12 Ways to Spot a Transsexual (Signs She's a He)

Not every transsexual wants you to know all the details. To not get catfished, you need to know how to spot a transsexual – and steer clear of traps.

I just saw the David Cronenberg movie M. Butterfly, about a dude who seduces another dude who doesn’t know he’s a dude, and carries on an affair with him for 20 years and even convinces him they had a child together. All based on a true story (you can read about it on Wikipedia). What a weird movie that was (I’ve always loved both main actors, too – Jeremy Irons and John Lone. Terrific talents. Though this sure was a strange flick). Anyway, got me thinking about this topic.

A while back, I was out with a group of people in a new city. Our group consisted of five guys and four girls. Three of the girls were friends, but one was a little separate from the rest of the group. And this one... something about her triggered my “there’s something weird here” radar.

She was dressed in a sexy teal dress, and went around flirting with all the boys. She had an eye for me in particular. But to me, she looked like the women I’d seen in a cougar club in Del Mar; skin too-tight on the face (obvious sign of a face lift), lips full in an unnatural way (Botox?), dressed too flashy for an average girl. “She must be an older woman hunting for younger guys,” I thought.

At one point though, the guy I knew there leaned in and told me “She used to be a guy.”

Light bulbs went off. Ah... that’s what I was picking up on.

“Her last boyfriend didn’t find out until they’d been sleeping together for a month,” he said.

“Interesting,” I said. “How’d he react to that?”

“He was pretty upset,” my friend said.

This article is about how to not end up like that duped boyfriend, or some of the other men I’ve had transsexuals tell me about from their romantic histories (one, showing me a picture of a boyfriend, about said boyfriend: “He got used to it”). It’s about how to spot a transsexual – because not every transsexual wants you to know the truth.

 

You Should Know How to Spot Transsexuals

One of the most bizarre articles you will find anywhere on the Internet is wikiHow’s “How to Know if Your Date is Transgender.” Go read it for a real mind-bender. It purports to show you how to recognize if she is, in fact, a he... then spends the entire article telling you if a dude doesn’t want to tell you he’s a dude, you should just roll with it because it’d be too mean to ask. And maybe you should just bang him anyway (”be open-minded!”).

This article ain’t going to be like that. My assumption is if you like trannies, or you’re down for ‘whatever’ – guy, girl, guy masquerading as a girl, girl masquerading as a guy, whatever it is – you’re not going to read an article like this, because you don’t need it. If you are into transsexuals, well cool – that’s your thing. I’ve had buddies tell me about trannies they’ve banged (one told me he picked up a hooker off the street in Mexico, went back to her place, and then she pulled down her pants and showed him a cock and balls – “I just looked at it as a little something extra and did her anyway” my friend said). If it floats your boat, it floats your boat.

This article, however, unlike that wikiHow article, is for guys who want to know how to spot a transsexual, and not walk into the trap.

Some transsexuals are open about being transsexual; we’re not worried about these here. Such an individual will tell you he’s a man (or some variation thereof), and you can move on. Our focus here is men who do not tell you they are men – whether they still have their junk or have lopped it off and carved out a ‘neo-vagina’ – and try to seduce you anyway. A lot of these guys think this is A-OK to do – just see this thread and the comments on it on Reddit: “Made out with hot guy at bar, never told him I was trans, feeling guilty?” (the gist: none of the contributors to the thread cares if it hurts the victim or not... just whether it’s liable to get you beat up or injured for doing). Obviously this is bad juju; our aim here is to make you into a ‘hard target’ for camouflaged transsexuals so you don’t get suckered, like the poor fellow at the start of this story, or the guy who “got used to it” (who presumably was not “used to it” at first... ah, the things guys will get “used to” in scarcity), or guys in the stories in that Reddit thread.

Not every transsexual is looking out for your best interests.

A note on dealing with transsexuals: there’s no need to be mean. Transsexuals know most ordinary people feel uncomfortable with them. If you’re chill, you can have some interesting conversations. In my experience, they pretty much only want to talk about boys and sex, but even that can be interesting – just hearing about the mentalities of some of the guys they’ve been with (”Did this guy have to get used to it, or was he cool about it from the beginning?”), as well as their own mentalities (”So have you always felt like a woman, or you sort of grew into it later in life?”) is intriguing, purely from a character study point of view. They’re unusual people, but they’re still people... and can be interesting to have a chat with.

That said, let’s get into our 12 signs someone’s a transsexual.

 

#1: Falsetto Voice

Voice is the most universal signal you’re dealing with a transsexual.

The only way for a guy to not have a masculine voice is if he began to take estrogen before puberty, and delayed puberty and had his stones lopped off before his balls ever started testosterone production.

There are some transsexuals who do this, but it’s rare. Most don’t get started until later in life. By then, the voice has masculinized, and there’s no going back.

So, instead, what a transsexual does is to use a falsetto and adopt a more feminine formant and diction. You’ll be able to hear this in his voice if you listen though; a falsetto does not sound the same as a true female voice. The difference is pretty obvious.

The challenge with voice, of course, is transsexuals know their voices are giveaways, and take pains to mask them. You will meet them in noisy nightclubs, for instance, where it is difficult to hear the voice well. Or you meet them online, where they build up a relationship with you at a distance before they meet you in person, so that when you meet in person you’re second-guessing yourself: “Why does her voice sound so weird? No, it can’t be anything weird... this is the girl I’ve been talking to for two weeks! She’s great!”

Here’s an example of what a transsexual falsetto sounds like:

Very, very rarely you can meet genuine women with almost falsetto voices. However, the odds you’re dealing with a real chick with a weird voice in general aren’t worth the odds you’re getting catfished. So as soon as you pick up that a chick has a weird / too-falsetto-ish voice, plunk her firmly into you ‘suspicious’ bin and reduce your interest in her until she’s been thoroughly vetted.

 

#2: Man Hands

This is like the old Seinfeld episode about ‘man hands’, if you remember that one:

I once approached a group of four girls at a beach party in Thailand, and immediately noticed one was both very cute and, seemingly, very interested in me, in a shy way. It being Thailand, however (home of the highest proportion of transsexuals in the world... maybe just something in the water there), I am extra cautious when I find myself there.

The music was loud and the girl was shy about speaking, so I couldn’t get a good read on her voice. I did the elbow test (which I’ll tell you about next) – and she passed! I was about to tell myself “Okay, this is a real girl – fine to proceed.”

And then, before I let go of her hands after the elbow test, I let my hand really rest in her hand. And immediately, alarm bells went off. This hand was large, its flesh was thick and tough, and it felt like no female hand.

I got a little closer and asked something else, so I could hear her voice. And yep – falsetto voice.

It was confirmed; not a chick.

The other girls there could’ve been real or could’ve been transsexuals; none of the others was cute, so I didn’t bother to check. I made about 30 seconds more of light chit-chat to not be rude, then excused myself.

Very, very few women you’ll meet will have hands that are both large and rough. Not every transsexual is going to have man-hands (so if a girl you’re suspicious of doesn’t have these, that doesn’t mean you’re in the clear yet), but should you notice them, they’re a dead giveaway.

 

#3: The Elbow Test

As noted above, the elbow test doesn’t always work.

However, I’ve tested it on maybe 10 transsexuals, and probably 50 genuine women and 20 straight men, and I can tell you this: I’ve only found two transsexuals who passed it, and only one genuine woman who didn’t. At least I assume she was a genuine woman; no falsetto voice, but in any event I rather lost my interest after she failed the elbow test. Among straight men, I’ve only found one guy who passed it.

So it’s about an 80-90% efficacious test. The elbow test works like this:

1. Take the test subject by the wrist and gently but fully extend her arm all the way, wrist up... or ask her to stretch her own arm all the way out, with her wrist up

2. Look at the bend in her elbow. If her elbow actually flexes up (so that her arm actually bends backwards a bit), at a 195° angle, she’s a legit chick. If her arm is merely straight (180°), or cannot even straighten out fully, she’s probably a dude

Here’s an example of how female elbows bend, fully extended:

Female elbows hyperextend a bit when the arm is fully straightened.

Here’s another example, of a girl on an ab roller:

Another girl with locked arms, and inward-bending elbows.

Notice how the elbow actually bends in. Male elbows do not normally do this. Male elbows get straight, at best. And the more muscle a man packs on, the less far out his elbows extend:

Female vs. male elbow extension angles

The one normal male I have found who passed the elbow test for female (i.e., his elbow hyperextended) had broken his elbow at a younger age, and attributed his ability to hyperextend due to that.

The two transsexuals I discovered whose elbows hyperextended, I can’t say why. One was reed-thin, so he may have simply never put on enough muscle to create more muscle attachments to the radius and ulna (the two forearm bones) to prevent the arm extending that far. The other confirmed for me he’d broken his arm when young.

However, most of the time, the elbow test works very well.

There’s another variant of the elbow test you can use, too. This is the ‘carrying angle’ test. It works like this:

1. Ask your test subject to bring her hand up near her shoulder, as if she’s carrying a bag

2. Watch to see whether she brings it to her shoulder (man) or her collar bone (woman)

Due to the way bodies change at puberty, women develop greater carrying angles than men do. The difference is so pronounced it can be used to differentiate male from female skeletons... and odds are, your average transsexual will not have had his entire skeleton operated on, so so long as he’s made it through puberty, this telltale sign remains.

Male vs. female carrying angles.

Male arms drawn up in a carry position.

Female arms drawn up in a carry position.

If you’re worried about how to do these tests, don’t be.

You should know from other articles on this website how to get compliance. If you don’t, make sure you read these three articles on the subject:

• How to Get Her to Say “Yes”
• How to Use Compliance Tests to Move Fast with Girls
• Tactics Tuesdays: Command Women (and Have Them Listen)

It is, in general, a piece of cake to get girls (and people posing as girls) to go along with the elbow test. Nobody knows what it’s for, and it’s kind of a curious thing when someone asks you to stick out your arm or draw your arm up in a carry position. I’ve even used this plenty in bars to demonstrate to guys I was talking to – turn to the nearest girl, tell her “Excuse me, can I borrow for a second? I just need to show my friend something”, then have her extend her elbow, and show the guy how her elbow hyperextends. The girl, too, will be interested in this – it’s a fun little conversation starter if you use it this way.

In a conversation with a girl you want to check up on, you can ask her to do this, then remark “Okay good, just checking” afterward. She’ll be curious; you can tell her what it was about, and ask her to excuse you for being a little paranoid. I’ve never found a woman who was irked by this, and every one has been intrigued.

And if you discover she is a he? Well, just bow out of things gracefully.

 

#4: Adam’s Apple

Male Adam’s apple vs. a smooth female neck.

This is a less reliable signal, because:

1. Not every man has a pronounced/visible Adam’s apple, and

2. Having your Adam’s apple shaved is a pretty normal procedure for MTF transsexuals to go through

Thus, you shouldn’t spend a lot of time looking for Adam’s apples, and don’t let someone you’re suspicious of off the hook just because you don’t see one. It’s easy to fake a female neck with a little bit of surgery.

Note that women do have cartilage around their vocal cords, same as men do. It’s simply less pronounced in most women. If you do notice a ‘woman’ with a large Adam’s apple, odds are good that woman is anything but... though there are still girls with little bulges (usually not as pronounced when they’re young though).

 

#5: Masculine Jib

Men have, quite normally, significantly manlier and blockier jawlines than women do. Men have:

• Stronger brows
• Stronger cheekbones
• Stronger jawlines

... than women do, on average.

Women tend to have more heart-shaped faces.

Transsexuals sometimes have surgery on their jawlines to get these shaved down into more feminine shapes. And there are always men with weak chins and jawlines... these men have an easier transition into ladyboy-dom than others, should they choose to make that switch.

Thus, this is not an ‘active’ signal to look for, like voice or elbow. However, if you get that “Wow, this chick sure has a manly jawline” feeling, pay attention to it.

Note that there is a difference between a woman with a wide or square jaw, and a woman with a masculine jaw. There are plenty of (very attractive) women with square, angular jaws. That’s not what we’re talking about.

Cheeks can be a dead giveaway if you see them. Men’s are more pronounced than women’s are; they are sharper and more angular. However, transsexuals on hormone replacement therapy (HRT), where the man is injecting female hormones, develop more feminine-looking cheeks, as fat deposits build around their cheeks similar to what females have. If a transsexual has been on HRT more than two or so years, he will tend to have more feminine-looking facial features, due to the way fat deposits build on his face from the estrogen.

So, again, these are signs to pay attention to if you notice them. But not every transsexual will have very obviously strong brows, cheeks, or jaws.

 

#6: Skin Shade

Believe it or not, males have darker skin than females (source, source) – this is true for all races and populations (source). You may have noticed many black women and Asian women obsessed with skin lightening or whitening. The commonly given reason is “They want to look white.” But the more likely reason may simply be “They want to look more female” – females have lighter-colored skin than males.

This can’t much be changed, either – even if a man never undergoes male puberty and begins taking estrogen as a child, adult skin color is tied to the level of estrogen a child is exposed to in the womb.

This isn’t a super obvious sign. But if you meet enough transsexuals (and I’ve run into a few over the years), you will begin to pick up on their different-than-other-girls skin.

A few other differences:

• Men have redder skin than women
• Men have oilier skin than women
• Men’s hair is darker than women’s

Thus, redder, darker, oilier skin is something to be cautious about, if there are other things that are throwing alarm signals for you (like what we just talked about – face shape – or what we’ll discuss next – nose).

 

#7: Man Nose

Again, the nose can be altered with surgery, so it won’t always be there.

However, in most unaltered transsexuals, you will notice a much larger, sharper, more angular nose than what you see in a woman.

Check out the schnoz on this guy. Also, that jawline.

It won’t always be there, but when it is, it’s usually a dead giveaway.

 

#8: Uncanny Valley Plastic Surgery

Like that transsexual I mentioned at the start of this article, once a guy starts on the “I’ve got to make myself look as much like a woman as possible” road, it’s easy to get obsessed with plastic surgery. The result is many such men have a great deal of work done on their faces and bodies, much of which looks quite unnatural. Think “aging Hollywood star trying to hold onto his youth.” Or just think “Michael Jackson.”

Fake breasts are, of course, a major giveaway... a man can develop some breast tissue once he’s injected estrogen a while, but many transsexuals want bigger, sexier breasts than what estrogen can get them, and opt for implants. Just because a girl has implants doesn’t mean she isn’t a girl, of course... but it is a sign you ought to be more suspicious. At least one part of her is fake – more may be, too.

The uncanny valley face is the biggest red light, plastic surgery-wise, of course. If there is something unsettling about her face, you probably shouldn’t move forward with her, no matter how easy she’s making it for you. Maybe she’s not a tranny, but if her face is really weird, is she really a chick you want to hook up with either way?

A well known YouTube transsexual. Notice the face lift too-stretched skin, Botox lips, nose job nose, and too-high eyebrows.

Also, a note on post-op transsexuals: if you’re feeling bold, you can go on Google image search and look up images of artificial vaginas crafted for sex change patients. Some of these look pretty realistic. So if you get that far (having a dude you don’t know is a dude drop his panties to show you his artificial vagina), don’t trust you’ll be able to tell the difference just by looking at it. Even if his surgeon didn’t do that good of a job, you likely won’t be looking at it much before you stick your cock in. Ersatz vaginas do not self-lubricate, which means he’s going to have to run off to lube that thing up before the act. But it’s pretty normal for girls to go the bathroom before sex, so even here, odds are you’re not going to notice it beforehand.

If you want to make sure you’re not banging a transsexual, you’re going to need make sure you know that before you hit the bedroom (unless he’s pre-op). Look for those uncanny valley signs, and don’t ignore them... like I assume the boyfriend of the transsexual from the start of this article did (”There’s something weird about her face... ah, but who cares! She wants me!”).

 

#9: Hips/Shoulders/Torso

There are a lot of key differences in physique between men and women.

Some of the differences between male and female bodies.

Big ones are:

• Larger shoulders in men
• Smaller hips in men
• Taller pelvis in men
• V-shaped torso rather than hourglass torso

And of course, men on average are taller than women are too.

The torso, shoulders, and hips are very often a dead giveaway. Even if a transsexual is very thin, he will typically still have a straight up-and-down torso or a V-shaped one... not a female hourglass figure. His shoulders will be broader and his hips will be small.

When you see these features in a woman, red light.

 

#10: Exaggerated Femininity

If a woman seems super feminine, be careful. As with anything where someone seems like a too-extreme version of whatever it is, odds are good this person is trying too hard... which means what you’re seeing isn’t natural.

Sure, there are some women who try too hard to be feminine. Often these are girls who have some other kind of problem, and only decided later in life that the solution to it was to become über girly. However, in general, if a woman has incredibly practiced femininity, you should be on alert to something artificial – for some reason, she is putting on a front. You may want to find out what that reason is.

Over-feminine (the transsexual is the one on the left)? ‘She’ may not be a she at all...

Transsexuals in general will overdo their femininity. Sparkly stuff, pink stuff, overly girly behaviors, weird names – their femininity is very often exaggerated, the same way 14-year-old girls exaggerate theirs. If you see it, be on alert.

 

#11: Extremely Forward

The first time I met a transsexual, it was in a nightclub I frequented where I had a lot of luck picking up girls, but which also had a lot of gay guys present and a whole menagerie of characters. One night I went and there were barely any women, and I didn’t want to look like some goof hanging out by myself the whole time. So I spotted a group of five women and got in with them. Two of the chicks were really hot, but three of them were not, and threw my radar off a bit. Sure enough, it turned out those three were transsexuals (I didn’t find out until after one of them had been rubbing my chest).

The thinnest/most feminine one, aloof earlier, warmed up to me when he saw I was chill with them and not hostile. Which, you know – I’m writing a guide here on spotting transsexuals, but I don’t dislike them or anything. They’re just people. And besides, I was hoping to sleep with one of their two cute (real!) female friends.

Anyway, at some point the feminine one started to come onto me. This was after he’d been fending off guys trying to approach him... he’d seemingly decided he wanted only me. First he showed me a picture of his boyfriend, and announced “He got used to it.” He was pre-op (said he was saving up for the surgery), and I asked how he and his boyfriend did it. “Usually we do oral, but sometimes I let him do anal,” he said. Then he grabbed my hand and put it on his midriff – surprisingly silky skin (then again, I don’t touch a lot of guys’ sides, so maybe that’s just what a dude’s abdominal skin feels like). I realized he had the wrong impression of me, so began to back off, and he propositioned me: “Ever get a blow job from a transsexual?”

Even with tits and all the rest, he’s still a dude... and still every bit as horny as a dude.

“Haha, thanks bro, but I’ve gotta catch the last train home,” I announced. I abandoned my plans to pick up one of the two cute girls there (who’d ditched us and headed off to the dance floor anyway), and made my way out.

My experience with transsexuals since has stayed similar. I’m chill with them, or friendly with them... and they interpret it as a green light to put the moves on me. The transsexual from the start of this article tried to invite himself home with me when I announced I was leaving at night end; I’ve had trannies grab my dick (through my pants) and come onto me in other ways. I don’t really worry about it too much, but I do try to make it clear I’m not the right guy for them.

(funny story about the transsexual from the start of this article... he was coming onto me fairly hard, and I was trying to let him down gently. And another guy there the whole time got more and more agitated as he watched this, saying “Man, she is hot! Man, if she wanted to go home with, I’d go home with her! I’d totally go for it! Try it out, you know?” Well, after I left, he got his chance – my friend there told me after I exited, this transsexual started trying to hook up with every guy in the group. He even went for the guy who’d said he’d sleep with him... only for that guy to get cold feet. So much for all that bravado)

Regardless, transsexuals will be some of the most sexually aggressive ‘women’ you will meet... because they are not women. Transsexual sexual arousal follows male patterns, not female patterns; more specifically, sexual arousal is ‘category specific’ in men, while it is not in women. That is to say, women can be turned on by anything, but men are only turned on by whatever they’re turned on by; researchers have measured this in penises, vaginas, and even artificially constructed vaginas of sex-changed men; if he’s born a man, his arousal patterns are male, whether he likes chicks or dicks.

You will be dealing with a man who is as horny for sex as a man is, but who also feels like he has the license to aggressively operate that a woman does... which is a pretty explosive combination for sexual assertiveness.

Most transsexuals will be a little reserved before they know you (they want to avoid getting the stuffing beat out of them by some guy who flips out because a tranny touched him). However, as soon as they decide you aren’t a threat, and they decide they want you, they turn on a level of sexual aggression you’ll rarely see in women.

Thus, when you experience extreme sexual directness from a woman, especially if she’s throwing off any other red flags of yours, you may want to put her under a little extra scrutiny... just in case. Even if she isn’t a dude, a girl who’s super forward is often a sign of another problem – when it’s too good to be true, after all...

 

#12: Exhibitionism

Transsexuals are, very often, exhibitionist.

They’re finally female, and by (Boy) George, they want to show it off!

The effect is similar to what you see with girls with breast implants... though even more pronounced.

Ever notice how girls with breast implants are always in low-cut dresses, and find ways to expose their breasts a lot more than girls with natural boobs? It’s because they didn’t always have them; they got them expressly so they could be seen and admired; and now that they’ve got ‘em, they want everybody to know it and see.

It’s the same deal with transsexuals; he’s coming out as a woman, and he wants everybody to know it. Particularly if he’s happy with his appearance, he’s going to tend to want to flaunt it.

Yep, they’re both dudes.

Transsexuals, in my experience, have little problem exposing their (fake) breasts and showing off other parts of their bodies. They like to do this, and it makes them feel good.

Like sexual forwardness, exhibitionism is typically a red flag... regardless whether the woman is actually a man or not.

 

If You’re Unsure...

When I ran into the transsexual with man hands on the beach, that was the incident that showed me I had a pretty good radar for when something is wrong or not. I had a feeling, tried to overrule it (”Eh, probably just my imagination”), then felt those hands... those hands even rougher and manlier than mine... and I just knew.

These days, my approach is “If you’re not sure if it’s a girl or a guy, it’s a guy until proven otherwise.” Saves a lot of time; rather than hang around with a chick where things are moving forward but you’re constantly second-guessing yourself about “I don’t know if I really want to commit to this... I mean, am I sure this chick is a chick?” just bail and find a girl you feel natural and comfortable with instead.

Remember the most important signs to look for:

1. Voice test
2. Elbow test
3. Uncanny valley
4. Shoulders/torso/hips

... and look out for the other ones too, and you can avoid getting catfished in real life.

Also, protip: if you’re doing online, keep an eye out for that little ‘TS’ or ‘TG’ symbol in a profile. That means ‘transsexual/transgender’. Stealth trannies won’t have that on there, but the ones who aren’t trying to trick you (as much) will.

While transsexualism is somewhat on the upswing, the good news is there are still plenty of signs to recognize transsexuals, and unless you spend a lot of time in transsexual-friendly nightclubs (or you spend a lot of time in Southeast Asia... or do a lot of online dating), you’re not typically going to run into too many.

Just be aware, and if something flips your “Hmm, something isn’t right here” alarm bells, you know what to look for.

Also, hey – here’s a picture of a real chick (not a transsexual) to help you decompress from this article:

This girl is NOT a transsexual.

You earned it ;)

Chase