Paraphrasing the old TV ads for Barbizon School of Modeling (i.e. "Be a model or just look like one"), I was wondering how many folks here have a goal to be a girl or do you just want to look like one. I had intended to transition over 40 years ago but changed my mind. Over the years it has been a sometimes wild ride expressing myself and my feelings and my inner so-called female feelings by wanting to look and dress like a girl. For myself it has always been about those feelings and I eventually accepted all of them and made them my own. As a result, I no longer really want to be a girl per se but it basically boiled down to looking like one and honing those skills as an art form.
I'm really a guy (all guy) and readily admit that. As such and making all of the feelings my own, I put the dressing on the shelf for basically a year or so but realized I really love the expression and enjoy taking part of the experience of dressing and dancing and socializing en femme. It is a part of who I am. That being said I never overblow what I do nor do I think it's a big deal. I just do it and take a pragmatic approach. My goal in this world is to help others with many things and I no longer have to prove anything to anyone but just do things because I want to and take a more or less practical approach to CDing and everything else.
What I've found out is we cannot be totally autonomous in this world but we can be individuals. Looking like a girl is part of that for me and I just have fun with it. Seems to work for me anyway.