Never Gonna Believe What Happened

(I am currently volunteering in a year three (age 7/8) classroom. While I do have quite short hair, nothing else about me is especially androgynous. I’m teaching a small group about fractions when one of the boys looks up at me.)

Boy: “Miss [My Name], are you a boy or a girl?”

Me: *amused* “Which do you think I am?”

Boy: “I think you’re a boy, because you have short hair.”

(Before I can reply, the girl next to him speaks up.)

Girl: “Girls can have short hair too, [Boy]! Like [Teacher]!”

Me: “That’s very true, [Girl].”

Boy: “No, Miss [Teacher] is a boy, too!”

Me: “But you have much longer hair than me, [Boy]. Does that mean you’re a girl?”

Boy: “Uh…”

(The boy didn’t talk for the rest of the time I had the group, quietly working. He told me later that just maybe Teacher and I were girls.)