dale232 said:
Said-The-Raven, with all due respect, I disagree with most your assertions, except for maybe number 1.
Male Forum:
1. More smut based requests. (I'll agree on that one)
2. Many requests for submissive female roles. (Disagree. There are those of us who wish there were more females wanting to play the dominant role than there are on BMR)
3. Fewer rules or "play demands". (And here I thought I'd put too many rules on my request. I disagree.)
4. Shorter posts versus female forums. (I disagree. Before approaching a female member about role playing, I have a habit of reviewing some of their previous role plays to avoid hooking up with a RP partner who give one-sentence posts. And I've found the same number of one sentence posts by them as by males.)
I guess they're not specifically saying, "Hey I want a sub," but there are definitely more males willing to dominate rather than submit (or just know that they're going to dominate because females want to 'submit'). That being said, the opposite of domination isn't really submission, and I think most roleplayers (both male and female) like a changing power dynamic rather than sticking to one specific sexual role. Not all roleplayers go into BDSM themes, where clear expectations of 'dom' and 'sub' are laid out, so the definition of each is fuzzy for those of us who don't tend to engage in that type of roleplay or lifestyle.
Females, by far, articulate their rules/expectations/demands way more than males do. I mean, males have them as well, and it's common to expect that section of some sort in a request thread, but I do notice that the 'rules' section is sooooo much longer in female request threads. More than half my request threads are just talking about what I like and expect in a roleplay... Everything from literacy to sexual kinks to mechanics to character development. And I agree that females tend to include more of that, or longer sections, in their request threads.
I think Raven means 'shorter' posts as in, shorter request threads. Which is true. Women (or those that have request threads up in a female persona) just seem to type way more than males. I notice that males (usually) go straight into rules and ideas, and are more straightforward with what they're looking for. Females have multiple sections, often long, and tend do some major explanations.
Of course, there are males who have long, detailed threads and females with short, concise threads, but then, Raven did say they were just generalizations.
EDIT:
I think it's easier to separate roleplayers' request threads, not based on gender, but on 'seriousness' or whatever you want to call it. Think about it. In any request thread, male or female, the ones who like longer, 'high caliber' or detailed writing tend to have really long/detailed request threads with multiple sections explaining what they're interested in. Those who don't have shorter request threads in comparison to those monster-length threads. The goal of having a long list of expectations or rules or whatever, is to attract writers who have the same interests as far as writing style and 'literacy', right? I think that's a fairer separation to make, rather than just 'male' or 'female'. But then that brings up the topic of seeing more of those lengthy, detailed threads in the 'female section'. Are there just more female writers who are looking for lengthy, plot based roleplays or what?