Jaw Shape?

[Liminal Stranger]

A friend of mine to whom I'm still closeted for now told me that he can tell that I'm a "girl" because of my jaw shape. Yeah it isn't a nice square chin, but other guys have narrow jaws. Sheesh 

The note of anger aside, I asked him about that because it seems like people who aren't strictly heterosexual or anything have this heightened ability to clock us and I was curious to see the mechanism. My theory is that they are different in that they study a person's features more intensely than a hetero person might.

Anyway, my question: If you don't have a masculine bone structure of your jaw, how do you compensate for that? Guys on T, has HRT affected it at all?

[aleon515]

He wouldn't really know, imo. He thinks he would, but I am pretty sure that no one can pick up trans guys by jaw shape. I think there is a range, a bell curve, if you will, of jaw shape. Maybe most guys have a squared jaw, but that doesn't mean you couldn't find quite a number of guys with other shape jaws and some cis women with square jaws. He needs to get a life if that's all he is doing.

--Jay

[Liminal Stranger]

Nah, I just asked him out of advice because he's a pretty observant person and I wanted to see how he distinguishes them. Don't worry, he's got a largely productive life and doesn't spend all his time looking at people's faces XD

I know cisguys with feminine faces and vice versa, but I'm a bit paranoid about my face because it's devoid of all but the pathetic peach fuzz and couple of dark hairs a 12 year old might get, meanwhile my friends grow out beards like it's nothing. Give me your genetics, damn you!

Anyway, I was curious about that and if the facial structure does change on T. I know some level of shape change happens in a lot of guys, but I think that's more facial fat redistribution than anything.

[GentlemanRDP]

The shape of your bones won't change, unless you're still young and growing.
It's fat redistribution. But some guys have weak chins, and thus softer looking jaws.
One thing that's helped for me (Since I have a really weak chin) is that once I had facial hair growing in,
I let it grow and sometimes shave down the hair on my neck, it gives the illusion of a more defined jaw.
And if you're really desperate, there are actually make-up techniques to also make one's jaw look sharper.

[spacerace]

You're always going to be able to isolate one part of your body that you feel will never look male enough.  Dwelling on one thing will just lead to worrying about others, and asking for validation for someone else just means you will be mingling their biases and impressions with your own.  There's no objectivity either way.

[Liminal Stranger]

Thanks for the replies, everyone! I've never been worried about my jaw because it looks alright to me, just young. And apparently I am still growing, I appear to have just hit my 12-year growth spurt in the past couple of weeks so I'm a bit delayed  Hopefully this means my bones actually can change a bit on T when I get there, because when X-rayed they look less human and more avian, even the radiologists always comment on how small they are. Bird bones aren't going to help with passing- and I'm on truckloads of calcium and vitamin D as it is. My body has issues 

I don't have a serious problem with any one part of my body, though. Perhaps the hips and gluteus area in general could stand to be smaller, luckily the upside to my bone structure is no birthing hips so that's just fat collected around there. I could use some tightening anyway, time to get back on my freaking bike and stop being so lazy.

[Joe.]

My brother has a really narrow chin and he's a cis guy. I've only really noticed since reading this post, so I don't think people are going to notice other people's jaw shape unless they're looking for it like your friend was.

[Liminal Stranger]

True. I know plenty of cisguys with narrower jaws than mine but now I know what he sees as my most feminine feature. If it's just a narrowish jaw, then I'm pretty happy with that.

[Kreuzfidel]

Without seeing a picture of your face, I don't know if your jaw looks "masculine" or "feminine" - so I can't really comment on what your friend may or may not be seeing.

As for T, My face shape changed in a massive way at about the 7 month mark.  I had a fat, round face with a smooth roundish jaw - when the fat in my face redistributed, my jaw was much more pronounced and square-looking - also because the area just under the eyes and between the cheek bones and nose sunk in a great deal, it made a startling difference. 

On a side note, I agree with the others - I have seen men with smooth, indistinct jaws and women with strong, square ones. 

[Liminal Stranger]

It's good to hear that fat redistribution makes a big difference. I posted pictures in the Do I Pass? thread after accidentally cutting my hair rather short in the front, but everyone seems to have ignored them 

[Jared]

I'm pretty sure my bones changed, cause before T my face wasn't "big" enough comparing to my bones especially in the jawline. It hurt like hell all the time, I was on pain killers like all day. I was thinking about surgery, but about 4 months on T the pain stopped.  I literally felt the bones moving or changing or whatever.

[Vethrvolnir]

My jaw shape  is what i'm bloody dysphoric about..  really really it sucks so much i want to shoot it off

[F_P_M]

Jaw shape isn't one of those things hormones or gender really alters as far as i'm aware. My dad has NO chin at all lol, poor guy.
My kids all have very differently shaped faces too. Middle kiddo has a very narrow, very sharp jaw and is constantly described as "pretty" much to his chagrin. When he was a baby I remember strangers arguing he couldn't be a boy because he was "too pretty"
wth? He looks an awful lot like my grandfather's brothers, most of whom had very fine features and sharp pixie-like jaws.

fact is, not every guy has a squared jaw or broader features.
And also important to remember, quite a lot of people actually PREFER less square jaws and those typical hyper masculine hollywood look. I know I do heh.

Honestly I think a lot of people THINK they can tell if someone is gay or straight or male or female just from a look but I don't believe they really CAN.

T will square things off a bit because it'll take away the pudge around your cheeks, but yeah, cis guys don't always have square jaws.

[Vethrvolnir]

F_P_M .... true..... true...not all men have square jaws....
....
I love squarish jaws. .... but i also like Jimin... he has a nice jaw
You know Jimin?

Thanks F_P_M.

[F_P_M]

I don't know who that is lol.

But i'm sure if I put my mind to it I could find several actors and other famous sorts with narrower jaws heh.