Are/were you ever mistaken for the other gender?

Page 1 of 4 [ 61 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next


Are/were you ever mistaken for the other gender?
Yes, but I didn't/don't want to be 49%  49%  [ 33 ]
Yes, I deliberately idenfity as the opposite gender 10%  10%  [ 7 ]
No 40%  40%  [ 27 ]
Total votes : 67

Guineapigged
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 16 Sep 2011
Age: 32
Gender: Female
Posts: 412
Location: UK

29 Dec 2011, 4:16 pm

I'm female but pre-puberty I was regularly mistaken for a boy. This was partly because I wore boys clothes, partly because my name can apply to either gender, partly because I had a short haircut, and partly because of my monotonous voice. It wasn't just kids teasing me; grown-ups outright asked me, "are you a boy or a girl?"
After puberty, growing my hair, and learning to choose more "gender appropriate" clothing I never get mistaken for male anymore - except when I'm on the phone. One thing that has stayed the same is my voice. Even my relatives can't tell me apart from my brothers, and strangers think I'm my parents' son. When that happens I don't even bother to pull them up on it because I imagine they would be more embarrassed than me.



Dunnyveg
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 5 May 2011
Gender: Male
Posts: 370
Location: Deep in the heart of Texas

29 Dec 2011, 4:22 pm

Guineapigged wrote:
I'm female but pre-puberty I was regularly mistaken for a boy. This was partly because I wore boys clothes, partly because my name can apply to either gender, partly because I had a short haircut, and partly because of my monotonous voice. It wasn't just kids teasing me; grown-ups outright asked me, "are you a boy or a girl?"
After puberty, growing my hair, and learning to choose more "gender appropriate" clothing I never get mistaken for male anymore - except when I'm on the phone. One thing that has stayed the same is my voice. Even my relatives can't tell me apart from my brothers, and strangers think I'm my parents' son. When that happens I don't even bother to pull them up on it because I imagine they would be more embarrassed than me.


No, I've never been mistaken for the opposite sex. What I can say is that smoking, excessive use of alcohol, and allergies can all make a female's voice deeper than what it would otherwise be. There is also the matter of inflections, which is something I had to learn. Feminine voice inflections do differ from male inflections.



jmnixon95
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Dec 2009
Gender: Female
Posts: 20,931
Location: 미국

29 Dec 2011, 4:50 pm

I've never been mistaken for the opposite gender in real life, but on the internet I frequently get people thinking I'm male.



Asp-Z
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 Dec 2009
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,018

29 Dec 2011, 4:51 pm

Nope, never. I have quite a standard generic male style though.



AardvarkGoodSwimmer
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Apr 2009
Age: 61
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,663
Location: Houston, Texas

29 Dec 2011, 4:59 pm

I'm 5'6", skinny, used to be a lot skinnier when I was younger. So, even in my late 20s, I might be standing in line in a cafeteria and the server says "Ma'am"

I have nasal speech. Two possible causes. Two dentist told me that my uvula (thing that hangs down in back of throat) larger than average.

And secondly, I had a lot of allergies as a kid and something I've heard called 'deaf speech' makes sense. That's where a person needs to feel the movement of air because they don't hear as well.

I am sometimes viewed as gay. I think sometimes even as a flamer. I think my speech is miles away from any stereotypical quote-unquote "gay speech." One guy said I sounded like a damn Frenchman. That's more like it. Or maybe a New Yorker or Bostonian.

I don't happen to be gay. I am in favor of full and equal rights for lesbian, gay, transgendered, and bisexual persons, including the right to marry as an individual choice.

I think I would object to the cheap stereotyping even if I was gay. It shows the very limited number of categories some people operate with. And how some people are against anything different in any way (their loss)



alexi
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 25 Dec 2010
Age: 42
Gender: Female
Posts: 374
Location: Australia

29 Dec 2011, 5:01 pm

At work I am frequently called "Sir". It is just presumed that if I am near a box or in the vicinity of doing laborious work than I must be a boy :roll: I don't look like a boy.



pete1061
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Nov 2011
Age: 54
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,766
Location: Portland, OR

29 Dec 2011, 5:03 pm

Mostly no.
But pre-puberty, a few times other kids had asked me if I was a boy or a girl.
Then after puberty, I grew some shoulders, my voice got deep and developed a strong 5 o'clock shadow, I'm unmistakably male now.


_________________
Your Aspie score: 172 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 35 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie
Diagnosed in 2005


Joe90
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Feb 2010
Gender: Female
Posts: 26,492
Location: UK

29 Dec 2011, 5:04 pm

Yes, when I was 14. I had my hair tied back, with a baseball cap on, and a thick coat what made my breasts less visible, and I went into a pharmacy with my mum because she wanted to ask if there was anything for my brother's acne. When she asked, the stupid man at the desk looked closer towards my face and said, ''where abouts is it?'', and I didn't say anything because I was so embarrassed, and my mum said, ''no, this is my daughter.''

He was foreign, so I'll let him off. Besides, my mum told me that when she was 11 she put on a cap and put her hair up in it so you couldn't see it and went out to play with her brother and 2 of his friends who she hadn't seen before, and they both literally thought she was a boy, and because she was a tomboy she just played along and was proud of it!


_________________
Female


bumble
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Mar 2011
Age: 48
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,073

29 Dec 2011, 5:04 pm

I was about 15, I had short hair and someone who was drunk thought I was a boy lol



AardvarkGoodSwimmer
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Apr 2009
Age: 61
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,663
Location: Houston, Texas

29 Dec 2011, 5:04 pm

I think some well-known actresses have deeper than average voices which is viewed as appealing.



safffron
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

User avatar

Joined: 18 Aug 2011
Gender: Female
Posts: 166

29 Dec 2011, 5:06 pm

It happened on a few occasions until I was 20 or so. Maybe even after that. Even though I could dress in a feminine style and sometimes wore a bit of makeup, I preferred jeans and more androgynous attire. At that point, I was tall, thin and far from endowed. My hair was long. Looking at old photos, I can now see that I was an attractive young woman. I was just far away from the cute, perky ideal that surrounded me.


_________________
What's for you, won't go past you.


bumble
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Mar 2011
Age: 48
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,073

29 Dec 2011, 5:06 pm

Joe90 wrote:
Yes, when I was 14. I had my hair tied back, with a baseball cap on, and a thick coat what made my breasts less visible, ....


Crikey, I didn't have breasts at 14. I was a very late developer as I didn't start menstruating until I was 17 or 18 and I had no breasts untill I was about 16 either. My mum even took me to a dr because she was worried I was not maturing!

The down side to maturing slowly is that even now at 36 I can get asked for ID by obviously half blind check out people if you need to be over 18 to buy something! Or is that a good thing at my age? It was a pain when I was a teenager though as I was always taken to be much younger than I was.



wanderinggrl
Blue Jay
Blue Jay

User avatar

Joined: 5 May 2011
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Posts: 89

29 Dec 2011, 5:10 pm

All the time when I was younger but not now. Between being a tomboy and having a monotone voice I was regularly mistaken for a boy. Embarrassed my mother more than it did me.



Joe90
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Feb 2010
Gender: Female
Posts: 26,492
Location: UK

29 Dec 2011, 5:12 pm

bumble wrote:
Joe90 wrote:
Yes, when I was 14. I had my hair tied back, with a baseball cap on, and a thick coat what made my breasts less visible, ....


Crikey, I didn't have breasts at 14. I was a very late developer as I didn't start menstruating until I was 17 or 18 and I had no breasts untill I was about 16 either. My mum even took me to a dr because she was worried I was not maturing!

The down side to maturing slowly is that even now at 36 I can get asked for ID by obviously half blind check out people if you need to be over 18 to buy something! Or is that a good thing at my age? It was a pain when I was a teenager though as I was always taken to be much younger than I was.


My auntie has got asked her ID card before - and she's 50!

She's NT aswell.


_________________
Female


Magnus_Rex
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 Oct 2010
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,704
Location: Home

29 Dec 2011, 5:18 pm

No. No one in their right mind would mistake me for a woman. My appearance is very masculine.



Apple_in_my_Eye
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 May 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,420
Location: in my brain

29 Dec 2011, 5:27 pm

Pretty rarely. I'm 6'0" with wide shoulders and small waist (well, less small now that I'm fatter than I used to be).

I did have a scarf/muffler for a while that was apparently more 'fruity' looking to others than it seemed to me. That, long hair (down to the waist), and being bundled up for winter weather lead to a few people being freaked out when I spoke to them (of course, I didn't realize it until 3 days later, lol). I'm also half-asian so subtle facial structure probably also played a part.