Can you tell from peoples' answers on here whether they are male or female?

No, but I have my hunch. I can be wrong sometimes though.

A bunch of the men here come across like gossiping old women, the type you’re glad aren’t your grandma

Infrequently. I feel like I have one in particular pegged but have no way to confirm. Mostly I don’t even think about it.
I knew an older man IRL who was the most avid gossip listener I ever met, though he was sneaky about it. He wouldn’t repeat it or participate, but dear god he wanted to know. Thanks ^^ for reminding me. His gossip addiction contributed to one of the funniest things I ever was priveleged to participate in in my entire life, and I had forgotten it until just now. I can’t even get offended by the statement about women, considering shows like “The View” and whatever else is passing for entertainment these days, but I have to piont out that there are ridiculously large numbers of men who gossip, and on tv their numbers are increasing all the time.

You are all girls.

^ The irony.

I deliberately have left clues as to my gender, race, etc. off my profile.

People can craw their own conclusions if such things matter to them.

Sometimes I can, sometimes I can’t. Quite a few people have made incorrect guesses at my gender (and race) in my time here. Others have assumed correctly. If it really matters, you can always ask.

Sometimes. About as often as they might be gay or straight.

I’m glad they’re all girls, as you must be @ragingloli , because I like girls!

I don’t worry too much about it.
I know most members sexual identity from long-term mentions of their marital status, etc.

There’s a sub-set of members that seem to answer neutrally and factually enough that I’m always surprised when someone calls them by a gender-specific pronoun (or they themselves do). I can’t generalize in any way about their participation here, other than to say that they seems to be a little firmer in their convictions.

It doesn’t really matter, does it? Most of us are human and that’s what counts.

Often not. I’m often surprised here more than I should be, and then I’m surprised by my reaction. When It happens it’s instantly clear that I am deeply programmed to assign gender to the thoughts presented me. That’s a creepy realization and I wonder if the tendency is universal and or useful. Is it a matter of conditioning or somehow essential for empathy or understanding? There are some regulars here whose gender I trip (stumble over) but it’s really odd, because it isn’t every response from these folks that sets my machinery grinding. The way it works is that they can appear here daily fielding questions and answers, and the issue of gender never crosses my mind. Then a question or response appears from an individual that abruptly shocks me into the frustrating realization that their gender is an issue or even worse, that I’ve forgotten it’s an issue. Then up pops the unavoidable question: “If you forgot, is it really an issue?”

For the most part, I either know from my years here or from knowing Jellies on other forums (like FB), or I guess based upon their name or photo (like Janet or Stanley and I could be wrong), or based upon their conversations (like if they say they’ve given birth, then that’s a clue). For the most part, I either know them or I don’t care.

I’d like to think I don’t even make the assumption…but subconsciously I do. This gets brought home to me when I find out a long-time Jelly is the opposite sex of what I had subconsciously assumed they were.
To me, it’s interesting, because I have stereotypes stuck in my head, like everyone else (such as @ucme up there) of what constitutes male v female “behavior.”

I’ve been surprised more than once to discover someone I had, assigned a particular gender to, was, infact, the opposite sex. haha

How would you know if your conclusions were correct? How can you say you can “tell” unless you can verify your inferences by examining the person’s chromosomes? Some jellies use language or exhibit behavior that implies a particular sexual identity, but it’s not like that can’t be faked. I’d say don’t worry about it.

What seems sillier to me than deliberately sustaining an ambiguous identity is the people who assume we know certain things about them and then get indignant when some of us don’t.

As I said, I come to assumption subconsciously. I don’t even realize I’ve done it until I find out I was wrong.

@Dutchess_III I’ve done that too. Assumed that someone was one sex or another or one gender or another and then have been surprised when their sex or orientation was revealed. It is a lesson to us on our own biases.

And of course, there are those among us whom I assume are human beings but perhaps they are in reality bots or droids.

And for those who say it is easy to tell if they mention a wife or a husband, that’s not a litmus test of anyone’s sex any more either.

Re: husband or wife…LOL! That’s true! But most of the time I think it still means male (husband) or female (wife.)

I don’t think it’s a “bias” though. I think we’re hard wired to try to recognize male from female.

It’s not a bias to try to guess or to want to know, it is if you make assumptions based on certain verbal styles or expressed answers (other than the statements that self-identify.)

I just usually have a vision of a person in my head, based on several factors, like their history, their profile photo and what I know about them.

I don’t think I make assumptions based on their responses as much as I do based on their avatar.

I can unless they always use gender-neutral terms in reference to themselves.

This can be confusing and annoying sometimes, which is why, as a young black woman, I prefer that users be straightforward in those regards. ;-)

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. And then there are those who you go thinking are one kind and then they come across as another somewhere down the line.

Y’all know who all y’all are.

@Brian1946, So, then, how do you know you’re right?

@Jeruba When they go to the bathroom you can watch which one they go into.

^ Not any more!

^^Darn!! Life used to be sooo much simpler when all I had to do was worry about being molested by Republican Politicians

According to the Rules of the Internet, there are no girls on the internet. The rules change on different sites; sometimes it’s rule 30, or 16, or 10, or 37, but it’s always there.

I’m not even altogether certain that all of the respondents are human, to be honest.

@CWOTUS Well, we know that @ragingloli isn’t human, so your instincts are right on target there!