Is it just being somebody else for awhile?

[CarlaWestin]

I'm a whole complete male person most of the time. And I entertain mental glimpses of dress-up ideas while doing the daily male thing. But, I think it's a desire to step into that other life of being female that I'm blessed with. It feels like I'm two people.

Are you two (or more) people?

[Marcelle]

Hi Carla,

Nope . . . just one person timesharing one body. Personality doesn't change, routine doesn't change . . . just the exterior

Cheers

Isha

[Marie-Claude, France]

I'm a whole complete male person most of the time. And I entertain mental glimpses of dress-up ideas while doing the daily male thing. But, I think it's a desire to step into that other life of being female that I'm blessed with. It feels like I'm two people.

Are you two (or more) people?

No, I am a single person with two facets.

[Sarah-RT]

From the title I thought the thread was going to ask something like "is dressing just an escape from boredom"

With regard to your actual post though, I did feel for a while that I kind of felt like two different people in the same body, not schizophrenia two people mind you but just two different gendered entities, since as a male I love war films, violence, I always get attached to evil characters in films because they express power and control and it was so far removed from being "dainty" and passive that I felt it couldn't be part o my normal self and it must be a back seat driver so to speak

Sarah x

[Ineke Vashon]

Amongst early native Americans, and other native cultures, m2f crossdressers were known as Twin Spirits, or twin spirited, and had a privileged position in their community. Often they became healers.

Personally, I don't feel like two people. Three years ago I stopped refusing my feminine side by coming out to myself at least (and joining this forum). The feminine side has been subtly growing, not as a separate identity but as a compliment to my total personality. I like my total "package" better and it's less stressful .

Ineke

[Katey888]

I'm a whole complete male person most of the time. And I entertain mental glimpses of dress-up ideas while doing the daily male thing.

Carla - to me this says you're not two people...

Different facets: yes - and certainly I feel the need to actively modify my physical behaviour, voice, mannerisms, etc. when dressed - but they're all in me all the time... it's like selecting a 'Release Katey' mode: everything that is there in the background now becomes foreground presentation... Any 'other life' for me is largely escapism.

Katey x

[Barbara Black]

Wow Ineke, that is really interesting spiritually. Many times before I even started crossdressing for anything but sexual pleasure, I dropped into the role of healer or confidant. I can see where being familiar with both major aspects of personalities would be a help for spiritual guidance. On the subject at hand though, I'm not dressed enough to really know if I feel too much different while dressed as a woman, but I guess is that I probably don't feel that different personality-wise. I've never been heavy into violence other than wanting the right side of wars and battles to win, even if it does involve death and some gore. ha ha. I think I've always had a somewhat, or perhaps overwhelming feminine personality, which would explain my being here after so many years of being strictly male on the outside.

[Krisi]

I think anyone who thinks strapping on a pair of boobs and a wig changes their personality or causes them to become a different person is confused or trying to fool themselves. We may be acting out a role but our internal feelings and beliefs do not change and cannot change. We still have the same brain and the same life experiences.

[CynthiaD]

No, I don't feel like two people ever. I'm female all the time. I wear male clothing when I have certain duties to perform. I wear female clothing to look and feel normal.

[bridget thronton]

I believe in gender as a continuem so I feel I am the same person all the time - regardless of my clothing

[Tina B.]

I feel more like a coin, I get up in the morning, take a flip, heads I put on a dress, tails, I put on dude stuff. But either way it's just the one and only me.
The only big difference with me is I feel more relaxed in the dress.

[Sandie70]

I feel that the female part of me has always been with me. Her personality, memories, likes and dislikes and sexuality are the same as my male counterpart. But the important thing is that regardless of how I present myself, I'm still me - not a different person, just letting a hidden part of who I am come out to play and have some fun. And boy, what fun it is! In many ways it's like having the best of two worlds... and you choose which world you want to frolic in each day.

[Samantha2015]

Like Tina B. said, 2 sides to 1 coin. But that's not how I decide to get dressed in the morning.
I go by which pile of dude clothes smells better. All the dresses are hanging up nicely in the closet.

[Lady_Fiona]

For me it's getting to pretend to be someone else for an evening or a day. I enjoy the idea of not having to be myself for a little while.

[Helen_Highwater]

For those familiar with maths I would describe myself as being like a 2 circle Venn diagram.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venn_diagram

Different persona sharing common traits. How much the circles over lap I'm not sure, probably far more than I would at first think but there are certainly elements of male me that don't normally appear when in femme mode and visa versa.

[charlenemichaels]

For those familiar with maths I would describe myself as being like a 2 circle Venn diagram.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venn_diagram

Hi Helen!
that's how I feel also in regard to the 'dual, lapping traits with distinctions' example you shared.

Must be the 'fluidity' that is spoken of here so often since for me, Charlene is me and some of her is always present (her traits i mean) minus the voice in guy mode.

This must come over a long time. I dont even think about it like second nature.

There have been times i have been under dressed at work and donned a cute pair of heels while sitting at the desk.

Nearly committing a huge social no-no by getting up and strutting to the bathroom in my pumps!

No one noticed that time! I simply forgot about them!

~Char

[pamela7]

no, one person, different behaviours, though i can see how some people could be a complete alter-ego with the CD change.

[jigna]

I feel very special, wearing female dress and feel that I am a different person.

[Pat]

I think people can be forgiven for trying to understand themselves as two personalities sharing a body. When we're first facing ourselves as crossdressers everything we've learned teaches us the male/female is either/or. So when you're expressing female the way you can explain it internally is you're in "female mode." You explain new concepts using the information you understand from previous experience.

Over time we get exposed to the gender continuum concept and we realize we're a single personality sitting between male and female. Then we come to accept that we can express either way. It's probably wrong to cast it as "I'm a guy who expresses female sometimes." It's probably more correct that you're this thing-we-have-no-name-for between male and female all the time but for practical reasons and for reasons of upbringing we favor expressing male.

The fact is, at least for me, when I present male it's just as much of a fiction as when I present female, I'm just better at pretending to be male. I'm reasonably sure the "stress relief "many of us say we feel when we crossdress is a function of being able to stop lying about being male for a little while. I don't think we're deluded. I don't think we're broken. I think we are an actual kind of person who, if there is a Grand Scheme of Things, has a place in it. I think our society has lost it's way on that and it's up to us to re-educate them about what we bring to the table so we can walk in the daylight as who we are.

(I know I uncork that philo on a regular basis -- sorry if you've had to sit through it before.)

[Teresa]

Carla,
Like most replies I remain the same person but with questionable gender ! I'm not CDing to act something out, it's trying to satisfy an inner need through a male body and trying so hard not to upset other people in the process !

[Jazzy Jaz]

The term "twin spirited" is relatively new, having been voted on and chosen at a conference in the early 90's. There are hundreds of Native American Nations that each have thier on descriptions of LGBT. In my cultural understanding our people see a spirit as being a mix of both male and female energy. Gender is viewed as a spectrum. Most males in a male body would have a male dominant energy, same with females. A ts is someone who's dominant spiritual energy is the opposite of thier body. The rest of us LGBT folks fit at various points within this spectrum and even straight non tg people can vary a bit but closer to thier respective ends of the spectrum. Like Ineke said, many of us became healers because of our ability to walk between the genders and we were also sought out for marriage counceling etc because we were able to relate to both partners. Prior to contact, creator/god wasn't he, it was viewed as a mix of both male and female.

[Savannah_Skye]

For me I am always one person, who is just somewhere on the tg/cd spectrum. Sometimes though, going to work, running errands, or attending social gatherings in the traditional masculine clothes, and thereby, hiding part of my identity, makes me feel like a different person.

[Ally 2112]

For the most part i am one person who does feel totally different when i dress (if that makes sense ?) .I know im me but love the girly feeling

[Andrea_cd]

At the moment im not sure if i am 2 people or just 1 most of the time im just me but when my lingerie draw opens Andrea comes and my male side fades to the background , am going to see a therapist soon to find out if im a boy or girl or both

[Lorileah]

just one person timesharing one body.

quote of the day...and it was marvelous they bought dinner and a room while throw the sales pitch