And because they are correctly read as their sex, people apply gendered expectations (eg of who can be pushed around, talked over, sexually objectified etc) But it's not based on what a woman wears!
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Replying to @MForstater @citizencath and
Whether you are read as a woman or man actually depends v much on what you wear. I've been asked, when walking through Soho if I was "interested in a girl Sir?" I've been hit on by older gay men calling me a "nice young man". Has this happened to you in jeans & a boxy tee shirt?
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Replying to @Finn_Mackay @citizencath and
No it hasn't (at least since puberty I've not been mistaken for a boy). But presumably it would happen to a man wearing the same outfit. So how can it be clothes that are what mark me out as female?
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Replying to @MForstater @citizencath and
Why don't you try cutting your hair short & dressing in neutral clothing & see if in a queue one morning or getting on the bus you ever get misread & called Sir. Many women tell me that non compliance with femininity means ppl are often unsure of them or pronouns.
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Replying to @Finn_Mackay @citizencath and
Thanks. I've had long hair & short hair and I generally live in jeans and a hoodie when not at work. I used to get called "sonny" etc as a preteen, but never since puberty. Conversely my two teenage sons have similar hair to me, also live in jeans & hoodie, never get called miss
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Replying to @MForstater @Finn_Mackay and
I've had very short hair on and off over the years - even going out with no make-up, jeans, neutral top, gym shoes I was never, or at most vanishingly rarely and fleetingly, not read as a woman.
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Replying to @LucyHunterB @MForstater and
That's interesting that's your experience. Mine has been different.
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Replying to @Finn_Mackay @MForstater and
I don't doubt that - but the options open to you because of your particular build are not necessarily open to me.
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Replying to @LucyHunterB @MForstater and
Fair enough. We can't help our build, I wish I was taller, there we go. At least my aura is 5ft 8.
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Replying to @Finn_Mackay @LucyHunterB and
I think the thing which people were responding to (at least I was) was the idea the only reason people are recognisably female is because of their "gender expression", whereas for almost all adult women it's just a fact of life, not a choice.
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Wearing clothes that fit for most women means outing themselves as
. Also walking, talking are big giveaways. To call these things "gender expression" rather than just existing while female is strange I think, and loses the insight about what IS performing femininity 




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Replying to @MForstater @LucyHunterB and
So what is performing femininity then?
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Replying to @Finn_Mackay @MForstater and
I'd think of it as playing up to the more extreme stereotypes. But it's not a concept I find very appealing, not least because it seems to me to contain an element of victim blaming.
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