: Is it correct to just keep gender as male/female? When designing a form that asks for a person's gender, should I take any special consideration for hermaphrodites or trans-gendered persons, or
When designing a form that asks for a person's gender, should I take any special consideration for hermaphrodites or trans-gendered persons, or is M/F good enough?
Is defaulting the gender offensive to some persons?
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You could make the gender field a text input instead of a dropdown so that they feel free to describe themselves however they want. You'll need to check the database to translate this into whatever you want, e.g. currently male or female, in code.
That's entirely up to you and your audience. If you believe that hermaphrodites and/or trans-gendered persons are going to make up a sizable portion of your audience then you should be more attentive to their needs and concerns. Also, if you offer some kind of functionality that is gender-related then you may want to drill a little deeper then "boy" or "girl".
Most websites, and most forms both paper and web, offer two options as they represent the overwhelming vast majority of people out there. It's safe to assume that most hermaphrodites and trans-gendered persons are used to seeing those as their only two options and will select the most appropriate one for them.
You could put Male/Female/Do not wish to disclose (or something along those lines)
Due to government forms that only specify M/F, I think that most have decided on what gender they are (most trans I've met have), but it might be an idea to give the third option.
It's a similar issue as with titles. If you want to include everyone then you're going to need a large list of titles.
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