Looking the part

[LilDoberman]

Just wondering if any of you feel the need to also look androgynous and if so, what do you do to present outwardly how you feel?  Also, a bit of an uplifting question; what is your favorite part of your body?  What do you love about yourself?  What do you find difficult about appearing androgynous?

[LilDoberman]

For me, I like to look fairly androgynous most days, although I do go girly on occassion.   I love my hair and also my big nose because it's not a dead giveaway.  My biggest hurdle is trying to look androgynous as opposed to butch or ftm.  I have my hair a bit longer than I'd like simply to help with that.  I also like to keep my eyes feminine; I usually wear mascara and eyeliner (although not in my profile pic, I don't think) and I keep my eyebrows done. 

Here's a random 'here I am' pic from today.  I'm feeling pretty masculine; this is about as boyish as I get:


So, any other pics?  You can leave your heads off if you want

[Pica Pica]

I wouldn't say I make much of an effort to look the part. I have a lot of female clothes nowadays, but nothing that people would really identify as such. One of the nice things about this androgyne journey as it progresses is that I am beginning to feel comfortable with the parts of my personality deemed male - I'm now trying to look and feel comfortable in the parametres of who I am and I'm enjoying that (limited budget notwithstanding.

I like my profile pick ensemble - I do like that pink shirt, indeed I have a few shirts and blouses and a range of knitwear for when winter comes. I like me doc martin boots - in this photo I'm wearing the purple ones with the pink laces and a very cool 16th century style coat from a costume warehouse. I love myself some theatrical/historical wear.



I also like wearing girl's pyjamas - not many photos of them (for obvious reasons, who has PJ shots?) But here is one when I was testing out a camera and posing. I do like a good pose.

[LilDoberman]

I am seriously in LOVE with your shoes!  The coat is rocking, as well.   Nice, nice, nice!

I would throw up for consideration that perhaps you don't have to make as much effort now that your journey is progressing

[Pica Pica]

I think it's more that I don't mind looking a bit male now that I am comfortable that I am not.

[Fencesitter]

Very cool outfit, Pica!

LilDoberman, I recently found a cool website with androgyne etc. photography and stylings. Check it out: http://genderfork.com/

[Cameron James]

I don't actively try to appear androg - I just do.  I usually go around wearing all men's clothing but taper it down (ie. buttoning the middle three buttons on a button-up shirt to create more of a waist) when I feel like it. I have unisex glasses and a unisex haircut that can either get femmed up or look like a skater version of Justin Bieber's hair. 

No pictures though. Maybe I can wrangle some up later to supplement this post.

[no_id]

I look tomboy'ish, gay'ish, my partner sometimes calls it Shane'ish... My clothes come from the men's department. I prefer not to place emphasis on the female parts of my body... I guess you could say I actively dress androgynous but I think of it more as actively dressing and appearing comfortable... All with all I like my body... I really like my stomach because of a slim waist and because it's flat. Ah and my shoulders because they're fairly broad.

http://www.pix8.net/pro/pic.php?u=19380jYID1&i=11554648

I should really clean that mirror... xD

[Kinkly]

I have a strong need to present as I feel, for me its a positive androgynous look where people dont know if I'm Male or Female because I presenting as both, haveing a thick beard while wearing clearly female clothes just in the past week I've worn skirts out in public on two different ocations both times with a clearly fem top and  breast-forms and a little make-up sometimes It feels like a lot of effort but it is worth it for the comments of small children and the disapproving stares of little old ladies

[Alexmakenoise]

When I shop, I pay equal attention to the men's and women's sections, and just buy whatever fits and looks good.  I don't put a whole lot of thought into it; I just wear what feels comfortable, which is usually a combination of things considered masculine and things considered feminine, or overall gender-neutral.  For example, I usually wear some gender-neutral type of shoes, but if my shoes look feminine, I'll balance it with a masculine-looking article of clothing.  Usually, I have long hair and don't wear make-up, but I have also gone through times of having short hair and wearing makeup.  I guess I naturally gravitate towards a gender-neutral or balanced mix of genders in my look.

[Tree]

technically i suppose i'm [transmaculine/gendrqueer/genderfluid]-identified (it's harder to pinpoint any one identity, although "androgyne" isn't something i really tend to call myself). a big part of my presentation is keeping my chest bound. most of my clothes come from the men's section or are hand-me-downs from bioguy friends. i try to present as androgynous as much as i can because i want to make people ask themselves questions. my voice is a dead giveaway as to what (not who) i am biologically, but that's okay - i want to take ownership of the fact that i'm a classically trained soprano.

my hair is getting long. i do try to present masculinely, although with the natural curves of my body (a.k.a. being pretty heavy up top and having some pretty wide hips), it's difficult. i end up looking like a queer dyke type instead, probably. i don't know. when i'm alone, i feel the most myself because i don't need to prove anything to anybody.

my favorite part of my body is a hard one to answer. i do like my belly. it's nice and pillow-ish. (:




...jeez i need a haircut.

[Crow]

I present whatever way feels most comfortable at the moment, generally. Usually that means presenting as "male(ish)" aside from the omnipresent earrings and purple glasses. However, from time to time I get the urge to more thoroughly break gender boundaries, at which point I quite enjoy mix and matching things like gypsy skirts and miscellaneous menswear. OH! Also, I really enjoy wearing shorts (cargo shorts especially, because pockets), because then I can show off my fuzzy legs and (if I;m wearing socks) my fun, colorful socks all at once. 83

I think my chest and my voice are the two biggest challenges to presenting androgynously, or... correctly at all, for that matter. My chest is just kind of in the way-- even with a proper binder, there's only so much time I can spend binding before I start getting stiff and sore all over, and tehre are certain outfits that just kind of don't work with a binder underneath (such as a number of blouses, which I would be so much more comfortable wearing with a flat chest). And my voice... I don't know. My voice is just bothersome because it doesn't feel right, and I kind of feel like I have more of the "feminine guy" brand of androgyny, which is obviously a bit hindered by the fact that my body (voice included) is definitely not male.

On a much more positive note, though: Things I like about my body! I love my hair-- all of it. Head hair, body hair, all of the above. I think a lot of that is because i have control over my own hair-- it's pretty easily customizeable! Right now I have my head-hair cut in a pretty run-of-the-mill faux hawk (which is only spiked up part of the time, i.e. when I'm not lazy)... pretty short, fairly masculine but not without a definite nod to my queerness. I think once hormones happen and the world is more accustomed to not seeing me as a girl, though, I might go back to experimenting with some weird mutant pixie cuts and such, because those are really fun~

Most of my photos of myself are of the cruddy webcam variety and don't quite demonstrate my gender-blending too well as a result (mostly because they don't do a very good job of showing the all-oimportant earrings), so instead I'll show you a few doodles I did of me (or my fursona, at least) dressed up in some typical me-clothes:



(those are thumbnailish-- click for full views)

[LilDoberman]

In random news that I didn't know where else to put:  I got my hair chopped yesterday.  It wasn't supposed to be THIS short but I'm literally rocking a mohawk today.  I have to admit, it looks pretty damn good on me   I'm going to mess with it and I'll get a pic.  I did up the makeup and it's fun.

I took about 30 pictures but it's amazingly hard to take a self-pic of a mohawk (or I'm simply incapable LOL).

[ilanthefirst]

Like Tree, I'm not sure if I'm androgynous as much as genderqueer/transmasculine, but worrying that I didn't look as "ungendered" as I felt was how I got started on questioning my (lack of a) gender in the first place.  I'm a T-shirt and jeans kind of person and used to somewhat intentionally wear a mix of girl and boy clothes every day like Alexmakenoise.  Despite wearing some obviously male clothes every day, people would universally read me as a girl, although at least they'd identify me as "butch" or "tomboy" in recognition of my efforts.  I've been consistently wearing just guy clothes for a while, but that alone hasn't changed how people see me, so I'm experimenting with binding and considering a haircut to see if that helps me appear more ambiguous.

Oh, and my favorite part of my body is probably my legs.  They're thin and hairy and confuse the people in the adjacent stalls when I use women's restrooms.  I also love my hands and feet because they don't look like those of anyone else I know.  Technically, it's a connective tissue disorder that makes them look long and bony, but I've always liked it because they look like those of a "little green men" type of alien, not to mention that they work just fine.

[Fenrir]

The simple answer is, I am rubbish at looking the part because my favourite body part is my long hair!  Oh well.
So... what do I do? I'm a baggy t-shirt and cargo pants type of person, I lean towards gender-neutral and male clothing (I really don't own much female clothing, a few tops and a dress I wore to prom once and hated) but basically, I'm just a sucker for funky t-shirt designs. Oh, and I bind on days I feel I need to.
But being androgyne is not about looking the part. If I were built differently maybe I would do more mysterious androgyne clothing and stand around looking cool in an ambiguous way, but I think the social aspects and how you see yourself are more important than how total strangers see you. In mah humble opinion. That is, coming from someone who can't get sir'd to save their life. 
I love my eyes because they're a pale grey with a very dark ring around them, it looks cool. I love my eyebrows because they're thick but well-defined (whereas I may be the former but not the latter ) My nose, likewise, is pleasing. But I hate my computer because this is the second time today I've wanted to post pictures but been thwarted because it's bloody broken. 

(P.S No-id, I agree with your partner that you look Shane-ish... and tell them I'm jealous! Whit-woo!  )

[spacial]

Hope this isn't inappropriate but I've looked at Pica pica's photo several times now and think he looks, well.... Hot.

[Pica Pica]

Very inappropriate, but if you want to say more, I'll happily listen.

[mtfbuckeye]

I have thought in the past that I might want to go the androgynous route, but now I'm comfortable with the idea that I want to, in the end, be perceived by others as clearly female. however, I might play with gender->-bleeped-<-ing a bit once I start taking female hormones.. I really don't know if I will take advantage of those opportunities or not right now.

Side note: Wow. A lot of you androgynous folks are HOT

[LilDoberman]

I think I'd like to spend a few days in Pica's closet.   

[ZaidaZadkiel]

okok, here's todays pic...


2010-08-31-160638 by Zaida Angel of Doom and Mayhem, on Flickr