I am 30. I look 17. I know I am not alone in this among people on this forum and trans guys in general, so I was wondering how other people handled this verbally.

How often do you say the equivalent of "Actually, I am 30..." when it is obvious they are mistaken given how they act towards you?

I have a gnarly space in my teeth, so in two weeks I am getting braces on to fix it before I get even older and it gets worse (and 18 months of braces is much better than a lifetime of bad teeth), so this issue is particularly salient to me, as I am about to really, really look like a kid.

Well hasn't happened to me in a LONG time, but I guess since I correct people if they think I am female... Whatever makes you feel most comfortable.

--Jay

I don't really care other than I don't want to feel like am I being deceptive by not saying it when they stop just short of asking me what grade I am in.

If you have been in this situation, you know what I mean - there is no good chance to be all, "you are interacting with me and talking down to me as if I am way younger than you, but actually I am 30 and your peer" if they don't say something directly

I correct them, but it hasn't happened in a long time. I have been extremely lucky as far as my results on testosterone go. I don't have the typical "baby face."

Oh, dear. Spacerace, I think you are about to get a lot younger than seventeen.

Any chance you can do Invisalign?

I actually like it when they ask directly because then it is resolved. I will confirm with no problem "I am 30!"  It is easier than correcting misgendering for sure.

The issue is when they are cagey and ask the types of questions an adult asks a teenager without directly saying something that creates an opportunity to tell them.

Maybe I should wear a t-shirt that says "1984 is the best year because I was born it" :X

Quote from: Arch on August 19, 2014, 01:55:09 PM
Oh, dear. Spacerace, I think you are about to get a lot younger than seventeen.

Any chance you can do Invisalign?

Yeah I am about to make it really worse, hah. Oh well!  I wish I could do invisalign, but no chance. My adult canine teeth came in behind the baby ones, so they have to use the heavy duty wire ones to pull them into place.

I look forward to smiling at myself in the mirror with fixed teeth, a flat chest, and the 2nd puberty over in the next couple of years. It will all be done by the time I am 32, save for bottom surgery. Not bad I think. Maybe I will look 20 by then!

I guess maybe there is just no way correct tone and conversational nuance, so I should just learn to work it in to conversation somehow when they don't bring it up directly.

I just sorta feel deceptive just by existing right now for some reason. One person that saw my ID after a conversation like this looked like she had been duped because I didn't find a way to insert the "haha I'm really 30 and you're asking me if I like to swim with my friends" when she was taking my order.

Someone else the other day said, "Did you steal your mom's car, son?" I can work with that at least.

Pre-T, people always thought I was between 7-10 years younger than I really was... It was not fun.

I am 31, but everyone thinks I'm between 19 and 21. It doesn't bother me too much that people think I'm so young because when they learn that I am older than I really am, it sets me up for a bit of teasing. I don't really need to correct people on my age since so many of the people I know are so willing to blurt out, "Guess how old he is."

I get people disbelieve my ID, so there's not much I can do about that short of carryingy passport too. The only other time someone's said something was "You have to be 18 to work nights I think," but I couldn't be bothered to point out that I was 18, I'll just let him believe that I turned 18 when I go onto shift work.

I don't get annoyed or correct people. Since I'll be starting T soon I'm excited for the fact that I can pass as a young kid and have some fun. I never got to live as a full time boy so if I pass as a young teen then I will have some time to adjust. The only time I ever correct someone is if it's a police officer and I have yet to need to do that. I don't stress and try to enjoy my youth/young looking-ness. lol

I like it when people think that I am younger than my actual age.

Honestly, it doesn't bother me - but now that I've been on T for over 2 years, I don't look as young as I once did pre-T and when I first started. 

i present female, and people still think i'm ten years younger. when i was in greece, only a week ago, someone asked if my (9yo) daughter was my sister. a 50 something old guy once didn't try to hit on me at a bar, because he thought i was too young. started university (again) at nearly 28, celebrating at a bar, someone who was there when the first course opened, asked me if i was really old enough to be there. hairstyle seems to matter most.

it's pointless to correct people, it's much better to get a good laugh at the mistaken's stupefied look when they finally realize. or enjoy being taken for a kid, while you still can. it's only their fault for assuming.

I  never correct them because that's exactly what I would like them to think. 

People only think I'm a few years younger so it doesn't bother me. But, in Japan there really is only three looks; young, haggard salary man and old. A lot of people here don't look their age at all so they are never surprised if I tell them my age. The guy at a local eatery is 70 and he doesn't look older than 45, so it's pretty normal here.

I don't know exactly when it happened but this stopped happening to me at some point in the recent past...I haven't been ID'ed in a while and salespeople who knock on my door have stopped asking if my parents are home XD (this one is annoying, I used to just say no and they would leave lols) Though I still feel like I look way younger than my age. I ended up going back to college so it hasn't been that much of a big deal, better for me to blend in with the young'uns. A few weeks ago I went into IT services and they asked me if I was a new staff member, it's very weird, it seems such a sudden change from being perceived as 16 to 25. I went down the veneers route rather than the braces route. I can tell you that future you're picturing with the flat chest and nice smile is pretty awesome makes all the awkward years worth it I reckon.

I am right there with you, I'm 29 and constantly being mistaken for a high school kid. In some pictures of me, I've been told I look like I'm 14.

I usually just tell them, "I'm actually way older than I look."

Quote from: makipu on August 20, 2014, 04:26:42 PM
I  never correct them because that's exactly what I would like them to think.

thats the spirit 

Depends on the situation. I'm 23 and I look like a teen boy a lot of the time, especially if I am wearing a cap or baggy shorts. I don't like being talked down to, or taken less seriously because I "look like a kid"...when this happens I speak up and people find out pretty quick that I don't appreciate their tone. Even when people spark a normal convo with me because of my maturity and the fact that I live on my own and have a job, am going back to school soon etc they realize right away that I am at least of age.
In other situations, like neutral or positive situations when no one is treating me like a dumb juvenile, really don't mind and don't bother correcting. I missed out on being a teenage boy, and socializing with and bonding with other males ( I think a lot of us did ) it's something I always wanted to experience and I think that is my little way of getting that.