That's okay, that seems to be the prevailing opinion of men. As you said, there's no real way to tell.
While I appreciate your story link, I don't feel like it's qualifying for our discussion here. Dating apps are notorious for women for being a cesspool. A lot of the female accounts are fake profiles. And again, we have a very limited sample.
Plus, on that one it's like she didn't make a real effort. "Hey, you have a nice smile" on a dating app? Come on. As a woman, she should have known better if she's been on them at all. You have to stand out above hundreds, if not thousands of men to be seen.
That's one of the reasons they're so awful.
But in person? With a warm engaging smile, respectfulness of body stature and positioning, and being engaging? But in a male body? That would have worked well.
Easy peasy.
Mindfulness of your environment is tantamount. Again, as a woman she knows this. So I don't know what she was playing at. Of course that failed. Of course.
I've seen a story of a woman who did the same thing with her brother's picture and got him 5 dates in 3 days.
Of course, she had to scrub him up, dress him, and drag him outside for "fishless" pics and fix his profile too.