I'm fairly new here so forgive my ignorance on the matter but...Crossdresser/transvestite...is there any difference? Do some people see themselves as one or the other or both, if so why? What's the difference, if any? I only ask because I'm trying to figure out which one I am. Even ignoring the gender issue, it's very confusing!!
My understanding of the terms is a cd is a part time dresser and the tv is full time 24/7 w/ no intention of having reasignment surgery or take hormones.
I've never really understood all the different shades of classification and have long since given up worrying about it. The one division I am clear about is those of us who want to transision and those that don't. After that, how we describe ourselves is a matter of perswonal preference. I guess each of us would define all the usual terms slightly differently.
The important thing is to be comfortable with who you are. You say you are fairly new - (to this forum or dressing?) - anyway, my advice would be - stop worrying about terms and enjoy the experience!!
[SIZE="3"]Caroline
Tranny Granny[/SIZE]
I believe transvestites normally do it in a more professional side. Crossdressers need to do it for themselves and not for others to see, I guess (at least that's my case). Not that I wouldn't want to go out in women's clothes and have fun oing it, but it's an intimate need and not a way of making money.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] [SIZE="3"]Life's what you make of it[/SIZE]
I always thought crossdresser and transvestite, was the same.
I always thought the terms had the same meaning. A person who dresses in the clothing normally associated with the opposite sex, in my case a male who dresses as a female.
By text book definitions a transvestite has more of a sexual need to dress where as a crossdresser needs are filled by the act of dressing and more non sexual in nature. I think today the two are for most part considered to have the same meaning. So I think it is your pick...which do you prefer? For me it is CD.
I agree with Jess with the addition that the term "transvestite" is considered somewhat derogatory and archaic by many in the TG community since it has lurid connotations outside the community. I can't dress 24/7 so I guess I'm a CDer, not a TV. Personally I don't care what I'm called, just don't call me late for dinner!Originally Posted by Jess_cd32
Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.
Hmm...I think, despite the negative, archaic, and purportedly lurid (news to me!) connotations I'd probably go with transvestite. Crossdresser doesn't really seem specific enough, although maybe that's the point. Obviously I would prefer to not be labelled at all, I'm beginning to feel like a tin of beans!!By text book definitions a transvestite has more of a sexual need to dress where as a crossdresser needs are filled by the act of dressing and more non sexual in nature. I think today the two are for most part considered to have the same meaning. So I think it is your pick...which do you prefer? For me it is CD.
Last edited by tanya1976; 12-04-2008 at 09:24 AM.
the definitions are baic and general. but the real difference that i found is mod t girls dont care for the stigma associated to transvestite. mostly hollywood has made it out to have mental issues that really dont excisit. "rocky horror picture show". so we got a simple name such as cd.
what i prefer is Brandi, aka transgendered. which is an umbrella term but to those that dont have any real knowlage of the issue, it seems to work with out stigma.
hope this helps, Brandi
Brandi
Yeah that seem sensible. Maybe I'll try that. Thanks.
Whats in a name anyway, a rose by any other name is still a rose. As for me I like crossdresser since i have been doing this for 45 years and the old TV was in my opinion a harsher word to define us.
Well, to be honest I only knew the term 'Crossdresser' a few years ago. I felt this need since I was a child, and there were times that I thought I was gay, transexual or transvestite, because of the fact that I was totally misinformed about this and the reason I felt this need. For this fact, I totally agree that the label is the least important thing about it.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] [SIZE="3"]Life's what you make of it[/SIZE]
Which term is acceptable depends on what country you are in, nothing more. Both words mean the same thing cross/trans dresser/vestite. Literally the same meaning (And Transylvania is trans/cross sylvan/forest ia/land - the land across the forest!).
Thing is in the USA mainly there were two combined forces.
The first was the term 'transvestic fetish' which it was decided by the psychological field (largely quackery at the time as that was back when they thought being gay was a curable mental illness too... alas transvestic fetishism is still listed as a mental illness in the DSM of the APA!) must be a form of being crazy for someone to be aroused wearing lingerie if it was lingerie designed for the opposite sex.
The second was a few very bigoted transvestites who decided that transexuals and homosexuals were all crazy and making them look bad but female-attracted transvestites were normal so having a term different from transexual would make everything better and make people acceptable and thus we got crossdresser.
But some people liked the 'trans' part so the term transgender was invented to get the 'sex' bit out.
Since then though a lot of people found the word Transgender to be useful for all 'sex and gender diversity' except for many Intersex people who can find it offensive to be called transgender, especially as some think that transgender people are crazy and making them look bad. Oh and then theres the Harry Benjamin Syndrome people who use the term Harry Benjamin Syndrome because they consider all 'late-onset' 'pre-op' and 'non-op' transexuals and transvestite/crossdressers and gender-queer people to be crazy and making them look bad. They like to claim they are the 'classic transexuals' 'true transexuals' and 'primary transexuals' and that all non-HBS transexuals are transvestic fetishists but as they blame 'the transgenderists' and 'behaviourists' for stealling the term transexual they are lobbying very hard for medical organisations to accept their HBS invention and it's criteria that relegate everyone on this site (even the transexuals who apparently are guilty by association!) as crazy sexual predators.
So you see, there has been for decades an internecine conflict over stupid hair-splitting as different groups try and look more 'normal' by trying to heap dirt on the rest to transfer the perceived stigma off them and onto others.
Yet the real harm, what has really been holding people back for decades while others have been achieving progress has been this stupid splitting of hairs.
We need to be proud of and stick up for the entire Sex and Gender Diverse community. Yep, the Drag Queens too! Crossdressing would still be illegal in much of the western world were it not for the drag queens and the transvestite prostitutes etc who actually fought against those laws and had them overturned. It didnt happen by itself, people made it happen, people all too often criticised for making others look bad.
So as far as I'm concerned their is nothing offensive in the term crossdresser or transvestite or transgender or transexual or drag queen.
What is offensive is the people who would rather try and gain their own acceptance by backstabbing parts of the community they owe a debt of gratitude to.
And considering the vile (child-torturing!) people on the APA DSM board right now and the large amount of lobbying the small HBS community is doing then if we dont get more active they will win!
Cause the latest term we should be worried about is Autogynephilia!
Thats the label that will be stamped over crossdresser and transvestite alike and most MtF transexuals too, all labeled as mentally ill under a new likely classification in the DSM that has some of the HBS folk so excited they keep forgetting its not officially in there yet.
We need to stop blaming each other, stop blaming the drag-queens, the leather and latex clothing wearers and other outlandish dressers and start standing up for everyone. Otherwise those who hat all of us may win.
Last edited by battybattybats; 12-04-2008 at 10:41 AM. Reason: spelling
I've seen some clarification on that issue before, but not everyone may agree. CDs have interest in the other gender's clothing. While that could mean varying levels of interest, the clothes are the object of their desire. TVs desire to appear female, which goes beyond the garb. In addition to the term transvestitism, I've also seen the term transvestitic fetishism - I believe that refers to the fetish aspect, which is a different side. There are many "formal" and informal labels, so don't feel bad if you can't exactly pinpoint where you fall. Maybe more than one applies!
I regularly refer to myself as a CD because it's a more easily identifiable label, but I still see myself as TV.
May
I read Batty's post after mine. As you can see, labels are extremely unreliable - even for us who are sure about who we are! So again, don't worry about getting it "right".
Last edited by my_murano; 12-04-2008 at 10:55 AM.
This is my take, I think the term Cross Dressing sort of developed since there seemed to be a stigma associated with transvestite. I compare it to how term (in a political sense) progressive grew out of liberal. Some of us don't care and are perfectly to be called a liberal transvestite while others prefer progressive cross dresser.
**************as I probably already opened a huge can of worms, I am not trying to inject politics into this sight but just using it to illustrate a point. So if you are a conservative, I'm not tossing zingers here.
B
Hi Tanya: Obviously Batty's explanation is pretty detailed and I don't think I can add much. When I was young my mother discovered my affinity and told me over an emotional discussion that I was a transvestite. That was before the term crossdresser was coined. I was pleased that there was a word to describe me because it meant there must be others out there. I think they are one and the same as Batty said. We're all in this together so I don't really care what they call us. Like my mom said "sticks and stones...."
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Luv Jamie
Perhaps we as a group that arguably has the most insight, should write the definitive definitions of these words?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC][SIZE="3"]Wild Women Never Get The Blues[/SIZE]
I think they are both the same thing, but 'we' prefer the term 'Crossdresser' because 'Transvestite' sounds a bit medical, and we're sensitive little souls like that
To be honest, 'bloke in a skirt' is more appropriate to me (I'm not, and could never be, a good looking or convincing gurl) but I dont care whether people refer to me as a CD, a transvestite, a tranny, a weirdo or any other term to be honest.
*I* know who I am, everyone else can go to hell
They're the same thing. Transvestite is Latin for crossdresser.
In practice transvestite tends to have more of a sexual connotation. That is, it implies that the transvestite is a transvestite for some sort of sexual thrill. But that also applies to a lot of crossdressers. I think a lot of people think "transvestite" and picture a scene from Rocky Horror involving a guy in lingerie molesting his guests, while a lot of people think "crossdresser" and think of a harmless middle-aged guy in a dress. That's obviously not always the case, though.
Eddie Izzard self-identifies as a transvestite, but he says it's not a sexual thing. He's also referred to himself as transgendered before.
Hey, a conservative CD here. I think you're spot on. BTW, before there were liberals there were populists. When a group doesn't like what they are called they come up with a more acceptable name and when that one wears thin they do it again. We live in the age of political correctness and people work darn hard to find the perfect term to avoid any shade of disrespect. I like the CD nomenclature and think of it as general categorization of all the different objectives in dressing in the cloths of the other biological gender. I'm not too comfortable with getting assigned to a sub category so I stick with CD.This is my take, I think the term Cross Dressing sort of developed since there seemed to be a stigma associated with transvestite. I compare it to how term (in a political sense) progressive grew out of liberal. Some of us don't care and are perfectly to be called a liberal transvestite while others prefer progressive cross dresser.
**************as I probably already opened a huge can of worms, I am not trying to inject politics into this sight but just using it to illustrate a point. So if you are a conservative, I'm not tossing zingers here.
B
Sometimes I'd rather go with "transgender" as a label. But you have to explain that to people.
Sometimes I'd rather go for the easy option and just tell folk I'm a girl with the wrong plumbing.
Sometimes I really don't care. Give me your own label and I'll run with that.
By the way, good piece of writing, Batty. Again!
Sarah...
Labels, labels, and more labels.
I know I've struggled with who I am, what I am and why I love to dress up woman's clothing for over 40 years!
To make things as simple as possible, but not any simplier.
We are two countries divided by the same language.
It seems,
In the US the tern Crossdresser is favored.
In the UK/EU the tern Transvestite is favored.
Like:
smoke & fag
elevator & lift
erb & herb ["we same Herb because there is a fking H in it"][Thanks Eddie, lol]
You get the point.
Just use what ever suits you best & your most comfortable with.
I personally side with CD/TG
"Sammy, really next time do try to make your point without being quite so abrasive." -RD
You also say "jag-yoo-are" ( jaguar )
Back on topic, Right on, Batty!
Last edited by Fab Karen; 12-04-2008 at 04:45 PM.
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