I'm listed as male and Judeo-Pastafarian, and all my ads are for meeting Christian girls with big but fully covered boobs, with a few about interracial dating here and there.

My boyfriend always lists himself with an unusual religion when he buys airline tickets because he's convinced you get better food on the flight. One day he is going to overdo it of course and get gravel soup and a personal attendant to sweep ants out of his path during the holy fortnight...

I don't list my gender on facebook. It is my little way of protesting the binary.

I don't believe I noticed the diet ads.

But I am listed as Atheist, and I see a lot of bible and religion related ads. I guess they want to convert me??

Facebook ads have an option where you can click whether you like the ad or not. You can also give a reason why; if you pick "other" you can leave a comment. I always say something along the lines of "Stop assuming I think I'm fat just because I'm a woman." If anything, I need to see ads telling me how to find time to eat, since I'm busy writing papers, taking care of my daughter, and interning at the Office for Women.

It's not cool that to see ads that might actually appeal to us as people, we might have to hide the fact that we're also women.

I used to be listed as "single," until I got tired of the "Still looking?" ads. Thanks Facebook.

Currently, I'm in Germany, where the ads are more innocuous. But in the US, I definitely remember there being tons of diet ads. I wonder why this difference exists? Are Germans more intolerant of these bogus diet claims? Or is the US just that thin-obsessed?

Huh. I never listed my sex on Facebook (I feel it's pretty obvious), so I had no idea that they geared ads in that way. Thanks for the info! Now I'll definitely pay more attention.

I tried for a long time thumbs-downing the diet ads but I just stopped getting those ones and started getting other diet ads instead or beauty tips. Now I get ads for Sky TV and gift shops.

I'm in the UK - we don't seem to get much trying to convert us, that would suck though. Since religion is a write-in box though maybe you can express it without using the word "atheist". Like "there is no God. Fact!" or some such...

Although that said I wouldn't mind religious ads - I would just think "there are a lot of idiots out there", can't imagine it would make me feel bad.

Huh, you know, I am listed as female and I get ads about biology job opportunities (it's my major), poetry, local music stores, etc. No diet ads, nothing gendered except one thing about getting the HPV vaccine (which I'm cool with, I'm glad they are getting the word out). Maybe it's because I'm listed as in a relationship? Anyone who has diet ads, are you listed as single?

Haha, I'm in that Sarah Palin Facebook group too! :)

But I too have noticed the insane amount of diet/beauty ads on Facebook. Thankfully I am able to just roll my eyes at them and move on. But I can only imagine how aggravating it must be for someone that has had an eating disorder in the past or really has any type of body/beauty concern. Just cause I'm a woman does not mean I want/need to lose a few pounds!

And I stopped using that "single"/"in a relationship" label on Facebook a while ago mainly because the stupid logo when you switch it to single shows a broken heart (even if you're just using the label for the first time and not switching it from "in a relationship"). Just because I'm single means I have a broken heart? WTF? Maybe I'm happily single. Ever think of that stupid Facebook? Maybe ending said relationship was my choice. Maybe my heart is not broken because I'm without a man in my life but in fact I feel more like myself and better than I did before. Maybe I'm throwing a "Fuck Yeah! I got out of a crappy relationship party!" Sorry for the rant, just a Facebook pet peeve of mine.

I just took off my gender on Facebook last night. I was getting sick of the diet ads too (and I'm not listed as single). Of the 3 ads on showing at one time, usually 2 or 3 of them were diet ads. Now that I'm gender neutral, sometimes 1 of the ads is for diets, but there are definitely a lot less. I definitely recommend it!

I strongly suggest you and everyone else get adblocker plus. It eliminates all ads on websites as well as pop ups and adware. Sometimes I'll get an ad that's all in text but it's not nearly as another as banners.

I'm listed as in a relationship (in the UK) and I still get mostly diet ads, despite thumbs downing them as offensive over and over again. Or I did until I took my gender off. Now it sometimes checks if I want it to say "Kate edited her profile" or "Kate edited his profile" but even though I choose "her" it doesn't show me any diet ads.

And yes the "single" broken heart logo is awful. What if you just escaped a violent partner? Maybe a little crossed-out picture of a woman with bruises and her arm in a sling?

There is something very nauseating about the standardising of all our experiences.

I'm going to take my gener off of Facebook tonight. (I can't access it at work.)

Ha! I have a totally different approach on this subject. I /added/ my gender to face book once I saw the little thumbs up and down under the adds.

I just love pushing the thumbs down and listing them as offensive every time I see them.

It took three days, but I have not seen one since.

Mostly now I get camping and university stuffs.

While I certainly have a huge, huge beef with the diet ads, I have even MORE beef with the ads that say "the One Mistake Women Make" or "What Are You Doing Wrong?"...in reference to how women somehow perpetually screw up potential relationships with, yes, men (my sexual preference isn't listed but it seems to be pretty geared toward the heteronormative). The implication is that women will always say or do something wrong in a relationship (in this case, presumably say something which expresses their emotional analysis of a situation, or their insecurities about communication or "relationship status" which is really to my mind just a dearth of communication anyway) and that we should constantly be on the lookout for that perfect combination of words or actions that will bind the man of our dreams to us forever, at the age of 15 when we are sophomores in high school. Or something.

Now, I've just spent the week trying to assess "what it was I said" that might or might not be keeping my current interest from emailing me, but a newly strident voice in the back of my head is reminding me that I did nothing wrong: I expressed my feelings clearly (had I held back and not said anything it would have, in some ways, been dishonest for us and even painful for me) and that there's nothing wrong with that. If he chooses not to get in touch with me, it's not because I'm at fault for having real feelings. Having Facebook ads undermine the validity of my feelings and my ability to articulate them because I'm female and inherently insecure about emotional/sexual relationships (which may be true, but it's none of Facebook's business and I'm working on it anyway) is really quite unhelpful. A friend of mine self-identifies as male on Facebook and has never once seen an ad that suggests she (or he, as far as the site is concerned) should be saying or doing something different in her relationships. So why aren't men being targeted with the same kinds of ads?

(Okay, that was a long inaugural post...hope it didn't put anyone to sleep).

I removed my gender a few months ago. Facebook told me it was "confusing" for leaving status updates/news feeds. And, I'm STILL getting the diet ads...

I decided to try it and see what the results would be. I took "female"
off of my profile and less than 10 minutes later when facebook tried to
publish my story on the newsfeed about how I edited personal
information, it sent me this message:

Which example applies to you?
Right now your profile may be confusing. Please choose how we should
refer to you.
1. Jodi edited HER profile
2. Jodi edited HIS profile

I am not a HIS, but don't want to be punished for being a HER, so what do I do??

AND, what's wrong with a little confusion?

I RARELY use Facebook because of this reason. Fuck 'em. MySpace is getting pretty bad, too. Bleh.

When I get really bored, I sit around reporting all the diet ads on facebook as "offensive." Because they are, actually. If I hear one more thing about acai berry...

Aside from all these practical issues of how to deal with Facebook, I think it's kind of poignant that, at least as far as Facebook is concerned, you have to relinquish your gender identity in order to free yourself from negative messages' intrusion into your daily life.

I'm listed as female and in a relationship and I get a lot of ads for engagement rings. Wouldn't you think they'd target those at the male half of the relationship?

(As an aside, I'd love to see a "Target:Women" on the whole acai berry / "antioxidants" / weight loss through consumption of exotic products thing, heh)

After some experimentation, I found that the diet ads I saw on facebook almost disappeared after marking them as thumbs down and using the reason "uninteresting"

When I tried it with the other options, it didn't really seem to change it, but now I see very few diet ads. Not sure what made the difference, but now all of my ads are for art schools and hiking gear.

Most of what I get is ads to get an Bachelor's degree (which I already have) to get the job I already have. Ummm... Thanks facebook for trying to sell me my what I already have. I do get acai berry ads once in while. Like I'm dumb enough to buy that crud.

I don't get many diet ads. I moved to a new city six months ago and I get a lot of area-specific ads (Realtors, wedding photographers, sushi places). I also get a lot of political-themed ads.

My gender is listed and it says I'm in a relationship.

And I've refreshed it a dozen times, just now, and I only got three diet ads total. I wonder if it's in relation to how many other things you have listed on your profile? I have a number of bands listed and I keep getting ads for them and other similar bands, for example.

It does more than target gender. My boyfriend started getting adds for hair removal products and trimmers when he changed his facebook picture to a more current one where he has a goatee and stash.

I also get ads for pink macbooks, ick.

Every time I see an ad for weight loss, I mark it as offensive or repetitive. It doesn't seem to be making the ads show up less frequently, though ...

Marking the ads as offensive didn't work for me, but it was satisfying!

My least favorite were those "muffin top" ads that said "GROSS!"

That girl was not gross! She looked perfectly normal!

Going genderless does the trick.

I get Facebook ads for two things: fad diets and engagement rings. I thumb them down every single time, and yet they keep coming. I have started choosing "Other" on the thumbs-down reason menu and writing things like, "If you want to sell me something, don't waste your adspace on this." It makes no apparent difference.

I'm listed as a female and my relationship status is hidden. The three ads currently on my facebook page are 1)An Amanda Palmer interview (makes sense because I'm listed as a Dresden Dolls fan) 2)an ad to learn about hearing loss (huh? Maybe because it says I'm in a band? That's all I can think of.) and 3)an ad for some kind of laser hair removal thing. I guess the last one is gender specific but all in all that's not so bad.

I didn't realize before that different people saw different ads on facebook, I just thought everyone saw the same ones.

I think it's interesting that you feel the need to state that your BMI is in the normal range - kind of fat phobic, maybe? Like, it's one thing for a fatty to get those ads, but you don't 'deserve' them?

I don't know what ads I get, since AdBlock just shifts the bulk of the layout right, covering the adspace. It's a little ugly, but facebook's layout is awful anyway, so I don't mind.

When I use the computers at school, I still get diet ads... even the specific ones I've thumbs down-ed. And I decided not to list my relationship status when I started getting "find the perfect guy!!!" ads after I put myself down as single when my ex and I broke up this fall. I hate how the bulk of the ads I get are so gendered, but I guess that's what I get for keeping my profile uncluttered.

I hate those ads, too! I always click the thumbs-down and mark them as offensive. I didn't even realize they were geared toward the gender marked on my profile. I'm tired of seeing pictures of airbrushed Heidi Klumm and Oprah every five minutes. I took your lead and removed my gender as well.

I definitely get acai berry and engagement ring ads, but I also get a lot of "are you pregnant?" ads from a place that wants to help me if I'm pregnant. I clicked on it once and got the impression that they were trying to persuade people away from Plan B and abortion. I wrote them a letter about how it's not Christian to lie to people.

The facebook ads I get are not as offensive as the myspace ads I get. For example, this one, which made me gag:

How in the world is that healthy???

Also, ever since I came out as bi on my myspace, I've been getting ads for beer.

Funny, tonight I actually became aware of the "targeted" ads on my profile. I was appalled. I changed my "what are you doing right now" to say something about it.

While my efforts to gain weight are not a matter of life and death, for some girls it is. I cringe at the thought of a vulnerable and dangerously underweight girl battling anorexia or bulimia and being fed these kinds of ads as a result of ad targeting.

Granted, our entire media culture revolves around making women hate themselves, but it's just so disappointing that they have nothing else to sell us.

I can relate entirely. I spent MONTHS clicking on the little thumbs-down symbol beneath such ads and labelling them as either uninteresting or offensive, but I still received them over and over again. I have no idea why they even bother with a 'targeted' ads system that doesn't even listen when you tell them you don't want certain ads. Then I de-gendered my profile, and only then did I receive slightly more relevant ads to do with student loans and money-off offers - not a 'you could loose some weight' in sight. I still don't click on them, but at least they aren't telling me that a 5'7", 8st 2lbs woman (borderline underweight!) needs to diet. Or trying to give me free nappies.
Honestly, you'd think that women have no other interests beyond starving themselves and living off nothing but magic berries.

I removed my gender yesterday after reading this artical and thought it was interestting that facebook can't tell everyone my business now because it can't figure out if I'm a girl or a boy.
On another note, what's with facebook giving you and out line of a guy (with a falling fauxhawk) if you don't load a pic? I'd prefer the "?" mark to all the outlines being of the male persuasion. I'm sure there are some really awesome woman out there with the faux hawk look but I can bet facebook isn't thinking that is a gender neutral replacement pic. Wtf?

What a fabulous idea!
It's always bothered me- all the ridiculous ads about the "superstar diet" and "Oprah's Acai berry Secret diet!"

I just changed my settings- and the ad now? One for a free walking group in my area!

Thanks for the heads up! :)

one day i logged into facebook and saw an ad on the side that said "are you a 21-year-old male? try our (whatever they were pitching).

the total lack of subtlety in this ad really creeped me out, so i removed my gender and changed my birth year to 1928.

Yeah, try being listed as female AND engaged!

Apparently I'm too fat to fit into my wedding dress. Thanks Facebook!

I wouldn't hold my breath with listing stuff as Offensive. Most advertising is shady, but Internet advertising is a completely different kind of shady. The Facebook stuff is pretty far down the 'worthless spam' spectrum.

I am REALLY tored of diet ads on myspace. Hmm, I am 24 and Magically there is a special diet for 24-year-olds. I changed it to see what would happen if I did (to 23yo) and poof! Diets for 23-year-olds. There's the picture of the woman's torso standing sideways in what we can only assume are her "fat" jeans, but it's like a 12 year old girl in a fat 40-something guy's jeans, it's that big. And all these crappy photoshop jobs of people before and after.
EVERY SINGLE TIME I open the page. I changed my gender to male and it's just as bad. Ads like "STILL single?" and a lot of hookup and poker ads.

woops, tored/tired. :) guess I really AM tired.

Dear Goddess who suggested "adblocker plus" for firefox. THANK YOU!

I've been having all those crappy ads on myspace and they have seriously been bothering me and my sisters who go on myspace. But now they are all gone! YAY!

Thanks for the great entry regarding the growth of pro-ana groups on social networking sites like Facebook. The Center for Eating Disorders, home to Dr. Crawford, who is interviewed in the Newsweek article, just wrote a blog entry about this growing problem. To read about what CED thinks about this issue or to view the link to the Newsweek article: http://eatingdisorder.org/blog/2008/11/25/newsweek-highlights-the-dangers-of-pro-anorexia-groups-on-social-networking-sites/

I removed my gender for the same reason, but didn't remove my sexual preference...so for a day I was bombarded with ads for gay cruises.. Super weird. Plus I'm against the whole polarisation and all that.

I get countless acai berry ads from FB, no matter how many times I click the thumbs down. And ever since I changed my status to married, it's been non-stop baby-related ads. Now, I want children, but I'm unlikely to get knocked up by my the *woman* I'm joke married to.

I love facebook, and i put my gender in my list