So I'll be studying abroad in South Korea in the very, very, next month near future.  However, I've been getting less and less excited, mostly because I'm worrying about how I present myself.  I've only been outside of the US to Canada before, so there wasn't a huge difference, and now I'm heading across the world.  It's overwhelming in itself..

I present as fairly androgynous I would say.  Although, many people see me as female, which does actually bother me.  I'd rather be labeled male than female, but I suppose they just say what they see.  I don't bind because it hurts, it's uncomfortable, and it makes it much harder to breathe.  I would bind.  I just can't, really.  So I have to wear sports bras, which makes me feel uncomfortable, and [obviously] makes me look much more feminine.  I suppose my question is how I should deal with expressing my gender identity in a place that's not too open about it?  Not only do I look very different from Koreans just in skin shade, hair, blah blah blah, but now on top of that I have this whole gender thing..  (I suppose it doesn't help that I have facial piercings, too heh)  I'm afraid I'll have to keep explaining, which I suppose wouldn't be too bad, but I'm just really afraid of strong opposition or people there completely dismissing me because of who I am and what I look like.  Not only is it difficult to explain in English to an English speaker, but to try to explain it in English (I really don't speak Korean at all) to someone who might not speak that much English terrifies me, to be quite honest.

I realize my anxiety about this might be completely disproportionate to what will/could/might happen, but I suppose I'm just thinking of the worst case scenario.  I'm just trying to figure out how to deal with this and prepare myself before I leave and also once I get there. 
Any suggestions or helpful tips would be Really appreciated.  Thanks~


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Ah, actually I have one more question.  I'm getting an ISIC card (you can google it if you want) for study abroad.  I'm trying to order one, but it asks gender for Contact Info and gives male and female.  Should I put my gender or sex?  I want to put male, but I don't know if this is something that I need to give my biological sex for or not.  Also it asks for my name, but I don't know whether to give my preferred name or my legal first name.  It's so trivial, but makes my head spin ><  I don't know what to do..

Sorry this was so long.  Help, please :3
(Pardon any typos.)

Hey there,

To get your ISIC card you have to provide documentation that you're a student- which will have your legal name on it, so unless you have your name changed through the university, your ISIC card will only present your legal name. Also, ISIC cards don't have your gender on them, so even though you have to mark your gender to activate the card online, it isn't on the card itself. If you send in a masculine photo and want to present as male, you probably can do so even without the name change. Different cultures have different names, and many times your name won't necessarily give away your gender if they're not familiar with it. If you can use your ISIC card as your primarily identification, then great, but you may have to use your passport in more formal situations as well.

Frankly, I think the facial piercings will cause you much more unwanted attention and give people an impression you may not want to portray. If you want to avoid scrutiny, I'd take them out for the trip. I put mine aside when I went to Egypt and even took out my plugs. Different culture I know, but similarly in S.Korea- piercings on men, in particular, are not the norm (though you see tons of Kpop guys with lots of ear piercings).

hope that helps.

Quote from: Jamison on January 27, 2013, 09:30:41 PM
Hey there,

To get your ISIC card you have to provide documentation that you're a student- which will have your legal name on it, so unless you have your name changed through the university, your ISIC card will only present your legal name. Also, ISIC cards don't have your gender on them, so even though you have to mark your gender to activate the card online, it isn't on the card itself. If you send in a masculine photo and want to present as male, you probably can do so even without the name change. Different cultures have different names, and many times your name won't necessarily give away your gender if they're not familiar with it. If you can use your ISIC card as your primarily identification, then great, but you may have to use your passport in more formal situations as well.

Frankly, I think the facial piercings will cause you much more unwanted attention and give people an impression you may not want to portray. If you want to avoid scrutiny, I'd take them out for the trip. I put mine aside when I went to Egypt and even took out my plugs. Different culture I know, but similarly in S.Korea- piercings on men, in particular, are not the norm (though you see tons of Kpop guys with lots of ear piercings).

hope that helps.

Thanks, that does help.  Much appreciated!  I get a tad confused when it comes to what should be used when.  I'm hoping to legally change my name sometime in the next few years.

I can flip up my septum for four months, but I can't take out my lip piercings, so I'll just go with the least conspicuous jewelry as I can.  I really don't want them to close up.  But yes, I can see how that would attract attention.  I don't mind too much, though.  I already deal with that (though maybe to a lesser degree).  And you can't see my earrings anyway 'cause my hair is ridiculous and covers my head and ears like a curly cotton swab. 

Thank you for the response~

Quote from: somethingxclever on January 27, 2013, 10:00:43 PM
Thanks, that does help.  Much appreciated!  I get a tad confused when it comes to what should be used when.  I'm hoping to legally change my name sometime in the next few years.

I can flip up my septum for four months, but I can't take out my lip piercings, so I'll just go with the least conspicuous jewelry as I can.  I really don't want them to close up.  But yes, I can see how that would attract attention.  I don't mind too much, though.  I already deal with that (though maybe to a lesser degree).  And you can't see my earrings anyway 'cause my hair is ridiculous and covers my head and ears like a curly cotton swab. 

Thank you for the response~

I got the septum pierced too, and flipping it up when wherever I want is one of it's perks. I took out my labret, thinking it might close, but it didn't. I just had to slowly stretch it from a 16g back to a 14g- no biggy.

Quote from: Jamison on January 28, 2013, 02:45:25 PM
I got the septum pierced too, and flipping it up when wherever I want is one of it's perks. I took out my labret, thinking it might close, but it didn't. I just had to slowly stretch it from a 16g back to a 14g- no biggy.

Yeah, it's a nice option to be able to flip it up or not.  And really?  How long were you in Egypt?  I'm not sure if I want to risk that, just because it took my piercings a long time to heal initially.  It took forever for the swelling to go down.

Quote from: somethingxclever on January 29, 2013, 10:33:22 PM
Yeah, it's a nice option to be able to flip it up or not.  And really?  How long were you in Egypt?  I'm not sure if I want to risk that, just because it took my piercings a long time to heal initially.  It took forever for the swelling to go down.

I was in Egypt for 6 months. At the end of the day, I was going abroad to have an amazing experience and I didn't want to exclude myself from opportunities because of some lil facial piercing. I suppose it depends what you're going their for and what you want to accomplish, but nobody would of taken me seriously in egypt with my face pierced up.