Sure enough, the better I got the more people thought I was male. That

had

side benefits sometimes. My happiest moment as an athlete was the look in the eyes of a five-year-old girl when she realized a *woman* had executed the stunt she really liked to watch. And eventually, in a totally

different

context, it led to a hilarious encounter with a couple of Hell's Angels who thought I was a guy.

You make it sound like posting a picture of yourself would not have helped. :-)

In certain situations people set their brains on energy saver mode and ignore obvious evidence such as the hourglass figure. I joked about getting the hog repainted in Barbie pink. Usually people got the hint when they saw I was wearing a scrunchy. That particular day I was taking a long ride up the San Joaquin valley and had tucked my hair into my jacket to reduce tangles.

Seriously, some of the replies at this thread have really looked like examples of the fundamental attribution error.

-Durova