A passing experiment

[insideontheoutside]

Have any of you noticed certain areas (and by areas I mean towns, cities, locations, etc.) where people tend to take you as male more often?

I'm going to test this theory myself as it's kind of an on-going thing I've been exploring. Where I live now it more rural and almost everyone takes me for female because I have choppy, longer hair, wear skinny jeans, that sort of thing. However, I'm from Los Angeles and it seems whenever I go back a lot more people refer to me as male. I guess it's really not that outlandish of a notion. L.A., like other large cities that are artsy and eclectic there just seems to be more androgyny, for lack of a better term, with how people dress or wear their hair to make the overall population unable to make a quick male or female decision or at least be more open to the possibility that outward appearances would not be so questioned.

Last year when I was there I went to a concert with one of my friends who ended up bringing along another friend of hers that had never met me. From word go I was accepted as male no questions asked. The next day my friend even said that her friend she brought along said, "he was cute!" about me haha.

Oddly enough, even when I lived there no one ever called me butch or lumped me into the lesbian category (not that there's anything wrong with lesbians of course, I'm just not one). It was usually either undetermined (androgynous), male or lastly, female. Where I live now, it's exactly the opposite. Hmm. 

[malinkibear]

Every time I've been in a more socially conservative country, like Russia, Switzerland, or Japan, I've passed much more often. In my native UK it's still a toss up I think because here people are used to seeing girls dress and act masculine, and so sometimes it can hinder a transman passing. In other countries it's more unusual for girls to dress masculine, so someone presenting as male is just assumed to be a cisman. Hell, I remember I wasn't even binding in Russia and I would still get alarmed stares when I used the women's room.
On a more local level, I dunno. I rarely go to other parts of the UK, hah hah.

[lexical]

I'm from the US and pre-t I was read as male much more often in the south than where I am now (Chicago). It was always odd because it was before I had come out to myself and didn't know what to make of it. I had short hair and wore mostly guy's clothes then but wasn't binding yet (my chest was very noticeable) and people were still seeing me as male. As people from the states know, the south is generally one of the more conservative regions of the country. Gender presentation was pretty fixed in the areas that I lived; it was unusual to see people blurring the lines. I think that people saw my masculine presentation and just assumed I was male. Whereas where I am now, it's a much larger population and a generally very liberal area -- gender-bending is more common and people seem to be much more perceptive of gender nuances.

[insideontheoutside]

Interesting that more "conservative" areas/countries were reading male because of the clothing (I'd assume).

What's odd in the U.S. is the west and the east seem to be two totally different worlds too. I have a good friend from the east that just moved to where I live now and he's constantly boggled by what he says is the "weird s*it" we do here haha.

[N.Chaos]

I can't say for specific places since I haven't been out of town in years, but I've noticed other guys seem to read me correctly a lot more often. And oddly, in restaraunts, I seem to pass better, at least with the employees.

Crappy fast food places or actual diners/cafes, its been almost 100% of the time, specifically Chinese restaraunts for some weird unknown reason.

[MalcolmAllen]

My grandma lives in rural Ohio and I pas 100% there.  To everyone.  I pass for a young teenage guy, but a guy nonetheless.  Must just be they don't get many lesbians or other women with men's haircuts and dressed like young guys.

[insideontheoutside]

@N.Chaos now that you mention it, I seem to notice the restaurant thing too. Either people can't tell or they go male. Oddly enough Mexican and Chinese restaurants top the list.

[emil]

I agree that L.A. is the perfect place to pass with longer hair, but then again, that's more true for Hollywood, Silverlake, Echo Park, Studio City, Venice, Santa Monica etc. than the downtown area. I have also experienced that in more rural/conservative areas, a short haircut and male clothing will do the trick. I also used to pass best with people of another ethnicity.

[N.Chaos]

@N.Chaos now that you mention it, I seem to notice the restaurant thing too. Either people can't tell or they go male. Oddly enough Mexican and Chinese restaurants top the list.

Odd, isn't it? And we both rock a semi-similar look, give or take half a ton. I wonder why the hell it is?

[Sharky]

Odd, isn't it? And we both rock a semi-similar look, give or take half a ton. I wonder why the hell it is?

All white people look the same?

I actually did read a study that said people have an easier time distinguishing the faces of their own race.

[insideontheoutside]

Odd, isn't it? And we both rock a semi-similar look, give or take half a ton. I wonder why the hell it is?

I don't know - but in both those cultures, usually, anything "feminine" (longer hair, tighter clothes, makeup, jewelry, etc.) would peg you as female. So totally perplexed by this.

@Sharky - I might buy that if N.Chaos and I were the generic, short hair, plaid shirt, dockers kind of dudes but we're not - yet those ethnicities are still logging us as male a large part of the time.

[Biscuit_Stix]

In reference to the Chinese restaurant things, I've had similar experiences. I do know that Asian males are more likely to push the androgynous look, and some even go for straight out female. Heck, look at the anime 'pretty boys', they push gender appearance to a whole new limit sometimes. They go with the longer hair, or take a more feminine approach to clothing, or body structure. So in today's more modern world, androgynous is moving towards being pegged as 'male' in these countries. I think it's very cultural. And what's making it even harder is, as a PP mentioned, it's much easier for people of the same race to distinguish one another. I don't know many Americans who can tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese or Korean people, but most Asians can in a heartbeat, at a glance. Then again, I live in the south now, where many people can't tell the difference between a relative and a possible date, either, but I digress...

[Sam-]

When I visited Chicago about five months ago, I passed almost 100% of the time. It was crazy. Here (suburb of Detroit) I pass maybe 5% of the time. Maybe because there are a lottt of butch lesbians around here.. I don't know, it's weird.

[Ayden]

On my college campus I have been passing more and more. People just seem to take me at face value with what I wear and how I carry myself. If I go off the hill (my campus is on the largest hill in town) and go to the store, people identify me as female without fail.

The Japanese exchange students on campus and the tourists in town call me 'sir' though. I was stopped the other day by an elderly Japanese couple and they asked me for directions. When they asked my name, I used the masculine 'boku' for I (generally used by younger guys), and the old lady thanked me for the help and called me a sweet young man.