Called "Sir"... Why, oh WHY?!?!

[Pax]

I really think it has to do with hair, in our (US) society women are "supposed" to have long hair. I've had little kids ask me if I was a boy or a girl when I was at the pool wearing a swimsuit.

[skhill]

It's weird, but when I was heavier and did all my shopping in the women's department I got "sirred" quite a lot. Now that I'm so thin that I end up wearing boy's clothes much of the time, I don't. (Boy's shorts have usable pockets, women's size 0/2 generally don't). Still have wide shoulders and narrow hips and short hair, and sometimes wear training bras, as it's awfully hard to find AA cups elsewhere. You'd think I'd get "sirred" more now, wouldn't your?

[OakLeaf]

I really think it has to do with hair, in our (US) society women are "supposed" to have long hair.

White women, anyway. A lot of Black women cut their hair very closely (maybe more fashionable a couple of years back than it is now) and still look quite feminine.

But yeah - hair in combination with features goes a long way I think. There was a head-and-shoulders picture of someone in our local paper yesterday. Prominent jaw, high cheekbones, and gelled straight hair about an inch, inch and a half long. The name was kind of androgynous and the story didn't use any pronouns or gender-identifying words. I thought it was a man until another story today said it was a woman.

Can't say what I might've thought if I'd seen the rest of her body, though.

[malkin]

Dunno what to make of it.

Even dressed in a military(ish) suit with a sash and medals with a beard (a good fake beard, stuck on in bits) and a fresh boy's haircut, I couldn't even get anyone to think I was a guy. Not even the kids at school. Not strangers, not anyone.

[Possegal]

I once got a speeding ticket driving back to PA from a weekend in Ontario. I had been at a family wedding and had nice long, well painted fingernails. My hair was very long and "girly" and permed (shut up, that was the fashion then!)

I drove away and glanced at the ticket and saw that sex of driver was marked MALE. I asked my federal judge sibling if that was grounds to get out of the ticket - hey, wasn't me driving, clearly I'm not a male! He didn't think so.

Once when my niece was little we were at the mall and someone saw her (with her very short pixie haircut) and said - oh what a cute little (short pause) person! We just laughed as she totally looked like a little boy.

[Pax]

I had an older woman in Alabama actually grab me by the arm to pull me out of the women's restroom, she said "young man, you are in the wrong place!!!". I gently pulled my arm out of her grasp, cupped my breasts (which were at the same level as her nose), and said "ma'am, I am a woman". Her reply??? "well with that hair, who could tell".

[Biciclista]

Pax, the hair thing is getting to me. Women in this day and age often have really short hair. Where are these people coming from???
But yeah, have you seen the breasts on some guys (bleah) !!!

[jessmarimba]

Once when my niece was little we were at the mall and someone saw her (with her very short pixie haircut) and said - oh what a cute little (short pause) person! We just laughed as she totally looked like a little boy.

I was bald for so long as an infant that my mom had my ears pierced to distinguish that I was a girl. I guess even dressing me in pink wasn't enough (though, from photos, I pretty much ran around in a diaper & t-shirt for a year or two, so it's no wonder people were confused).

I had a pixie cut once. It looked bad enough on me, but I got really tired of people referring to me as a guy that I won't do it again. I don't have much of a figure (or cheekbones) though, so I wasn't too surprised by it. I actually pondered auditioning for an all-male drum corps to see how long til I was caught.

[goldfinch]

I've never had it happen to me. My hair is very short and has been for years. But I am only 4'11'' so I default to woman I guess. Plus, I tend towards round.

Who knows what triggers these mistakes. It seems weird to me.

[GLC1968]

Yeah, the hair thing really surprises me, too. I often have super short hair (like less than an inch short) and while I do make a point of trying to remember to wear earrings when my hair is that short, no one has ever mistook me for a guy.

Maybe there is a regional difference, perhaps? Thinking back, I'm sure that super short hair on a woman would probably have been entirely too modern for most of the people I knew when I lived in the Poconos...so maybe it somewhat depends on where you live?