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Socializing as a guy.

Started by Darrin Scott, April 18, 2012, 04:27:20 PM

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Darrin Scott

I'm having issues being more confident. All the advice to gain my confident is from cis-female lesbians. My one friend says I should say hello to people I walk pass in public places. It would make people see me as more friendly and want to talk to me. I've never seen a guy do that. I guess what I'm asking is, how does a guy show confidence. I want it from a guy prospective because women do it differently. Even butch women. I'm not looking to be urber-manly and grunt all the time or whatever. I'm just looking for advice on how to be more friendly, but also not in a way that screams FEMALE.





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Bexi

Haha I don't think i've ever seen/heard a guy 'grunt'! But these might help:-

~ Smile at people, especially attractive women. This shows to them that you like her (and think you have a chance), and reveals to the guys that you're self assured and confident. Also holding the door open for them shows you're a gent and gives you a chance to flash that winning smile

~ If you're somewhere with a bunch of people (an elevator, waiting outside a classroom), start  a conversation or tell a joke. It can be something as simple as "Where are you headed?", "Did you do the homework? It was boring as ..." or "Did you know people are getting paid to mention products in their Facebook statuses? That's as crazy as the discounts at Dave's Furniture Emporium..." (apologies for the bad joke!)

~ Posture is telling too. Don't hang back in a corner with your arms folded. Be assertive. Open. Go up to people and start talking to them. If you  don't know them particularly well, find a common topic, make them like you and they'll have a positive opinion of you

So basically, smile, have good banter (Scottish word :P ), be assertive and appear calm
X
Sometimes you have to trust people to understand you are not perfect
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Ayden

Huh. I never thought about it. I have just kept socializing like I always did, and I see to get by fine. But I have always been a loud person in general, and it seems the T is just amplifying it a little more, so I tell jokes more often and laugh (even) louder. One thing my partner told me was to take up a little more room in general, but not obnoxiously so. Don't stand hunched up, but just relax, stand up straight, and when you don't know what to do with your hands, stick 'em in your pockets. I have noticed that he does say hi when he passes people, or rather, he says "hello" and with other guys he either says "hey" or just nods at them. Not a full on nod, but a slight incline of the head once.

It might be a regional thing, up in the (at the moment not so) frozen north, guys look straight ahead or around when they are walking, and the gals tend to keep their eyes down. Not their faces perse, but just their eyes. I don't really have any advice though, but hopefully someone else will have some good pointers. I need pointers to seem less like a shameless flirt.  :laugh:
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Natkat

Quote from: Darrin Scott on April 18, 2012, 04:27:20 PM
I'm having issues being more confident. All the advice to gain my confident is from cis-female lesbians. My one friend says I should say hello to people I walk pass in public places. It would make people see me as more friendly and want to talk to me. I've never seen a guy do that. I guess what I'm asking is, how does a guy show confidence. I want it from a guy prospective because women do it differently. Even butch women. I'm not looking to be urber-manly and grunt all the time or whatever. I'm just looking for advice on how to be more friendly, but also not in a way that screams FEMALE.

its a matter of culture, and personally I dont think you should put to much in what women/men say to be male or female.
when
I walked at a japanese moutain and everyone said hi, male or females,
but when I went to the city nobody where greating me, its just cause its more normal there, and the other place it wasn't but nothing to do about the men being femenine or masculine...

please dont put to much in listen to what "real men/women do" when I where younger I heard alot of people saying
"real men dont do, do that" but its just lame.. people who jugde there gender into small details, is really not that gender confident, and people who get run around by those are just slaves for others expectations.

real confident is to act your way, and not be ashamed of it.
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Darrin Scott

Quote from: Natkat on April 18, 2012, 06:02:42 PM
its a matter of culture, and personally I dont think you should put to much in what women/men say to be male or female.
when
I walked at a japanese moutain and everyone said hi, male or females,
but when I went to the city nobody where greating me, its just cause its more normal there, and the other place it wasn't but nothing to do about the men being femenine or masculine...

please dont put to much in listen to what "real men/women do" when I where younger I heard alot of people saying
"real men dont do, do that" but its just lame.. people who jugde there gender into small details, is really not that gender confident, and people who get run around by those are just slaves for others expectations.

real confident is to act your way, and not be ashamed of it.

That's very true. I should start doing this more.





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Kreuzfidel

I am in a similar predicament, Darrin.  I am so awkward and shy it's criminal.  The thing that I've noticed is that the people here in Australia seem much more open and friendly than in America.  I guess my advice would be to just relax and walk out into the world as though you own it.  I don't mean to assume anyone is "beneath" you - but rather just try to find the same level of comfort with strangers that you have with your closest mates.  I found that when I stop assuming everyone is staring at me or thinks I'm female, I act more outgoing.  Also, I've seen guys in Louisiana say "hi" to people randomly, but not so much anywhere else.
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justmeinoz

Dredging through the man swamp of the last 50 years or so I'll have a go.

Taking up a little more space has been mentioned, and also looking straight ahead, rather than lowering your eyes as a lot of women do. 

I don't know where you live, but having a working knowledge of whatever the dominant local sport is, would be a good start.  At least it will give you a fall back position if other conversation starts to falter.  Just starting with, "what ******** team do you follow?" is enough.  You can always say you are interested, but not mad keen.  That means you don't have top be the expert either. Let the other person do the work instead.  That could lead to going to a game with your mates, and all the other things blokes do, in time. 

Before you know it you will be part of the group standing around a car with the bonnet up looking at the engine, and saying D&M things like "cool!"
;)

Karen.
"Don't ask me, it was on fire when I lay down on it"
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Devin87

Don't feel forced to change your personality just cause you're presenting male now.  There are both men and women with all personalities.  I'm pretty big into Myers Briggs Theory, and if you're an introvert, don't try to force yourself into becoming an extrovert just to fit in.  It won't work and you'll make yourself very unhappy by constantly fighting your nature.  And it's unnecessary.  In fact, a higher percentage of males tend to be introverted than females.  I know it's an extroverted world out there and a lot of people try to make it seem like extroverts have a better or more desirable personality than introverts, but you can be perfectly confident in yourself without feeling the need to talk to everyone and be outgoing all the time.

If I were you, I'd try to find out my natural inclinations (take some personality tests and do some soul searching-- pay more attention to what your natural tendencies are, what makes you feel happiest and most comfortable, etc) and then embrace and develop what you find.  You're going to get self-confidence from being comfortable with and embracing who you are, not by attempting to change who you are personality-wise.  Once you're confident with yourself, that'll shine through-- whether you're introverted or extroverted.

That also goes for Thinker/Feeler.  The vast majority of females tend to be feelers while males closer to half and half with slightly more thinkers.  So when females socialize, they're much more likely to bring emotions into the picture.  But again, a little less than half of males are also natural feelers, so it's not like all females are feelers and all males are thinkers.  Find your own natural tendencies and then go from there.  If you're an introverted thinker, you're probably not going to be bubbly and you shouldn't feel the need to be.  Just be yourself.  I would even suggest, once you've delved in and found your personality, to look at some message boards for that personality (personalitycafe is a good one-- that's what I'm on).  There'll be a whole bunch of both guys and girls there with your natural tendencies talking about how they interact with people.  You can even post up questions about it and they'll respond with your inclinations in mind instead of just telling you how they believe all people should act.  It's a good resource.  I learned a lot about how most ENTP guys interact with others and I've found it to be very natural and comfortable to steer my interactions in that direction because those are my natural tendencies.  You could even start of conversation like "XXXX guys vs girls" and ask for opinions on the differences and no one will think twice about your motivations for it.  In fact, I've seen many such topics on the board.
In between the lines there's a lot of obscurity.
I'm not inclined to resign to maturity.
If it's alright, then you're all wrong.
Why bounce around to the same damn song?
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Darrin Scott

Thanks Devin. I'm researching my personality now. I can't seem to figure out what I am, though. All the tests I take say INTJ, but when I read what that is, it doesn't sound like me. Oh well, I'll have to figure it out. I'm now looking through Personality Cafe.





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kviggo

Oh, hey! I'm an INTJ. :'D

Anyways, what I do is strictly follow the "ladies first" rule. ALL THE TIME. Even if the "ladies" are actually biological guys. Mm, try to be very punctual with everything. Better early than late, don't wear crumpled clothes in public (even if they're the best things ever), learn to listen rather than speak, don't be boisterous, wear pants that fit, uh..



You know what?

Just be your awesome self. That's the best thing I can tell you.


As for me, I always look up Yahoo!Answers to look at the answers for the "ideal husband" (SHHH.) and follow through with the often ridiculously long lists. Then again, that's me. I'm such a loser. X'D
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Nygeel

I find people come up to me when I have my dog. For me, this makes things easier. I'm not likely to go up to people but if I have my dog with me people are more likely to go up to me, and she gives us a talking point/conversation starter.

Another thing is to just compliment strangers, but keep it neutral (like clothing). If you wear an interesting/unique piece of clothing people are likely to talk about it. I know Jason Schwartzman owned a cheeto pin...it looked exactly like a cheeto, and people would say "you got a cheeto on your shirt" and he would go into explaining that it's a pin.
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Felix

I get a lot of practice talking to random people because of my kid. Also even on my anxious days I make myself go do stuff.

I learned that I personally had to tone some things down a bit. When I was presenting female I was pretty aggressive, but as male a lot of my behavior gets interpreted differently.

Lol I've learned more, but said kid is driving me insane and I don't know why I tried to get on the computer. :P
everybody's house is haunted
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wheat thins are delicious

Quote from: kviggo on April 25, 2012, 09:12:10 PM
Even if the "ladies" are actually biological guys.

What do you mean here?  Why are you putting ladies in quote marks?  are you trying to imply that trans women are not ladies?


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Traivs

Like many of the others have said its all about being yourself. I personally just seem to be the happiest when i forget about what others are thinking and just say or do what comes naturally. The less you have to force yourself to act one way or another the more people will accept you. Most of the new friends or new people i have talked to recently I just bumped into and something as simple as a clothing comment ended up with us talking. So just be yourself and good luck.
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wheat thins are delicious

Quote from: casey on April 26, 2012, 12:11:13 AM
I took it to mean that he just holds the door open for everyone, even cisguys.

I can see that with your explanation.  I think it was just poor wording on his part.


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Felix

Okay so I'm still a tad distracted but I'm back. I wanted to mention that I had to majorly adjust where my eyes go. I hadn't realized until transition how much I look at people. When I first started passing, I remember one day a guy getting kinda hostile toward me (from a distance, just a guy on the street) and I said something to my cismale friend about it, and he laughed at me and said I had to stop staring at people if I'm not looking for a fight. I had no idea I was staring. I'm used to looking all over the place. I got similarly charged reactions when I looked too much at girls.

For socializing, you want to be really loose, don't say much if you don't have much to say (unless you can be really happy or charismatic in doing so), act like everything you do is on purpose, and smile. There's nothing to lose and all those other guys have stuff that's off about them too. There are worse problems than dicklessness, so we just have to overcome or learn to play nice with our social upbringing.
everybody's house is haunted
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