Female Mannerisms?

[Guest Annaemo]

I went out for my second time yesterday . This time there seemed to be a lot of almost pro tv girls out. Apart from them looking great they also had the female mannerisms and posture that fitted there gender. I'm still learning and know a few but after not dressing so long I still need some work. What do people here to to practice?

[Guest NatashaJade]

To be honest, simply observe and copy the kind of woman you would like to emulate. Practice until it becomes a habit until it becomes your nature.

xoxo

Tasha

[Guest ChloëC]

Yeah. Remember that most cis-girls you're looking at have had 15-25 years of 'practicing'. And those fully transitioned have had probably 2-5. Most here have had, what? 6 months? A lot of catching up to do.

I pretty much still do a lot of observing, the little things, just walking, holding the body, arm movements, very little things but just different between the sexes. Voice patterns, being with friends.

Actually it is your nature, you just have to practice letting it out, cuz there have been too many years of hiding it, and forcing abnormal behavior. Just be yourself.

Hugs

Chloë

[Drea]

My advice would be to not try too hard. There is a tendency over accentuate mannerisms. Perhaps most annoying when overdone is the use of sweety, hun, honey. Some women do that sort of thing, but some women hate when other women use that when referring to them.

As Natasha said watch and observe. Listening and watching are the most useful learning tools you have.

[Guest JustShelly]

My advice would be to not try too hard. There is a tendency over accentuate mannerisms. Perhaps most annoying when overdone is the use of sweety, hun, honey. Some women do that sort of thing, but some women hate when other women use that when referring to them.

As Natasha said watch and observe. Listening and watching are the most useful learning tools you have.

I couldn't agree more!

I have yet too run into a genetic female that has said hun sweety or honey to another woman. I have heard them call there children this though. I have heard and been called Dear by some older woman.

I agree it seems so many trans overuse these mannerisms as well as over do any type of female mannerism.

You will find, the longer you are on hrt and presenting more or full time these mannerisms become natural and you don't even know your doing them.

Shelly

[Guest chngnwnd]

I think what works may vary. I have female mannerisms just by relaxing and being me - they seem to have developed on their own or been there all along held hostage by pretending to be a guy. For me, it just kind of happens if that makes any sense. If this is not the case for you, observation and practice are the best things to do.

hugs

Bobbi

[JJ]

As Bobbi and Drea said I believe the most important thing is just to relax and let the real you express herself. The transwomen I have clocked and others I have heard discussing someone, were all because of exaggerated mannerisms. Anything that doesn't ring true will get you noticed .

You are a woman. Just be yourself.

Hugs

John

[Guest NatashaJade]

Oh, and if it feels fake, it's fake.

xoxo

Tasha

[Guest Elizabeth K]

Well... I don't have to worry about - mannerisms and such - because they sort of came naturally. I suppose they were always there.

To be seen as a girl ... BE A GIRL.

I don't know how to explain it, but just be what you are. There is no exaggeration or fakiness, it just feels right. And the idea of having to learn is not exactly correct - well, it does help to 'sharpen' your skills by picking up pointers. I mean some things we were never taught - or saw from our mothers, sisters and female relatives.

I DID grow up in a female household, so I guess that may have contributed.

But at the mall I was watching how women carry their purses, 80% using shoulder purses, most placed over the left shoulder. I figured out that meant they kept their right side arm free for doing other tasks. I also noted most women put their purse under the fold down child seat in shopping carts, rather than on top, where it could be stolen. 'No brainers,' I guess, but I hadn't been doing that because I was just starting to carry a purse.

I hope this helps

Lizzy

[Guest Elizabeth K]

. Perhaps most annoying when overdone is the use of sweety, hun, honey. Some women do that sort of thing, but some women hate when other women use that when referring to them.

I have yet too run into a genetic female that has said hun sweety or honey to another woman. I have heard them call there children this though. I have heard and been called Dear by some older woman.

Obviously, you are not from the South. EVERYONE here uses endearments, men and women... its a more gentile way to live.

Lizzy

[Guest Lizzie McTrucker]

Obviously, you are not from the South. EVERYONE here uses endearments, men and women... its a more gentile way to live.

Dang she beat me to it again.

Oh I got called 'dear' a lot in Indiana too so I think it's more a personal thing than a Southern thing..although you do hear it more frequently in the South. Don't worry, darlin' (see there I go with one), just be yourself. In addition to watching how women your age act, if there is a celebrity or actress whom you admire, emulate her!

[Guest N. Jane]

I agree on Sweetie, Honey, Sugar, etc. - I grew up among southern women a LONG time ago and I still talk that way.

On mannerisms and such it is my perception that much is 'social conditioning'. Girls are allowed to be free, easy, and open in this movements and speech while aggressive and forceful actions and words are discouraged (however subtly). Boys are (usually) very conscious of being boys and the social pressures (peer groups and parents) encourage them to be controlled and fight for their spot in the hierarchy. (How much is genetic and how much is learned will be debated for decades to come!)

To "learn" female mannerisms is to let go of the 'male conditioning', accept one is in fact a girl, and to socialize with other girls. One just naturally adopts the behaviour of the heard one runs with.

[Guest Christine Alexa]

What I'm noticing as I've started being more girly (frenched nails, feminine tattoo, etc) that most people haven't seemed to care so far, but that I've felt liberated and more excited daily as things are unfolding.

I've quit pretending to be a boy for lack of a way of putting it. I've quit trying to censor my mannerisms as much, as I had learned them for self-preservation in my teens and young adulthood.

When I'm in public, I just act me for the most part at this point. I also observe women as well to pick up any mannerisms that I've untrained or not learned as well as a GG would have.

And yes, in the South, terms of endearment are very common.

HTH

Christine

[Guest angie]

I agree on Sweetie, Honey, Sugar, etc. - I grew up among southern women a LONG time ago and I still talk that way.

To "learn" female mannerisms is to let go of the 'male conditioning', accept one is in fact a girl, and to socialize with other girls. One just naturally adopts the behaviour of the heard one runs with.

I use all the female terms of endearment without thought,and they are accepted as my way of expressing my

myself to my friends,both male and female.

When I first came out,I was Very Out,and was an active member of a church.The ladies having known the old and extremely masculine me,and not being used to a trans opening up and letting go of old ingrained learned habits of a lifetime,and letting her natural feminine mannerisms out to run free,felt they had to make comments about how unmanly I was acting.I finally had enough and told them that if they hadn't known the

old me,and if they quit comparing me to the men they know now,I would be seen as acting like a normal woman.

Not a femme acting male,but a feminine woman just being herself.Then to give them time to adjust and forget

about(him),I quit going for a year.When I went back I was/am seen as a woman,accepted as a woman,and my

very feminine mannerisms are seen as a normal part of my female personality.By choosing to leave I gave them

time to let the male memory fade away,and all they know is the female me now.My best girlfriend told me the

other day that I am the most feminine TS she knows.All I could say was,"Thanks Sweetie."(smile)

Angie

[Guest HaileyR]

For me they kind of came on their own when I started transitioning. I has no mannerisms at all previously, I was just an automaton but now I walk and sit like a woman and talk more musically and whatnot just automatically.

[Guest Deena]

I also am letting go of my learned manerisma and letting the female ones out like more hand movements that come very naturally and I cross my legs a lot more than I ever did because it feels better. I like to take up Less space now. I don't stand with my legs apart and I touch my face more like I lean my chin on my hands when talking if I am sitting or at a desk. And really, these are things that I do without thinking about them and when I realize I'm doing it, it makes me smile inside! I have forced myself to be a man for so long it just came naturally but it wasn't natural - they were habits.

[Guest Arielle]

I still have loads of trouble crossing my legs because of their size, so I just sit with my legs together, and or my feet apart but knees somewhat touching. Most of what women do I've always done but again the male crap made me exaggerate it to be "male". My sisters are not the most feminine people on earth and if people saw me around them (even though I don't think I'm very feminine) they'd probably say I'm more girly than they are. I could sit with my legs crossed all the time and be super girly, but right now that would feel so uncomfortable because it's just not me.