Gender Confusion

Yesterday as I was exiting the locker room at my gym, something unfortunate happened. Now perhaps it was a moment of bad timing, and I do hope it was.

I was rounding the corner leaving the locker room as another woman was rounding the corner coming in to the locker room. The very moment that she saw me, she stopped abruptly, leaned back and looked above our heads to the sign that says "W," then continued on into the locker room with a smile at me followed by, "I wanted to make sure I was going into the right locker room!" She said this the way one would say, "Phew!" and chuckled like we were old friends and we were sharing a joke together, laughing, "Wasn't that close!?" Somehow I didn't feel exactly ready to share in her amusement.

Now...I don't wear Shorty McShort shorts to work out, and while I honestly prefer to run in just a sports bra, my gym is a family place and I like to keep it clean. I often (such as today, for example) wear a (womens!) tank top to exercise--I feel the exposed shoulders offer me a better range of motion when I run and lift--but yesterday I had on my Merry Christmas t-shirt. I also had on modest shorts, but they were not boy shorts. My hair was pulled back, but. I mean. I have hair. I'm not Mr. Clean! So here's what I am thinking: bad timing.

I am going to assume, for the sake of my vanity, that this woman was rounding the corner, minding her own business, then realized "Oh my, I better check and make sure I'm not going into the men's locker room," and just happened to be face to face with me a split-second after she had this thought and thus acted on it.

This is what I'm assuming.

However, as soon as the unfortunate event happened, I recalled being addressed as "Sir" at a football game my freshman year of college, and thinking at the time, "Yes I have on sunglasses that conceal part of my face, and boy shorts, but I am pretty petite and I also have a ponytail right here!"

I told my parents of my dilemma last night and my dad told me, "Well you do look like Riley..."

"Yes," I agreed, "I have Riley's face. But I am a girl."

You can tell the difference between the boy and girl in this picture, right?