Do men recognise the sex of a stranger as well as women?

Why are you ignoring two things -

Studies that show that women are better at spotting?

Common sense suggests that women have a greater evolutionary need to be better, and evolutionary need often drives outcome?

I don't agree with that at all. I think it means that we are animals driven by deep evolutionary drivers that go back hundreds of thousands of years and have roots much further than that. Fears that go back to nomadic extended family units and where all strangers need to be treated with caution and a massive part of the male role was defending the women and children.

I also think that it is incredibly naive to think society was anything other than "biggest man gets the food and the woman" for the vast majority of human history, and to some extent it is still true today. (And I am not denying that there have probably been some very sophisticated and civilised cultures in various places at various times).

but of course there may be a whole bunch of male people presenting as female who we don't recognise as male

I think this is unlikely, because only very few male trans people I have ever seen online could even pass as female in a photo. Or is there some causal reason why the passing males wouldn't be trans activists? I think after puberty males just look male whatever they do to themselves. FTM would pass better, except they are often very short.

I think TV can be different from real life too, only some angles and not as much general movement. I can think of only once where DH clocked someone I didn’t but it was a teenager, incredibly thin and frail, wearing a scarf around their neck and moving gingerly and my initial thoughts were young woman with an eating disorder.

I saw them again them again a few years later and it was suddenly more obvious as their build had changed.

One of the difficulties with this is that, in theory, we may all be congratulating ourselves on our ability to recognise that someone who presents as female is in fact male - but of course there may be a whole bunch of male people presenting as female who we don't recognise as male. We just never realise it, because no one tells us, and so we overestimate our own ability to discriminate. (I'm a bit sceptical that this is the case, but worth considering.)

I find the idea that we, that is women, have evolved to have a much better sense than men for spotting men, that is potential predators deeply depressing.
It means that for most of human history there has been a significant proportion of male humans engaged in predating women. Enough to affect evolution. Some of whom may have been tarting themselves up in whatever gear passed as feminine at the time.
Actually, the more I type, the more I doubt this.

Agree. Of course they know.

Maybe the original poster meant spectrum a different way but as we were talking about ‘men who can’t tell’ I assumed she meant spectrum of observation

A spectrum of humans who can tell trans women from women

i think there are some people who GENERALLY, not always, cant tell that its a transwomen and then people who can tell in 60/70% of cases and those who can tell in 100% of cases

and to clarify I’m not talking about insta pictures etc as they can be so filtered

Spectrum of what? Sex is sex. Gender is made up twaddle and stereotypes, and people change their clothes/styles/tastes over time.

I also think you have to differentiate between the (and i am wary of actually articulating this) transwomen and the other type of trans woman (or AGP).

Transwomen of yore did their utmost to pass, really really tried. And part of that was not running around shouting "suck my lady dick" because transwomen in the past who wanted to get a GRC had to really show that they had dysmorphia - so "lady dick" wouldn't have featured in their vocabulary because for the most part that seemed to be a major source of their distress. These are the transwomen who have "been using our bathrooms" for years. And tbh i don't know anyone who has ever had a problem with that. (there may be people who have had a problem with that for various reasons which i completely understand)

But some fat bloke in a bad wig, a beard and schoolgirl uniform these days can say "i'm a woman" and that must be accepted. There is no dysmorphia there or they would shed the beard and do their best to blend in with the women quietly and without fuss.

For me? I have zero issue with the first type. I have major issues with the 2nd because, if for no other reason (i have other reasons) they are making the first type's lives very very difficult because people are hyper vigiliant now. And yes, i know people say it doesn't happen, but this also includes butch lesbians and androgynous looking women.

Yes I believe there is a spectrum

but i also believe that men tend to cluster around the ‘thats a woman’ end of the cluster (not all men obviously)

i have mentioned my dad who is now in his late 70’s completely confused by an episode of Ru Pauls drag race

Males seem to know who the women are when they rape them.

Or is that what the whole 'what was she wearing' thing is about? The concept that men get clothing related cues from women saying 'rape me' as otherwise they would never know if the person was male or female?

About a decade ago I used to play a team sport with a transwoman. I never realised they were trans until some years later when I was told (now) 'he' detransitioned. I do wonder about my inability to tell, and hence don't buy the 'we always know' line, though I think I'd be far more aware now.

But thinking about it, I just never expected to see a biological male in that environment - it was a safe space for women were I didn't need to be on guard. It's also a sport that has traditionally had a fair few butch lesbians, so they didn't stick out. With that said, they were far more aggressive and physically strong than the other players who didn't enjoy playing with them.

We know that there is a correlation between autism and identifying as trans. There is also some evidence that people with autism may experience face blindness more than the general population. So it could be that trans identifying people do not see themselves the same way that the general population does.
I have no actual evidence but it’s a theory.

Probably true for some but my husband didn't realise our waitress was v obviously a transwoman recently. Men just aren't attuned to having to recognize males.

I am female but quite bad at recognising trans people as such. I guess there is a spectrum, though, as for most things.

I think men are worse than women. I remember a boyfriend asking me people’s sex when we went to a very arty club where lots of men were wearing make up. At first I thought he was joking or having a dig at them, but basically if they had make up on, smooth skin and long hair, he’d ask me their sex.

And yes, I agree with the pp who said men see women as a collection of body parts. It’s very depressing, and contributes to the fact we’re not seen as real people. Men are the real people and then we have these weird not-men who are obviously inferior yet come with titillating features. I know not all men think that, and even those who do can sometimes see past that idea, but it’s depressingly common. So, a TW with the requisite external appearance can fool them initially because that’s what they’re focussed on.

i think the conversation gets bogged down in the trans debate, and in answer to the OP: they literally don't care because it isn't an issue for them unless they have been trying to have sex with a woman who turns out to be a man.

This bit is REALLY interesting though

"There is plenty of evidence that even though all humans are really accurate at recognising sex, females are better at it than males. This has been described in one academic paper as an evolutionary necessity for females to avoid “angry, adult males”."

Aye but males surely developed sex spotting instincts for purposes of… romance?

There was a study a few years ago that found women probably evolved this skill to survive the threat of death and harm from men. In that same study they showed women moving footage of men who had convictions for crimes against women and many had flee reactions. I'll see if I can find it, probably have it stored somewhere.

My gender critical dh is not good at recognising anything between a drag queen and Eddie Izzard. He clocks the social cues of long hair and a dress, and rarely looks beyond.

He is also much worse than me at reading emotions on faces and by body language.

Of course they do. There was an ad on tv and DS (18) said ‘that’s a man’. When I looked it was indeed a male personage wearing a skirt attempting to walk in heels and looking rather ungainly. DH has mentioned other instances on ads/posters too. In real life it’s more obvious.

When there's a TW on TV, my husband doesn't miss it. I know because he tends to say: "What an absolute unit!"

I believe tere's research demonstrating that women are better at this than men. In real life, I suspect it may be because men are easily fooled by fake tits, and take a while to notice the other clues - this is definitely true for me. This effect obviously doesn't happen for f2m, who I generally find pass less well in person.