Writing Like A Girl U Know(neatly)

[Guest chibi_usa]

Uhh I know it's not much but I want 2 u know like write like a girl. You know like I want my teachers 2 say"Hmmmmm, I know this is a girl's writing it can't be a boys". Cuz like I write really sloppy :'( obviously it looks like a guy. Sooo like any help plz? Like you know tell me sum websites, examples, or like fonts on the comp so I can practice plz? Thanks

[Guest CharliTo]

just practice a lot... start keeping a journal. that might help. I write like a girl thanks to practice now :3. I think you just need to be more careful and it'll start getting comments like you want.

[Guest Dutchie]

^--- What CharliTo said, practice!

Remember how many years it took you to master handwriting in the first place, this time it will be a lot easier since you know the "how". It's a matter of shaping the letter differently.

I think if you want to see examples, just search for "graphology examples" and there are many sites that show the handwritings and what they tell about a person.

The other part of writting that indicates gender is the choice of words. Sometimes it's obvious when you read someones blog for example, at other times it's rather hard if the person is trying to remain objective. Anyway, I think you get the points.

You also asked about fonts for on the computer, you mean as an example to start writing like? That is not easy, but if you see a web page with a font you might like to write like, ask the owner which font it is. (Alternatively, if you're comfortable with html language, you can easily look at the source code of a page and find out.)

Good luck with your writing!

[Guest Evan_J]

An admirable endeavor.

One comment, girls not only are "neat" or careful their handwriting uses more "curves" or loops. Its one of the things you notice, very "round" looking writing when a female has written something especially the younger she is. As she gets older, say past 30 its more oval though still not "pointy" or stickridden.

Girls also, (particularly when printing) use up the entire line height. Fellas print at a considerably shorter height a lot of times.

Short answer, men write more as if they intend to maximize the space available. Women are generous with how much they use. If there's a place where she "takes as much space as she'd like" its on paper.

Just observations.

[Guest Emily.SoCal]

I was thinking about asking this same question. My writing has become increasingly poor ever since they made keyboarding mandatory in school when I was growing up. Then I became a big old computer nerd and pretty much stopped writing by hand altogether. I *highly* recommend curbing that habit if you see yourself developing it. I'm 31 years old and my handwriting looks like that of an adolescent boy. Sometimes my handwriting downright depresses me for it's boyishness and lack of neatness.

However, I've found that slowing down and pressing more lightly upon the page solves half my problems. The other half can be solved with practice. There are already many fine recommendations above. Personally, I'm currently journaling on paper and it's quite helpful.

[Guest silverpetals]

neat writing can take time, and often sacrifices speed for aesthetic. i'm not sure to what extent handwriting can truly be 'feminine' or 'masculine', especially as it seems that it need only be neat to pass as feminine.

anyway, andrea james has a page about everything. even this.

[Guest amie]

http://www.tsroadmap.com/physical/handwriting/

You may wanna take a look at that. I hope it helps.

[Guest CharlieRose]

Well, I don't have any tips, but the most feminine girl I know has some of the worst handwriting I've ever seen. True, the first time I saw something she'd written I was all "YOU wrote this?" because I thought she'd have better handwriting... But it didn't make her not a girl, you know? It's possible to be a girl with messy writing, and a boy with neat, effeminate writing. *hides notebook* (I've also know this one straight, perfectly masculine guy who has perfect handwriting) Not that you can't improve your writing if you don't want to, but if yours isn't perfect you don't have to worry about it.

[Guest Sarah Marie]

anyway, andrea james has a page about everything. even this.

Silverpetals - Thank you for provoding this link. Andrea'shandwriting page contains some very useful pointers. However, I disagree with her points about pens. Rather than fretting about point type (fine, medium, felt tip, roller ball, etc) it seems to me that finding a pen that fits comfortably in your hand and feels like the ink flows onto the page effortlessly is the key. Also, I wonder: has anyone else noticed that the more pressure is applied to the pen during handwriting, or the faster someone writes something down, the worse the handwriting becomes?

[Guest My_Genesis]

One comment, girls not only are "neat" or careful their handwriting uses more "curves" or loops. Its one of the things you notice, very "round" looking writing when a female has written something especially the younger she is. As she gets older, say past 30 its more oval though still not "pointy" or stickridden.

I wonder if that would have any correlation with physical appearance?

It's funny I've been trying to analyze my writing for awhile now to figure out if it would be considered "masculine" or "feminine". Gotta look more into that link silverpetals posted

[Sakura]

handwriting is not gendered it falls to to the person writing my mom and my oldest sister and i have sloppy writing my middle sister has a very fancy writing style my uncle is one of the biggest toughest guys i know he has the most beautiful hand writing i have ever seen male or female when i was in school at the end of year they would give out awards one was for writing guys usally took the award home i red an artical some were about writing not being gendered

i will look for it and see if i can post it here

Sakura

[Guest My_Genesis]

handwriting is not gendered it falls to to the person writing my mom and my oldest sister and i have sloppy writing my middle sister has a very fancy writing style my uncle is one of the biggest toughest guys i know he has the most beautiful hand writing i have ever seen male or female when i was in school at the end of year they would give out awards one was for writing guys usally took the award home i red an artical some were about writing not being gendered

i will look for it and see if i can post it here

Sakura

I don't think it's biologically gendered. I think it's a social thing. There was a brief discussion about this in another thread. Perhaps girls often are more pressured to be "neat" and "pretty" when they do their schoolwork, so they're very conscientious of the appearance of their written and other academic work. I know a lot of adult females who have relatively sloppy handwriting, but it's not as common among my female peers in school. So I would say it's mostly a socialization thing. I've always put a lot of effort into trying to make my handwriting neat because I was always comparing it to that of other girls in school. But I've decided to just stop doing that and just write the way I write. Apparently it has always taken me a lot of effort to try to "write like a girl" so I just gave up

[Guest Elizabeth K]

A different view here. I have looked at both sides for a long time = Evan has good, accurate observations on the texting habits of girls.

I have kept a journal as a female (in code too) when I was in my Wicca phase? So here is what I found:

(1) to write like a girl - be a girl - write like a girl thinks

(2) Write slow and precisely, like painting the letters on the page - each letter exactly right and carefully placed. Handwriting should be pretty.

(3) Practice writing first lthinking ike a guy, then re-write thinking like a girl. See if there is a difference - should be a BIG difference.

(4) look at examples of beautiful feminine handwriting - its like artwork, women are proud to be a bit prissy and delicate, and it shows in their lettering, spacing and composition.

Finally, use diction, vocabulary and phrasing as a woman would - their writing is almost always exactly like they talk. There is a beautiful lilt and questioning upturn at the end of most sentences, and and a woman wants you to agree with her. A woman wants empathy.

A man is direct and wants to show a solution, and writes like stating a fact. A man wants to show he knows how to solve problems. He wants acceptance.

This entire reply is very male in phrasing and content up to this point.

If my last sentence was female phrased, it would have said, "Don't you think the way this reply is written is shows a male pattern of phrasing? I think the content, and for some reason the way it is presented, is also very masculine."

Does this help? What do I know... I am learning as I go, like you.

Lizzy

[Guest CharlieRose]

Oh, wait, I do have a handwriting tip! Try calligraphy! Get one of those special pens, or, if you don't want to, you don't have to, a regular pen will work but a calligraphy pen is more fun, and find calligraphic writing on the internet and just try to teach yourself to copy it. If you google "Learn calligraphy" you can probably find a guide on how to form each individual letter and stuff. It makes you pay a lot more attention to the way you write, and makes you better at writing perfectly, slowly, and prettily, which affects your handwriting in general, too. It might be why I have such girly handwriting. (I took a class on it in seventh grade.) I can show you what the letters look like, scan something I wrote, maybe. Even if it doesn't improve your writing, it's fun.

[Guest Evan_J]

I don't think it's biologically gendered. I think it's a social thing. There was a brief discussion about this in another thread. Perhaps girls often are more pressured to be "neat" and "pretty" when they do their schoolwork, so they're very conscientious of the appearance of their written and other academic work. I know a lot of adult females who have relatively sloppy handwriting, but it's not as common among my female peers in school. So I would say it's mostly a socialization thing. I've always put a lot of effort into trying to make my handwriting neat because I was always comparing it to that of other girls in school. But I've decided to just stop doing that and just write the way I write. Apparently it has always taken me a lot of effort to try to "write like a girl" so I just gave up

Exactly. The responses of all posters are always filtered through all the facts about them. In this case (me as the poster) handwriting as it was taught 33 years ago ( thats when I was in school and learned it) is not taught "the same way" in that todays school teacher will even have a different mindframe approaching her teaching with regard to gender. in 1975 a "girl" definately was much more encouraged -almost to the point of being pressured- to have a "certain handwriting". Sure, the handwriting of "boy" students was graded on neatness as well but even while criticizing there was an undertone of "understanding" that a male could only be so neat. The expectation was entirely different. As a result the writtiing styles tended to show a more consistent trend each way. And in case you haven't figured it out yet, yes , I "flunked" handwriting lol I never did write the way a certain nun felt a "girl" should be able to.

Elizabeth is on point too when she speaks of phrasing in that last paragraph. It'll be a give away to both mtfs and ftms. Both writing and speaking. I've been being more alert to it of late. Sometimes opting to continue in a given genders way depending on my goal or mood but conscious none the less. A good example about it that highlights this concept: (yep, long examples are more female in nature but it helps ya see that)

Fairly recently I had a problem with a certain doctor.

I said the same thing to him 90 ways on as many days and no matter how I did it all I'd want to do after the conversaiton was kick his rear.

I started sayin things to myself like "Is this [so and so] retarded?

My mother met this man once while waiting for me to wake up in recovery)

And he rolled over like a cockerspaniel for her showin her his belly.

I was so "peed" about the difference in reactions I went off when she and I talked.

She replied:

"because, when I talked to him I talk like a woman talking to a man".

Anybody want to guess what kind of response that got out of me?

Feel free to start it with "Oh my goodness does that mean?" (I actually need to thank Elizabeth for breakin that down to me)

Elizabeth actually answered that question.

What she said was "accepted " by the man because she said it like a woman would and he was "accepting " her as a woman.

When he dealt with me, the conversation was one a man would give him,

and since he was my physician -knowing what genetically was- to him that was a conflict, he couldn't accept the clash of those two .

[Guest Cody_T]

CharlieRose's idea is perfect. Seriously, if you learn calligraphy your handwriting will be amazingly neat. I used to have the most guyish handwriting... back when I got upset about people likening me to a guy one of my teachers held up my no name homework paper and said, "Someone forgot to put their name on this... it looks like a guy wrote it..." and then I had to claim it in front of the whole class. At the time, it was embarassing, but now I kind of want that writing back. However, back then I was just embarassed and wanted to fit in as a girl... I started observing other girls then I got really into calligraphy (well, I love the pens because I think ink is awesome. The writing just kind of followed), and ever since my handwriting has been borderline girlish unless I'm rushing. I found that if I wanted really nice handwriting, I'd imitate the calligraphy style even with a normal pen. It gives your writing a very nice and distinctive quality. I just sort of made up how to calligraphate (so not a word) the letters I couldn't really find, but they look pretty. You can even get a small tipped calligraphy pen and write with that on everything... I've done homework in calligraphy pen before and I actually got extra credit from one teacher. It makes your writing soooo neat and attractive, especially when you're using a pen w/ink cartriges. It's also really good training for normal writing and it can make you much better at writing neatly. And like Evan said, big and loopy. The bigger and loopier the better. I have girl friends who can barely fit in the lines because of their loopy handwriting, and they also leave big spaces between words. Not huge, but just like, throw away any thought of economizing. Waste as much paper as possible. The rounder your letters the better.

Also, kind of off topic... I love writing in pink pen whenever possible... is that bad for my image?

[Guest Evan_J]

Also, kind of off topic... I love writing in pink pen whenever possible... is that bad for my image?

Only if you're writting to a cis straight guy named "Dirk" that snarls whenever he see's a gay guy and has a tattoo of a penis on his forearm that says "Superiority" under it.

[Guest Cody_T]

thanks Evan, I'll make sure to stick to blue or black next time Dirk and I correspond

[Guest Elizabeth K]

Is Dirk dating anyone right now? - nawwww - he'd probably kill me...

[Guest My_Genesis]

Only if you're writting to a cis straight guy named "Dirk" that snarls whenever he see's a gay guy and has a tattoo of a penis on his forearm that says "Superiority" under it.

minus the snarling at gay guys part I think Dirk is gonna become another one of my cis staight guy role models to model my image after.

That's an interesting tattoo...if I got it, it would make a good joke considering my sense of humour...

[Guest Evan_J]

Is Dirk dating anyone right now? - nawwww - he'd probably kill me...

Actually, from what I last heard, he was out at his house tearing sheet metal and bitin 2x4's in half building a shed, but he's supposed to be lookin for a nice southern girl that he can bench press and settle down with.

Cody, that sounds like a good idea. Especially if he's irritable and hungry from building the shed.

Genesis, if you have someone that can drop off a slab or two of red meat to him tho I'm sure he'd be willin to mentor you.

[Sally]

Well, if Dirk is looking for a Southern girl to bench press - I would be the choice only if he is up for a challenge!

I like a man who can build things and it sounds like Dirk won't be spending a lot of money on tools!

Tell me Evan, does he use a hammer or, push the nails into the 2x4s with his thumb or just threaten the boards into staying together?

On further review, I don't think that Dirk and I are a very good match - from the tattoo I would suspect that he is not the sort that wants to have a debate on any subject and losing to a girl could definately be bad for my health!

I'm more into the sensitive and intellectual types!

Back on the original topic, it is just fine to work on making your hand writing more 'feminine', but not so much to pass - Elizabeth had that right, how you say it is more important - but you don't want to send a note to your mother (who is still missing her 'little boy') written in his handwritting.

Changing your style of handwritting is like changind the way you talk, walk and dress - just another small peice of transitioning and being accepted as you - not you formerly the 'old you'.

Did any of that make sense? (Not the parts about Dirk, just the handwritting.)

Love ya,

Sally

[Guest My_Genesis]

I'm more into the sensitive and intellectual types!

Did any of that make sense? (Not the parts about Dirk, just the handwritting.)

If I did end up modeling my image after Dirk I would hope to preserve my intelllectual-type-ness in the process.

Although sensitivity, going by encounters with others (mainly women), I seem to already be lacking. lol

The parts about Dirk made sense but some of it can be interpreted in very interesting ways...

Anyways I don't think handwriting is a big thing to get hung up on. There are plenty of totally straight girls with messy writing.

..says the person who is trying to have sloppier, less diligent-looking handwriting, and had to contain so much excitement when a guy who I said wrote more neatly than I did was told that's because he writes like a woman. lol