Interesting Data

[Sallee]

I was reading something on cross dressing the other day in a sample of a book I saw on my Kindle. I didn't buy the book. It said "A study of 222 adult male cross dressers in Australia and the US found that 24% had been called "sissy" during childhood..." I wondered what that percent might be here.
I know that I was called sissy several times when I was a kid. I don't think as a male I am particularly feminine acting nor do I think I was as a kid, but I can vividly remember being called sissy. I probably got into to many fights and trouble because of it. I am not particularly small, 5'10" maybe a bit skinny 165lbs but certainly not overly fem, except when Sallee is out.
I think it may have something to do with my desire to cross dress, Who here had been called sissy when they were young. I do believe I had fantasies of dressing prior to the incidents. Maybe that is why I remember it so well.
I think it was just a case of childhood bullying but it worked and certainly, the name calling, caused problems as a child and a teen as I tried to react and prove my manliness by being a young tough guy. Thankfully I out crew it all and became a relatively successful adult man, at least thats what some people tell me, And I'll add not a bad looking adult cross dresser, LOL
Thanks

[heatherdress]

Sissy can be used in a derogatory way meaning you are effeminate or cowardly, so the context used is very important to understand the intent.

I would think that many crossdressers who were discovered dressing at young ages by family members were likely to be called a sissy. Others may have been challenged or ridiculed by friends or bullies if they refused to do something or admitted fear. I was called many ethnic slurs and mean names growing up but not sissy.

[Martha G]

When I was in grammar school, I was very skinny and shy. I was always picked on. I was referred to as a sissy and a girl. By the time I het 7th grade that all turned around.

I have always wondered if that teasing and being called a sissy put the urge and desire and to dress as and act as a woman.

Probably so!

[Dana44]

We had another thread on this. My Dad called me a sissy and a girl many times. I don't like the term sissy and when I was called that in school it brought up a fists and fight that would get me in trouble. I was not a big boy but I was scrappy and wow when your own Dad calls you that, well, I don't like that term today even.

[Deane]

Did it say what percent of non-crossdressers were ever called "sissy?"

[Teresa]

Sallee,
Never been called any of the names associated with CDing, I tried so hard to do the male thing for most of my life to the point where it's burnt me out, after all these years if they want to call me sissy , I can't say I'm bothered anymore.

[Jenny22]

Though I was a skinny boy, I don't believe I was ever called 'sissy' by my friends. But at home when I cried for whatever reason, my mom would say, "don't be a sissy." I didn't even know what a sissy was!

[docrobbysherry]

I don't believe that word was used much back in my day. I don't recall anyone being referred to as a sissy. Whimp and pussy were used a lot, tho.

I wasn't one altho the bullies seemed to come after me because of my red hair.

[LelaK]

Sissy. I cried a lot till I was 6. Mother probably said don't be a baby. I don't think the word sissy was ever used, maybe because we all called my sister Sissy, short for sister. I think Dad's family had often called their sister Sis.

Cousin. My aunt's older son, my first cousin, was kind of effeminate and might have been called a sissy. He tried to hang out with the girls during school recess in the early grades, probably because the boys called him names and beat on him. Eventually, the teachers forced him to play with the rest of us boys. One boy in our class loved to give my cousin pain, such as by pounding him on the back with his elbow. My cousin would stoop over to brace himself and would call the boy names and curse at him, but it was futile, I guess to give a semblance of masculinity. It was sort of an evil game to the boy who did the abuse. My cousin used to wear his coat over his shoulders like a cape, the way girls often did, and I didn't approve of that and I told his Mom and she made him stop doing it. Of course, it would not have bothered me once I matured mentally.

Misogyny. I read online yesterday or so some woman who had experience with CDs commenting that misogyny seems to apply to CDs too, which suggests that men who hate women and CDs too actually hate femininity, or the appearance of "weakness".

Me. I didn't act very masculine, nor feminine, myself. I acted more like a scholar. In my freshman high school year during introductions, mentioning our hobbies, I said one of my hobbies was flower gardening, but I don't think anyone thought that was too girly. I think everyone thought of me as a scholar. One cousin/classmate called me "Computer".

[TrishaTX]

I don't think I was ever called it and by 12 , while not a big kid, no-one would have. I just never took any teasing from anyone, still do not. I have always felt this way, always wanted to wear women's clothes never wanted to transition.

[Alice Torn]

I was the baby of my family, and my older twin brothers hated me, and i also got picked on in school. Tall and skinny. I also wet the bed until around 20 yrs old, and my brothers really attacked me as a big baby. So, i got it at home, and school, and the first job i had. I joined the service to prove i was a real man, and that cured me of bed wetting. Fear kept me from doing that again. I don't recall being called Sissy, but it likely happened. "Pantywaist" is another bad name lesser masculine boys were called, and men too. I even heard that term used recently on the radio. I never here "fruit of the looms waist."

[reb.femme]

When my elder brother was doing what all big brothers seem to do, pulling me around by my toes or knocking the crap out of me with his heavy pillow, use to call me "my male name in french la fleur". Guess he must have had some insight into my future . Or was it this that made me dress?

Nah! I just loved the materials. I grew up as one that was prepared to fight if needed, so was never called a sissy.

Becky

[Sallee]

there certainly most be more data to go with the stats that were quoted. I did find it interesting and I have often wondered if those child hood references had any thing to do with my cding

[sometimes_miss]

Sissy can be used in a derogatory way meaning you are effeminate or cowardly, so the context used is very important to understand the intent.

^this. 'Sissy' was the term used years ago, today the anti masculine insult is 'p*$$y'. Pretty much any boy being accused of being afraid to do something was called a sissy, partially to encourage him to go ahead and do something stupidly dangerous, or just to insult him. Of course, if you said it to someone tougher than you, you risked getting punched in the nose 'just because'.

[JamieG]

Yes, I was called sissy quite a bit. I was skinny, introverted, and meek. I was once accused of "sitting like a girl" in class (by a classmate, not a teacher, fortunately). At the time, I didn't know that girls sat differently than boys.

[Kimberly2112]

A statistic like this is meaningless by itself. What it doesn't tell you is whether future CDs were more or less likely to be called "Sissy" than non-CDs. A lot of critical thought needs to be brought to bear when considering statistics, you need to understand how the data is gathered, what's being compared to what, and what isn't included.

[PattyT]

I cannot remember being referred to as sissy or anything similar. No connection with name calling and my current CD status.

[Stephanie47]

As a child of the 1950's and 1960's when every boy loved baseball the outcasts were boys who were overweight and not athletic. Even then they were not cast aside but relegated to play right field. The overweight boys may have been the last chosen on a team, but, they did play. I think it was impressed on us by our elders that it was not just to exclude anyone. I think it had something to do with the combined sense of purpose germinated during World War II. Now? Most of the boys in the elementary school yards all look overweight and none play sports. I haven't heard the term 'sissy' used for many years.

Unless the research was done in a scientific manner it is meaningless. How many 'sissies' and cross dressers joined the military to prove their manliness?

[Georgette_USA]

Not a CD but.

I had been called sissy a few times in school. At least once remember was forced to fight, and some remarked "fights like a girl also". I did always try to pal around with the other "girls". Don't know what or why they would say that. Some TS I know had some similar, but some never had those problems.

The problem with stats are that different people can interpret them in different ways to suit whatever they want.

[Lori Kurtz]

I was never a big strong ultra-masculine kid, and I do remember being sensitive about that. However, I don't think anyone would ever have described me as effeminate, and I don't remember ever being called a sissy or any synonym for that concept. At a very young age, I was aware of the excitement that creating a female appearance brought me, but no one ever caught me in the act. So I don't think there was ever any connection between my secret development as a crossdresser and my obvious identity as a not-very-macho male.

[Diane Smith]

In grade school, I was overweight, slow, and hated anything involving physical activity or team sports. I was also identified very quickly as one of the "smart" kids in the class, which carried a bit of prestige and helped compensate for my lack of physical prowess. I hung out with a mixed group of girls and other non-athletic, mostly intellectual boys. But I can honestly say I was never called a "sissy" or insulted with any other slurs against my manhood or sexual orientation. Even the Neanderthals in the class could somehow recognize that I was operating on a different plane of existence, and was putting as much effort into developing my intellect as they spent on their hitting, throwing and fighting.

- Diane

[Lacey New]

While I never remember being called a sissy, I was skinny and I was not particularly interested in team sports. In fact, I loathed baseball and basketball. Also, I tended to be (and still am) quite introverted. So, there might be other personality traits and or experiences that we tend to have in common in addition to or instead of having been called a sissy.

[LaurenS]

Only when dealing with a bully.

Yes, you do make a nice looking CDer!

[Beverley Sims]

Me?
I was a dresser before I was a sissy. :-)

No, I don't think there was an influence on me.

When I was twenty I weighed 112 pounds, with a figure to match.

[Tracii G]

Think of it, what kid growing up wasn't called a sissy if they didn't want to do something their friends wanted to do?
Sissy just meant scared or chicken to do something it wasn't used by kids to say you wear womens clothes that are frilly and pink.
I find it silly to have a study of how being called a sissy correlates with someone CD ing.
I will have to give props the the guy that had the idea and fished it to some college dept and received grant money and in the end is just giving his opinion.