I'm not FTM, but I present myself in a manner that is, for a woman (and a trans woman, especially) atypical. I don't wear makeup often, I wear men's flannels and sweaters and band tees and combat boots. I'm still read as female but I get the sense that people might be a little offput by my gender expression (think Lisbeth Salander-esque androgynous skate punk). For those of you who grew up as GNC women before transitioning did you notice anything like this? Idk how to describe it. It's like this sense that people think, "yeah that's a woman, but kinda not really".

It doesn't offend me, since I dress with the intent to appear androgynous.

What can I expect of others presenting myself the way I do?

Hey there!  You ask a very good question.  It's a little difficult to answer, since I've never been anyone but me, and so I have nothing to compare my experience to.  But if I compare my own life to what I perceive goes on with my traditionally feminine friends, I can make some generalizations.

If you're a gender non-conforming woman, it is really, really, really hard to get a date with a cis/het man.  Don't know if you care, but in my case I found it heartbreaking that my high school crushes considered me "one of the guys" and wouldn't go out with me.   

It can also be hard to make significant connections in the workplace.  Cis people seem to know how to get along with same sex and opposite sex people, but get kind of confused and suspicious around those who don't fit in one box or the other.  This may make office politics particularly toxic.  In many workplaces, people are splintered into factions or cliques, where individuals find allies to shield them from interpersonal sniping.  If you're not a manly man or a girly girl, it can be really hard to gain access to these cliques.  I know nb people who have lost their jobs because of this sort of thing. 

My personal experience is that people smile less at masculine-seeming women, offer to help them less, and ignore them more.  (But probably not as much as they refuse to help men.) 

Not to deter you in any way from being who you are.  The benefits of authenticity really outweigh to benefits of gender conformity, in my opinion.  It's just harder to be a "boyish" seeming woman.   

I felt invisible 90% of the time. My daily style consisted of hoodies or band t shirts/camo shorts to highlight my super hairy legs/sneakers. Guys wouldn't react to me sexually or treat me as a potential intimate partner (which was ideal for my situation) but they also wouldn't treat me as an equal. To them, I was some sort of in-between entity. Though they never outright treated me like I was stupid as they typically do with more feminine-presenting individuals, there was always that underlying tone of 'you're an unworthy, pale representation', if that makes sense.

Women either didn't care at all or constantly felt the need to remind me to act certain ways (the latter part only happening when I was younger).
"You shouldn't take such long strides. Use shorter ones."
"Why do you wear those hoodies all the time?"
"Hahah, that's not how you're supposed to cross your legs."
"Don't put your hair up like that, it's how guys put their hair back. It has to go higher."
etc.

As I got older, I became invisible to women too unless they were romantically interested. Dressing the way I did ultimately registered me in the non-threatening zone as far as male competition was concerned but in the danger zone when it came to 'is this person going to try to hit on me'. It didn't help that I just never meshed with women mentally or emotionally, either. So yeah: Women in public looked right through me and female friends were cool with me but maintained that undertone of 'you're not one of us'.

I'll also echo what The Flying Lemur said about others offering to help less. I absolutely loathed that part of it anyway and was thankful they were but the offers were very sparse. Men tend to have that 'hahah, she thinks she can do it herself, let her' kind of reaction and women have a similar reaction of 'okay, you want to be a man, go for it'.

At times, I felt like a pariah. To sum it up:
Too manly to benefit from the usual perks of being a female and too female to benefit from any of the perks of being a man.

Quote from: TransAm on October 16, 2017, 10:39:18 PM
Too manly to benefit from the usual perks of being a female and too female to benefit from any of the perks of being a man.

Yeah, that basically sums it up. But as someone who was working in customer service during that part of my life, not getting all kinds of harassment and creepy comments from cishet men was worth the tradeoff. I still got some, mind you, but it wasn't constant like it was during my brief periods of being forced to present as femme.

I am currently partnered with a woman so as far as dating goes I'm not too concerned lol I do feel like I am ignored more when I'm out without makeup amd just wearing a t-shirt and jeans, but I can't really be sure. However I've still been hit on a few times, so maybe not even makeup is required to give off a typical het-girl vibe.

Men still hold doors open for me though. But they don't offer to help me at work when they see me taking out trash or doing heavy-lifting. Idk, it's a really weird mixture of responses.

as someone who is pre-everything, doesn't pass, and long ago got sick and tired of putting on the female costume every day, that's pretty much where i am now: looks like a girl, dresses like a boy, and is either invisible or frowned upon most of the time.  when they do speak to me, which is rare, women frequently tell me i should change things about my look or my attitude.  some are outright nasty with me for no apparent reason.  men will either talk and joke with me like they do with other guys but not invite me into their circle of friends, or--like the women--just not speak to me at all. 

it's hard to be sure how much of this feeling ignored is just the people/environment or just me, but one definite thing that changed when i quit dressing in such a feminine way is women telling me to do XYZ thing more.  smile more, be more bubbly, have better posture, do something with your hair, try different clothes, consider makeup, etc.  men don't seem to care; they don't really notice me at all most of the time, and when they do, it's like they're not sure what group i'm supposed to be in so they hold me at arm's length--but are generally more friendly/polite without being pandering.  nobody flirts with me, which is great tbh, and everyone assumes i'm a lesbian... which i don't really care about one way or the other. 

The length of hair might be a factor. I assume that you wear it short, whereas I still wear mine long.

I haven't had anyone say anything about makeup though. Women or men. Though I have been told that, when I'm wearing makeup, I look happier/healthier.

I had a fairly positive experience as GNC all in all.

I dressed however I wanted (sometimes awkwardly), wore hair how I wanted, and I don't remember anyone making serious fun of me for it. Perhaps they did behind my back but never to my face. I had male and female friends, I had some admirers, I had relationships.

It's possible I was just very blind to cues that I failed to find much negative in my experience in general with other people. For example, I'm a loner, I like my own company... so it could be that someone who isn't might have been lonely in my position.

Maybe hair plays a significant role. While perceived female, I usually had long hair, despite dressing neutral or male most of the time. I had short hair for a short period but most of the time it's been shoulder-length at least. It still is. I like my mane and am not too comfortable with short hair. If I'd shaved it off or adopted a typically masculine hairstyle back then I don't wonder if I would have been seen and treated very differently. As a male now, it's not really much of a hindrance, I still have that non-conforming do-what-I-want attitude as a man (with a lifetime of practice) and nobody mentions it now either. I certainly enjoy how my hair makes me different from the average dude.

Something notable: I've almost never wore make up in my entire life. I've used powder on productions and Tv stuff, on the few occasions I did that, and I gave a concealer stick a go for the odd spot on the face (never had many) but I have never gone out or to work wearing lipstick, eyeshadow, mascara etc. I don't even know how to put those on. To my memory I've never had a comment about not wearing it during the female phase of life. I also never felt I was expected to, or that I ought to to fit in. People didn't care. My male partners never mentioned it either, or expected me to wear it. Perhaps that's anomalous, but I've met a lot of people in life. At a guess I think it's something people might initially expect, but once they realize it's just not something you do, they accept it.

Idk, I guess sometimes I feel a little odd for choosing not to be femme like a lot of other trans women I know. It seems so common. Perhaps some of it has to do with being able to pass and thus not feeling the need to put so much effort into my appearance. But even then, there are trans women who pass flawlessly and are more feminine than me.