Quote from: Dominick_81 on June 01, 2012, 03:56:18 PM
I don't have feminine mannerisms to me. It's the T, it's not working.
A lot of factors go into how people read you. Height, weight, body type, proportion of body parts to one another, hand/arm position (close to body = read as female), eye contact, hand gestures, speech patterns, vocal volume, posture, and so on. The little things tend to add up, and people unconsciously use them to locate you in one category or the other. It's more than just mannerisms; it's the whole package, if you'll pardon the pun.
As for mannerisms, many CIS MEN have one or more that people typically read as female; it's just that the other factors combine to outweigh the "female" characteristics. But let's assume that what you say is true: you haven't a single mannerism that is typically read as female. Yet you posted a video some months ago and seemed to be speaking very softly and tentatively. You didn't project very much confidence. I'm not stupid enough to say that attitude is everything, but I know that most spectators will read those characteristics as female.
You also say that you don't want to post pix and videos that show more of your body and your way of carrying yourself. You have said that you are self-conscious about your shape or your weight, I believe. What if those characteristics are holding you back? It's not all about testosterone. Some guys have more trouble being read as male until they achieve a particular fat-to-muscle ratio, for instance. T often helps guys to lose fat and gain muscle, but we often have to help that process along.
Whether people are reading mannerisms or other characteristics or a combination, you clearly have some attributes that tip the balance. For instance, if you're a typical FTM, you have bodily characteristics--some of them might be quite subtle all by themselves--that add up in the wrong ways. Some physical effects take a long time to achieve on T--longer than a year to fully complete, even on a "full" dose--and some other characteristics are up to you.
If you want reasonably honest advice about how you come across, it would be very helpful if you could provide more data. Your face looks 100% boy to me, but I wonder about everything else. I wouldn't want to post videos myself, but maybe you can use the Just for Us FTM section.
BTW, if you don't take dosage into effect, you ought to. I have a friend who says it took him a good year and a half, and he was on a "full" dose for the entire time. And another friend, my good buddy, is still read as female sometimes, and he has been on T for
nearly three years. But guess what? For most of that time, he was on a low dose, just as you have been.
In addition, he is short, his voice is tenor, he is black (so his facial hair doesn't stand out very well), and he has some femmy hand gestures and vocal characteristics. He has gained some weight in the past year--fat, not muscle--and the effect has been somewhat feminizing. His face looks fuller, for one thing.
So you are not the only one.
In the end, you will do what you need to do. If you want to quit, then quit. At least the hair loss should stop. But please recognize that your 6-12-month timetable is very limited and misleading, and try to take all the factors into consideration. And let us help. We would like to, but you don't give us many good opportunities. We don't really know what other people see.
