I am just wondering if this is possible and to see if there are any real life examples.
Hmmm… NY States Attorney Mary Jo White comes to mind and, not that it means anything definitive these days, she’s married with a husband and a son. Which I have to admit is bit of a surprise (to me) given the uber-butch look she favors. When I first saw her on TV in a group of lawyers commenting on the Clinton prosecution (at the time) I thought she was a small man until she opened her mouth.
This has, misfortunately, happened for me several times, including once when I used the wrong pronoun. After that, I decided that if I was uncertain, it would be better not to say anything indicating gender. LOL I keep thinking of “Pat” in the SNL skit.
No, but I have mistaken a fairly effeminate man for a woman… he had a full beard… now that’s effeminate…
On my first day on my new job, I stopped in the gas station for some chewing gum before I drove down the street to my place of employment. The cashier was busy with what I thought was a short, older, effeminate man. Possibly homosexual. It turned out to be a co-worker. She is a Lesbian, but let me describe her. She is not really butch, in attitude, but she has many male features. A deep dark tan gives her skin an tough look, her very short, white blonde hair gave her the appearance of an older man that just liked David Bowe or something. Her Voice was a raspy feminine voice. She wore, what to me, seemed male clothing. She has no tits. (as in if she doesn’t wear a padded bra, she is as flat as a skinny kid.)
When I said, Excuse me sir, It got me off on the wrong foot. the one that I inadvertantly stuck in my mouth
I’m always having “Pat” experiences. And I actually dated a guy who was really a girl. Talk about clueless!
No, but I was walking across the beach one day and I must of walked behind one of those cloth barrier things, the man was laying on his back, except, when I looked closer I focused on his chest, It didn’t look normal, and then I looked harder and realised that he was a woman with saggy breasts!
Once, several years ago, I sat down at a break table at work with a friend of mine who was talking to a wiry person with short hair, rough hands, and a flannel shirt. My friend introduced Judy to me. My dad had known a pool dealer named Judy, a guy. I was still going on the assumption this new Judy was also a guy. I asked what Judy was short for. “Judith,” she said, and reading my confused face, she added, “I’m a girl.” I was awfully embarassed, but she took it well. We became friends over time. Heck, why not? She likes women, I like women, and I don’t feel any of that silly macho pressure from inside my head to make a pass at her. She’s a really nice gal.
–Nott
Yeah. Nicole Bass.
. . . Oh, that’s gay man.
Oh good. I am not alone.
I’m still not sure about KD Lang. I remember when I first saw her perform. Her hands just looked too big.
Not that it makes a shit one way or the other.
(so please don’t rant my ass)
Plus in real life…casually, maybe/probably, but then I would’ve been mistaken, So, I might not have known. hmmm
We had a late-coming student in our high school who was this completely androgynous waif of a … being.
I went for months just saying “Hello” or whatever until a friend told me it was, indeed, a girl.
I once mistook two lesbians for young teenage boys. They were both slim, slight build, jeans and lumberjack shirts, very short hair.
Once, my then-girlfriend and I went to England to attend the wedding of one of her friends. One of the guests at the wedding was named Cambra.
-Okay, ends in “a”. Probably female, right? But Cambra looked like an unusually effeminate man. Short boyish hair, delicately square features, flannel shirts, slight figure, etc. And I hadn’t heard the name before, so I didn’t use pronouns referring to Cambra for a long time.
Finally I heard someone refer to Cambra as “her,” so I knew I was safe.
Later that week, Cambra and my then-girlfriend and I went clubbing in London, went to men’s night at a local gay nightclub.
I passed by the bouncers – no problem.
Cambra passed by the bouncers – no problem.
My then-girlfriend passed by the bouncers – and they stopped her, and grilled her for a bit (“You do know what night this is, right? You do know this is a gay club, right?” etc.) before letting her pass.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one having trouble figuring it out.
Daniel
Not that I met the person or anything, but, I was at an amusement park, and noticed a person walking towards me.
My first thought was “boy, that’s an ugly woman”
As she got closer and I got a better look “wait… that’s actually a guy!”
as he got closer “holy androgynous Batman… it’s a woman!”
Weird stuff…
It happens in reverse. This gay man, at 19, was mistaken for a lesbian. It was 1987. My hair was about the longest it’s ever been - almost to my shoulders (which looked awful, what the hell was I thinking?). The shirt I was wearing was distinctly blousy. And a the neck - a brooch.
It was 1987.
Did I mention it was 1987?
Hooo-boy.
We had this security guard at my dorm. He (it turned out to be) was pretty big for a girl or guy, tall, burly. But he had such round womanly hips, and soft features we weren’t sure till we talked to him. My pretty, waif-like friend commented to me he was glad he got the good side of androgyne. (Hey, he said it, I didn’t.)
My problem is telling drag queens from women. For a long time I lived in a neighborhood where if you saw something in thick make-up, shellached hair, tons of jewlery and stilleto-like finger nails, you could be pretty sure it was a guy.
If I went to the Republician Convention, I’d be so confused 
Every once and awhile I’ll be talking to what I think is a cute butch lesbian and realize that I am in fact talking to a twelve year old boy.
I hate it when that happens.
I didn’t mistake her for a gay male, but Mo Mowlam had me pretty confused for a while.
I suppose the gay part is merely optional 