Quote from: Naturally Blonde on January 26, 2012, 12:02:20 PM
Skulls and bone structures vary a great deal no matter what gender you are! I'm sure some of you have seen a natural born women who you are convinced is a ->-bleeped-<-! I've seen loads! and I've also transsexuals who fit perfectly into the smaller skull size spectrum and look totally female.
Um, actually, no, I haven't, and I don't know where you're getting this. The features frequently seen in transsexual women are very, very uncommon in those assigned female at birth. For a simple example (and one that's probably a more generous one than most), using statistical data about the average height of women in the US and the standard deviation, about 2.5% of women in the United States are taller than 5'9", and less than .1% are taller than 6 feet. That isn't to say that cis women with those kinds of height don't exist, it's just very uncommon. (It works out to about 150,000 cis women taller than 6 feet, if we're using 300 million as the US population and assuming that roughly half of those people are women.) Other traditionally masculine body shapes are similarly rare in cis women, such that it's extremely unlikely that one is going to "clock" a woman who isn't trans unless you're clocking anybody who isn't within the 50th percentile or lower in average measurements.
Quote from: wendy on January 26, 2012, 06:54:30 PM
Too funny! I saw a lady hat had a pixie cut and a face similar to mine that was selling jewelry. I said that is so nice that a TS person is hired to sell jewelry. I'd have bet you $200 that she was TS. Next day I went over and talked to her. I looked for any tell-tale sign while I chatted with her. No facial scars, great female voice, pixie hair, large hips and rear. She was totally nice and we had a great conversation. I would have lost $200 but I found one girl in world that had a face that was more masculine than mine. Bottonline is many of us can pass if we tried. I have upped my odds from zero to 80% if really try. If I try a little it is 0%. Most people form an opinion of your gender so fast that if you pass they will let you continue to pass. But passing has to do with many factors such as confidence, clothing, jewelry, voice, word selection, hair, body shape, and other factors besides face. Hey very pretty bearded ladies have a tough time passing as a female. I know many FTM's that took T and very pretty girls and they became very handsome men. Their faces had totally female features except for beards, deep voices, and large arms. Hey they did not look like girls. Reverse can be true for MTF;s. I know many MTF's in which I am prettier but they would pass easily and I still could not pass.
Attitude, confidence and personality are also very important and are clues that are picked up quickly!
False analogy. "Androgynous features" (that is, non-gendered facial cues, like a minimally or unbossed forehead, small chins, and non-angular jawlines) are necessary but not sufficient for others to reliably see you as female. When further cues, like eyebrows, facial hair, or hairlines indicate maleness, even the most "feminine" of faces will be seen as male. Conversely, even faces with "male features" (like a bossed forehead or a long chin or an angular jawline) but have no further cues that suggest masculinity or maleness constitute something that will frequently get noticed, especially if the three exist in combination.
The fortunate thing is that most people don't know this much stuff about body metrics, so this isn't as much of a problem as it might initially seem. The truth is, though, that the face is the most important cue that people use to gender people, closely followed by the body.
