asking not only makes sure you get the right pronouns, but also shows the other person that you care enough to ask and not assume.
Aside from the fact that some people feel weird when someone asks them flat out "Hey, what gender are you?"
I know I don't much like that question, but now there's not a quick and easy way to be aware of this.
And if you're talking about them to another person, which is when you would need a pronoun, I would just always use "they" since it's gender-neutral.
Except this is a very awkward way to speak "They is" is improper grammar, but "They are" is plural.
and I actually talk about my RPs and my partners to my parents, so, uh. using the gender neutral "they" all the time gets awkward with them. And, since my mom actually takes an interest in some of my RPs, I wind up talking about those a lot. So, it gets really awkward really quick.
And back to my previous point:
It's just as freaking awkward to ask someone what gender they are or would prefer to be referred to as.
The profile having the option made this easier. And if it's "Person" then I'd just guess even though it makes me highly uncomfortable to do so. But asking is just as uncomfortable, if not more so.
Really, I think the only reason anyone would connect the ice cream options to gender is because of this thread. :/
I can agree with this, buuuuuuuut, considering the fact that there are sexual RPs allowed on the site, the first thing my mind jumped to was "This has got to be a trick for sexual preferences on some level"
And I am positive that I am not the first, nor the last to think this...
ust ask the person you're roleplaying with. Asking them directly engages you with your partner and will make them feel like you care about how they feel, which you should.
I have addressed this, so I figured I'd quote you as well.
I engage with my partners and I'm sure they know that I care based on our chats. That does not make me any more comfortable asking someone what pronouns to use.
And, given how many people on here have social anxiety issues as it is, how many of
those people do you think would be unable to ask the question for fear of offending their partner? I know of two of my RP partners that this would definitely apply to. (Where they wouldn't ask someone else the genders)