Why do smart cards have a 'sex' option?

[Grant Olson]

On 9/1/10 5:17 AM, Peter Lebbing wrote:
>> I just got my new crypto-stick, and it's pretty slick.  I understand why
>> I'd want to set my name and language preferences, but I was trying to
>> come up with a good scenario where my sex would be useful, or what the
>> rational was for including that field.
> 
> My guess is it is to address the user correctly in dialogs, in some languages.
> The sex of the person addressed might determine the grammatical gender of words
> used in dialogs. I've forgotten which languages have this feature, but I'm
> pretty sure there are such languages.
> 
> Peter.
> 

Yeah, that makes perfect sense.  I think I did know that somewhere in
the back of my head.  But I found some smartcard spec doc that indicated
the UI is allowed to grab this value and adjust the interface
accordingly.  And I was just thinking, "What's the UI supposed to do?
Show hello-kitty and unicorns if it's a woman, and monster trucks and
cyborg ninjas if it's a guy?"

Thanks.

-- 
Grant

"I am gravely disappointed. Again you have made me unleash my dogs of war."

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