Writing Like A Girl

[Guest Michelle M]

Yes, even in this computer day and age, you will still have to write. I was dreading this, like, yay, something else I have to spend 3 to 6 months learning, in addition to walking and voice training. My writing was horribly masculine. It's not sloppy, it's neat, and very readable, and many people commented on how easy my writing was to read 'for a guy's writing'.

I don't claim to be an expert on this, but I'm going to give some tips/awareness for girls having the same problem I had.

I kept practicing at work, trying to 'write like a girl' and it wasnt' sticking. Then I went through some customer complaint forms, and looked at other women's handwriting. I tried emulating theirs, and it stuck! I was amazed how easily I picked it up. I copied the way they wrote first, then mended it into how I write, now I have my own style that's very feminine and I write blind without having to refer to their writing. I was very giddy and proud that I got it down so easily! I was expecting months of practice. Here's some of what I'm using.

swirl, loop, tails! Never draw straight lines, always curve or swirl. Put tails on almost everything, even i's and l's. Make your K's and R's with flowing motions, not stick lines. Even Z's should be curvy.

good symmetry is bad. Like on large B, the top of the B should be way smaller than the bottom. Also on small h, it's good to make the curve going out more high than middle, so it almost looks like a small n... don't make straight M's or N's or W's of caps or lower case.

draw small e's from the inside, and make them loopy. And give o's a slight sideways oval to them, not perfectly round.

take your time! Make every letter count, each one is a masterpiece. Don't write in a hurry. Practice writing "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" in small letters and in all caps, so you develop a way of writing every letter.

Hmm this is all I can think of for now. I hope others can share their experience or tips with writing, too. Maybe I'll learn something new.

[Guest GoldenKirbichu]

I guess to learn to write more masculinely, you simply do the opposite? Make the words more structured and formulaic, I guess.

Which is what I do anyway, although my writing is horribly illegible.

[Guest angie]

Good Topic Michelle,

I used to print everything.Then when i was assured that i was going to transition...

I had to change my trade mark penmenship.So for the first time since i was in the ninth grade..

I started to use cursive,and i was terrible(lol)It was chicken scratch,hardly legible.

I have kept a journal since coming out...Chronicling my journey.

As the time went by with daily practice...I now have a very feminine hand writting.

When my older brother saw it,he thought it looked like his daughters writting.Thanks Les!

Hugs girlfriend,you made me smile with the memory of it.

Angie.

[Guest Diva D]

I find it amusing. My handwriting is EXTREMELY messy! It basically just blurs into one long cursive blur. And most of it is related to the fact that it has almost all the features you point to being feminine, loops, slanted, no straight lines, etc. If I concentrate and slow down, my hand writing becomes much neater, but does retain all those traits. My writing has always had those traits, ever since I was taught to write.

I find it quite amusing at work, none of my male co-workers can read my hand writing, but my female manager has no problem reading my writing.

[Guest Sophie]

Hehe, I don't have to worry about this one, my handwriting is already feminine as it is. But yeah, consistency is the key to feminine handwriting, and use smooth curves instead of sharp corners. It doesn't have to fancy, but neat. I'm open to questions

[Guest silverpetals]

my handwriting has always been really small and neat and printed, and i've always been told off (and marked down on some exams, seriously) for having small writing. people always thought it was girls handwriting (i suppose it was) because it was small and neat. so i would have thought that people expect girls' handwriting to be small and neat and boys' handwriting to be large and scruffy, but i *know* that isn't always true.

anyway, andrea james (as always ) has a page on this http://www.tsroadmap.com/physical/handwriting/index.html

[Guest qRachelp]

Yes, even in this computer day and age, you will still have to write. I was dreading this, like, yay, something else I have to spend 3 to 6 months learning, in addition to walking and voice training. My writing was horribly masculine. It's not sloppy, it's neat, and very readable, and many people commented on how easy my writing was to read 'for a guy's writing'.

I don't claim to be an expert on this, but I'm going to give some tips/awareness for girls having the same problem I had.

I kept practicing at work, trying to 'write like a girl' and it wasnt' sticking. Then I went through some customer complaint forms, and looked at other women's handwriting. I tried emulating theirs, and it stuck! I was amazed how easily I picked it up. I copied the way they wrote first, then mended it into how I write, now I have my own style that's very feminine and I write blind without having to refer to their writing. I was very giddy and proud that I got it down so easily! I was expecting months of practice. Here's some of what I'm using.

swirl, loop, tails! Never draw straight lines, always curve or swirl. Put tails on almost everything, even i's and l's. Make your K's and R's with flowing motions, not stick lines. Even Z's should be curvy.

good symmetry is bad. Like on large B, the top of the B should be way smaller than the bottom. Also on small h, it's good to make the curve going out more high than middle, so it almost looks like a small n... don't make straight M's or N's or W's of caps or lower case.

draw small e's from the inside, and make them loopy. And give o's a slight sideways oval to them, not perfectly round.

take your time! Make every letter count, each one is a masterpiece. Don't write in a hurry. Practice writing "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" in small letters and in all caps, so you develop a way of writing every letter.

Hmm this is all I can think of for now. I hope others can share their experience or tips with writing, too. Maybe I'll learn something new.

Yep... and if a psychologist asks you to draw a tree on a sheet of paper, they're wanting to see if you draw a little tree or one that takes up the whole paper. Girls use "every bit of available space" that they can. Same with writing: huge, grandiose alphanumeric characters.

XX,

Rachel

[Guest Camicochan]

I went to a private elementary school where they taught and made us write in cursive (and I hear from my publicly schooled counterparts that it's being phased out). I took it to heart and always made sure to write the letters correctly, even the fancy upper-case ones no one cares about; I guess that's what makes me tick hehe. Needless to say, as a result I was always accused of writing like a girl.

[Guest NatashaJade]

I started changing my writing a few months ago. I actually did it mainly to make my white board handwriting easier to read (as my students often complained that they could not read my questions or notes). Now everything is very swoopy and fun. I've added many "original" flourishes. It makes me happy

[Guest ChloëC]

I like that 'draw a tree' test. When asked to draw (and color) an outdoor scene in about 5th grade art or so, I would draw trees as I saw them, trunk going up into a multitude of limbs, dividing out into branches, splitting into individual twigs, each with one or several leaves. And oh, are there leaves on an oak or a maple. And I was going to draw everyone.

What a change when I realized that I could draw two somewhat similar lines and then use a green marker to swirl in the top.

Much of what you suggest, Nekomata, I agree with. Just take a little more time to be cursive, even with printing.

I have occasionally seen nearly illegible women's handwriting, but even those are much more flowing and curved then male handwriting tends to be. And I've noticed that women do little unique things to make their handwriting distinctive. Men tend to write and be done with it.

Very nice suggestions.

Chloë

[Shannonline]

http://i.imagehost.org/download/0950/male-female-text-final

This is a pdf file of a study done on the difference between the words that men and women use. It's really interesting and I found it helps me type a little better, well when I'm not being lazy/blah that is!!! It's a long read but worth it

[Guest Anna_Banana]

I guess to learn to write more masculinely, you simply do the opposite? Make the words more structured and formulaic, I guess.

Which is what I do anyway, although my writing is horribly illegible.

To write like a male simply emulate a three-year-old. Take up too much space, make the words completely illegible, etc. etc. Seriously, true stuff. Every guy I know writes horrible. They key is to not care about you writing. Be sloppy.

.Anna

[Guest Nekomata]

Holy necro thread. This thread was created almost 2 years ago.

[Guest Joanna Phipps]

The other day when my wife and I were out for dinner and i paid the bill, she was suprised at my signature. It used to be just a line with a couple bumps on it and done in 3 seconds or less. Now I take a bit of time and you can actually read all of the letters, I do sign with only my first initial and last name, with my initial and the first letter of my last name forming a kind of monogram.

[Guest van-na]

They say that handwriting can be a dead giveaway of a persons sex.

Some girls worry allot about "passing", but they forget this one simple thing.

Handwriting can be very important test to pass.

Most girls seem to have beautiful handwriting.

A few years ago I read the information on the TS roadmap web site, and was surprised at how accurate they were at describing all of my mistakes in handwriting.

I corrected all of my bad habits, and now think I write like a girl

I found that now I actually like to write.

vanna

[Guest Joanna Phipps]

They gave a link to that gender genii program, an based on several 800+ word samples from various bits of my writing it identified the author as Female in all of them. This included one or two samples from things I wrote before my transition began. Now just to get my handwriting looking more feminine

[Guest Donna Jean]

Unfortunately...my handwriting stinks and most likely always will!

I went to school for a couple years to learn mechanical drafting and after school I went right to work for General Motors as a draftsman (draftsperson?)

On all the blueprints the items were hand printed in VERY neat printing that I had learned..

Over the years I mixed cursive writing with printed letters..throw in arthritis in my hands and you have a real mess!

I get by....So, I guess that I'll get outed because of my hand writing even if I'm 100% passable!....lol

What's up with that?

Donna Jean