Questions

[Danni Bear]

The question has been asked in many ways and times over the last several months. What am I and the difference in a CD and a TS? How do I know if I am a CD or TS? Does being a CD lead to being TS?

The answers to this is simple and complex. A CD is anyone who has ever worn the clothes of the opposite gender to their assigned birth gender. This encompasses almost the entire human race. That is the simple answer. The more complex answer encompasses a far smaller percentage of the human population. By popular defination, a CD is one who for sexual or personal reasons dons the attire of the opposite gender on a regular or frequent basis. This can be aS simple as wearing an artice of feminine or masculine undergarments under typical outerwear to dressing and the using of artifical aids to present an outward appearence of the opposite sex. This is all crossdressing in it's accepted form.

The truth is,that is correct in as far as it goes. A CD is much more than that,he or she is a complex person whose very being drives them to wear these items. This need never goes away for any throughout their lifetime, though the desire and compunction does let up on many occasions allowing a CD respite from that need. This is where the difference comes from in a CD and a TS. In a TS the need to dress or become the opposite gender to the one assigned at birth never recedes or goes away.

Being a TS is being a CD carried to a different level than dressing alone can soothe. It encompasses more than just physical appearence although that is a part. It is mental and emotional stability in a disordered world. The knowing that you will never be the whole person you are no matter what you change about yourself. There will always be a part missing. Never being truely female or male,forever somewhere in between the two. Many TS through surgery and hormone therapy live lives that are fullfilling in their chosen gender, others never reach that level of acceptence either in themselves or from family and friends
.
Being a CD in and of itself will not make anyone TS. It can and does open you to finding out more about yourself. Nothing and no one can make someone TS. This is something that cannot be learned or tought. It is inherent in all who are TS, buried deep inside or found and exposed to the light of day. It is not something that anyone would willing choose. There is absolutely no choice involved in being TS. The only choice that any TS has is in how they handle the life that they are dealt.

So, is there a difference in a CD and a TS? Yes and no, we are all CD. A TS usually has more issues than a CD but they are still CD's.

Danni Beard

[gretchen2]

A TS usually has more issues than a CD but they are still CD's.

Danni Beard[/QUOTE]

I am ok with everything else that you said, except for the last sentence. I am not CD I am TS and think that all TS cross a line that goes beyond CD. That line may be different for some and the same for otheres but once you cross it you are no longer CD. For me and crossing my own line was a little backwards. I realized that I was TS the first time I went to see a therapist for the first time and I had already been on hormones for several months. That's not true though, I always knew that I was TS I was just in denial. I think that there is huge difference between TS and CD, but who really cares and does it really matter?

[Danni Bear]

Gretchen,

One question. Do you dress in attire of the opposite gender than was your birth assignment?

Myself and my husband are both post-op TS and have been for almost 12 years and are both still CD in that we dress opposite to our assigned birth genders. by our now lega genders no we don't crossdress in the convential defination but yet we are still CD and will always be that.

Danni

[gretchen2]

I have struggled with this in my own head for many years and I still can not agree with you on this one. I think that once you start evasive action against your own body you go past CD, surgeries, hormones, massive amounts of hair removal, legal name and gender marker change, presenting 24-7 the gender you were meant to be. This in my opinion goes beyond CD, and I do think that we should all be united as a whole, but there is a difference. Do not take me wrong though, I would never say that one is better than the other, we are different from one another. Maybe I am wrong and if I am then I can admit it, but I am going to need some serious convincing.

[Danni Bear]

Gretchen,

To agreee or to disagree is normal. to disagree and to be pleasent about it is something that sadly has been absent from here a lot lately.
Everyone's thoughts are as valid as the others.

Love
Danni

[Sophie86]

Danni,

I really appreciated reading this tonight. I have heard the very opposite viewpoint a bit too often in the past couple of months, and it upsets me greatly. I went to my first TG support group meeting last night, and when it came my turn to speak I was very nervous. I was actually afraid of being scorned by other members of the group as "just a crossdresser." I was afraid of being told either that I was in denial about being TS, or in denial about being a fetishist. Fortunately, neither happened and I was treated very well.

It is hard to explain to some of those who have made the decision to transition because they feel driven by their desire to experience the world as a woman, that one can feel a desire that is just as genuine even though it falls short of wanting to have the experience 24/7. They don't see that what would be for them an incomplete, false existence is for us a fulfilling life.

[Cynthia Anne]

I think I will except that explanation. So that makes me a TS that loves to cross dress!

[sterling12]

So now, (for people within and without The Community who will listen) we point out that we are ALL transgendered. I imagine that's why it's become an accepted umbrella term to include everyone in a single spectrum.

I think a lot of Trans-Folk who want to cause division and dissension will no-doubt wish to dispute your observation. But, I think they have an "agenda" which seems to sooth their psyche, if they believe that there is some "fundamental difference that makes their particular situation different from other folks."

One simple proof among many....Wish I had a nickel for every honest CD who has expressed their "fantasies" about becoming A Woman. TS Gurls may make "The Ultimate Leap," but The Feelings, The Longing, The Desires, are all there for the Vast Majority of whatever Labeled Group you would care to name. And, as you have pointed out, about 99% of all TS persons, started their journey with crossdressing, and it continues until death.

I've pointed this out before, and I will continue to do so. Instead of focusing on some imagined differences within our ranks, we should use The Idea of a Gender Spectrum. ALL of us, are somewhere walking along That Same Road! When The Psychiatrists, Writers of Books, Dullard Talk Show Hosts, and many others; try to focus on differences it only weakens Our Cause.

WE should be uniting, enjoying, and celebrating our uniqueness. We should be actively opposing people who would divide us!

Peace and Love, Joanie

[Cynthia Anne]

[QUOTE=sterling12;2405
WE should be uniting, enjoying, and celebrating our uniqueness. We should be actively opposing people who would divide us!

Peace and Love, Joanie[/QUOTE] Thank you Joanie, you made me rethink!