I have always considered it a hobby for me.
I have always considered it a hobby for me.
Well it's certainly Way more than just a hobby for me, but as some others have already pointed out the term 'lifestyle' is often found objectionable, as a 'lifestyle' is generally defined by what what we tend to do, not necessarily by who/what we are inside our innermost beings. However, laying aside my obsession with semantics for a moment, I can say it's my lifestyle, even though the root causes of my displayed behaviors are driven by a much deeper need to express myself to the outside world.
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Gina, It's a lifestyle for me.
Orchid
I might have said hobby when I started getting back into this, but given the fact that I'm now trying to wear feminine things pretty much every day to a greater or lesser extent (like knickers when I'm not going to the gym, fem jeans or combats, subtly pencilled in eyebrows, clear mascara, frosted lip balm etc) means it's more of a lifestyle even if I don't fully dress more than the odd day a week
It's more than a hobby for sure. I don't get to be Corrine everyday but I am always looking for things for her. I'm lucky to have a gf that enjoys my girl side. She says I think like a women more than a man. We have the same taste in clothes, shoes etc. It may become a lifestyle or maybe it already is.
I agree with Mary, it is neither a hobby or a lifestyle for me, both of those things suggest a choice, just a hobby or get serious and make it a life style. For me I don't feel it is a choice, it's just a part of my make up, or personality if you will.
Tina B.
totally a hobby. And like most of my other hobbies I like to learn as much as i can to to the best i can. maybe to much.
This is rather hard to answer.
My full on CDing is definitely a hobby. I do not go out with falsies, I rarely go out in wig and makeup. It is fun, but I have no desire to go out dressed full as a female.
That being said, I do wear what are considered feminine items (ironically sold as unisex) like leggings quite regularly. Every one blue moon these days I will go out skirted. But when I do this I am in full male mode, or androgynous mode.
I love my Goth look a lot, but as of late have not been able to get out in it, and the more time goes by, the less likely I ever will again.
I would love to wear a less severe version of my Goth style for daily wear, but it is more acceptable to look like a thug or pimp, than it is to look like death ( ). Actually not Death, but definitely different.
I guess my style is a life style, it is an integral part of me.
Last edited by Pythos; 02-21-2011 at 11:36 AM.
"I am not altogether on anyone's side as no one is all together on my side"
Tree beard. Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers.
well it's not a lifestyle for me but I wouldn't say the undeniable urge to wear dresses was a hobby either
This is a hobby for me but on the other hand I wish it could be a lifestile. I have a wife that was so upset when she found out that I was visiting this site. She could never accept me as a CD. I do happen to have a few hours once in a while to enjoy myself as a woman in privacy. At this time that is all I have.
I think the two ended spectrum is a little too simplistic for most of us here. But, given the two choices, I'm going to have to go with BOTH! Between family and work it is impossilbe for me to dress more than once a month or so. I do, however, epilate, moisturize, pluck, and primp on a daily/weekly/monthly schedule. The infrequency of full dressing would make it a hobby, but the constant work would make it a lifestyle. Now maybe my deffinitions here don't match yours, but it's the best I can do, again, with the limited two dimentional scale we are using in this thread. Or maybe I could say it's a hobby verging on a lifestyle?
Mina Lost aka Lynda
I guess I've never really thought of it like that but for me its neither a lifestyle or a hobby. Its more of a necessity.
Both I think. Its a hobby which affects my lifestyle.
Lifestyle or Hobby? Neither. Escape? Maybe. What I am gender-wise, IDK. I'll say this though...whatever I do, I do 100%. Soul to surface - it begins inside not out. I am not fixed nor rigidly defined - no one is. I believe we become many different people as we go through life - no two are the same. We have or may come to embody and express... any human heart.
For me it's a hobby. Nobody knows about it and I have too many things going on in my life to make it a lifestyle. Most would have to be dropped.
[SIGPIC]http://www.crossdressers.com/forums/image.php?type=sigpic&userid=82706&dateline=137762 0356[/SIGPIC]Linda
In the same sense that climate is the sum of weather, my lifestyle is the sum of all my assorted activities. Crossdressing is just one of the things I do. It's a way to express the feminine urge I seem to be afflicted with. I read, I play music, I shoot guns, I grow fruit. I'm a husband, a father, a grandfather. I do lots of stuff that taken together constitutes my lifestyle. The only way that crossdressing could be a lifestyle for me is if it were the only thing I did. Even I'm not that obsessed.
Neither, its more of a necessity to feel complete.
Using the term "hobby" makes the question (comparison with "lifestyle") a bit fuzzy for me, by inviting digression, since the terms define different concepts. It is like trying to define the amount of time required to be able to define a partnership as being a "long- term relationship", .
If you are looking for the concise method to determine this, I suppose it is simply a process of labeling your physical time commitment to CD behavior as either part-time or full-time.
A hobby is a personally satisfying interest that a person pursues in their spare time.
A lifestyle is a consistent adherence to behavior that clearly demonstrates to other people that it is a way of life.
I probably spend an equal or greater amount of my time crossdressed than I do dressed as a male. But since I do not devote 100% of my time to crossdressing, it is technically a "hobby". I do not consider it a "lifestyle". I have always considered myself to be more of a "social experiment", lol.
So, to clarify...
"I feel much more like I do now, than I did a little while ago." hehehe
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[SIZE="3"]Lots of love Gina X[/SIZE]
If you sit near the river for long enough eventually the bodies of your enemies will float by......Chinese Proverb
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are still missing !!
People who think they know everything, are especially annoying to those of us who do
It was sort of a hobby some 40 years ago, but as I realized that this is who I am, it is surely part of me and a lifestyle, which I have come to embrace.
The opening screen for this site offers a third choice definition: secret passion. That describes it best for me. Even though my wife knows, it's mostly secret and personal for me. There are, however, some elements of hobby and lifestyle there. Crossdressing is part of who I am, so there's the lifestyle part. I use sewing and craft work to support and enhance my girl things. For example, I like to make lacy headbands to go with my maid's dress, and sometimes I need to hem a skirt, so there's the hobby aspect. Here's how I'd cut the pie: 5% lifestyle, 10% hobby, 85% secret passion.
Hobby for certain. Kind of like building models or playing with lego...For the record, I outgrew my lego.
Ginger
hmmm... let me think about the definition first.....
hobby... an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure : her hobbies are reading and gardening.
lifestyle.... the way in which a person or group lives
Perhaps as I was still figuring out who I was from early childhood, it might have been an odd hobby at best given my confused gender. As I have become more comfortable in my own soft, smooth skin, I think it is now a lifestyle both physically and emotionally. It is not just the dressing but an entire feeling of comfort and well, normalcy. There is more of a deep emotional desire and need than just an 'interest' as is most likely evidenced by my now androgynous physical transformation. Being femme is my lifestyle.