Ever had your gender misidentified?

[Generic Brad]

I was mistaken for a girl when I was in fourth grade. Based on the hair and the clothes, I can see where that mistake could have been made. My daughter told me she remembered being called a boy at a park when she was five. My wife told me that when she was in college she was in a park wearing a sweatsuit and overheard a couple arguing about whether or not she was male or female (which is hilarious because she's all girl).

Have any of you ever had your gender misidentified?

[bluedeminredstate]

1. When I was about six I got a pixie cut

against my wishes. I wanted a Carol Brady shag. Along the tearful ride home we stopped at my little brother's preschool to pick him up and the teacher said to me, "Little boy! Get away from the bird cage!" I remember running out of the building, climbing into the car and sobbing all day long. I was pissed at my mom for not delivering on the shag cut as promised.

I'm 47, and as you can clearly see, I'm not over it.

:blush:

[vard28]

18. I was 5

and I was given that same damn pixie haircut. We were in the grocery store and some woman told her husband to move the cart and "let the little boy by". Many tears. I will be 47 next month and I still haven't gotten over it either!

[bluedeminredstate]

19. Must have been the same evil hairdresser!!

I guess the pixie was in that year for little girls and we just got caught in the assembly line...


:hi:

[TK421]

31. That teacher should have been beaten to death....sorry

those things stick with you.....that teacher should have been beaten to death with a morning star or something equally as painful..

[Betty88]

43. Pixie cut made me gay...

Well that's what I like to tell my mom when I want to drive her just a little crazy...:evilgrin:

[blaze]

2. I was mistaken for a boy

I was eight or nine and my mom (and I) took the family car in for the now defunct state inspection... I was sitting in the front seat and the inspector got in behind the driving wheel and said, "You'll have to get out too, son."

[Generic Brad]

5. It felt horrifying when it happened to me too

Perhaps it's the age? I'm not sure.

For me it was the early 70's and many of the styles were unisex. But it has not happened since.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. My dear Generic Brad!

Oh, good grief, have I ever!

When I wore my hair short, I was fairly often addressed as "sir."

Once, someone even did it to my face.

It was very annoying! Not to mention embarrassing.

Now that my hair's longer, it doesn't happen much, thank goodness...

[netania99]

6. I, too, have been addressed as "sir"

And "young man." Short hair, also. :-)

[Jamastiene]

4. Constantly, on the phone as an adult, I have had my gender misidentified.

Also, as a kid, up until I grew the double DD's, every kid in the neighborhood thought I was a boy. I was picked first for neighborhood sports until the twins started growing. Then they wouldn't play with me at all after that.

That's alright though.

I, inadvertently, paid them back. When they grew out of their "Ewwww, yuck, girls!" phase, I informed them I was a lesbian and wouldn't be playing any games with them any time soon.

See, I didn't care that they thought I was a boy. I was pissed off as Hell, though, that they didn't let me play baseball or kickball any more. Payback's a fucking bitch. I'm the coldest hearted bitch on the face of the planet when it comes to the Battle of the Sexes. :evilgrin: For some fucked up reason, though, men LOVE it and women hate it. I'll NEVER figure that one out as long as I live. :shrug:

[skooooo]

7. all the time when I was a kid...

not so much after puberty...lol

[driver8]

8. When I was in 6th grade I was mistaken for a girl...

I had really long hair, but I had already started going through puberty and I was definitely not built like a girl.

I am still baffled by that.

[ghostsofgiants]

9. Yeah, when I had long hair it happened a lot.

I was pretty androgynous with long hair.

I was standing with my back to the door in a public washroom once, a dude walked in, saw me, then double checked the sign on the door before coming back in and being very embarrassed, haha, it was hilarious.

[Godhumor]

10. By strangers in the middle of the night when I was back in high school

My girlfriend at the time and I were sitting on a park bench, and she had her head on my shoulder. My hair was a bit long, admittedly, but when the old couple passed behind our bench and the woman said, "Oh look honey, there's a couple of lesbians" I'll admit to being shocked. My girlfriend found it incredibly amusing.

[kayakjohnny]

11. Ummmm......nooooooo.....

[KitchenWitch]

12. Yes, when I was 8.5 months pregnant.

"Excuse me, sir..."

"Do I look like a sir to you?"

:banghead:

I had really long hair, full makeup on, overly feminine maternity clothes on (this was 18 years ago - EVERYTHING was super frilly then). And STILL I got mistaken for a man.

:grr:

I could not have possibly been more womanly than I was then, and apparently I still gave out the masculine vibe.

[TZ]

39. I think its the height thing.

Most tall people are assumed to be men on first glance I think.
Being very short is probably why I've never been mistaken for a man..Well that an the Minnie Mouse pitched voice and the big boobs..:D

[KitchenWitch]

41. Could be.

But seriously, I was a 38F when I was preggers. You would think that boobs THAT big at eye level would at least give one pause...

:evilgrin:

[Roon]

13. My Mother picked me up at my loft downtown once

and our nelly friend leaned out the upper window as I was climbing into the car and started hollering"HIIII!!! HIIII" to my Mother. I got into the car and my Mother asked me who that girl was that was shouting "HI!"...I had to tell her it was just a nelly gay guy, no girl.

The next day I went up to my friend and started to tease him a little.."You know, my Mother yesterday thought you were a girl.."

His reply? "That's OK, I sometimes think I am a girl." Touch'e!

[Roon]

14. I have a lesbian friend who looks very much like a man.

She totally does this on purpose, then she complains of the hate she receives when she walks into the women's bathroom.

[LeftyMom]

15. No. To be fair, I'm 5'2" and have hair down to the small of my back,

so even with my less-than-curvaceous figure, it'd be an odd mistake to make.

[soleiri]

16. According to my brother, I used to be a boy.

I had a really short Mia Farrow style hair cut when I was 5 years old.
Once my hair grew out, my brother would speak of it by saying “When Solei was a boy”

[DarkTirade]

17. Only from behind.

[lizerdbits]

20. Yes

My voice is kind of low so the mother of one of my friends in middle school thought I was her boyfriend when I called. Once when I was about 10 and had my butt length hair up in a hat, apparently the double pierced ears with really big hoops weren't a give away. Once at a college job when again I had my hair in a hat. That time I had boobs so I was kind of surprised, though they aren't that big so I guess not that noticeable. Maybe my shirt was baggy.

[harmonicon]

21. all the time when I was a kid...

probably until I was old enough to grow side burns.

I was a fat rocker kid.... long hair - that's what throws them, especially in a conservative area like I grew up in where the main distinction between men and women seems to be short hair and long hair - hell, that's probably the first way that the difference was explained to me.

Sometimes it was very embarrassing, but loads of things are embarrassing to kids. More often it was just funny. I remember one time when I was probably 11 or 12, a woman in Sears tried to stop me from going into the men's room... haha... that was a good one.

[leftyclimber]

22. Two years ago, at age 35

I was coming in from a day of climbing at Seneca Rocks and heading for the loo. (For those of you who have been there recently this is prior to the vault toilets being installed in the parking areas.)

Now, understand that I'm a regular at Seneca. I'm acquainted with most of the people who climb there on a regular basis, as well as the local business owners and so forth. I know the Forest Service people who run the place. I've made interpretive signs for the visitor's center. I can walk into the office without an invitation and everybody says "hi." This is my TURF, not somewhere that I'd just shown up at.

So I come in from a day of climbing. My hair was short at the time, and I AM pretty butch-looking, regardless. I'm wearing cargo shorts, a tank top, and a backwards baseball cap. Chalk all over my hands, dirt all over my (shaved) legs. I go to pee in the ladies' room, where they let me go even though I am a woman and not a lady.

Behind me I hear this woman's voice say, "Excuse me, sir, that's the women's bathroom."

I turn around, looking puzzled (and flashing my cleavage due to the cut of my tank top).

Woman says, "... oh." and turns about 40 shades of purple.

I go do my business.

It was weird.

[graywarrior]

23. Yep

[KamaAina]

24. Sure have.

My true and actual name is "Mark". One time, I filled out a form from a computer user group too hastily. From that point forward, until I moved out of the area, I would receive solicitations junk mail addressed to "Marla (KamaAina)"!

edit: wouldn't you know, my boss at the time was just the sort of guy who'd jump on that and not let go.. :eyes:

[AwakeAtLast]

25. My husband did

He used to have hair down to his butt, and we were at a restaurant together. The server came up behind him saying, "What can I get you ladies to drink?" Then she turned towards him to see a full goatee! :rofl: The look on her face was priceless! :rofl:

She still got a good tip, but I'm sure she thought she wasn't going to! :D

[LisaL]

26. No.

[jmm]

27. I've been called virtually every male namer that begins with "J"

on the phone at work. When somebody slips up and calls me Jennifer or Jane by accident then apologizes I tell them I'm just glad they got the gender right. People I've told that to who know me are shocked but even Monday "Justin" got thanked :eyes:.

[skygazer]

28. I got called "sir" just the other day

I have hair down to my waist, it was in a long braid and I had my back to the person. I don't think I'm built like a man but I've had that happen more than once. I think it's because of the way I carry myself but it's always odd when it happens.

[semillama]

29. When I was about 19 or 20.

This was back when I had pretty long hair in my total metal days, and a cafeteria worker in our dorm called me "miss" from behind.

[csziggy]

30. Constantly on the phone - I have a deep voice fora woman

Never in real life though.

[Rhythm]

32. Happens on the phone a lot... in person, it depends on what i'm wearing and how long my hair is

On the phone, i will inevitably be called 'sir' early in the morning, before my vocal chords are fully warmed up, and my voice is sleepy-scratchy.

The in-person thing happens more often in the winter, when the bulky clothing masks the obvious bustline. *L*

[ogneopasno]

33. Yes. Twice in third grade, and once when I was 20.

[MrSlayer]

34. Yes, I was so pretty as a youth I was often mistaken for a girl.

Guys would say shit like "Wow, she's hot but she's flat" and other hilarious things. It used to happen all the time. I found it alternately amusing and annoying. Not anywhere as amusing as my brother did though. He'd bust my balls all the time about it.

[crim son]

35. Yep.

Even as late as sophomore year in college, when I went "punk" and shaved the hair off half my head. I was at a club with my grandparents (they were the COOLEST grandparents EVAH!) and won the door prize. As the host handed me the basket of fine wine and pretty crystal glasses, he said into the microphone, "There you go, son. Don't drink it with just any pretty young lady!" I didn't start having a female body until I had my first child, and I'm not a frilly girl, no way.

[Robeson]

36. Yes, about 4 years ago while at the post office.....

...a little old lady in line behind me was asking the person she was with, whether I was a woman or not - I have long hair - so bless her heart, it kind of confused her.

[Bertha Venation]

37. All my life. I get called "sir." And I'm not butch.

Sometimes I think I'm gonna flash the next person to call me "sir." It gets old.

[unpossibles]

38. more than once

and sometimes while wearing men's clothing....

I've had long hair a few times, and was amused to have a waitress come from behind me, and ask, "so what will you ladies h.....crap."

He probably thought he blew his tip, but I thought it was funny.

[Mad_Dem_X]

40. I was often mistaken for a boy

When I was little, my mom had my sister and me get our hair cut really short, so it would be less work to take care of. Many times people mistook me for a boy. My sister got it, too, but not as much. Which is weird, because she was a total tomboy, I was more "girly."

[Maine-ah]

42. I used to get mistaken for a boy

I had a short hair cut, and I have no boobs. I'm also very small. The mistake was usually made by elderly folks. "Excuse me, young man...." I'll never have my hair that short again. At least now, I have some form of boobs, having a baby helped. BF'ing didn't....flappin' in the breeze these days....

[Fire Walk With Me]

44. No, but I was once told that I look like John Travolta.

Which is worse.

[Deja Q]

45. Once, as a teenager, on the phone.

Otherwise, I'm visibly a male.

Now if I get a liposuction or exercise 8 straight hours per day I can remove the top bulge and leave the bottom bulge, which would only prove that male part onethousandfold...

[Ohio Joe]

46. All the time

I am often mistaken for a woman when I'm on the phone.

[Shell Beau]

47. Nah, I am pretty much very girly!

[Rob H.]

48. In my late teens/early twenties

I used to get addressed as "Miss" on occasion because I was very thin and had curly, shoulder-length hair. I was standing in line with my friend, Staci, in one of the university cafeterias and when we got to the front of the line the cashier asked, "Will that be all for you, young ladies?" She looked up and blushed bright red when Staci and I started laughing, but I told her it was okay. We were laughing because after telling Staci that it happened all the time I finally had proof! :P

[BeachBaby]

49. Ask CreekDog.

He's the expert. :hide: