not sure if you're a boy or a girl

This post was sitting in my drafts, dated 14 December, 2009

So on the plane a couple of nights ago, I wasn’t binding because I really really hate sleeping in that thing. However, the guy taking our dinner order (we flew Business Class. Hooray for complimentary upgrades) greeted my dad and me as “gentlemen”. When I got up to use the bathroom, he treated me as the same. I was pleasantly surprised, but thought nothing of it. Then, we landed and the border control officer asked my father “are you travelling with your son?”

This has happened before, when I’m not trying particularly hard to pass. It happened travelling to England over the summer with the woman sitting next to us my mom was talking to. It’s happened at Trader Joe’s (when I wasn’t even wearing a hoodie).

This made me wonder, what makes a boy a boy (from an observer’s perspective)? Apparently there’s something that makes me come across as a guy no matter what. Your thoughts?