Is dressing sexual or emotional?

[dedeman]

I'm not quite sure how to phrase this question, but I'm curious why others dress.

I do it because of the extreme sexual excitement. Although I'm usually not sexually aroused at the time, it is the most elongated adrenaline rush I can experience. Depending on the circumstance, I'll get cotton mouth, heart racing, heavy breathing, etc. This is all if I'm out in public (with very limited exposure). I guess the fear of getting caught combined with the fear of attracting the wrong attention is what does it for me.

But I understand there are some people that dress because of personal satisfaction, or identification issues, etc.

This is my first post, but not my last. I'll keep this one short, but please forgive me if my future posts tend to run on.

[VeronicaMoonlit]

Since transfolk are all individuals, we're like snowflakes! It could be: Either, both, or neither.

Veronica
Rondelle (Ron) Rogers Jr.

[ColleenShivas]

I'm not quite sure how to phrase this question, but I'm curious why others dress.

I do it because of the extreme sexual excitement. Although I'm usually not sexually aroused at the time, it is the most elongated adrenaline rush I can experience. Depending on the circumstance, I'll get cotton mouth, heart racing, heavy breathing, etc. This is all if I'm out in public (with very limited exposure). I guess the fear of getting caught combined with the fear of attracting the wrong attention is what does it for me.

But I understand there are some people that dress because of personal satisfaction, or identification issues, etc.

This is my first post, but not my last. I'll keep this one short, but please forgive me if my future posts tend to run on.

Yes to both. It is also sensual, recreational and therapeutic. And probably more ...

[dedeman]

VeronicaMoonlit, I realize people dress for different reasons, that's exactly why I was asking.

I'm just not sure of all the reasons people may do it.

Thanks for the response, though.

[Ballerina]

Both. It used to be more of a strong turn on, but now that I've opened it up to myself, it's nowhere near as bad and is more of personal expression. (As my GF reads and unable to understand, lol)

[theresa_phillipa]

Yes to both. It is also sensual, recreational and therapeutic. And probably more ...

Yes, what SHE said!
However i'd have to say that sensual doesn't always {sometimes,rarely....} mean Sexual.
The feeling of 'YES! This FEELS like ME' when i slip into my bra and panties and a nice pair of slacks is totally sensual. But if i got all sexual everytime i got dressed in the morning, i'd never get ANYthing done.
Recreational?
Sure, when i know i have the time and privacy i LOVE to play dress up; try a little make up; heels---though i am way too wobbly yet to even THINK about going out in heels. It is simply FUN to feel all Girlie sometimes.
Therapeutic?
And how! While i have only 'purged' my closet once, my therapist said Never Again. Really, i got so depressed, out of it, crud-minded. When i finally relented and got some new things---and figured out how to wear them most all the time albeit discreetly---did i come out of my funk; began to feel like the woman i was born to be.

[Ballerina]

Ah, ok, didn't quite think of it that way. It's then more sensual than sexual for me, too.

[danacd96]

For me its more emotional than sexuall. Like maybe 75% emotional 25% sexuall. That could all change depending on my mood swings however. But I'll stick to the 75-25
dana

[vivianann]

For me I dress as a woman because I identify as a woman, I use to get cotton mouth and heart racing like you do now, I do not experience anxiety like that anymore since I go out enfemme almost everday. It is not sexual for me either, when I was a teenager it was a sexual turn on, I am glad it is not a sexual fetish anymore. Right now I consider it to be emotional uplifting, and when I am out enfemme I am very relaxed.

[ProjectLisaCD]

Before I began to crossdress forced femininzation was one of my best fantasies. After I started that does nothing for me anymore. Crossdressing became 100% emotional.

[Michelle_in_tights]

Definitely sexual. Once I've relieved myself I feel a real prat and can't went to get out of my female clothes. I only wear for upto an hour as I don't feel relaxed or comfortable in them.

[Mollyanne]

Hi, When I first started dressing(the day after the earth was made)it was for the sexual excitement and that lasted many many years. Now I dress for the pure pleasure of becoming a woman, I LOVE feeling the weight of my breasts(if only they were real), I LOVE the silky feeling of having pantyhose on my shaved legs, I LOVE the feeling of my heels and the sound that they make when I walk. I think you get the idea!!!!! I maybe a "he" genetically but the real me is a "she" and I I have come to accept her.

Mollyanne

[insearchofme]

I identify the most with what Mollyanne and Vivianann said. Early on in my dressing it was all sexual but as I mature it is more emotional.

We all change over time.

[Jenniferpl]

Mollyanne said everything that I would have said. There is no better feeling than wearing satin. 4" heesl just add to it.

[Claire Cook]

I identify the most with what Mollyanne and Vivianann said. Early on in my dressing it was all sexual but as I mature it is more emotional.

We all change over time.

Dana has said it all for me.

[MarinaTwelve200]

Dressing is just a SYMPTOM or response to a wide variety of often unrelated psychological conditions, so, depending on the individual it can be sexual, emotional, recreational, theraputic or whatever. "Dressing" in itself is not the "issue", but rather something ELSE in the person that expresses itself in dressing---which can be one or more of many factors.

[Kathi Lake]

Personally, for me, it's all emotional. When I dress, I feel, . . . content. Right. Normal. It's as if I am doing just what I'm supposed to. The feeling is just like slipping into a nice warm bubble bath. Seeing Kathi take shape in the mirror as I'm doing my makeup and hair, the feeling of zipping up a skirt and sliding those hose-clad legs into a pair of 4-inch pumps, . . . wow!

That said, much of what I experience is sensual. That is, many of my senses are in overdrive. Smell especially. Touch as well, but sight is probably the most "used" of my senses. I just enjoy looking in the mirror and seeing that smiling girl looking back. To me, there is a difference between sensuality and sexuality.

Kathi

[Alana65]

I identify the most with what Mollyanne and Vivianann said. Early on in my dressing it was all sexual but as I mature it is more emotional.

We all change over time.

I agree. Vivianann & Mollyanne put into words, what I was thinking.

[Marjory]

[QUOTE=Mollyanne;1582958]Hi, When I first started dressing(the day after the earth was made)it was for the sexual excitement and that lasted many many years. Now I dress for the pure pleasure of becoming a woman, I

Same as above, Nothing lowers blood pressure better than a walk in a pair of ballet flats.
( my dressing is down to to a say at home wife)

[Angie G]

I've never been into the big macho thing and dressing for me was never really a sexual thing. Its' more about the girl in me. And the clothes.
Angie

[Bilinda]

We all dress for so many different reasons. I think most here dress because it just feels right to them. Myself however, it's mostly sexual. Also most of the time when I dress I'm with my lesbian girlfriends, which adds to the excitement!

[Jenniferpl]

Both. Depends on my mood and mostly importantly my wife's. Sometimes she want Jennifer and sometimes she wants her husband.

[TGMarla]

When I was younger, there was a huge sexual overtone to crossdressing for me. That has waned somewhat as years went on, but it can still be quite erotic if I choose it to be. But it's gone from a primary reason to a secondary reason, and now it's an emotional "chicken soup for the soul" thing more than anything else.

[KarenSusan]

I think Mollyanne hit the nail on the head. When I was young there was a large sexual content to it but as I got older there was less. Now when I dress there is no sexual content, just a warm feeling that this is how it was intended to be.

[Maria_1969]

For me its both.... when I was a teen it was all sexual but as a 40yo man it now relaxes me as well.