Only toyed with dressing but used to think that there were probably only about a dozen people in the UK who had such a perversion.
Only toyed with dressing but used to think that there were probably only about a dozen people in the UK who had such a perversion.
"In America the majority raises formidable barriers around the liberty of opinion; within these barriers an author may write what he pleases, but woe to him if he goes beyond them."
Fuzzy, I wore my very first dress and panties in 1952 at the tender age of seven. I started dressing seriously in 1960 at age 15. True, there was no internet and I thought I was the only person in the world who loved to wear women's clothes. Dressing was pretty much hit and miss then and consisted mostly of panties. I accumulated numerous collections of clothes either from discarded clothing, (not ragged, mostly donated), or from goodwill. In my early days of dressing I had to experiment with sizes, styles, colors, etc. because there wasn't anybody I knew to help me, and was too embarrassed to admit I wore women's clothes. I have come a long way since the internet, and now that I'm a senior citizen, I feel I'm too old and dignified to wear the sexy minis and skimpy tops that many young women wear these days. But the net has helped me to become the woman I am now. Luv andJill
Before the internet
As a 70 yr old male and 65 yr old lady I can well tell how hard it was prior to the internet. But for those like myself who needed the outlet a way as found. At aqe 14 I caught a friend stealing items from my sisters wash line. So I had a fellow co-wearer. I soon joined the service and later he also joined the same service. I personally loved the services and spent the next 24 yrs in. I also loved every asspect of dressing enfemme, and did so regularly. Later I often wore femme undies under my male uniform. I discovered several other dressers in the service. I got married and my wife became my greatest friend and cheering section. I really enjoy my military time,friends,travel, and would enjoy discovering new friends who I missed while in the services.
Don't be silly, the Internet came before CD'ing.Originally Posted by fuzzybe
It takes a true Erin to be a pain in the assatar.
There was a thin type newspaper tabloid type magazine.
It was called the "TV Times" I think.
Lots of girls (and pro's) and personal ads.
I briefly subscribed... but it never really amounted to much .
I had to think on this a few days, but I truly remember thinking I was alone in the desires to CD, Finding and buying clothes was a lot harder.
The Internet has open up a whole new world. I am no longer alone, and getting clothes is so much easier.
I like it and think I will keep it(Internet)
[SIZE=2]____________________________________________[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Too many thing to do, to little time. Enjoy who you are,[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2][SIGPIC][/SIGPIC][/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]The DH for Abigaild(GG)[/SIZE]
Here in Albany New York there was a group called TVIC that ran a classified ad in an alternatively weekly newspaper. The group had a club house with a phone and you could call on meeting nights to talk to someone.
Oh yeah. And in NYC there was Lee's Mardi Gras!
Oh yea, I felt so alone in the early days--Penthouse "Variations" an occasional Phil Donahue show. Later a few mags at the adult book store Ladylike, Transformation, Tapestry. And a few Sandy Thomas books or Empathy Press. Local library had almost nothing--considered it porn no doubt. Main city library had very little info or books. Later I went to the library computer and read a few stories on Fictionmania. And I went there almost the first day I got online on my own computer. Bought a couple Peggy Rudd books. Later I was amazed at the number of groups and links--bonanza! Became a membor of some. And i got in touch with my first real life cd. And went to my first support groups.
Huge difference.
As I recall growing up was a pretty scary time. Most crossdressers were made to look like wierdos, perverts, etc. I didn't feel like a pervert but there really was no place to get any information on the subject. As I got older I felt very alone inside and petrified of what would happen if somebody ever found out that I was one of "those" people. I didn't get my first computer until 10 or 12 years ago and I realized most of us are aren't wierdos and perverts. What a relief. Its taken some time for me to come to terms with myself but listening to others on sites like this have helped me tremendously. So to answer the question IMO CDing with the internet is much much better.
Well, in comparison, it sucked for me. I dressed up and walked around in a small room now and then, then purged my stuff because I was ashamed and literally felt my odd behavior was shared by only a few out there. With the Internet, I learned I was not alone, not even close, and that I could lnk up with others like me. Sometimes, it also enables an opportunity to go out in public.
Before the internet, I was convinced that I was the only one in the world who felt the need to dress in womens clothes, with the associated guilt. I never understood the need. I knew I wasn't gay, but then what was I? I was vagely aware of stories in Penthouse, etc, but the crossdressers always seemed to be freaks. Since the internet and finding this site I am feeling much better about my self and the guilt is gone. It is better now.
Jaydee
there were books mail clubs and pen pal forums also pic swaps etc., kinda slow but it was all there was.
21 years ago a bunch of us got together and formed IXE, a support group for TV, TS and TG here in Indy. Some of us knew a person or two and let them know where to meet. Word was sent out different ways. About 20 of us showed up and the rest is history.
The internet is nice but at least for me can not replace actual interaction with a live body.
You want to wear a WHAT??
Girls my age had to go out and kill a Saber Tooth Tiger to make a dress. "Clubbing" had a whole different meaning. Most jewelry was made out of rocks and bones. Everybody went braless. And the lingerie was real itchy.
Tapestry magazine, a publication for TS and TV people, has been published since the '70s.
My God, do I remember what it was like before the internet. Nobody to talk to, not able to research in the privacy of your own home. Too scared to go looking in "that" section of town. Fear and shame kept me from doing a lot of things I should have been doing.
Kandis
Someone once told me "Put on Your big girl panties and deal with it". If they only knew, I WAS ALREADY WEARING THEM.
I wear the bras and panties so my wife doesn't have to.
WARNING:Any institutions or individuals using this site or any of its associated sites for studies , projects or any other reasons You DO NOT have permission to use any of my profile or pictures in any form or forum both current and future. If you have or do, it will be considered a violation of my privacy and will be subject to legal ramifications.
i went to a private house for cders ie a private meeting a few years back run by a support group member - it had apparently been going since about 1986 long before internet came along - it finished a few years ago apparently a lot down to the internet and people finding it easier to find other venues and contact other people via the net ect - i found out about it at the time by ringing a tv helpline (beaumont society) so there have been places to go in certain places for years gone by but obvoiusly not nearly as many or as easy to find out about as these days with the power of the net !
And it's more like a nightmare.
The two biggest problems, few people understood or were sympathetic of us and the plethora of misinformation as to what and who we were. A lot of the non-porn authoritative books had to do with transsexuals. The medical community was more interested in them than cross-dressers. I remember the book "Everything you wanted to know about sex, but were afraid to ask". Both cross-dressers and transsexuals were made fun of in that book and it made me throw my girly stuff away several times.
Not until I traveled the country and ran into the Paradise Club in Cleveland and attended their meetings did I feel better about myself.
No, whatever the minor downsides of the Internet are, the young girls today are so much luckier than we were. I'm jealous!
I was Tapestry subscriber too. You listed a personal ad in the back of the magazine saying you wanted to correspond. You went to the PO or Mailboxes Etc and got a PO Box and you listed that as your address because you didn't want pervs coming to your real home. We exchanged snail mail under psuedonyms just like we do on the net. You could be bold and arrange meetings with subscribers, just like here.
Culturally America was less open minded in those days and I think most of us favored anonymity. Still, you wrote and exchanged CD tips, CD/TS info, and comments, and made friends. I corresponded with several T girls all the way through their GRS.
Internet is way better. Thank you all you computer geeks who had a hand in this tech revolution . . .
Hugs,
lissa
Like so many on here, I sat at home wondering what the heck was going on and why I felt the way I did. I was convinced I was the only one who felt like that.
As I lived in the UK at the time, my only source of material was the occasional 'shock horror' story of men who dressed like women or wanted to become women in the Sunday papers. When my parents threw the papers out, I'd sneak out and tear the article out and kept them in a hidden place in my bedroom. I also like looking at clothing catalogues.
It was a shame because I was a slim teenager and could wear slim sexy clothes. I wish that were the case now
Hugs,
Christi
The internet has definitely been very positive for crossdressers.
I started crossdressing when I was 10 or 11 and I honestly thought when I was a teenager that I was the only one who did this. The first time I realized others did this was when I was reading a book about sex that was at somebody's house where I was babysitting. It was sort of like an encyclopedia with all different topics arranged alphabetically. As I was looking through it, I came across transvestite and realized that was what I liked to do. Unfortunately the final paragraph in this article stated something like this disease needed psychiatric help. I didn't think I needed help like that but it definitely reinforced my belief that I needed to keep my mouth shut and be very very careful about buying anything.
Edit: I just found a wikipedia entry about the book I mentioned above. I think if you read this article you'll realize that for a young crossdresser, this isn't the way you want to discover that there are others who also want to wear women's clothing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everyth..._Afraid_to_Ask)
Last edited by cdjenny20; 02-16-2008 at 09:30 AM.
I was online back in the compuserve days (1990,?) - they had a special interest group for the like-minded. It opened up a universe! What I gained there was an appreciation for the fact that, while we all have in common a special, important and deeply meaningful feminine self identity, we are all still very much individuals. In other, important ways, we may, indeed, have little in common. Gaining this wisdom has been at times painful, but has provided me with an enormously important insight about myself, and about others. I treasure that wisdom, in fact, it still needs to grow as I still have very little, actually.
When World Wide Web hit - OMG!!! What I liked most was JCPenny online - I could order anything I could afford. First year or two, they labeled the contents. Thankfully they stopped that. Got my first pair of pumps, and lots of other nice stuffSo I guess I felt like the world became one big shopping mall!!
However, I think I can actually find myself feeling MORE isolated with the internet. Sometimes I spend too much time lurking, sometimes posting, shopping (Ebay, wow, how many size 14 dresses can you look at in an afternoon???), and lose contact with people I share my life with, like my wife and kids.
The only other contrary thing I'll say - is that the increased awareness of CD'ing, presumably facilitated by the internet, makes shopping in person more difficult as it, at least for me, make the "plausable deniability" less credible that these jeans or this skirt is really for my wife...but then, I do seem to care less what other people think, as long as I'm thoughful and polite.
I remember spending a LOT of my time in college searching through various libraries and bookstores for ANYTHING having to do with crossdressing. I felt very alone but I knew from what I read that there were others out there like me. I should have spent that time studying instead as I flunked out of two colleges in six years...
Before the Internet there was Compuserve and AOL and both had dedicated sections for crossdressers. Before those were BBSs or bulliten-board systems. Someone somewhere would hook their computer to a modem and a phone line and accept incoming calls. The BBS ran software to upload and download files, maintain message threads, and maybe have a chat function if multiple phone lines were connected. I remember running up some fairly big phone bills dialing these computers long distance.
My local shopping was augmented with catalogue shopping. Since there was no online ordering available, everything was ordered by filling out the order form and sending it in the mail.
One downside of the Internet is that just because somebody publishes something on the Internet, that does not necessarily make it a fact. I am finding that many people cannot tell the difference between fact and opinion especially when opinion is presented as fact.
Robyn P.
After the couple of times being caught as a young'n and all the scolding about how different, odd and ashamed I should be. The internet was the first place i ever found out that I was not alone. I was fortunate enough to have the internet introduced to me at about age 20..right during the college years and during the start of the information and internet age...so I have been able learn much more at a younger age. I only wish I had known more younger and had some more information.
- "Dakota"
I shall always regret the missed opportunities due to isolation/shame/guilt when I was younger. I now realize that I could have looked drop dead gorgeous in my teen years. I look quite girly in photographs from that era, even in drab and I did dress in front of the mirror but was very much closeted. I was terrified of anyone finding out about my "illness". Buying clothes from the high street was utterly terrifying before the arrival of online ordering. Then there were the regular purges and resolutions to give up this madness forever..which never lasted more that a few months. If only I had contact with other girls then...
Now I'm in my 60's and I have worked through many of the emotional problems caused by social perceptions of crossdressing, thanks to places like this on the internet. I now have the cash and the confidence to buy what clothes I want from any shop and to wear them whenever I want, subject to some boundaries.
But I still regret those "wasted years" that were lost forever....the fun I could have had...sigh.
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