Does this transwoman pass?

[ZeldaFighter]

DH casually asked me if I'd noticed the transwoman in the show we'd been watching. (Yes, he's a sh*t-stirrer!)

I hadn't so he revealed they were a main character in Season 2 of Poker Face. (Might be some spoilers ahead so don't read this if you haven't watched the finale!)

I hadn't thought they were a transwoman but over the course of their episodes, I had thought:

• they're a very tall woman
• they're quite unusual looking (polite way of saying a bit ugly)
• their hairstyle is a bit weird
• their hairstyle doesn't suit them

And then in the big reveal, how could this character be an international assassin who can disguise themself as a man? Oh, right.

They do the show well but it did slightly annoy me that that's a lead role in an interesting show where a role as a woman went to a man.

The actor is Patti Harrison.

I clocked they were trans immediately. My partner didn’t till I pointed it out. Same happened in Loot. I do think women can see this much more easily.

Except I got out of the car in a supermarket, glanced down the rows, saw someone get out of their car wearing a yellow mini skirt about 4 rows away and I thought "That's a man". My eyesight and observation skills are not that good but I clocked him from yards away.

I had a very similar experience recently; happened to be walking behind someone, blonde ponytail, skirt, 50 paces off or so - my brain said man. On overtaking him and his companion, sure enough, male. The large amount of makeup did not make that any less obvious.

Like you I didn't think I was very perceptive, bit short sighted; I have the very good fortune to not have any history that makes me nervous of strange men. So i was surprised how adamant my brain was about recognising a male shape. Maybe it's hard-wired.

Of course I can't tell if it was a man in drag, a man dressed up for a part in a play, a man with a quirky dress sense, or a man with a feminine identity. We can see sex, we can't see identities in people's heads.

I'll simplify my post; I hope he gets help.

Whenever I think of "passing" I always think of Carmen Carrera! I would never think MAN when I see her. Absolutely insane what medicine can do these days. Just looks like every other female influencer 🤷🏻‍♀️

Context is everything... looks like women... except when standing with women...

What fascinates me about passing is the money spent on the surgery and makeup and clothes but then just speaking in exactly the same way as they did before with mannerisms that give away their sex. Or posing - you can have FFS but unless you learn to soften your gaze a man staring out of womanface can look really hard.

But I agree with a previous poster.. the concept of passing is uncomfortable... it is often used to catch people out, to prove some sort of point...

I think the idea that no transwoman ever passes isn't true, they're just vanishingly few and far between.

Nicole Maines is another transwoman that I probably wouldn't have a clue, if her plotline in Supergirl hadn't been all about her being trans.

I bet a transwoman looking in a mirror sometimes sees his Dad looking back at him. Even after FFS, and when wearing makeup. We recognise our family looks, perhaps particularly the eyes.

From googling her photos I'd say yes. Maybe not in person/on film.

I suspect when the catch themselves absentmindedly scratching their balls, they recognise theyre male.

I would not have known, and I can usually spot them.
https://g.co/kgs/ui5DxFj

I would still say she looked like a woman!
I wouldn't look at that line up of people and know 100% that she was trans, definitely not. Have you seen Taylor Swift next to other people???

Maybe I've been living under a rock, or maybe I'm face-blind, but I have no idea who any of those people are in the pictures dontcomeatme posted. Nonetheless, if any of them are presenting as the opposite sex and also perceived as the opposite sex, ie 'pass', they are just as much outliers as people born with polydactyly or missing fingers. Doesn't mean that the number of fingers humans have ranges from x to y on each hand.

Man on right in top photo on left in bottom photo.

I'm not sure they are trans though as it's just a dance. I think it's more likely that they were chosen to dance because they match Beyonce and the female dancer.

Jawline gives it away
Plus it is much much easier to tell in person, you can look like anything in a photo with lighting, makeup, photoshop etc.
People who like to claim its impossible to tell like referring to photos as some sort of "gotcha" but photos and real life are 2 very different things and its often a lot about the way people move. Men and women generally just walk and stand differently

I agree, they were on Rue Paul drag race years ago, before they transitioned, and honestly, they screamed woman before they even transitioned 🤣
But I would probably be able to tell in person like you say. But I find it astonishing what surgery, makeup and hormones can accomplish! Forget flying cars in the future, we have heshes

I never ever knew this 🫨

I just googled this and it names the 2 dancers with beyonce as Ebony Williams and Ashley Everett. It definitely looks like those 2.

That main photo of them on the runway, the crotch area looks.... strange. Wider than a females. What I noticed first off was the really long face and big head, that looks quite masculine. And the thickness and bulge in the neck.

A very masculine person. I clocked him very easily. The massive large head, very long head and face especially gave it away.

The other photos though not so much.

I’m pretty sure that both the Single Ladies dancers are women.

I think there are clear differences between this photo and the one Chateau posted though. In Chateau’s, my eyes weren’t drawn to their height as much as the width of the upper body the thick neck.

Taylor on the other hand just looks like a tall woman. If anything, my first thoughts were all about Bruno and just how remarkably short he must be. The photo with Sabrina and Taylor just looks like two women of varying heights.

I don’t disagree that some men, particularly on screen, can appear convincing but on the whole I’d say it’s vanishingly rare, and especially when they are placed next to actual women.

Oh, that show as well? No this was Hadestown.

Exactly. The real question is ‘Are you deceived by this man?’