I'm just back from another short holiday with my wife at a coastal resort. I wore my usual holiday clothes, denim shorts, pastel t-shirts and white trainers and had some more misgendering incidents. In an outdoor market with my wife we got "welcome young ladies" (we are both 79), "how are you girls?" and "are you ladies all right?" It was an insight into how patronising some men can be to women.
Later, on my own, a woman told her daughter to "wait until the lady has finished" to stop her walking in front of me as I was taking a photo.
My wife was rather bemused by all this and asked me if I was often misgendered when I was alone. I opened up a little and told her about some of the problems I have had growing up as a rather androgynous looking and effeminate man and suggested that if I'd been born 50 years later I might have been labelled 'non-binary'.
The next day I went to the toilets at a stately home we were visiting. When I came out she joked "I'm surprised they let you into the gents"
The catch is definitely off the closet door.
