Why do you love CD?

[justagirl89]

I am new here and just starting to learn about the world of crossdressing.

I was wanting to know what and why you love cross dressing? Is it sexual or not? How did you start? Where would you like it to take you?

Thanks for replying!

[Karren H]

So who said I love it? I started when I was 7.... Before I knew what sex was. I kind of blame my mother for letting me know I was supposed to have been a girl! But its something that just never goes away. It screws up relationships. Its expensive as hell.... I'd be more than happy if it went away. Being caught between two genders sucks. I'd settle to be in one or the other. Either one! I'm not choosy! Lol. But the reality is I know it never goes away so I embraced it and moved on...

[Joanna41]

Well I love to cd because its the ultimate challenge. I'm very detail orientated and CDing is just that. Learning proper make-up application, hair styles, fashion, nail care, and mannerisms. It also gives me a different look at how women feel in there slinky sexy dresses, shoes, and lingerie. Even after shaving my clothes feel so much better touching my skin. It is somewhat sexual to some degree for most but certainly not for everyone. I have a very special relationship with my fiance and we have a lot of fun with joanna. So that's what it is for me.

Joanna

[Ashley S]

Hi welcome to the club.

I think everyone here would have different responses to your questions. Speaking for myself, I love the colors, styles, and variety to fem clothing. Really I love anything that lets me break out of the macho male mold that society has cast me in.

In regards to Why...no idea

I do it because I enjoy it, I've had a powerful attraction to fem things since I was a pre-teen. I find the crossdressing experience fills a void, or satisfies an emotional need for me. I don't really know a better way to explain my feelings on it.

There were sexual feelings earlier on, because of the excitement of doing something wrong or taboo, and the excitement of finally getting to express the girl inside, coupled with raging teenaged hormones, but that eventually fades.

Dressing fem just feels pleasant and natural now, but I'm not entirely sure where it's going to take me, but I'm trying to just go with the flow.

Hope that answers some of your questions.
Lots of Luv
Ashley

[Jenniferathome]

I started cross dressing when I was about 8. In adolescence is always resulted in a "sexual" thing but not as an adult. My desire to cross dress is innate, like, I believe, for all cross dressers. I think cross dressing is just a point on the sexuality continuum. I am straight, again, like most cross dressers, married and have children. No one would ever guess i was a cross dresser, never. I am quite "manly" in my daily life. I told my wife of 20+ years only last year. She is completely accepting. Cross dressing brings me a level of peace I do not have in my traditional male life. It relieves stress and I like the act of making myself pretty. The clothes, fabrics, colors, everything about women's clothes is quite different than the choices I have as a man.

If you have a spouse who is a cross dresser, feel free to ask questions. Thanks for reaching out.

[Marleena]

I started cross dressing when I was about 8. In adolescence is always resulted in a "sexual" thing but not as an adult. My desire to cross dress is innate, like, I believe, for all cross dressers. I think cross dressing is just a point on the sexuality continuum. I am straight, again, like most cross dressers, married and have children. No one would ever guess i was a cross dresser, never. I am quite "manly" in my daily life. It relieves stress and I like the act of making myself pretty. The clothes, fabrics, colors, everything about women's clothes is quite different than the choices I have as a man.

Jennifer just about said it all for me. I denied who I am for decades and only recently embraced it. Now all of the bouts of depression and anger through the years make sense.
I'm happy when I let Marleena out to be herself. She's still evolving with a supportive SO that really helps.

[TGMarla]

Well, I guess there are several reasons. I think the primary one is that it's as close to being a woman as I can get without actually being one. For most of my life, I've wished that one of the little X spermies had won the chase, and that I'd have been born female instead. By this time in my life, though, I've opted to not travel the path of transition, and so male I am, and male I shall remain. However, I have a great desire and an urge to crossdress as much as I find that I'm able to.

Another reason is that I absolutely love the clothing and everything that goes with it. I like how they look and feel, and the infinite myriad of style, fabric, and color available. I enjoy wearing hosiery and high heels, lacy underthings, jewelry, long hair and nails, and pretty makeup. I like all of it, and I love wearing dresses! So I do it as often as I can.

But, much like Karren said, I could also do without it much of the time. Being caught between genders is a pain that never leaves. It saps time and money from me, and forces me to live in a turmoil that I'd rather live without. But it never goes away for long, and always comes back. So I guess I CD because I have to and because I want to.

[kimdl93]

Like so many of the above, I started early. Mom didn't explicity say she wished I was a girl, but she actually named me Kimberly. I was very attached to my older sister, and was regarded as a "house boy" whatever that entails, by my older brothers. I still can vividly recall secretly putting on one of my sister's slips when I was perhaps 4 years old.

I am absolutely certain that I am as I am because of some developmental conditions in the womb...and although I've managed to disquise some of the more feminine traits and behaviors when needed, they're always present. I'm just beginning to allow them to come out more these days.

[suzy1]

I think I am like many here. Suzy is a part of me. It’s who I am.

I sometimes think it’s like having two lives. How wonderful is that!


SUZY

[Briana90802]

Well for me I'd have to say the reason I dress is because in my male life I don't feel sexy. All I see everyday is sexy outfits and clothing that is made to attract. I grew up "reading" playboy mag and I remember thinking, "that outfit is sexy". Etc... Now that I'm grown I look at mens clothes and can't see how wearing the would make me feel more sexy or even more manly. After all most men's clothes are designed to hide the body whereas femme clothes are designed to flaunt what you've got.
This is just one reason, among many, why dress.

[Tina B.]

Karren said it all for me, just about word for word , what I would have said.
Tina B.

[Kathy Smith]

CDing is an interesting life. Buy one get one free! Oh how I wish it was free!

Why? Because it's something I do. It helps me feel better in myself. I can't say whether that's a feminine feeling or not, I'm male (as far as I can tell!) so I've nothing to compare it to. I've read (on this site) the generalisation that we CD "for fun". I can't speak for others but I know for certain that I don't. For psychological relief, maybe, but not for "fun". I'm good at giving it up. I've done that several times! ;-) I suspect that _really_ giving it up would be more difficult than packing in smoking by going "cold turkey" from 30 a day (which I did 30-odd years ago) or suddenly deciding that I'm going to be left-handed. It's a lot easier to learn how to live with it. :-)

[cdliz15]

For me, I love dressing up and feeling pretty/beautiful. You can't get that as a guy.

[Princess Chantal]

Hmmm geez, why do I love crossdressing you ask?
It's all my parents fault!!

They let me watch too many "Kids in the Hall" shows, Bugs Bunny cartoons and movies like "Tootsie"
My mother let me hug her pantyhosed legs before they went to their fancy dress parties.
They had my aunt Margaret babysit me; she looked very feminine like mommy but had a deep voice like Bea Arthur
My mom's clothing were in the bottom set of drawers, where as my dad's were out of my reach.
My dad wore the same cologne as my dentist , where as my mom wore the same perfume as Snow White at the Disney on Ice show.
My mother's toiletries made nicer coloured pictures on the walls than my dad's.
My mom's shoes made great viewing torture devices for squishing bugs.

[jennigrace]

I love it because it makes me feel much calmer and at peace. It is definitely not sexual. I am 100% straight.

Also forgot to say I started at age 6. Asked my mom to get me pink, yellow and blue panties for Christmas.

[NicoleScott]

For most of my life, I've wished that one of the little X spermies had won the chase, and that I'd have been born female instead.

Marla, those little X spermies just can't move as fast wearing high heels.

[suchacutie]

As you can already see, being transgendered has an amazing number of facets and directions. I came upon Tina at age 55, 34 years into my marriage. My wife and I discovered Tina together, and there is no sexual component involved. Like Suzy1, I feel that I am living two lives since my masculine and feminine selves are so different and very much separate.

In fact, as Karren has said, some aspects of living in two genders are really annoying and difficult. There is so much to learn and it's not easy turning a male body and many years of male socialization into a reasonable female body using socialization that is feminine. It costs money, takes time, and without the understanding, support, and mentoring of a wonderful spouse I could see where the whole thing could be just a nightmare!

On the other hand, Tina is a part of me and even though she wasn't acknowledged for many years of my life she clearly had an impact. The driving force for me is that I must know who she is (my wife is pretty curious as well!) in order to know who "I" am, who "I" have been and who "I" might be in the future. Thus, we're in the process of making a life for Tina and those times that she is able to show who she is are glorious. The other thing that I want to mention is that since Tina arrived with my wife and me in a very stable relationship, the conversations that have occurred between my wife and me about gender, about socialization as a girl vs. boy, about how the genders view life, and about all those little functional details that are different between life as a boy and life as a girl have been incredibly enlightening! My wife and I have shared thoughts we never considered as a topic of conversation, and all because Tina needed to learn how to be a girl. Tina needed to go through the "growing up" process and those conversations have been fantasitic at raising awareness in both of us.

So, we take the good with the bad, but it's not something that will go away. Our minds are wired the way they are, so it only comes down to how we handle the minds we have!

[sissystephanie]

At my current age, I am not only older than most of you but have been crossdressing longer than some of you have been alive!

I do not live in two genders, as has been mentioned in this thread. I am a man, and always will be. I have no desire at all to be a woman and never have had that desire. I do like to dress like a woman, but not to be one. Before she passed away, I did have wonderful wife who totally supported me in my CD activities. Even though she did that, she always knew that I was her man no matter what I was wearing.

In regard to Karren's statement that one cannot stop crossdressing, I will differ with that statement!! Any crossdresser can stop completely IF THEY WANT TO!! As Suchacutie says, our minds are wired the way they are! However, we can change the wiring if we really want to. It takes hard work and dedication, but it can be done. I made it go away for a 5 year period, and only started crossdressing again because my dear wife begged me to!! If my children, or my girlfriend, tell me to stop, I will. I know it can be done!!

[Kelli Ca]

I love the look and feel of womens clothing especially lingerie. Soft satin lacy feels so good next to my skin. Women have such variety as mentioned before . I wish clothing wasn't labled gender specific, what looks and feels sexy and pretty on women feels the same on me. If not for being judged I would fem clothing everywhere, it simply more comfortable and lots better looking.

[abigailf]

I'm with Karren as well. There is no love or passion for me to do this.

I do it because when I was born the doctor mis-read me and told my mother I was a boy. I was raised and trained as a boy. I met a girl, fell in love, had kids all because that is what I was supposed to do. All the time believing these feelings were nothing more than a fetish. It would creep into my life, I would push it out, it would creep back in further, I would push it back not as far, then BANG! Hitting me like a brick one day I realize I am a transsexual.

So now, I have to unwind my entire life just to correct that one little mistake made so many years ago "It's a boy!".

[Asche]

I don't know how to say why I dress the way I do besides saying: it feels right. It's a way of expressing who I am. If I ask myself: what do I feel like wearing, or what do I want to wear right now, it's always a skirt or a dress. Sometimes it's a more "feminine" outfit, sometimes a drabber one, sometimes I also want a petticoat or tights, other times I just wear them with socks or barefoot. Every few weeks or months I try something new, and most of the time, I decide I like it. It's like this is the first time in my life that I've tried simply being myself, rather than trying to be what other people expect me to be, and it feels so free. I look in the mirror, and, yes, I see a fat, balding, neurotic, over-the-hill underachiever, but I also just love how I'm dressed. It looks cool, it feels cool.

No: it feels great!!

I have a much harder time coming up with an explanation for why I feel the way I do, even just to explain it to myself. Here is what I've come up with so far.

Do you know men who are only comfortable in jeans or sweats, and abolutely hate wearing a suit and tie? If they work at a job that requires it, the tie comes off on the way out the door of the office, and they change into something more comfortable the minute they get home. Some even say they'd refuse to take a job that required a suit.

And have you heard some women tell how, as girls, they only liked to wear pants? How they absolutely hated wearing skirts and dresses and had to be threatened to get them to wear them even for an hour or two?

This is how I feel, only it's skirts and dresses and the like that feel right, and the usual male attire that feels utterly unnatural.

I don't feel like I'm a woman when I wear them, any more than women who only wear pants feel like men when they wear them. I feel like I'm me.

I actually think that my preferences are innate: just as some people discover they love fly-fishing, and others prefer stamp collecting, and others only feel alive when they're flying an airplane, so I'm someone who discovered that it just feels great to wear these clothes.

[NathalieX66]

The only CD I love is the box set of Beatles CD's I got for Christmas from a loved one.
I'm at the point where I dress in the gender I feel. Humans are complicated.

[Jess Marie]

I started dressing the way many of us did, stole a pair of panties or other intimates and tried them on. From there it expanded to maybe a skirt or dress, to buying our first item, then wigs and shoes and purses and make up.

I do it because of a psychological need for femininity in my life. I grew up the first 15 years of my life without a mother figure in house (I visited my mom once a month, but my dad had custody). I grew up in the boondocks, living in the woods. I lived an extremely manly life, helping my dad run his construction business, hunting, and doing other boy things like building forts in the woods and playing paintball. When I was 13, I was at a friends house and we were alone, he went to the bathroom and I snuck into his sisters room, stealing a pair of panties. I then started to steal more from her and any other friends sisters who I could safely do it. Then, when I got my drivers license, I started to purchase my own clothes and that was the beginning. I've been doing it ever since and enjoying every moment I am dressed.

[audreyinalbany]

Like most everyone here, I started dressing very young, before I had a clue about sex. Something about it was just captivating, I couldn't begin to tell you what. But the other day my wife had to go to a formal affair and she dressed in a LBD, stockings and heels. As I looked at her and saw how gorgeous she was I thought, "I just want to look like that. Is that so wrong?" To me, women exemplify beauty. There's nothing attractive about men, nothing particularly compelling about men's clothes. I can get dressed up in a suit and tie and, I'll admit it, I look pretty good. But, a dress or a skirt with a nice top, heels and make up, and it just looks... I dunno ... better somehow.

[kuchel]

It all started 3 years back. I was surfing in net and one day I saw a picture of a hot looking woman. Well I checked out and to my astonishment, it was guy. Something happened that day and told myself that i should try. I tried once and I felt a sense of of sexuality,pleasure and pure beauty. I cannot forget the sensation of woman clothes on my skin. I always love to step outside my comfort zone. I wanted to spice my life. That is it ... all started from there.