Crossdressing & excitement...

[Victoriana]

Hi,

When you started to dress when young for how many was it a fetish or for sexual reasons? And as you got older did you girls lose that sexual excitement from dressing? Was it more about the dressing when you got older? Just wondering.

[Robin777]

I cannot speak for anyone but myself, I started dressing when I hit puberty and it was for sexual reasons. then I got a few years older I realized it was more than the sexual part,it was me connecting with another part of me. Then it was more about the dressing. I would quit for a while,then I couldn't live with myself. I had to dress to satisfy something in me.

[Allesandra Rhodes]

I think I was trying to replace the female presence missing so much in my life. As time grew on me I found out the female presence was inside me. Sure I like how I look all dolled up. But I guess it's never been totally a fetish or about sex. I love the girl in the mirror, and I try to be more like her everyday.

[NathalieX66]

I was age 6 or 7 , and wanted to dress like the girls in the neighborhood. I had no ambition to be a girl, I just wanted to look like them. Now I dress as female pretty much most of the time except for work.

I am a firm believer that denial only suppresses feelings, and accentuates things more dramatically as compensation. I think many crossdressers overcompensate in order to achieve a state that they wish they were but aren't.

[docrobbysherry]

Nothing excites me or gets my motor running like Sherry does! And, I'm 70.

[NathalieX66]

Sherry, you are a riot. ......10 times better in real person than this forum will ever show.
Cheers!
Love Nathalie

[edith]

My fascination with wearing makeup and girl's clothes started well before I had any notion of sex (6 years old). When I hit puberty it became sexual, and that is part of why I was unable to come to terms with it. I suppressed for most of my 20s and when I finally broke again I was delighted to find out that it wasn't inherently sexual at all, for me.

[Karren H]

At 7.... I don't think I knew what sex or a fetish was....

[Angie G]

For me it's always been about the dressing. I've alway liked feeling girly.
Angie

[Cynthia Anne]

Well as I think back I don't think I knew much about sex at the age of four! go figure

[Rachael Leigh]

Yes for me the excitment was less I still though get a thrill when the makeup starts going on, but mostly it's just a part of well normal but what is that?

[ReineD]

Just want to say that it's true, young children are not aware of sexual intercourse or fetishes.

But, they are aware of their own bodies, their sexuality, their gender, and what feels good. As young as 3 to 5 years old. Experimentation continues until full fruition during the teenage years.

http://nsvrc.org/sites/default/files...evelopment.pdf

http://hss.state.ak.us/ocs/Publicati...p-children.pdf

http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/...__Ages_3_to_5_


This isn't to say that it's sexual for everyone at a preschool age the way it is when older. But it can certainly have roots in sexual awareness at that age.

The OP may not have worded the question clearly (I suppose we can define "young" as toddler or teenager), but for how many of you was it sexual during the teenage years?

[Allison Quinn]

I've been dressing ever since I can remember. So no I don't think it was for any sexual needs that young :P I remember not being confused just being very happy, warm and nice feeling when I looked into the mirror and saw a girl staring back c:
I tried to make it sexual at one point. I wanted it to be, I wanted it to be something that was a little easier to explain :P It wasn't, and it still isn't now that I know what I really dress for

[TheMissus]

Reine is right - fetish can and usually does start in early childhood when curiosity and exploration is at its height and long before sex is known about. Then puberty sexualizes whatever activity the child was engaging in and voila, you have a lifelong imprint that can change over time to become an actual lifestyle, or it can remain where it started.

That's not to say this is the case for people here (I know many here are TG) but it's a reality for many people with a fetish. BDSM is considered a lifestyle by some while others just indulge occasionally. Adult Babies are another group that can shift from fetish to lifestyle.

Being the 'vanilla' type married to a kinky guy, I find all this fascinating!

[Zylia]

The first times I did it I wasn't aware that it was something sexual because I was pretty young, but yes to all three questions.

The sexual aspect of cross-dressing is the big huge pink elephant in the room here.

[Mink]

as a young young kid i'm not sure... i guess i was kind of out of it in terms of WHAT it was when i was that young or experiencing... i was def. later to The Game than most though in terms of coming into sexual feelings ... and then not really dating until much later than most... which kind of makes me feel like it had become sort of a replacement thing for me...

but now i'm stuck with it!

i think my problem is that it is indeed somewhat both... sexual AND lifestyle... i can wear a dress and undies out and be just fine and not turned on really at all but then other times i can be quite turned on! i think it depends on context

having both sides of it is very strange and frustrating... if it was just one side or the other it'd be much easier to deal with! ... maybe i should hope it becomes more just about the dressing as i get older? (then again... maybe not! such fun!)



also yeah... the sexual / fetish side of it IS the big elephant in the room for this place and one of the things that always made me a bit freaked out to post on here... but there's so many awesome issues to discuss with this world that i had to take the plunge... i understand wanting to keep things more civil and pg-rated but it can also be super frustrating to want to talk in a more adult matter about... adult issues!

Then puberty sexualizes whatever activity the child was engaging in

sorry just had the image of someone then growing into a dinosaur or building block fetish!

[Vickie_CDTV]

I knew from about 5 I had a fetish for certain items, even though I did not know what the condition was called, or why I felt the way I did. By the time I was in my early teens, I knew what it was and could name it. TheMissus was not kidding, this absolutely does happen, at least to some young boys.

However, I felt, almost like it was instinct, it was something to be ashamed of and I had to keep it a secret.

[GenderCurious Andrea]

Like most of the girls on this forum I started dressing a little before puberty but I have to say I had a strong attraction to women even before then. Kids seem to be maturing sexually at much earlier ages and I was no exception. Although now dressing satisfies a much deeper part of me I do have to admit there was and still is a very strong sense of sexual satisfaction when I dress. I can only speak for myself but I feel kids have a pretty good understanding of there mind body soul even at a young age. I know I did and the members of the LGBT community that I have had the honor of becoming close friends with had a pretty good understanding even before grade school or even in the peak of development. For them gender identity was never a choice and I feel the same goes for me : )

[jennytvx]

when i dressed at 6 and begged my mom to let me wear a dress, I am sure I did not have any sexual thoughts. I just wanted to be a girl. But when i hit puberty, my need to dress almost always ended with some sort of a release. But when i got older, it's about feeling like a woman and doing everyday house chores enfemme. It has taken many years of adult life that this is a part of me that I tried to suppress. But now I embrace it and try to be feminine as much as I can to feel whole.

[AmyGaleRT]

Victoriana, that's about what happened with me. I was primarily a fetish dresser at first, and didn't dress in anything but nightgowns after my first explorations. Then I decided to try an actual dress...and felt differently from when I was wearing my nighties. Not aroused, just happy and content. From that point, I started buying more dresses and other daywear, and building up my femme presentation. Oh, I still like my nightgowns, but they don't arouse me as much anymore, because I have a better picture of myself as a woman now, and am seeing that as an extension of it.

- Amy

[Beverley Sims]

Fun, sex and fetish when I was younger.
Still fun and sexy looking when I go to parties.
I enjoy myself then.
Projecting my image as a woman.

[Erica Marie]

For me it was pretty much experimenting when I was in my early teens. Then it progressed over the years to where I found a whole another side of me. There is a girl inside that needed time to find her way out.

[Kate Simmons]

The sex part was a by product due to raging hormones. When I started dressing at an early age it was more that I felt it was the thing to do Initially.

[Cheryl T]

Yes, when I was younger it was a fetish thing for the excitement and danger and forbidden aspects. Of course I began before I knew what any of that was (about 7) so it moved in that direction during puberty. Later on I realized that was not my reason for doing it and found that it was simply to express who I am.
Now there's no longer that feeling, especially since I came out to my wife and have her full acceptance. I dress every day and it's simply to be me. There's no more fetish excitement than any other woman would have getting dressed.

[Ressie]

Nothing excites me or gets my motor running like Sherry does! And, I'm 70.

This is a recurring topic and I keep agreeing with Sherry. I think if I dressed all the time it wouldn't be stimulating to me anymore. Stimulating is what I like so I'm usually in male mode.