Difficulty telling the difference between men & women

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This is likely the wierdest topic of all time (or not...) but here goes nothing...

For some reason I find it really difficult to tell from a quick glance whether someone's a man or woman, especially if they don't conform to gender norms in terms of hair length, clothing choices, etc.

Here's one example. Today I saw someone on the bus with long hair and somewhat tight pants. I assumed it was a woman. But when he spoke to his buddy, the truth became evident rather fast.

Another example: I was looking at posters at a chemistry conference. There was someone rather tall and broad in front of me with short hair and a big sweater. I thought "hmmm this big guy is kind of in my viewplane". Turned out it was my analytical lab instructor who was actually a woman.

This isn't a complete list, but these are just the two most humourous examples.

Weird? Not at all.

It's a normal situation, especially in these gender-fluid days.

I've wondered what percentage of people consistently get mis-gendered opposite their sex as assigned at birth when talking over the telephone (identification by voice characteristics).

I think this has become harder in recent decades, as we encounter transgendered people in everyday situations. Often although the transformation has been impressive, there are hints of the previous assigned gender.

I'm a cis woman who regularly gets mis-gendered by many people. Possibly because I don't wear feminine clothes or makeup or jewelry, and I'm very tall and have a low voice. I have long hair, but so do lots of men.

This used to happen to me when I was younger. Once I spent a whole long bus drive next to someone without realizing they were a boy.

No because I can tell by looks rather they are men or women no matter what they have on. Boobs are a dead give away. Facial hair is a dead give away. It does not matter what they have on. Adam's apple is another giveaway too. I can also tell by shape of their body too. I have seen men dressed up as women and I have no idea if they are transgender or a cross dresser or a sissy.


With children it's very hard to tell when they have no hit puberty yet because they all look the same. The only difference is what clothes they are wearing for you to tell if they are boys and girls. But if one of them decides to wear boy outfits, they are going to look like a boy.

women in retail like to misgender me, but i think it's more of a passive aggressive thing

I often get mistaken for a man on first glance. Because people don't look closely, they just work on general impressions. So it only takes a short haircut, a tall-ish build, and a loose shirt. If I'm in a fluoro work shirt it's pretty much guaranteed.
They realise my gender when I speak, though.

Boobs aren't a reliable indicator of gender as you might think.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-adhd- ... ys-breasts
Not just drugs, but a variety of chemicals in our environment will give men boobs.
It isn't rare to see people here diagnosed with ADHD.

Some women do have to shave their facial hair to appear feminine. Would you really know they weren't a guy if they didn't shave it?

There are some men with an "hourglass figure" with a waist to hip ratio down to about 0.8, so you can get fooled by body shape as well. If a guy can't gain weight it is likely that he can't do much to hide his hips.

I have that problem sometimes. I thought Hanson were girls, because of their voice.
I remember when I seen them, I thought at least one of them were, until someone told me they weren't.

I think many people have difficulty sometimes. For example, in Jim Carrey’s new show I thought his son was actually his daughter. The long bangs threw me. Some people do look androgynous.

People have a hard time telling what gender I am. I wouldn't have it any other way. I like it when people call me Sir. It means that they're willing to go the extra mile to see me as I am on the inside.

That usually doesn't happen to me anymore.
Sometimes, I can't tell if a child is a boy or a girl.
But there are cases I'm unable to tell, and people would get perplexed how I mistook their gender.