Can you spot a transsexual just by looking at her eyes?

[Penny Gurl]

Ok, but weird thing on this. I have known two other MTFs before they came out and each time I met them and our eyes locked the first time, well all I could say was it felt like I was looking at an odd reflection of myself.  Then a few years latter one came out..and instantly the memory snapped back, same thing with the second.. Still it's burned into my mind.  Now if there's an actual "tell" or not with pre transition people I don't know, however in those two cases it was more like the eyes stood out Vs blending into the body as a whole.  Odd I know, but that's my own personal random experience.

[Beth Andrea]

Like most human effects and oddities...it probably works for some, but not for others. 

To the OP....I wonder...did the ther*pist say you had trans-eyes before, or after, you outed yourself?

And the talk about "predatory natures" etc...interesting. So we are still affected by instinct? And, if so (another thread, another forum perhaps) what would be the graph showing instinctual influences -v- "higher brain" influences?

[JessicaH]

So we are still affected by instinct? And, if so (another thread, another forum perhaps) what would be the graph showing instinctual influences -v- "higher brain" influences?

I think we are VERY much guided by instincts that is ingrained into millions of years evolution. From the foods we like to what we find attractive in others is all preprogrammed in out DNA and being smart enough to know that doesn't really change that programming.

[Marcia]

I have a friend that when I first told her that I was trans she said that she could tell when she first saw me 8 years ago that she knew by looking in my eyes. She does have a mtf friend that she met in high school so mybe she knew what to look for. At the time she first saw I was very much in male mode at the time.

[Shawn Sunshine]

It makes total sense to me, men and women in general have different eyes, there's a certain quality that I see, maybe the soul, maybe the overall feeling when looking into them,

[SonadoraXVX]

Uuuuuuuh,

I used to think that had some validity, until one day, some gorgeous neighbor started saying hi and making small conversations and I thought, "Gee she is very interested", until I asked her out and  she said, "Sorry not interest charlie, lol". That was before I met my current girlfriend, who I met very differently, the things that make you go "Hmmmmmmm".  My point, no you cannot tell if somebody is a ->-bleeped-<- just by their looks or the way somebody looks.  To further explain, you can easily MISINTERPRET somebody's look just based on the variability of culture, mental, physical state, environment among other stuff my fried(ie.too much reading)brain forgets.

Too simplify myself, dumb down, "What you see is NOT what always you get", "Don't judge a book by its cover", "Still waters run deep", yadda, yadda, yadda.

Lucia, but hey, some of you do have pretty eyes, 

[Carlita]

Like most human effects and oddities...it probably works for some, but not for others. 

To the OP....I wonder...did the ther*pist say you had trans-eyes before, or after, you outed yourself?

And the talk about "predatory natures" etc...interesting. So we are still affected by instinct? And, if so (another thread, another forum perhaps) what would be the graph showing instinctual influences -v- "higher brain" influences?

Well, I'd outed myself just by going to see her! But she's spent a long time helping MTFs, so I'm inclined to believe that she wasn't being smart after the event.

[Kevin Peña]

Well, I'd outed myself just by going to see her!

Exactly why I don't believe that she has eye-dar. 

[Shawn Sunshine]

I have geek-dar Diana, and i can totally tell your just like me when it comes to that

[SonadoraXVX]

You know, I have read something, that your eyes dilate subconsciously and others on direct eye contact can spot it, thereby noticing you are reacting to a stimuli, in that case with that therapist, 1. She is a gender therapist. 2 Obviously your there because you have gender issues. 3. She asked you and I would gather you confirmed it, but she knew subconsciously you reacted to her gaze, but NOT for the confirmed reason, for all you know you were doing reconing for somebody else and you may have by all apparent reasons, been attracted to her, or she reminded you of somebody else favorable or unfavorable.  Another thing, is that looking at other people like somebody said before can be considered predatory behavior, even in females, so your watching somebody may have been a sign of insecurity, again a subconscious thing.

Lucia,
My 2 cents

[AwishForXX]

I don't know about spotting or the eyes giving you away, but when I had told my youngest brother and his wife, He asked me, "How do you know you are a girl?"  My sister in law just sat back and smiled before she told him to stop being a doctor and just think about it.  "It's in the eyes," she said. "your and other men's eyes wander when you are talking to someone or you focus intently."

She went on to explain that I will engage someone when talking.  She pointed out that I communicate differently form other men."

C.

[Kevin Peña]

I walked into a trans healthcare facility recently. If someone there told me that he/she somehow knew that I was trans, I would just point to the sign and say, "I wonder how..." 

[EmmaS]

This just seems silly to me, I strongly doubt you can tell what biological sex someone is based on their eyes, feels sort of like guessing your chromosomes based on your hair or something. I've seen girls who transitioned and I couldn't tell at all, and at the same time I've seen some cis girls who I thought were and apparently they weren't.

[JessicaH]

This article supports the idea that there may be something to the OP.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201210/whats-in-face

[Seras]

No it doesn't. It states you can detect Mormons because their healthy skin reflects their healthy lifestyle.

Unless there is an equivalent physical cue for trans people. Which there aint.

[r22b2]

I don't know about pre-hrt, but estrogen changes the shape of the eyeballs to a certain extent. Somehow post-hrt trans women always seem to have brighter looking eyes.

[Puggal]

No. It would be scary if you could.

[Joanna Dark]

I think she's just tried to make the person comfortable. That's important. At the same time, it validates how transsexuals feel: ya know, we were born this way, or at the very least, never had a choice.  I know for one I have always felt this way and always wanted to be a woman, way and well before any sexual component to it arose and way before I knew anything about the politics of gender. She seems nice. Her comment about "->-bleeped-<- eyes" was a little cheesy and maybe even offensive. Obviously, she wasn't trying to offend, so...

[JessicaH]

No it doesn't. It states you can detect Mormons because their healthy skin reflects their healthy lifestyle.

Unless there is an equivalent physical cue for trans people. Which there aint.

I said, "This article supports (not confirms)the idea that there may be something to the OP."  I'd say that there are a disproportionate number of MtFs that have feminine characteristics before taking the first bit of HRT.

"Sex hormones are one clear link between appearance and personality. Testosterone and estrogen influence facial development as well as behavior. High testosterone shows itself in strong jawbones, darker coloring, and hollower cheekbones. High estrogen reveals itself in smooth skin, a small chin, sparse facial hair, arched eyebrows, and plump lips."

"At the University of St. Andrews, volunteers of both genders could tell, with above-chance accuracy, whether people were promiscuous (open to one-night stands and sex without love) just by looking at photos of their faces. Among women, high-estrogen feminine faces were accurately rated as the most promiscuous—and the most beautiful. Among men, the Lothario face (a composite of the most promiscuous males) had high-testosterone features: slightly smaller eyes, larger noses, and broader cheekbones. Women accurately judged this face as belonging to a playboy and downgraded it in favor of men who looked—and actually were—more committed and monogamous."

[Nicolette]

I don't believe there is a link between levels of testosterone and estrogen pre-HRT in persons who internally gender themselves opposite to their birth sex. The majority of pre-HRT, pre-transition and post-puberty transsexuals I've met are/were reasonably masculine, and I'd be pretty hard pressed to detect one (unless they plucked their eyebrows....). Just look at the before and after photos section here. I neither believe in any sort of mysterious, metaphysical ESP connection between TS persons either.

I'd go with Joanna Dark's comment:

I think she's just tried to make the person comfortable.