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Realistically should you expect not to be migsendered

Started by stephaniec, August 24, 2015, 09:18:01 AM

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stephaniec

 Just curious for most of us, can you really expect to be gendered  properly during transition. It hurts immensely  not to be gendered properly , but given what we are doing and the time it takes nature to do things on its own time scale, we really can't expect perfection in most cases. There are the few that do luck out with genetics which is great. Consider we start out with a male frame and years of testosterone building that male framework. what can we really expect in a short time.   I'm in a weird spot right now , I'm at the 22 month mark and I get gendered male a lot if I don't wear make up and sometimes I do get the female pronouns. Yesterday I was buying a pizza and a girl in line called me ma'am and the clerk looked puzzled when I used my male name , but I'll also get sired . It's frustrating and pierces like a hot poker , but I really can't expect anything different consider how nature and anatomy work. Are you able to form a Teflon coat or is it just too much sometimes because you have no control other than trying your best to look proper.
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iKate

I learn to brush it off now.

I don't get misgendered to my face now but I've had a few incidents at work via e-mail from people who knew me, or who default to male pronouns. They didn't talk to me in person nor interact with me.

But yeah, I do brush it off. I think we should expect a little misgendering now and again unless you are like Jazz and transitioned as a child.
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iKate

Oh, and I do not use my male name unless absolutely necessary now, such as with financial instruments and stuff tied to my SSN, homeland security and law enforcement. When the legal change is done, I will simply not use it ever again.
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cindik

A former mentor of mine got misgendered.
My wife gets misgendered.
My mom gets misgendered.

They are all cisgender women.

Granted, we may get misgendered more often, but it's not unheard of for cisgender women to get misgendered.

Misgendered is not the same as read/clocked/etc. Misgendered means that someone else's brain made a decision about your gender based on something - it could be facial shape, hair, voice, clothes, how they're meeting you, or just what's running in their internal dialog that has nothing whatsoever to do with you.

I know it hurts - it can feel like a sock in the gut early on. 30 years after transition, I still fill the sting.

But it happens to people. You're a person, and it's going to happen to you.

What I do (your mileage may vary) is I gently correct people, just as if they had the wrong hair color, city, or vehicle.

If someone said "This is Cindi from Romeoville," I'd interject "Joliet" in a matter of fact tone. I do the same with pronouns. No big deal, just a minor correction.

But the short answer is: "expect to be misgendered."
--
50-something AMAB revgal transitioned 30 years ago.
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Rejennyrated

Quote from: cindik on August 24, 2015, 10:38:23 AM
A former mentor of mine got misgendered.
My wife gets misgendered.
My mom gets misgendered.

They are all cisgender women.

Granted, we may get misgendered more often, but it's not unheard of for cisgender women to get misgendered.

Misgendered is not the same as read/clocked/etc. Misgendered means that someone else's brain made a decision about your gender based on something - it could be facial shape, hair, voice, clothes, how they're meeting you, or just what's running in their internal dialog that has nothing whatsoever to do with you.

I know it hurts - it can feel like a sock in the gut early on. 30 years after transition, I still fill the sting.

But it happens to people. You're a person, and it's going to happen to you.

What I do (your mileage may vary) is I gently correct people, just as if they had the wrong hair color, city, or vehicle.

If someone said "This is Cindi from Romeoville," I'd interject "Joliet" in a matter of fact tone. I do the same with pronouns. No big deal, just a minor correction.

But the short answer is: "expect to be misgendered."
^^This!^^

Couldnt agree more. 31 years post everything and it doesnt even hurt anymore because I've seen it happen to too many ordinary folk and i've even done it myself so if I can get it wrong so can anyone. It's even more embarassing in a medical situation - people look at you and think "fine doctor you'll make if you can't tell the difference. lol"  :laugh:
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stephaniec

Quote from: iKate on August 24, 2015, 10:27:48 AM
Oh, and I do not use my male name unless absolutely necessary now, such as with financial instruments and stuff tied to my SSN, homeland security and law enforcement. When the legal change is done, I will simply not use it ever again.
Yea , Jazz is something is something else. One thing I really need to do is get y documents changed. It's really hard to get gendered properly when your ID has that other person on it.
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iKate

Quote from: stephaniec on August 24, 2015, 10:46:01 AM
Yea , Jazz is something is something else. One thing I really need to do is get y documents changed. It's really hard to get gendered properly when your ID has that other person on it.

Even when ordering stuff or having it shipped to me, I use my new name, not my deadname. Most times the cashier just swipes and doesn't look at the name on the credit card, plus I use Apple Pay or cash which doesn't reveal your name.
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bibilinda

#7
Quote from: stephaniec on August 24, 2015, 09:18:01 AM
  There are the few that do luck out with genetics which is great.

It's simple: the ones that can truly expect not to be misgendered are those who look convincingly cis for ANY reason -- 1) great genes 2) GREAT estrogen assimilation (great "estrogen receptors," as the experts say) 3) starting HRT at the onset of puberty, and 4) being intersexed. --. Those who have all those things combined together, will look 100% cis easily, but they are a very small minority, I'd bet on that.

All other people who have even the slightest androgynous or manly trait in their physique, including voice, and mannerisms to a much lesser degree, will always be at risk of being misgendered. This includes women that wear very short hair no matter how pretty or feminine they actually are, or who have very deep, malish voices and use them on the phone. Or tall women with androgynous faces and slightly or very apple-shaped bodies who like wearing androgynous or malish outfits with little or no makeup. All these women could be either cis or trans and will still be at risk of being misgendered. Bottom line, even though I totally identify as female, not non-binary, I still totally hate how ridiculously binary our current society is, and how people have to forcibly fit into stereotypes to avoid the risk of being even remotely perceived as the opposite gender. So ridiculous. So, women HAVE TO wear dresses or skirts, long hair and makeup, as well as always smile and use an annoyingly high-pitched with  exaggerated inflections' kind of voice,  and men have to wear pants, short hair, show at least a bit of facial hair, speak as low, monotone and choppy as possible, with as little inflection as they can manage, so as to avoid sounding "feminine" or "gay", so both genders can never ever be mistaken for the other in public? That's so lame, yet sadly, that's mostly our current state of affairs in this world, with very few exceptions!

Cheers

Bibi B.
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Tori

Realisticly? I accidentally misgender people from time to time.

I want to see people making an effort... but I do not expect perfection. Nothing in life is perfect.

Malice on the other hand, is not acceptable.


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stephaniec

I think a lot of times it's just not knowing how to handle the situation from the stand point of the clerk or cashier. I mean first off we are a rare breed and people don't encounter us on a regular bases. Then early in transition  you cant tell which way a person is transitioning. People want to be nice , but it can be confusing. I've lived in my neighborhood for over 20 years. It's the downtown of a university town. People know me a male. I've change so much that they're confused on what to call me just out of not wanting to offend.
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Emjay

Quote from: iKate on August 24, 2015, 10:54:18 AM
Even when ordering stuff or having it shipped to me, I use my new name, not my deadname. Most times the cashier just swipes and doesn't look at the name on the credit card, plus I use Apple Pay or cash which doesn't reveal your name.

This reminds me of a few weeks ago when I was at the gas station and used my loyalty card (which is registered in my new name).  I had paid in cash and was getting the vibe from the cashier that she wasn't sure how to address me, she grabbed the receipt out of the printer so fast to see what name was on it I almost laughed out loud.

To answer the OP:  No, I don't expect to be gendered correctly 100% of the time right now, but I really do appreciate it!  Most of the time I'm not gendered at all and I'm weird enough about it that I pay attention to things like how other people are gendered in a group that I'm in....  For instance, if everyone in line in front of me gets a "sir" and I get nothing I consider it a win for me.  Even though it's not a ma'am, I'm doing something right.  Getting male gendered sucks, and it does hurt.....  But as long as it's not coming from a malicious intent I can forgive it.




Start therapy:                            Late 2013
Start HRT:                                 April, 2014
Out everywhere and full time:      November 19, 2015
Name change (official):                            February 1, 2016
I'm a Mommy! (Again) :                             January 31, 2017
GCS consultation:                        February 17, 2017
GCS, Dr. Gallagher (Indianapolis, IN)  February 13, 2018
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stephaniec

that's happened to me getting the neutral and I appreciate getting that.
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Swayallday

Quote from: stephaniec on August 24, 2015, 09:18:01 AM
Just curious for most of us, can you really expect to be gendered  properly during transition. It hurts immensely  not to be gendered properly , but given what we are doing and the time it takes nature to do things on its own time scale, we really can't expect perfection in most cases. There are the few that do luck out with genetics which is great. Consider we start out with a male frame and years of testosterone building that male framework. what can we really expect in a short time.   I'm in a weird spot right now , I'm at the 22 month mark and I get gendered male a lot if I don't wear make up and sometimes I do get the female pronouns. Yesterday I was buying a pizza and a girl in line called me ma'am and the clerk looked puzzled when I used my male name , but I'll also get sired . It's frustrating and pierces like a hot poker , but I really can't expect anything different consider how nature and anatomy work. Are you able to form a Teflon coat or is it just too much sometimes because you have no control other than trying your best to look proper.

I don't care but i'd like it to be adressed properly when another decade passes.
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stephaniec

It looks like society heading that way for all of us.. Hopefully less then a decade. Some guy in front of me in line at a coffee shop told the cashier that he'd pay for her orange, I was the one with the orange, made my day. Estrogen pretty powerful stuff.
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HoneyStrums

Genderig isnt an exact science, and more of an educated guess based upon various associations.

This is how we can have such terinology as "girly boys" and "tom boys"
I allways luagth at this, and think how can a boy be GIRLY, and how is a girl a tom BOY. This is the process of gendering, somthing that is not sex but is asociated with either. So these terminology reffer to exspressed behaviours/characteristics.

If we suddendly get a text from an unknown number and it read "I cut myself shaving again last night" we would assume the message came from a male. Because we asociate shaving with men firstly, and with nothing ells in the message to suggest otherwise that is our gender diagnosis.

And the opposit would happen if the message read "waxing is such a pain" This doesnt mean we think only men shave and only women wax, it justs means in the absence of information sugesting otherwise we automatically associat those two things with those two genders.

But gendering doesnt stop at activities, how one sounds and how one speaks are also gendered, aswell as what one wears and how they look in what they wear.

And believe it or not, I myself have been in the situation, whilst sat with a cupple other women, have had somebody say to sombody ells, while pointing directly at me, they used to be a man, and the other person has said "I know, Im not stupid, it obviouse, the're wearing make up, and those shoes dont go with that dress"

I was in jeans and a T-shirt, with knee hight boots. With one day stubble for a laser apoinment later that day. And I never were make up. I also have inherited my dads realy bushy brows and I refuse to spend ages grooming them despite how many people say, you need to do your eyebrows lol.

I also have exsperience with people mis-gendering on the phone to correcting themsleves in person, aswell as a phone pass, becoming a mis-gender in person.

So, what do I exspect?

I exspect people who know me, to gender me correctly, I exspect people working with or for me in a profesional setting to use my legal name and title. (gender not legaly changed yet, so I will make allowences in a profetional setting for the "wrong pronouns") And when this changes I will also exspect the "right pronouns" to be used.

As far as people that dont know me? I as a person make gender asociations all the time, and as a person I am free to get it wrong acationally. I would be a hypocrit to not allow these mistakes in others.

Now when mis-gendering is done on perpose exspecialy in argument with my right to self identify, then I have a problemb, but this is due to a person being hatefull when they dont know me, aswell as the hypocracy of a person who Identifies sugesting I cant Identify.

But this is the behavour of a hater, and haters hate. So I exspect to exsperience that too.


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AbbyDS74

I think that you'll probably notice this less the further you get into your transition. As long as it's not malicious, I'd probably just politely correct them and continue to expect that it will happen.
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Isabelle

Some people will misgender you out of habit like parents, siblings As long as its not malicious I don't think its a big deal. When its the general population, it comes down to whether you're visibly or audibly trans*.
Some people are douche's and will misgender you because they're jerks.
Some people will misgender you because they think its funny. They're also jerks
Some will misgender you by accident, if they've perceived your face or voice as male, they may automatically use a masculine pronoun because its an automatic brain response. They've spent their entire life associating types of words with types of faces, and you're asking them to change a life long learned habit, they will make mistakes. Its not malicious.

At a basic human cognition level its like holding up a red flag and saying to the visual centre of their brain "I know this flag looks red but, it's really blue, and it would mean a lot to me if you would call it blue please"

Humans learn to assign gender by facial anatomy and skin texture with incredibly high accuracy from a very young age. Females out perform males in perceiving gender.  If you're visibly trans*, and someone is gendering you correctly, they're actually going out of their way to make you comfortable and happy. That's a good, kind thing and incredibly polite but, if they slip up, you really cant blame them.
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Ange

Quote from: Isabelle on August 24, 2015, 07:50:22 PMIf you're visibly trans*, and someone is gendering you correctly, they're actually going out of their way to make you comfortable and happy. That's a good, kind thing and incredibly polite but, if they slip up, you really cant blame them.

^ this  :)
Tell me what your definition of "man" and "woman" is, I'll tell you which I am. Not the other way around.
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Zoetrope

Here's the thing ...

When I talk with people face-to-face, sure, they can see my body and my face, they can see I'm trans.

However, they see without question that my gender is (mostly) female. Its in the way I talk, the way I act, and the way I move.

Gender is a matter of who we are. So, it takes meeting somebody to get a true sense of their gender. When you take into account that many people haven't met a trans person before - sure, some people will miss the point.
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stephaniec

outside of this site , I've only seen 1 trans (as far as I know) in the past 10  years. I use to work in Boys Town Chicago and I would see trans everyday, but once I stopped working in Boys Town I rarely see anyone. So to me its just mostly a question of being unfamiliar with the situation. People just unsure of how you want to be addressed.
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