Hair-Related Gender Confusion Hilarity

[Lady Verity]

Remember a while ago I posted about being jumped upon by one of those shopping centre hair stylists trying to sell straighteners and curling irons?

It happened again today, with amusing results. :D

BF and I were out, arm in arm. BF has beautiful, shoulder-length hennaed hair. I have nearly waist-length blonde hair. (See my albums for both of us). We were passing the stall with the ravenous sales assistants pouncing on long haired women to get them to try out their evil wares. Just as we were passing by, one of these assistants stepped out in front of us with a big 'buy-something-now' smile. Bear in mind, she was less than two feet away from us.

"Would you like to try curls, ladies?"

My BF (without missing a beat) looked at her with a smile and said cheerfully in his deepest, manliest voice, "No, thank you!"

Then she noticed his beard.

The LOOK on her face! :shocked: The very picture of "OH FU--!" Then she darted look at me to check that she'd read my gender correctly. After all, I'm tall and thin and was wearing a Russian army hat at that time. Perhaps I was a dastardly long haired girly boy, too! Heavens! :run:

:rollin: I can't remember the last time we've laughed so hard. BF is constantly being mistaken for my girlfriend, despite being bearded, deep voiced and very large. The long hair totally throws people.

Luckily, we're both very comfortable with being incorrectly 'read' gender-wise. :)

[Speckla]

ROFLMC(curls)O!
________
BUY SILVER SURFER (http://vaporizers.net/silver-surfer-vaporizer)

[Themyst]

That IS funny!:D

I know a couple of long-haired guys that have been whistled at from behind - I can't imagine how the guys in the car feel after driving by and seeing that the objects of their affection have goatees!

[thankyousir74]

That's so nice, it makes me smile huge. Mainly because my DBF also has longer hair than me (BSL curly dark hair) and back when my hair was uber short, we both got teased for it. It didn't bother us in the least, but more likely increased our fondness for each other. Such a nice story :D

[Sissy]

Ha, at least she didn't try to sell you anything today. LOL :misskim:

[florenonite]

Heh, that's awesome! I thought I was going to be accosted by one of those stylists a few days ago at the mall when I walked past one of those kiosks, for my hair was down at the time, but the guy, fortunately, seemed to be asleep.

[GlassEyes]

My hair isn't long enough for such things yet, but I can't wait for the hilarity when it does happen (and if it doesn't, I'll be sorely disappointed).

[vampodrama]

when I was about 15, I got repeatedly mistaken for a boy, even despite my long hair... dunno how that works really, but it was amusing.

[PurpleAshes]

When my boyfriend had shoulder lenght hair, a woman said "Excuse me ma'am" from behind him in the bus, when he turned around she was very embarassed xD

[truepeacenik]

We once made a server have a day from Hades. I'm sure she though she'd not get a tip from us.
Sweetie and I went into a Denny's while traveling through Texas.
I was wearing a sweater and my fanny pack was underneath. I was quite slender at the time (too slender).
So the server is all kinds of perky and asks "Oh, when are you due?"
We were horrified (hey, we'd only been together a couple months) and I stuttered out "I'm not pregnant."
Fast forward to the end of the meal and a different server offers coffee to "Ma'am"...with his beard!
We laughed and tipped well.

[Unofficial_Rose]

That is too funny!

Every time I'm out with DS (he is 13) people refer to us as "ladies". Snarf! He's about my height (5' 6") with APL-length hair.

[boomygrrl]

I used to date a guy who had long hair. My DH has very short hair and is balding. But in the past, I had a boyfriend who had long hair...he would get upset and offended if anyone mistakened him for a female. I thought it was funny because the face expressions of the people who made the mistake was priceless. They were horrified.

[boomygrrl]

I don't know how to edit my own post. That should be "mistook" not "mistakened." I've been around a lot of kids lately. :-P

[Auryn]

That's hilarious!

[angelthadiva]

I've never been mistaken for a guy, but I've seen members here who are men who have been mistaken for women.

I have been guilty of making the mistake myself. :(

[Speckla]

I've been mistaken for a "young man" when I was six months pregnant, wearing makeup, and pearl earings. My hair was shorter than pixie and I was cashing my payment at the bank. The teller handed me my money and said, "Here you go, young man." I said, "I'm a girl." She put on her glasses and said, "Why, yes, you are!" Her face was redder than tomato.
________
Buy cannabis seeds (http://marijuanaseeds.org/)

[kam984420]

I don't know how to edit my own post. That should be "mistook" not "mistakened." I've been around a lot of kids lately. :-P
You can't edit your own posts until you get 25 "quality posts" as some call it.

[mira-chan]

when I was about 15, I got repeatedly mistaken for a boy, even despite my long hair... dunno how that works really, but it was amusing.
Same, my hair was past waist length too. It is amusing. :D

[CopperHead]

I've been mistaken for a guy before. It was from behind. I was walking with my friend at Lake Tahoe and we were both very thin at the time. I am 5'8" and she was 5'11". We were barefoot and wearing peacoats and ripped jeans and had our long straight hair down. A car load of girls pulled up beside us and began to flirt until they saw our made up faces. I will never forget their faces as they hit the gas and sped away. My friend and I had quite a laugh. ;)

[ladyluck]

Brilliant! Those shopping center people really get on my nerves.

truepeacenik I almost feel sorry for the servers, double whammy! :D

[Cantabile]

Hahaha! I guess people just make automatic assumptions based on hair length.

It's great that your boyfriend took that in stride though :laugh:

[EdG]

That just happens from time to time. The :shocked: reaction can be priceless.
Ed

[Beatnik Guy]

You can't edit your own posts until you get 25 "quality posts" as some call it.
As the moderator team call it.

[Lady Verity]

I've been mistaken for a guy before. It was from behind. I was walking with my friend at Lake Tahoe and we were both very thin at the time. I am 5'8" and she was 5'11". We were barefoot and wearing peacoats and ripped jeans and had our long straight hair down. A car load of girls pulled up beside us and began to flirt until they saw our made up faces. I will never forget their faces as they hit the gas and sped away. My friend and I had quite a laugh. ;)

That's brilliant! Such a shame that your genders changed their minds.

I was 'young manned' once or twice when I was younger and wore combats all the time. It bothered me once or twice (like when my dad laughed at me afterwards!) but I really don't care now. I got called a 'f*g' once by a chav in the dark. Made my night!

[Themyst]

I was called a dude once many years ago - it was at a dark rest stop and a car of guys was driving by. I was with my girlfriend, she had long, blond hair and we were standing by her car. I was pretty skinny, but wore a denim jacket with the sleeves ripped out. I may have even worn a bandana on my head. Probably was a good thing though that this carload of guys didn't know we were two young girls traveling alone.

But one thing I see that hasn't been brought up here yet is how some people will purposely make a sir/madam comment to try and embarrass you - because they think your hair is too short/long for their tastes. There's a lot of mean people out there that do nasty little things like that.:mad:

[ReddishRocks]

LOL! This used to happen with me and my brother... my hair used to be cut in a totally cute pixie, and he had a ponytail that was about APL. People would confuse our genders all the time...

My hair grows FAST (well, when I eat right, get enough sleep, and stress less... *sigh*), so within a year, I had hair back to my shoulders. My brother, mother, and I were all at a restaurant, and we were repeatedly addressed as "ladies" by our waiter. It wasn't until my brother asked for directions to Victoria's Secret that the waiter figured out his mistake. It was hilarious... the look on the waiter's face was priceless! :D

[Deborah]

I honestly think that most people are genuinely confused when they see men with long hair. It is a natural reaction. More than 2000 years ago the Bible explained it this way:

"Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory for her..." I Corinthians 11:14-15.

Probably, most people are not trying to offend long-haired men. Long hair on a man simply does not "feel right" to the population at large. On this board, how many times have many, many of us talked happily about how our long hair makes us feel more feminine? I am not trying to pick on the guys. People's feelings about hair length are simply natural responses, hard-wired somehow into the human psyche. As a society, we are now in a time when many more men like to wear their hair long, so it is more accepted, but it still doesn't "feel" masculine to most folks.

I do not mean to offend anyone, male or female. I just offer this as food for thought. :flower:

[ReddishRocks]

I honestly think that most people are genuinely confused when they see men with long hair. It is a natural reaction. More than 2000 years ago the Bible explained it this way:

"Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory for her..." I Corinthians 11:14-15.

Probably, most people are not trying to offend long-haired men. Long hair on a man simply does not "feel right" to the population at large. On this board, how many times have many, many of us talked happily about how our long hair makes us feel more feminine? I am not trying to pick on the guys. People's feelings about hair length are simply natural responses, hard-wired somehow into the human psyche. As a society, we are now in a time when many more men like to wear their hair long, so it is more accepted, but it still doesn't "feel" masculine to most folks.

I do not mean to offend anyone, male or female. I just offer this as food for thought. :flower:
I would agree that most people in North America and largely anglo influenced societies associate long hair with women, but pre-biblical men frequently wore their hair long. I'm thinking mostly of the men of my Celtic heritage. :) Heck, even Jesus is most often portrayed with flowing locks (the historic value of such images are sometimes suspect, but you get my drift ;) )! My favorite representations of Moses and God are also sporting long hair.

It's a cultural thing to be certain - but I don't think there's any "hard-wiring" involved. :)

[HairColoredHair]

Mmmm.... bible has conflicting views on long hair on men... I don't think it's a 'natural' confusion... it's more of an ingrained cultural thing.

[Lady Verity]

I honestly think that most people are genuinely confused when they see men with long hair. It is a natural reaction. More than 2000 years ago the Bible explained it this way:

"Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory for her..." I Corinthians 11:14-15.


Trouble is, I immediately thought of lions with their flowing manes and lionesses with their short fur. :)

Much of the thing with my BF is that he has really, really good hair. It's not a ratty ponytail, it isn't greasy or tangled, and it's a fascinating colour. I think a lot of people assume that men with long hair automatically look like unwashed bikers. They see sensual hair from a couple of feet away and read "woman". Then fall over themselves when they realise their mistake. :eyebrows:

[lizzyjo]

I got mistaken for a boy when I was in an airport once. My hair was very short. I said to the lady behind a counter, "Excuse me." "May I help you, sir?" she responded, and then immediately got embarassed. I laughed it off, but I was pretty offended by it.

[viking_quest]

I still get mistaken to be a boy at times. My friends all get upset and yell at the person who did it while I just giggle.

You need to keep up the hilarious hair stories. They make my day.

[eyesofsummer]

My ex boyfriend got mistaken for a girl a few times last year. He had curly hair much like mine past his shoulders at the time (now it's even longer!), and is a short guy (5'5" or so). One time we were at a party and he said something cute so I kissed him on the cheek. A guy whistled at us from across the room, and said something rude, assuming he was female. My ex turned around and the guy froze in his tracks, taking in the masculine face/clothes. He actually came over to apologize, but we went to another room in the house soon after.
oops :)

[Pierre]

I get mistaken for a woman on the telephone, which puzzles me, since I sing second tenor. I also get asked "Are you a man or a woman?", which if it comes as the first thing from a complete stranger is usually quite annoying. I'm only 1.51 m, but I have a very long (and hennaed) beard, of which I usually keep the beardicles tucked in my shirt.

One day a month or two ago, I was on the bus, and a man I knew many years ago got on. I was wearing my Buff and sitting in such an orientation that he didn't at first see my face. He saw my wrapped head and hennaed nails and thought I was a Muslimah until he saw my face.

[twilight_faerie]

Wow, that's really funny. Similar things like that occasionally happen to my BF, too. He's also a big guy, at 6' and 260 lbs, and has a little goatee, but also gets mistaken for a woman when people see him from behind sometimes. The funny thing is, his hair isn't THAT womanly. It's longish for a guy, as it's nearly down to his shoulders, and dirty blond...but the bottom half of his hair is buzzed. It looks kinda like he put his hair in a half-ponytail and then buzzed the hair left down so that it's really short. From behind, though, he really DOES look like a very large woman.

[twilight_faerie]

I get mistaken for a woman on the telephone, which puzzles me, since I sing second tenor. I also get asked "Are you a man or a woman?", which if it comes as the first thing from a complete stranger is usually quite annoying.

Wow, that's the kind of thing that your average, POLITE person might think to themselves but have the decency not to actually ask.

[AnimaSola3o4]

LOL Thanks, I needed the giggle tonight!!!! :D

[sahiba]

That was a sweet incidence .I liked the way your bf reacted so calmly. But I can imagine the face of that poor stylist and it makes me giggle like anything. My son is always mistaken for a girl and he is pretty offended about it. (you guys can understand the mentality of a 4year old):) Soon I'll be making him join LHC to feel the joys of long hair. So to all the men here, please welcome him .:)

[Dreamernz]

looooooooooooooooool that is so funny! It's a good thing you can laugh at these things and not take it offensively :D:D:D

[MollySays]

My boyfriend (now husband) used to have loooong gorgeous hair when were were younger and was mistaken for a "ma'am" at restaurants a couple of times, and one time by a policeman who pulled us over. :) We were heading to his parents house out in the boonies in my dad's truck, which had a broken speedometer for a while until we could get it fixed. Usually I just drove it to and from work and kept pace with the cars in front of us, but that night there wasn't anyone around so I guess I was going a little faster than usual. He actually let us off with a warning and wished us "girls" a safe night. I think he was a little embarrassed, but being teenagers at the time we were both more relieved than anything!

[missbexy]

Haha, I've known that sort of thing happen so many times, I have a fair few long long haired male friends and a long haired bf. If I wasn't to tired to think i'd probably have some great examples to add.

[ecologystudent]

My own grandma mistook me for a boy once, when my hair was in a pony tail.

When it was short, I was asked for my name, and I said "Jessica Ann*", and they said "Adam?". I also get called "sir" a lot.


* not my real name

[SoetSout]

i get it occasionally, but i try to always go with the flow ;)

when other guys try to get my attention from behind i always try to freak them out as much as i can, so far i have a good success rate. some go pale, others drop stuff, and some even storm out. have almost gotten in fights a couple of times, but i got out of it.

[thestookem]

I have never been mistaken for female. Although my hair isn't super long (its APL) I don't think ill ever be mistaken for female.

[KwaveT]

It isn't that hard for me to be mistaken for a woman since I tend to soften my entire appearance. I use woman's apparel especially pants and shoes. I wore dress capris and flats today. I also shave my legs. I have very long fingernails. I use a purse to carry my many things. I style my hair to bring out my natural waves. Once my hair grows long, I probably get mistaken even more. I got mistaken three or four times on one of my shopping trips to the local mall. Sales accociates were calling my ma'am over and over. I was dressed in pink head to toe. I had on a men's pink polo, women's pink shorts, and women's pink flip flops on that trip. I take it as a complement when I get mistaken.:D

[Chetanlaiho]

Haha that's so awesome ^_^

For me the opposite seems to happen xD although it happens when I wear my hair up, but still, a braided bun with hairsticks with flowers on them and I still get called Youngman? xD (guess they fail to spot my face with full on doll-like blunt bangs ;))

I'm quite used to it though, it's been happening most of my life. I can laugh about it ^_^ I love that your BF can too! I love guys who are not allergic to being associated with anything girly.

[jujube]

That IS funny!:D

I know a couple of long-haired guys that have been whistled at from behind - I can't imagine how the guys in the car feel after driving by and seeing that the objects of their affection have goatees!

THAT is equally funny!

[MaryRose]

When I had a pixie cut, I got hit on by an older lady who mistaken me for a young man. I was so embarrassed, but now I can look back and laugh about it.

[Arniky]

its okay people mistaking gender as soon enough they realise it and make amends

[Kaeita]

A few years back, unfortunately right before I had to get a new photo to get my licence renewed, I'd cut my hair short. When my then 3yo son saw it, he asked me why I had a photo of his uncle on my licence.

My son has often been mistaken for a girl. At first it didn't worry him - until he was about 5yo, no one was able to convince him that he was a boy (I never tried, it was enough for me that he knew who he was, and gender doesn't define that), but now he just says "I'm a boy", and either the person or I say "yes you are, and a very good looking one too". Or they'll tell him they made that mistake because he's better behaved than most boys in this town. His waves/curls are about 5 inches long - his hair is about APL, but it's all cut one length, so the front is chin-length wet. When it curls up, the back is about shoulder length, and the front is just starting to get in his eyes.

He wanted me to cut his hair a while back, because of always being mistaken for a girl, but when I did, he was so upset at losing his curls, he made me promise never to do it again. Now, he knows he's welcome to have it cut if he wishes, but he should never feel that he needs to (some religious aquaintances have enlisted their children to try to convince him to cut it, grr). He knows his other uncle has long hair and beard, and that there are other men who have long hair, and he seeing other males (young or old) with long hair, either in real life or in pictures, so he's more at ease with it now.

I was contemplating shaving my head next year - I've always wanted to do it, but, short as my hair has been at times, have never actually gone that final step, and I want to play around with henna and other permanent dyes without feeling like I'm wasting growth - and mentioned it to a friend, and she said that if I did, people would "think I'm a ****" (her words: edited to add: a derogative and outdated term for a lady who prefers to date ladies than men. Apologies, I did not mean to offend!). I didn't mention to her that it really wouldn't bother me either way if they did! People have thought far worse of me, I'm sure, and it really doesn't bother me.

There's far too much shame attached to gender and appearance. I'm glad your boyfriend had a sensible response to being mistaken for a lady!

[Yozhik]

This reminds me -- when I was in Russia with DBF last year, he was growing his hair out. It only got to around CBL, but it was very nice and silky. :inlove:

Anyway, people were always mistaking him for a girl, and referring to us in public as "girls." Well, once we were taking an overnight train to Helsinki, and we were sharing a cabin with two older gentlemen. Well, I guess one of them was really unobservant or nearsighted, because he kept on asking us what such nice young girls were doing going to Helsinki by ourselves...then I think he was shocked when we were getting ready for bed and DBF took his shirt off. ;)

[scotty810]

how can you mistake a male for a female from behind, we're shaped differently.

i've never been mistaken for a female.

[Monica_B]

:p In middle school my best friend and best guy friend use to sneak away from after school homework time that last an hour everyday. He has hair that little longer than APL and blond, pretty blond. We would run in the halls and race or bug our teachers. The people running the after school program where college students and always threaten us and be like "You Girls better get back in here or I'll tell your parents!" We would stop running in mid-step and turn, our faces were 1) slightly horrifed 2) holding back laughter 3) joy/glee. It was so funny. He would just laugh it off but his smile seem a little fake he would see me and my best friend laughing til we were crying/stomach pain and would start laughing.

We never got in any serious trouble because we always came back when they served us snack(like little kids/sheep).
After two years the supervisor(the one who always yells at us) just tells the new staff on their first day "Make sure you keep track of everyone, but those three because it's pointless. You blink their gone. Oh by the way," he points to my guy friend. "That's a guy."
Walks out and leaves the newbie with :confused: look or :O. Sometimes they would go over and ask or ask to touch his hair and we would say sure(all of us lol. like it's ours) but we all think the same thing "It's hair no different from yours."

Sometimes the newbies ignore the don't try and watch them and we would change tactics were we act all good and nice then we have our friends cause a problem and "Where did they go?"

Fun. Oh so fun.:)

[Of the Fae]

I had this with an ex once, yeeeaars ago:
We were arm in arm standing somewhere, and this guy comes up to us from behind and says:
"Oh.. I sure am relieved to see that you are not two girls together..haha :)"
And we were like... what?
I mean, how rude, if he would have been a girl it would be none of the man's business anyway!
Gee...

[Of the Fae]

My boyfriend has it too sometimes, when we are in a busy restaurant but I don't get it: He has very awesome MBL hair, but also a beard and mustache.. And he looks, well manly! How is this possible? I think they only look at the hair, because I had been mistaken for a boy when my hair was short a few times when I was younger, when I was still obviously a girl! It must be because people are too busy to properly take in your face and all :S

[tgagurl27]

Hahaha all of these stories are so funny. I love your one yozhik. I can just picture the guy now haha classic

[Kiwiwi]

ROFLMC(curls)O!


This made me laugh out loud! :rollin:
I am going to use this too!

[sibiryachka]

This reminds me -- when I was in Russia with DBF last year, he was growing his hair out. It only got to around CBL, but it was very nice and silky. :inlove:

Anyway, people were always mistaking him for a girl, and referring to us in public as "girls." Well, once we were taking an overnight train to Helsinki, and we were sharing a cabin with two older gentlemen. Well, I guess one of them was really unobservant or nearsighted, because he kept on asking us what such nice young girls were doing going to Helsinki by ourselves...then I think he was shocked when we were getting ready for bed and DBF took his shirt off. ;)

During my mid-90s exchange-student year in Moscow, one of the guys in the same program as me was Chinese-American and wore his hair about waist-long (man, I hope he still does; it was resplendent). He was mistaken for Native American more often than for a girl when in public.
However, there was this fabulous birdlike tiny old lady who worked in our dorm's cafeteria, Baba Nina, who was not always entirely sober on the job, and could be counted on for some entertaining commentary. One day I was in line with him and we overheard Baba Nina muttering behind us "Mалчики, девушки, все похожи" - "Boys, girls, they all look alike" as if she just didn't know what the world was coming to. We quoted that every chance we got. :p

[Vanille_]

Context: I was a waitress. I walked up to man sitting by himself.

me: "Hello, sir. How are doing today?"
them: "Well... not so hot since apparently I look like man."

I was mortified. This person was dressed extremely casually in what could be called unisex fashion. She wore no makeup. But I think what I made the biggest mistake in assuming, was that she was male because she had almost no hair under a baseball cap. I felt so incredibly stupid and embarrassed.

Long term servers have almost all made this mistake once; and if they are smart, never again.

[Vanille_]

What made me feel worse, is that it wasn't like a pixie cut under a cap. It was like she had been sick and done a treatment that caused her to lose her hair.

It still breaks my heart just thinking about it. :(

[Mesmerise]

Context: I was a waitress. I walked up to man sitting by himself.

me: "Hello, sir. How are doing today?"
them: "Well... not so hot since apparently I look like man."

I was mortified. This person was dressed extremely casually in what could be called unisex fashion. She wore no makeup. But I think what I made the biggest mistake in assuming, was that she was male because she had almost no hair under a baseball cap. I felt so incredibly stupid and embarrassed.

Long term servers have almost all made this mistake once; and if they are smart, never again.

I think, when in doubt, just use totally gender neutral terms when addressing someone! It definitely does happen. I remember a couple of people from uni... one was a guy with shoulder length, curly hair, and my friend and I couldn't figure out if he was a guy or a girl! Then there was a girl in one of my classes, and I couldn't figure out if she was male or female, until one day she was wearing a tighter top and it became obvious!

But your story kinda reminds me of a joke made by a stand up comedian (my kids have the clip and they play it a few times) where she says something like, "Well I was out at the store today, and the shop assistant asked me 'Sir what would you like today?' and I replied, "clearly a more feminine appearance!'" I guess sometimes you need to make a joke out of it!

[florenonite]

how can you mistake a male for a female from behind, we're shaped differently.

i've never been mistaken for a female.

It really depends on the individual; some people have quite androgynous figures. I've got a rather skinny male friend who used to have shoulder-length hair, and when we were at the pub with a group of female friends a man came up behind him and said 'hello, ladies'. Then he saw his face.

I've also been mistaken for a long-haired man by a rather drunk ned, which is odd as I'm really quite curvy.

[david]

I get this all the time. Its pretty funny but I take it as a compliment. The funniest one was a guy coming out of the bathroom in a bar got very worried that I was going into the wrong bathroom. lol