• body_by_make@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          19
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          It’s actually exactly the same, but not rude to people who take things offensively. It’s cool that you’d appreciate that option, but not everyone would like it expressed that way and websites have to appeal to everyone.

          FWIW, at least as far as the US govt is concerned and these statistics are required for diversity data, “Prefer not to say” is counted as Male.

          • owatnext@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            “Prefer not to say” is counted as Male.

            Wow that’s interesting! How did you find that out?

            • body_by_make@lemmy.dbzer0.com
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              5
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              My wife has worked HR roles in government agencies, though I don’t think this information is any secret. They need to know for diversity reasons, so they need to default it to the “least diverse” option. Same with prefer not to say for race defaulting to white.

    • eselover@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      1 year ago

      They are used for demographics that are required by federal law for some business’, for example filling out an application for a loan, they have to collect this information so they can prove they offer services to everyone regardless of race or gender. I realize that this is a joke from but most of the list include Male, Female, Other (with an input field), and prefer not to say. In case you wanted to know.

    • LostDeer@infosec.pub
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      1 year ago

      I think it was for early demographics data collection. Same with asking about skin color, age, etc.

      (Btw I identify as “household pet walking across the keyboard - other” with pronouns get/down)

    • tias@discuss.tchncs.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      1 year ago

      In Sweden there’s a restaurant franchise called Pinchos that only takes orders through a mobile app. When you register for an account you are asked to choose gender between “Male”, “Female”, “Other” and “Whatever 🖕” (i.e. the middle-finger emoji). I picked the last one.

      Screenshot for reference