My dressing started with Leotards. And then, obviously Cheerleader uniforms.
I've since moved beyond that. I've found myself buying more and more articles of clothing. From skirts, to jeans, to sweaters and more.
I found something lately that seemed to take the wind out of my sails, so to speak.
I read something, that my desire to dress was more a fetish then the desire to be feminine.
I wish I could find that article, but it seemed to take my desire to a low.
It's all what you think of it as, not what others think.
Do you wear make up, or nails? What about a wig? If it were just clothes I'd say it may have been a fetish, but based on the variety of clothing you mentioned, I doubt it.
I'm sure it's a fetish for some, but for most it is a need we have. It's not related to a sexual turn on like a fetish is.
Crossdressing is a SYMPTOM of SEVERAL DIFFERENT conditions.
Yes, It can be a Fetish for some people. For other people it is done for "escapisim"---to "escape from one's identity, to take a vacation from one's self for a time.(said to be relaxing and removes stress) for others it triggers a ""rush" or "High" which may or may not be sexual in nature.
For others, it is a variant of humiliation SM behaviour, and for others to express a female "inner self" or side. And CD is also seen in conjunction with trannsexuality.
Crossdressing as a fetish was an early psychological theory of non homosexual Crossdressing, when CD itself was thought of as a "condition" in itself, rather than ONLY a SYMPTOM common in several different psychological conditions, not related to each other, as is the case today.
That sounds like too much of a blanket statement to be true.Originally Posted by susancheerleader
You will have to decide for yourself if it is a fetish or not. It might seem like a mystery but I do not think it really is. Just ask yourself honestly ... are you turned on by the sight or feel of women's clothes? Some kind of clothing in particular? Nylon? Silk? Rubber? For many the answer is yes, for many others the answer is no. Only you *know* the answer.
Oh and by the way and in case we all forget ... fetishes are *very* common and almost always they are complex with no clear origin.
If it feels good and doesnt hurt anyone else, then enjoy
I'm definitely an "escapist, fetish" dresser. I'm not very proud of it, and have said so in numerous posts. I have often received posts and PMs from others here, saying they r, too.I found something lately that seemed to take the wind out of my sails, so to speak.
I read something, that my desire to dress was more a fetish then the desire to be feminine.
I wish I could find that article, but it seemed to take my desire to a low.
And they mostly say what others said in their posts here. " You're not hurting anyone. You're not doing anything illegal or shameful. You're enjoying yourself, expressing yourself, and r a happier person because u CD."
And I think they r rite!
U can't keep doing the same things over and over and expect to enjoy life to the max. When u try new things, even if they r out of your comfort zone, u may experience new excitement and growth that u never expected.
Challenge yourself and pursue your passions! When your life clock runs out, you'll have few or NO REGRETS!
Well, there's also the notion that I feel; I feel that CDing can start out as a fetish, and blossom into the feminine self that many of the older CDers are.
I'm not out to fool the world, just my inner girl
Real men wear pink <3
G.K. Chesterton“Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
Why do you feel you have to justify your dressing.
It is society who feel and remember we are part of that society so we are part of the problem, who need to have everything labelled and pigeon holed.
Why can people just be who they want to be without having to justify it to people.
There are things that people do that I find hard to understand, swinging, bondage, S&M etc (here we go again using labels) that personally I would not do but I have no right to judge them as I do not think people have the right to judge me for what I do.
As long as you are doing something that is not illegal and everything thing is consensual between two adults then enjoy what you do and don't let anyone tell you it is wrong.
Xx Vicky xX
If it feels right, makes you feel good, gives you that warm fuzzy feeling, than ,since it is not illegal or hurting anyone, IMO there is no doubt that it's O.K. to be yourself.
Sounds more like you have a shopping fetish!!! I don't know if I'm more adicted to shopping for womens clothing or wearing them!! But since I started at age 7... I couldn't even spell fetish...
Your doesn't sound like a fetish to me... Now wearing a cheerleader uniform and being tied up???
Last edited by Karren H; 11-17-2008 at 07:50 AM.
Susan,
Frankly, it doesn't matter. If you enjoy doing what you do then keep doing it. There are plenty of articles on the internet or in magazines that are 'ill-informed' or unbalanced and that degrade people by marginalising their cross-dressing activites.
Be it a fetish, something you do for sexual relief, the escaping of a 'femme' side, transexuality or whatever (a) it's natural (b) it's commonplace (ye gods, look at the number of subscribers on this site alone (c) it's enjoyable, and you should always aim to fill your life with joy/pleasure.
So stuff the article that upset you...keep on dressing !
xxx
Sarah
Last edited by Sarah Martin; 11-17-2008 at 09:01 AM.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] A day without crossdressing is a day wasted.
So what if it's just a fetish, you can call is what you like but at the end of the day you are not hurting anyone. Also, for every article that expresses an opinion, there are related articles with totally different opinions. Find your own reasons and level of dressing you are happy and comfortable with, and rejoice in how wonderful it feels.
Susan, I find it a love for the feel of female clothing. I do love the sex with my wife when she lets me wear panties or something femme.
No, those are my Panties]
Mmmm... my understanding is that a fetish is when you can be sexually aroused by an object, but does not by any means preclude normal sex. Being unable to "do it the normal way" (whatever normal is) is the textbook definition of a perversion.
Most of us here probably have some fetish even if it has nothing to do with CDing, but (I hope) most of us can still get it on the normal way without accessories.
The "don't worry about it" advice has a good point; this is not something that needs to be settled. However... many of us like to understand things and derive value from thinking about such labels, what may be behind them and whether it has any truth or application.
Fetishes at 7 years old?
But really, people crossdress for a million different reasons. There are lots of threads about this on this site. Lots of people dress for sexual reasons to some extent. Some do not. For many it is only a small part of why they dress. For others it plays a major role. There is nothing wrong with this. Women often dress sexy for their own reasons as well. I have heard from many women how they feel different in a skirt than in jeans. Some women feel very sexy in jeans.
I think articles like the one you are quoting only serve to encourage people to deny the real reasons why they dress or their real nature, which is worse.
Love,
Michelia
"Genius is the recovery of childhood at will." Rimbaud
Thanks everyone.
I'm not sure why that artical bothered me. I wasn't searching for an excusse as to why I like to dress, but after I read it, it took the fun out of dressing. But only for a short time.
I am who I am.
Elaine points out something that is the "classic" definition of fetish. If you have to be dressed to have sex.....it's a fetish! At least that is what Freud and his peer group would have said in the past.
There is a new theory and we may have read the same one. Some Professor decided to expound his view that unless you exhibit "girlish tendencies" from a very early age, (like birth to age 6,) you are not a "true" Transgenderist. If you started wearing Girl's Clothes at around puberty and they were used for "sexual pleasure," then you are labeled a fetish crossdresser. Unfortunately, a lot of people who should know better have picked up on his ideas and now use this as a rationale for "treatment" of what they believe is a learned neurotic behavior.
Of course, like a lot of things that are published by "learned scholars," they are probably B.S. and will eventually get consigned to "The Closet of Outmoded Ideas." Every time someone tries to "label" us, it never quite works. What might apply to one person doesn't work for another. Human's are complex!
The next time you read one of these Scholarly Books, written by a self-proclaimed expert; try to remember a little poem that I learned in College, so applicable to that scene in Academe', then and now.
It went: "Baa Baa Black Sheep have you any Bull?"
"Yes Sir, yes Sir, three books full."
"One is for my fortune, one is for my fame, one to win me tenure in The Academic Game!"
Peace and Love, Joanie
dear Susan,
while i love to shop and to dress, it is never and has never been for me a turn on.
rather, dressing unifies my inner perception of self to outward appearance. when i see my made up eyes in the mirror, feel hair on my shoulders, feel my calves and legs respond to the feel of heels and stockings, i feel whole, complete, and not particularly stimulated sexually.
i feel i appear the way i do in my dreaming consciousness, when i see myself in a mirror in a dreamscape.
against all i have believed and accepted all my life, it feels natural, like coming home.
jessie
butterfly girl,
[SIZE="3"]Jessie[/SIZE]
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
when i have a brand new hairdo
with my eyelashes all in curls
i float as the clouds on air do
i enjoy being a girl!
o. hammerstein - flower drum song
Bingo!
That's how I feel when I dress.
Fetish is as fetish does.. I'm not sure what that means exactly.. but I will say this.. in my existance starting from when I first fell overboard dressing till now I've gone through phases of dress such as the start when I was happy wearing pantyhose and that was the first step, which could be fetish because I was fine wearing pantyhose only and the occasional pair of shoes.. then about fifteen years ago I fell in the deep end and bought many of everything, and the fetish turned into full blown cross dressing.. now I am more often wearing the clothes where I started.. not the same exact clothes (those are decomposing somewhere I'm sure)... but the idea of where it all started for me.. fetish?? ok, I'll wear that..
This is what I mean by "every guy can look like a girl from the right angles".. this is one of the first pictures of me dressed up.. very vague look.. almost fem...
I have a fetish for mary janes and a love of al other women's clothing. Call it what you will, I still enjoy the hell out of it.
I don't see wearing everyday clothes as a fetish, maybe a speciality item like a sissy dress could be considered a fetish
Helen Boyd does an excellent job of reviewing the spectrum of "transgender" in "My Husband Betty". I am about half way thru it and find it very enlightening. My wife and I are having a tough time right now because of Renee, and I am going to give it to her when i am finished. I have done a lot of underlining and note-making.
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