This is not a porn post

Picture this: I'm in the locker room at the new YMCA. Freshly showered, half dressed, towel-dried hair. Jeans, bra, socks. I haven't reached for my boots yet, I haven't put on my belt.

[Voices travel from the next range of lockers]

Child: Mommy, that's a girl, isn't it?
Mother: Yes, honey, that's a girl.
Child: Because this is the girls' locker room, right, Mommy?
Mother: Yes, honey. Put your shoes on.
Child: Because he couldn't come in here if he wasn't a girl, right, Mommy?
Mother: Shoes.

So, I get that people take gender cues from clothes and hair. It's never clear to me how anyone could address me as "Sir" when I'm wearing a skirt and sweater, but whatever. I'm used to it. Still...I'm only half-dressed in the above scenario. I know I've lost a little weight this semester, but I'm still stacked up front and on top. I went home and checked the sizes on my three most comfortable bras: 42C, 42D, and 44D (inconsistent much, bra manufacturers?). I'm not built "like a guy," nor am I androgynous without my shirt (or with my shirt, really. You just can't hide that much bosom). I'd really like to know: what did that kid see that I can't see? This gender confusion (on the part of others) really ramped up once I started using the new Y, so I think it has something to do with the binary imposed on visitors by the locker rooms. But even within a space coded "female," even with an obviously female body, I'm being read as something other. Twenty-five years ago, when I donned my first tie, I expected people to be confused when I walked by. I'm not sure I understand it now, though.