't you confusing the internet with Cloud Nine? I'm temptationsed to call it a Ball of Confusion.

mikee said...

That there are zero "neither" reports at the time of my comment make me realize there is a distinct lack of real diversity that needs to be addressed here at Alt...

snort, gurgle, laff....

I almost got through that comment without losing my composure.

Unknown said...

Clearly a transphobic poll. Asking people to identify by "sex" is an intolerable microaggression.

Repent immediately you cis-gendered harpy!

JPS said...

I have to admit, as a chemist I thought of cis-gender as the alternative to trans-gender a long time ago.

I thought I was joking. It wasn't a very good joke, even on my scale, so I didn't tell it to anyone.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

So why does Althouse's audience tilt 80/20 male?

I should find a blog tilted 80/20 the other way to compare and contrast.

Krumhorn said...

I had guessed 80/20, and it conforms with the Pareto principle regarding the law of the vital few and factor sparsity.

I love the blog even though our hostess is a leftie at heart. But she's trying hard not to be. It's fun to watch. And then there's Freeman Hunt, Betamax, young Hegelian, rhhardin, Meade and many others that make this place fun.

Since about 20% of the women I meet are actually interesting, I'm not surprised that they make their way here in the same proportion.

- Krumhorn

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

I initially started coming here because Althouse is hot but I stuck around becauses she's really hot.

pm317 said...

wow, 80-20.. as it is in most other things.