I think we can probably all agree that crossdressers share the desire/need/compulsion to wear clothing normally associated with the opposite sex. But that is as far as it goes in my opinion. We are not all first-born, left-handed, artistic, liberal, etc, etc.
We dress for different reasons, we started at different ages, we like different styles, we have different approaches toward society. OMG, we are just like everyone else, different!
Generally, I agree with your general premise. We are not all generals either. So what is your point and who is doing the generalizing that seems to upset you besides me in this thread? You know that humor has been said to be the best medicine.
I agree. Nobody wants to know what makes us tick more than we do, but nobody's figured it out yet. But there sure are a lot of theories.
I agree with you! We are not the same! I've heard it said that just before they made me they broke the mode, but used it anyway! Than thrashed it!
So..uhhh Mary.. when you say crossdresser..and that is it...do you mean cd/ts/tg as a whole or ???? just tryin to generalize..my motto has to be updated with "I crossdress..and THAT IS IT!!!!"
Marissa
"You better look hard and look twice,
...is that me, baby or just a brilliant disguise?"- The Boss
If I say," we are living proof that God has a funny bone", am I generalizing?
Or very observant.
Drink up me heartys,yo ho!
Kate
Why is everybody always complaining about generalizing, about everything? We are the same, in the fact that we are different! I am not first born, but I am a left handed liberal, and your probably not, but thats OK. I don't want to be encouraged to go out, tell the world, or a lot of other things talked about in here, but thats OK too. Because for as different as we are, we all have a deep seated need to do something society sees as strange and unexplainable, and in that we are all the same!
Tina B.
Magic is the art of changing consciousness at will.
Hi Mary! Although I appreciate the complaint you are making, I am not sure I understand it in the context of this forum. Clearly, the membership here is composed of a diverse membership of differing backgrounds, experiences, and unique personalities. This is true not only of this forum, but life in general. In this, you are correct - everybody is different. However, the members here all share a common bond that has brought each and every one of us to this very specific, specialized forum. For whatever reasons, we are crossdressers. This is a part of who we are and what we do. Although there are certainly differences among each individual CDer as to how each CDer may view or practice CDing, we otherwise share this common bond among ourselves. I have only been a member for a short time, but in my view, such generalization of this bond provides great value to the forum membership. In posting threads, similarities or differences are discussed, debated, and considered. Advice and support is given to fit the situation. Friendships develop as a result of this common bond that we collectively, as a forum, have generalized. So unless I simply misunderstand your complaint, which would not be the first time I have misunderstood something
Last edited by Anne2345; 04-15-2011 at 09:18 PM.
I'm SURE we all put on our forms in exactly the same way! Rite and then left!
Because after u put in the first one, the other one is ALWAYS LEFT!
(And, don't u HATE IT when folks call u, "Shirley"!?)
U can't keep doing the same things over and over and expect to enjoy life to the max. When u try new things, even if they r out of your comfort zone, u may experience new excitement and growth that u never expected.
Challenge yourself and pursue your passions! When your life clock runs out, you'll have few or NO REGRETS!
Yes we are different even in the respect that I am a cross dresser who dresses like a woman most of the time, wants to express as a woman most of the time but does not want to transition...Originally Posted by Mary Morgan
What stop do I get off at? Hmmm...
No offense intended, but what specifically are you talking about here, because you are make no sense at all to me.
We do have one thing in general, we wear items of the opposite sex. To what extent each of us do it and for what ever reason will vary, but the fact remains we do wear items of the opposite sex. The reason why and to each having an amount of how far they go are here at the forum maybe to seek answers to help themselves accept their crossdressing.
I do agree that sometimes a topic and replies maybe suggesting I slot in here or there but it does create discussion and this helps us to find answers and question ourselves. I see your point and it does suggest that we all differ and our journeys differ too and that helps make this forum interesting. I find it slightly irritating when one suggests to come out of the closet and a lot say yes do we had no issues but they have traveled a different journey which maybe distinctly different to another. Sometimes I guess we need to take things with a "grain of salt", smile and get on with life.
I just take it all with a grain of salt. I know I'm knew and realize that my goals might be too extreme or ambitious to other crossdressers that came out later while they were married, had kids and all manner of things that make their situation different. Additionally, some people just want to wear women's clothing, others want to transition fully into being a woman, some see it as an art form and I'm one of the people that wants to be able to switch between my male and female side freely.
The situations of others are not mine. I'm single, live alone, don't have a whole lot of relationships that restrict me from living this way. Of course, this isn't to say I won't turn down the wisdom and experience of my elders, its the part of the reason I'm here.
We're all the same, only different.
My name is Carol.
I think I'm only different.We're all the same, only different.
Wow, you can't please anyone on this website. A few weeks ago, it was "let's stop specifying with all the labels!" and now it's "let's stop generalizing everyone into one category!"
What's that old Line: "Yes, your different...just like everybody else!" Try to remember that we are constantly getting "newbies" around here, particularly in This Section. They haven't learned yet, that there is no answer for "Why do we do this?" And so, they constantly try to come up with a Theory. All Theory's require generalizing, and thus they will generalize about a given Pet Theory. It also is convenient to generalize. If we write an opinion like a Dissertation, constantly qualifying, quantifying, and justifying, every statement; The Discussion gets lost, and we don't understand "The Gist" of The Message.
A lot of "The Old Hands" accept that there will be a lot of repetition in this Section, and lots of generalizing. We glance through what's written, and every once in a while find something worthwhile (like this thread) to comment about. But, most of The more experienced look for "stimulation" in other sections. I think it goes with The Territory. The longer you stick around here, The More Likely to look at this section and get A Case of "Read that, commented on that, bored with that." Perhaps you have reached that Stage?
Peace and Love, Joanie
Last edited by sterling12; 04-16-2011 at 01:00 AM.
Pretty much the story of the internet.
People come into X for reasons Y, Z, A, B, C, D, E and so on. And no matter which reason, some people focus on their own reason so much that they just feel that's "the way" of things. Try dealing with it in a pasttime that's only just about as old as you are. I've been playing video games since 1982, mostly because I had questions about them after my parents took me to see Tron, I see video games through the scope of starting out in the arcade and some people have absolutely no appreciation for that because their first game was on a Playstation and they never set foot into an arcade in their lives. In fact, some can't even come to terms with the arcade style of gaming and require some manner of story for things like Street Fighter.
And there's this constant desire from them that I just don't have - they want games to be appreciated on the level of movies, televison and books. To put it bluntly, I tell people that's not going to happen until the baby boomers are dead and buried and suggest they deal with that. Its exactly what happened with movies when they first emerged. Older people didn't care for it, looked down on the medium but when those people were buried, most people were enjoying movies.
Could crossdressing ever cross that threshold? Perhaps. I often look at a TV/Movie series about Ghost in the Shell and wonder what sexuality means if you can just put your brain in a box and have a cyborg body of any design you want? I probably would take a woman's body and never look back were that the case, but it I have to admit its also kinda creepy how far that show isn't away from fiction as I watch robotics, nanomachines and such progress.
Thank you all for your replies. I am not upset or angry, I am reflecting. My point, if I had one, was to say that we need to embrace our lifestyles no matter what they are or from whence they come. We are just people, like all other people, deverse, multi-talented, multi-skilled. We belong to the family of man, or is that woman, every bit as much as anybody. So let's go with it. As for the generalizing, I fear that we may exclude someone even in our attempt to be inclusive. If this makes no sense, never mind!
Different--? Who me? dont know about you but the talk is I'am different because your not like me !!
Mary, I understand where you're coming from, but I see it this way; These people aren't necessarily trying to lump us together, but instead trying to find someone else just like them. See, we all believe that we are unique - that this, as you said, "desire/need/compulsion" is only us, and there can't possibly be someone else in the world as 'screwed up' as us. So, we reach out to try to find similarities between us and others.
That's my thought, anyway.
Kathi
All general statements are false anyway.
This was something I was very introspective on last fall. I was going through a phase of trying to determine the whats and whys. Labels are funny things, or as an old saying goes "Words have power". I had picked up the term bigender (a non medical, community defined word) because it seemed to give me a nice package to put what I do into, but the label had more to it that did not apply to me and for a bit, I started changing myself to reflect my new label. Cart before the horse and all that. Ultimately I admitted to myself that I am not likely to find The Truth of it all and simply say I'm a CD because it's what I do, not who I am.
I've spent a lot of time in the company of other CDs and TSs since I got here a year ago and if there's one thing that I've learned, the community is something of an illusion. It is one thing we have in common and although we think it defines us, there is more than enough there to make us all different. It is one of the reasons I've taken the sabbatical from this site, I got tired of the same sort of threads over and over that simply don't apply to or interest me as whatever subcategory of crossdresser I am.
—Mikaela
Generalizations help people understand social groupings - but they're often used as a crutch to lean on instead of work through to that understanding.
Put us into a room - Avg Joe will say "hey! trannies!" (or far worse speech of ignorance).
But you're right - each of us could be placed in many rooms... Rooms of "musicians" or "scientists" or "shoe fiends"...
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