I've been in college since 2004 (I've basically been goofing off this whole time, I'm nowhere near any degree yet) and since the begining I've been going by my male name. On the first day of class when they call role I inform them that I go by my male name. I've done this in every class I've taken. It's easy enough to get people to call me by my male name but the part I have trouble with is getting them to see me as male.

I haven't actually come out yet (as being either gynophilic or transgendered) and to be truthful I wouldn't mind doing so. I'm not afraid of bluntly telling people that I'm trans, but there's a bit of a problem. I live in a very anti-LGBT city. In a couple of my classes in the past, various LGBT issues have come up and were met with an overwhelmingly negative response. Some people are accepting of LGBT but those people are few and far between.

Now while I'm not actually afraid to just come out and say what I am, I really don't want to spend the entire semester dealing with unacceptance in every class. But I can't go through the semester and not present as male. In all my past semesters I've just barely gotten away with being gender neutral, but people still thought of me as a girl. I've got a very female voice, I'm fairly short, and while my face may be androgynous, my overall body shape is definately not.

So I was wondering if you guys (and gals) had any advice for me on trying to pass/present as male full time to people I'll be getting to know personally (it's a small college, classes are small and the students get to know each other very well by the end of the semester) without actually having to come out as trans?

Worst case scenario is I'll either stick to the gender-neutral thing, or tell people there was a mix-up at the hospital when I was born concerning my gender... which is sorta true when you think about it.