I’m not a lady, darling! My name is Freddie!

Do I lose my right as being called a ‘he’ when I dress myself femininely?

“Hello, ladies!” “Can I help you ma’am?” “Excuse me, miss".”

Whenever I’m out shopping with my friends, I’m always, and I mean always, mistaken for a woman. Do I mind? Absolutely not! I understand it, of course, for I’m dressed like one, I look like one, I sound like one, it’s just the way I was made. My question is however, am I ‘allowed’ to correct whoever mistakes me for a woman? Do I have the right to say, “I’m not a girl, I’m a boy.”

I wouldn’t want the store clerk, oh whoever to be embarrassed, I wouldn’t want them to think that I am annoyed by their honest mistake. If they really had no way of knowing, there is no fault to it. I’d make sure that my correction is more of an introduction of myself rather than acting as if they were berating me. And surely, not everyone has to be corrected. Not everyone has to know, but only if it will benefit the future of our short term relationship.

Some say that I am unable to correct people, that because I chose to put on a type of clothing, or chose to wear make-up, I am representing myself a certain way to others, and I simply lose the privilege to confuse them, by telling them I am a of a different sort. In fact, some people have even said that I lose my privilege to flirt with other straight girls, because I’m escorting them to consider that I am another woman, and that in fact, I’m complicating their sexual boundaries and orientation. Wow!

Some others say I have every right to correct anyone and everyone, because a person shouldn’t be so quick to judge a person by their way of dress. I don’t know if that’s true, either, because if I honestly minded the fact that people were unknowing of what gender I am, I would probably make it apparent, wearing what the normal group of boys wear now days, but I don’t. Maybe the world is a little bit split down the middle as far as gender, but maybe that’s a good thing as well. How is a stranger ‘supposed’ to great you? “Hello sir/ma’am!’, or “How are you all doing, group of individuals?” (rather than saying ‘guys/girls’). So then, how come when a girl dresses herself in clothes normally associated with men, why does she not get jumped to the conclusion that she is a boy? Is it because if you accidentally call a woman a man-completely by mistake, a woman would appear to be more offended?

Maybe it shouldn’t be looked at with such detail at all. I’m not a girl, I don’t want any purposeful association with that. I would prefer to be, a ‘boy’, or just completely sexless at all. But, more importantly, I will be who I really am- ‘Freddie’. No one can convince me that I am not ‘Freddie’, and as long as I am Freddie, I don’t to be anyone, or anything else. Maybe I should just let sleeping dogs lie. If being mistaken for a woman doesn’t bother me, is it really worth looking into?