LGBT

Gender rules everything around us. From the way people treat us, to the clothes we wear, to the prices we pay for personal hygiene products, there&#39;s no denying that the gender binary&mdash;though it may be a construct&mdash;remains a deeply influential force in most of our lives. And no one is more aware of this than transgender people who transition from the gender assigned to them at birth.<h2>Someone recently <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/el0jyh/serious_trans_people_who_currently_pass_as_their/" target="_blank">asked</a> this question on Reddit: &quot;Trans people who currently pass as their desired gender, how have people treated you differently depending on your perceived gender?&quot; These 16 trans people weigh in on the ways their interactions with others have changed since they transitioned.</h2>The answers reveal a lot about the way society perceives someone differently if they&#39;re &quot;male&quot; vs. &quot;female.&quot;1.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/deepwoods_cryptid/">deepwoods_cryptid</a>:<blockquote> Every once in awhile I&rsquo;ll have women glance back at me if I walk behind them for a bit. I&rsquo;ve even had women cross the street to avoid me walking behind them. I&rsquo;m not even a big dude (5&rsquo;3). Otherwise, honestly, I haven&rsquo;t noticed much difference other than people calling me &ldquo;chief&rdquo; or &ldquo;buddy&rdquo; more. Then again, I was pretty boyish even pre-transition. </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div>2.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/claudiusbritannicus/">claudiusbritannicus</a>:<blockquote> Everyone seems more friendly, but I&#39;m not sure if I am more confident/inviting or if it&#39;s because of my perceived gender. I actually think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I&#39;m no longer perceived as gender non-conforming. When I was perceived as a &quot;tomboy&quot;, it was like there was some mistrust coming from girls/women but I wasn&#39;t accepted completely by boys/men, either. So I was put in a limbo where I was nothing. Now that I&#39;m perceived as a normal masculine guy, both men and women are more friendly to me. Men often immediately act like I&#39;m their friend, and women/girls don&#39;t openly judge me much anymore, and might actually give me compliments or be kind to me. </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div>3.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/kiepy/">kiepy</a>:<blockquote> People are more willing to help me - like when I need directions. People take me a lot less seriously, and my words don&#39;t have as much weight behind them. Other women talk to me a lot more now, and old men love talking to me in the grocery store. </blockquote>4.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/GrixisGirl/">GrixisGirl</a>:<blockquote> I&#39;m more approachable now. Random people ask me for directions, which never happened before. Not once. People at school wave hi to me, even people I hardly know. Although this may be because I have more connections now. Male lab partners don&#39;t take my advice as seriously. People are more willing to open up to me, and are more okay with physical contact. Can&#39;t make comparisons about romance since I never dated anyone before my current partner. </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div>5.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MiddleDate9/" style="font-size: 1.1rem; letter-spacing: -0.02em;">MiddleDate9</a>:<blockquote> I get smiled at more in public. I&#39;ve had men literally cross the road when walking towards me, especially at night (which I have seriously appreciated). I also get talked to more condescendingly than when I lived as a man. People don&#39;t really take me seriously anymore, I get interrupted frequently, etc. I get catcalled. I get genuinely complimented more (from men and women). Women feel more... natural around me. Like they feel safe around me now. </blockquote>6.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Church-of-Nephalus/">Church-of-Nephalus</a>:<blockquote> I only unfortunately pass on days that I can wear double sports bras and triple layer myself with coats on, but when I do pass, it feels good. People call me Max, my best friend is teaching me about some &#39;bro code stuff&#39;, and it&#39;s very nice. He treats me like a brother. I love it when people call me bro or dude, because it makes me feel happier. </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div>7.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/blendedLemons/">blendedLemons</a>:<blockquote> As a man, my words carry more meaning and authority, even if I don&#39;t know what I&#39;m talking about. I try to keep that in mind when I am speaking. There is definitely an awkwardness when it comes to talking about mental health or anything personal with other guys. I&#39;ve been able to help normalize emotions with my male co-workers and they even come to me to talk sometimes. As a man, you are expected to summarize your thoughts into more concise statements. Every raise I&#39;ve gotten has been as a man. There is less pressure to look good day to day. </blockquote>8.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/thefairlyeviltwin/">thefairlyeviltwin</a>:<blockquote> People are mostly friendly, get hit on alot more often. Men treat me like I don&#39;t have a single clue about anything mechanical (I&#39;m a professional mechanic). Gets rather annoying, but I&#39;ve long given up on explaining that I understand what I&#39;m talking about. </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div>9.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Les_than_3/">Les_than_3</a>:<blockquote> I&rsquo;m always assumed to be someone&rsquo;s assistant or admin worker instead of the person in charge. I&rsquo;ve learn to use this to my advantage and see if the guys I work with are gonna answer the questions or clients correctly. Makes me feel like emperor palpatine &ldquo;dance puppets! Dance!&rdquo; </blockquote>10.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/warehousemen/">warehousemen</a>:<blockquote> Women will cross the street if I&#39;m not paying attention and walk too closely (I try to stay a good 15ft behind because I know that they don&#39;t know that I&#39;m not a creep and don&#39;t want them uncomfortable) or guys will think it&#39;s ok to &quot;bro it up&quot; with me and talk about women like they&#39;re meat. My biggest pet peeve is when I get upset about something some guy will tell me to &quot;man up&quot; or stop &quot;acting like a girl&quot; (this is from people that don&#39;t know about me) or I&#39;m called dramatic. Guys can have emotions too! </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div>11.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/WeKnowNoKing/" style="font-size: 1.1rem; letter-spacing: -0.02em;">WeKnowNoKing</a>:<blockquote> Depending on the length of my hair, I either pass (as male) or don&rsquo;t - there&rsquo;s a fine line between butch lesbian and trans guy. Either way, people seem just calmer in general. I was a tomboy anyway so I hung around with guys but they always seemed a tad on edge with having &lsquo;a girl&rsquo; there, even if it was the weird undesirable one. Now it&rsquo;s much easier to just be treated like other blokes, never realised how much I craved it until it started happening. On the flip side, I&rsquo;m also physically disabled so when people find out I&rsquo;m trans too I just become a tumblr blog to them and they just stop caring. </blockquote>12.) ​​​​​​​From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/CAWvid333/">CAWvid333</a>:<div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> Female to male. People talk to me about dicks more. That&#39;s the main thing. The thing I HATE though, is when people act extra grateful if I help clean up somewhere or tell me how good of me it is to look after my younger siblings for my father. The fact I never got that before is so sexist. </blockquote>13.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/karry9001/">karry9001</a>:<blockquote> <ul> <li> (Male) service workers flirt with me a lot </li> <li> I get more complements, but 90% of the time they&#39;re about my appearance. I probably get fewer complements about non-fashion stuff than I did before </li> <li> People close to me tease me more about not exercising enough/eating unhealthy food </li> <li> I&#39;ve been catcalled a total of three times, and they were all in the span of 48 hours in Baltimore. What the fuck, Baltimore? </li> </ul> </blockquote>14.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/karry9001/">karry9001</a>:<div className="ad-splitter"></div><blockquote> <ul> <li> (Male) service workers flirt with me a lot </li> <li> I get more complements, but 90% of the time they&#39;re about my appearance. I probably get fewer complements about non-fashion stuff than I did before </li> <li> People close to me tease me more about not exercising enough/eating unhealthy food </li> <li> I&#39;ve been catcalled a total of three times, and they were all in the span of 48 hours in Baltimore. What the fuck, Baltimore? </li> </ul> </blockquote>15.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/yeet_thedragonborn/">yeet_thedragonborn</a>:<blockquote> As a female I was referred to as fat, as a male I&#39;m just that chubby dude </blockquote>16.) From <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/LyricalAxolotl/">LyricalAxolotl</a>:<blockquote> Trans Guy, FTM. I have noticed that coworkers and my bosses expect me to talk more than i used to. Like people used to be happy to just talk around me but will now actively ask my opinion on things. I realized i have to be careful of how i act around women when outside alone, i don&#39;t realize that they don&#39;t know i&#39;m a gay trans guy and i can be kinda scary at night, so i have to actively think about that. people also just walk past you differently on the street, people, men and women will often make room for you even if you don&#39;t want them to, at least more than they used to. </blockquote><div className="ad-splitter"></div>

13 trans people share how transitioning has changed the way others treat them.

Gender rules everything around us. From the way people treat us, to the clothes we wear, to the prices we pay for personal hygiene products, there&#39;s no denying that the gender binary&mdash;though it may be a construct&mdash;remains a deeply influential force in most of our lives. And no one is more aware of this than transgender people who transition from the gender assigned to them at birth.Someone recently asked this question on Reddit: &quot;Trans people who currently pass as their desired gender, how have people treated you differently depending on your perceived gender?&quot; These 16 trans people weigh in on the ways their interactions with others have changed since they transitioned.The answers reveal a lot about the way society perceives someone differently if they&#39;re &quot;male&quot; vs. &quot;female.&quot;1.) From deepwoods_cryptid: Every once in awhile I&rsquo;ll have women glance back at me if I walk behind them for a bit. I&rsquo;ve even had women cross the street to avoid me walking behind them. I&rsquo;m not even a big dude (5&rsquo;3). Otherwise, honestly, I haven&rsquo;t noticed much difference other than people calling me &ldquo;chief&rdquo; or &ldquo;buddy&rdquo; more. Then again, I was pretty boyish even pre-transition. 2.) From claudiusbritannicus: Everyone seems more friendly, but I&#39;m not sure if I am more confident/inviting or if it&#39;s because of my perceived gender. I actually think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I&#39;m no longer perceived as gender non-conforming. When I was perceived as a &quot;tomboy&quot;, it was like there was some mistrust coming from girls/women but I wasn&#39;t accepted completely by boys/men, either. So I was put in a limbo where I was nothing. Now that I&#39;m perceived as a normal masculine guy, both men and women are more friendly to me. Men often immediately act like I&#39;m their friend, and women/girls don&#39;t openly judge me much anymore, and might actually give me compliments or be kind to me. 3.) From kiepy: People are more willing to help me - like when I need directions. People take me a lot less seriously, and my words don&#39;t have as much weight behind them. Other women talk to me a lot more now, and old men love talking to me in the grocery store. 4.) From GrixisGirl: I&#39;m more approachable now. Random people ask me for directions, which never happened before. Not once. People at school wave hi to me, even people I hardly know. Although this may be because I have more connections now. Male lab partners don&#39;t take my advice as seriously. People are more willing to open up to me, and are more okay with physical contact. Can&#39;t make comparisons about romance since I never dated anyone before my current partner. 5.) From MiddleDate9: I get smiled at more in public. I&#39;ve had men literally cross the road when walking towards me, especially at night (which I have seriously appreciated). I also get talked to more condescendingly than when I lived as a man. People don&#39;t really take me seriously anymore, I get interrupted frequently, etc. I get catcalled. I get genuinely complimented more (from men and women). Women feel more... natural around me. Like they feel safe around me now. 6.) From Church-of-Nephalus: I only unfortunately pass on days that I can wear double sports bras and triple layer myself with coats on, but when I do pass, it feels good. People call me Max, my best friend is teaching me about some &#39;bro code stuff&#39;, and it&#39;s very nice. He treats me like a brother. I love it when people call me bro or dude, because it makes me feel happier. 7.) From blendedLemons: As a man, my words carry more meaning and authority, even if I don&#39;t know what I&#39;m talking about. I try to keep that in mind when I am speaking. There is definitely an awkwardness when it comes to talking about mental health or anything personal with other guys. I&#39;ve been able to help normalize emotions with my male co-workers and they even come to me to talk sometimes. As a man, you are expected to summarize your thoughts into more concise statements. Every raise I&#39;ve gotten has been as a man. There is less pressure to look good day to day. 8.) From thefairlyeviltwin: People are mostly friendly, get hit on alot more often. Men treat me like I don&#39;t have a single clue about anything mechanical (I&#39;m a professional mechanic). Gets rather annoying, but I&#39;ve long given up on explaining that I understand what I&#39;m talking about. 9.) From Les_than_3: I&rsquo;m always assumed to be someone&rsquo;s assistant or admin worker instead of the person in charge. I&rsquo;ve learn to use this to my advantage and see if the guys I work with are gonna answer the questions or clients correctly. Makes me feel like emperor palpatine &ldquo;dance puppets! Dance!&rdquo; 10.) From warehousemen: Women will cross the street if I&#39;m not paying attention and walk too closely (I try to stay a good 15ft behind because I know that they don&#39;t know that I&#39;m not a creep and don&#39;t want them uncomfortable) or guys will think it&#39;s ok to &quot;bro it up&quot; with me and talk about women like they&#39;re meat. My biggest pet peeve is when I get upset about something some guy will tell me to &quot;man up&quot; or stop &quot;acting like a girl&quot; (this is from people that don&#39;t know about me) or I&#39;m called dramatic. Guys can have emotions too! 11.) From WeKnowNoKing: Depending on the length of my hair, I either pass (as male) or don&rsquo;t - there&rsquo;s a fine line between butch lesbian and trans guy. Either way, people seem just calmer in general. I was a tomboy anyway so I hung around with guys but they always seemed a tad on edge with having &lsquo;a girl&rsquo; there, even if it was the weird undesirable one. Now it&rsquo;s much easier to just be treated like other blokes, never realised how much I craved it until it started happening. On the flip side, I&rsquo;m also physically disabled so when people find out I&rsquo;m trans too I just become a tumblr blog to them and they just stop caring. 12.) ​​​​​​​From CAWvid333: Female to male. People talk to me about dicks more. That&#39;s the main thing. The thing I HATE though, is when people act extra grateful if I help clean up somewhere or tell me how good of me it is to look after my younger siblings for my father. The fact I never got that before is so sexist. 13.) From karry9001:   (Male) service workers flirt with me a lot   I get more complements, but 90% of the time they&#39;re about my appearance. I probably get fewer complements about non-fashion stuff than I did before   People close to me tease me more about not exercising enough/eating unhealthy food   I&#39;ve been catcalled a total of three times, and they were all in the span of 48 hours in Baltimore. What the fuck, Baltimore?   14.) From karry9001:   (Male) service workers flirt with me a lot   I get more complements, but 90% of the time they&#39;re about my appearance. I probably get fewer complements about non-fashion stuff than I did before   People close to me tease me more about not exercising enough/eating unhealthy food   I&#39;ve been catcalled a total of three times, and they were all in the span of 48 hours in Baltimore. What the fuck, Baltimore?   15.) From yeet_thedragonborn: As a female I was referred to as fat, as a male I&#39;m just that chubby dude 16.) From LyricalAxolotl: Trans Guy, FTM. I have noticed that coworkers and my bosses expect me to talk more than i used to. Like people used to be happy to just talk around me but will now actively ask my opinion on things. I realized i have to be careful of how i act around women when outside alone, i don&#39;t realize that they don&#39;t know i&#39;m a gay trans guy and i can be kinda scary at night, so i have to actively think about that. people also just walk past you differently on the street, people, men and women will often make room for you even if you don&#39;t want them to, at least more than they used to. 

Gender rules everything around us. From the way people treat us, to the clothes we wear, to the prices we pay for personal hygiene products, there&#39;s no denying that the gender binary&mdash;though it may be a construct&mdash;remains a...