#82 “I have an androgynous name and frequently get misgendered at work over email.”

“I have an androgynous name and frequently get misgendered at work over email. Most of my peers realize the mistake and correct themselves; no big deal.

At one meeting, someone took the misunderstanding in a weird direction. I was standing outside of our meeting room waiting for the previous meeting to end. Another waiting attendee looked at me and said, ‘you're Sam.’ I said, ‘yes, hi.’ He said, ‘you're a woman. Does that ever confuse anyone?’ Baffled, I said, ‘evidently, yes.’

It was a bewildering experience. I get that tech is presently very male-centric, but for someone to be surprised to the point of needing to let me know how unexpected they found my gender, it makes me think we have a long way to go!”