Google Thinks I’m a Man

Even though I am definitely a woman, Google has me pegged as a man. That’s what I learned today.

Apparently I’ve confused the giant search engine because under my Google settings, in a tab called Ads Preferences, it determined how old I am and my gender based on my search preferences. I think Google is just sexist, defining men or women by search categories. However, if you look at the list, that doesn’t exactly scream MALE to me. What do you think?

Two of those are shopping. That says male to Google? I guess they’re thrown by the first two categories: bikes and computers/electronics. I wonder if I spent an afternoon searching for certain categories how it would rate me.

If I spent a day searching for…

• Viagra
• Bratz
• HCG
• Tampons
• Always with Wings
• The Dick Van Dyke Show
• My Buddy
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Ensure
• Depends
• Hosiery
• My Little Ponies ( teenage boy or girl?)
• Cats / Kittens / Lots and lots of kitty videos

If I clicked the link to edit my settings and it displayed a longer list of what I search for. Turns out I also spend time on the web searching for these:

• Movies
• Business Finance
• Small Business
• Computer Security
• Software
• Smart Phones
• Government
• Economy News
• Sports News
• Social Networks
• Economics
• Astronomy
• American Football

Not one entry for cat searches. So surprising~!

So how old does Google think YOU are and did it pick the right gender?