Does CDing change your musical taste?

[Khora]

I wouldn't say it changes our tastes but rather coming to terms with crossdressing breaks down the barriers we put up to maintain our "maleness" and at least for me, it allowed me to enjoy things I normally would avoid to maintain a certain image.

This would be me. As a male there are things I like that I can't admit to because I'm "not supposed" to like them. With Kristina all of those barriers come down and I can freely listen to all the girly music I want! There's just something to getting dressed with Britney or Ke$ha playing...maybe a little Miley before she went all loco.

[donnalee]

No change, but I always found playing and listening to music (can't really do the first without doing the second) an emotional outlet and felt it brought me closer to the other musicians and the audience; far different from my coldly analytical talents for math and science (although these were enormously helpful in learning song structures and accumulating a huge repertoire). This may, in a way, be my most feminine trait. I also have been working on vocals for the last dozen years and this has increased my openness to lyrics to the point where I can now listen to country without vomiting. Rock is still something I don't listen to much, (k)rap not at all (not music, period; hopeless devolution of a culture that reached it's heights with Ellington and Parker et al.).

[pamela7]

i can listen to everything except "waiting room" music - that remains the same.

[flatlander_48]

My musical sensibilities don't change as a function of what I'm wearing. Part of what's on my iPod is ADELE, Antonio Carlos Jobim, BeauSoleil, Billy Joel, Dave Brubeck, Enya, Glenn Gould, Hilary Hahn, Joni Mitchell, Keb Mo', Melissa Etheridge, Nat King Cole, Rihanna, Sade, Scott Joplin, Sheryl Crow, The Temptations, Vladimir Horowitz and 2Pac. If there is a pattern there, I fail to discern it.

I also tend to like songs that I can sing to and have memorized songs by Bill Joel, Keb Mo', Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt and others. Mostly it is for my own amusement, but sometimes I will sing a song for my wife. Finally got around to checking out The Heavy and am learning How You Like Me Now and What Makes A Good Man. With a bit of luck, I may get to do What Makes A Good Man in public late this year dressed as DeeAnn. Now THAT would be pretty cool. Currently accepting applications for back-up singers. Must Dress! No money, no bennies and no entourage but Serious Fun guaranteed!!

[scarletcd]

I'm still into my Punk/Metal/Rock regardless

[JessicaMann]

I think so!!! I am open to a lot more music now that I have embraced my fem-side! I like a lot more hip-hop and female vocalists now, as when I was in denial, I listened to more hard and angry rock music. maybe it's just me? who knows... but I like what I like, and don't care how others view it!

[Katey888]

Currently accepting applications for back-up singers. Must Dress! No money, no bennies and no entourage but Serious Fun guaranteed!!

Does it involve glam gowns, big hair and feather boas...? If so - count me in!!

Something like this perhaps...



While my preferences haven't changed, I look back on artists that I have liked through several decades and realise that there's a strong female presence there, particularly singer-songwriters, from Debbie Harry, Kim Wilde, Annie Lennox, Judie Tzuke, Sarah MacLachlan, through to Shania Twain, Bjork, Sheila Chandra, Madonna, Roisin Murphy and Kiesza... (thanks Ms Moretti.. ) Quite a mix...

But I like other stuff too...

Katey x

[marilyn m]

love the 3 degrees katey, esp giving up giving in ,and the georgio meroder production the runner,
sheila fergusson amazing moves and sparkly dresses had me glued to the tv when i was very young,
cding used to change my persona when listening to music, but now iam doing the moves in the kitchen in drab baby yeah lol x

[Frenchy Michelle]

I don't think so but I sometimes catch myself moving my bum from side to side and head as well, to the sound of the music as a girl would )

[alwayshave]

Not me, my tastes are pretty eclectic, so anything I'd listen to en femme, I'd listen to in drab.

[Candice Mae]

This started out as a reply to the "music to cross dress to" thread, but as I kept typing I realized these questions run deeper and should be answered. Normally I don't get too many replies to these threads, so hopefully more will lend their two cents this time.

Does the music really make a difference or is it all based on your state of mind? What makes you listen to artists that you regularly have no interest in or would not be caught dead listening to by your family/friends? Where does this other persona come from is it real or just a character created in your mind to help you reach a state of euphoria? Did you create this female persona to fill a void or escape reality? What drives you to do things that could turn you life upside down just to wear "woman's" clothes? Is it really about the clothes and accessories or is it based on replicating what you find attractive? What's more important to you, your current existence or the need to dress?

[Deane]

I may be weird, but to me good music is good, bad music is bad. Doesn't matter what I'm wearing or if it's Christmas or not. I listen to the same eclectic mix all the time.

[Alice Torn]

Existance, food and water, and shelter, is more important than dressing. I consider it a luxury, few on earth can enjoy.

[Nikki A.]

My tastes are pretty similar either way.

[Michaelasfun]

For me it's like finding the magical key that fits the lock. It doesn't feel like acquiring accessories in order to achieve exciting cosplay or some such; when I dress, it's filling a need, and then for the music part of it, I scan stations until I find one that seems to click with this person I'm trying to find, and I know it when I hear it..

[Jaylyn]

I tend to enjoy the same music wether dressed or not. I think that as I grow older my urge to crossdress becomes more about the dressing no matter what the outside stimuli is. I do get the urge sometimes by seeing a great lipstick commercial or a beautifully fix set of eyes on TV. I do find myself more attractive when in full makeup as the foundation seems to take away more flaws as we age. My life has not been turned up side down about CD ing. I enjoy it and my wife is fully supportive but I keep it all in touch by knowing she married me as her man, so I try and remain that as much or more than the woman in her life.

[Hell on Heels]

Hell-o Candice,
Quite a barrage of questions.
The music I listen to is the same music I always listen to.
Mode of dress has no impact at all.
As far as another persona, I don't believe I have one. Sure I use a female name, but how I act, and feel while I'm dressed is not much different while in either mode, the name change is just a means of making conversations with others more comfortable, and a way to remain a bit anonymous.
I think the initial driving force behind my dressing was probably a sexual attraction thing, but over time that has changed, and now it is more about just being me.
The clothes I choose to wear naturally are what I feel are attractive.
Who would purposely dress in something they thought was ugly?
What's more important? Well I've been super busy as of late, and haven't
taken the time to dress en-femme since the beginning of February.
Please don't report me to the officials and have my CD card revoked!
Thanks!
Much Love,
Kristyn

[PaulaQ]

My musical tastes are one of the few things about me that didn't change, either with dressing, or with my transition. I've always really loved classical music. I like all kinds of music really, but my main interest has always been classical music. I think my musical tastes were one of the few things about myself that I didn't hide before my transition. There are many things I used to do that hold no interest for me whatsoever anymore. In many ways now, I'm a very different person. But my musical tastes remain the same.

I think I allowed my musical tastes to show through because very few people really understood them. So they didn't reveal much about me, except that I like classical music.

[Suzie Petersen]

Several questions there so I will pick a few to answer:

What makes you listen to artists that you regularly have no interest in or would not be caught dead listening to by your family/friends?

My taste in music, food, wine, beer, cocktails, _blank_ never changed with the clothes I was wearing.

What's more important to you, your current existence or the need to dress?

Dressing was not compatible with my married life, so I stopped dressing. Ergo, current existence is more important.

- Suzie

[Angie G]

I have no void if my life to fill Dress fore the woman in me. A good part of my existence is being able to dress more hen 1/2 of the hours ina week, the music I listen to is the same as when I'm not dressedMy state of mind is much the same if I'm dressed or not.
Angie

[pamela7]

i'm new to this relatively, so perhaps i've just not found the music or situations to delve into something new. My taste in music is so broad anyway it covers most genres except the recent trend for manufactured boy/girl band pop (idol, x-factor etc).

Maybe you're tapping deeper into the "not me" self that is everything other than the normal male persona? This could bring out complete opposites. One explanation for our alternate persona is a definition of "what I am not"/"who i am not like", as we are "everything" there are no limits to alter-egos. Just try playing with a glove-puppet or ventriloquist dummy to find an alter-ego expression.

My Pamela self is in many ways more my true-self rather than the socially-adapted-and-presented "normal me" the world has seen most of my life. The drive while inexplicable is that "this IS me". It's the clothes and my need to dress is presently more important.

[Beverley Sims]

In my current existence I find a need to dress.

Listening to music does add to the mood of the moment and will encourage me, a sort of hypnosis?

[cassiekat]

I have always had two distinct tastes in music and never realised until about 16 months ago, thought I just had a wide range in taste. As far as a" persona" I never really had a female one made up, I just learned that it goes much deeper then that. I have made up a persona at a place I used to work but it was a male one and very non-PC , but the women I worked with loved Eddie.

[Kandi Robbins]

What I am wearing has never had an impact on what I like in terms of music, food, drink, movies, whatever.

My crossdressing has evolved. The crossdressing has been there since I was very young, probably more the result of circumstance than anything else. As I grew, there was a sexual component to it, or at least a sexual sort of charge to it. Then it became an unscratchable itch when the stresses associated with adulthood occurred. Most recently it was part of guilt and self-loathing during some difficult times. And now, accepting who I am, it has become a true source of happiness, my reality has not changed. I am no longer escaping, I am embracing who I am. Don't know why I am how I am, I just have accepted and grown to love who I am. Took a long time, but I'm glad I'm here! Now that I am embracing "me", my female persona is just my letting down my inhibitions, letting this part of me that was buried deeply inside of me out!

[Talisker]

Does the music really make a difference or is it all based on your state of mind? What makes you listen to artists that you regularly have no interest in or would not be caught dead listening to by your family/friends? Where does this other persona come from is it real or just a character created in your mind to help you reach a state of euphoria? Did you create this female persona to fill a void or escape reality? What drives you to do things that could turn you life upside down just to wear "woman's" clothes? Is it really about the clothes and accessories or is it based on replicating what you find attractive? What's more important to you, your current existence or the need to dress?

Does the music really make a difference or is it all based on your state of mind?
Music is good generally and I like watching women dance and have fun even if its just me playing around and in the mirror having fun. Dont dance as much as man.

What makes you listen to artists that you regularly have no interest in or would not be caught dead listening to by your family/friends?
I would listen to it anyway in man mode, but yeah I would not play some of Willam Belli songs in front of parents.

Where does this other persona come from is it real or just a character created in your mind to help you reach a state of euphoria?
Where does anyones sexual fetish come from? What do they say about people with a spanking fetish "half the people say it reminds them of childhood when they were spanked as child and the other half says they missed such attention!" I think it comes from all over, movies, music, ideas on forums like this. For me its just fun and fantasy, but the more you do the more ideas and extreme it gets.

Did you create this female persona to fill a void or escape reality?
Maybe, men dont really get to dress up much or express themselves. Escape reality - well yes probably but thats also why men go to the pub, play golf, go snowboarding etc.

What drives you to do things that could turn you life upside down just to wear "woman's" clothes?
Maybe the same thing as what drives politicians to have affairs or millionaires to shoplift. certainly some of it is for the adrenalin kicks. Yes that can be addictive.

Is it really about the clothes and accessories or is it based on replicating what you find attractive?
I like heel, corsets, stockings on women. Pretty much all the fetish items men like, just that I also like wearing them as well. Its more intense. You get the feel as well as the look. They cannot get much closer to me than that.

What's more important to you, your current existence or the need to dress?

As you may have noticed for me its a come and go hobby every 3 or 4 months maybe I get some free time to dress and also have a look in here and other sites. At the time yes it is rather all consuming and I dont get much done for a few days but then thats it for a few months. Maybe like a weekend trip to Vegas. I can understand how and why it consumes people, i get that, but i try to keep it in balance with other things. Its fun dressing but unless your a drag queen its hard to make a living from it so its a hobby.

Where is the link to the music to dress to thread anyway ? I want to have a look. I may have a few tunes to add