Revision Activity #1

I was made aware of "Gender Analyzer" and "Gender Genie" in one of the classes I took (EngL 4722: Alphabet to Internet: A History of Writing Technologies) at the U of MN last year during my sabbatical. I'm wondering if having my writing students use one of these sites during the writing process might somehow inspire revisions of a different sort--perhaps word choice, tone, etc.

"Gender Analyzer" seems to be strictly for online sites--one cannot upload a paper or text to this site for analysis.

"The Gender Genie" does allow for typing or pasting text into a box for analysis.

To try it out, I copied and pasted the text from a short non-fiction piece I had written in 2000 for the Minnesota Writing Project. The narrative is titled, "Where's the Whistle," and all of my current students have access to a copy of this.

Unfortunately, and embarrassingly, for me, "The Gender Genie" analysis determined that the writer of the piece was FEMALE! Yes, I kid you not. Here's the analysis:

• Words: 1210
• Female Score: 1690
• Male Score: 1561
• "The Gender Genie thinks the author of this page is: female!"

Hmm. I guess I've always been bookish and sensitive, but this is a little much. I'm going to go cry now. (Just kidding!)

I then tried typing my blog URL into "Gender Analyzer." This didn't help my ego much either. Their guess was 51% that it was written by a woman, but they admitted it was quite "gender neutral." (Thanks!) Hmm. I'm starting to think about the skit, "It's Pat," from Saturday Night Live, years ago!

Have fun with it. Does it change your opinion of your paper at all? Are you going to rewrite in any way based on this analysis? Let me know!