Ad-Dressing The Situation Once And For All

(I am a computer science student and female. Predictably, many of my friends from my course are male. One of our professors is a grumpy man who is over-nice to female students. I try to avoid him, but occasionally have to see him in connection with the course. On a regular basis, a male fellow student and I have the following conversation.)

Fellow Student: “Wait, you got [Professor] to explain [topic]? How did you do that?”

Me: “I just asked.”

Fellow Student: “It’s because you wear a dress!”

(Note: I am quite shy and always dress very modestly. I very rarely wear dresses or skirts. Rather than bother to point that out …)

Me: “You can try wearing a dress!”

(Finally, end of semester, we do manage a slightly different conversation.)

Fellow Student: “Wait, you got [Professor] to bring up your email, even though we’re all blocked from email this week? What were you wearing?”

Me: “Baggy trackpants and flannelette shirt!”

Fellow Student: *ponders, nods approvingly* “Oh. Okay then.”