I miss the polls

[Lorileah]

I know there was too much flaming and fighting going on but I have a need to know.

Is there a disparity of 50 year old CD's in the world? Was it something our moms took when we were in utero. Smoking drinking carousing (that's what they called it then) all night? Drugs? (legal, we all know our moms would never do anything illegal). Or is it just that we are tired of hiding and have all come out?

How many people here are in their 20's, 30's' 40's 50's I know we have a few above that (ladies don't tell). But do you think there is a disproportionate number of 50ish people here and why?

[Lisa Golightly]

I'm 41. :)

[Evelyn74]

Mid 30s

[Karren H]

57 and I think it was alien abductions!! Yeah!! That's it.. Bunch of Estonians snuck over and took my mom when she was pregnant... Made her drink Vodka.... Told her Russian jokes... Messed me up something fierse!! I still shudder when Sean Connery says Vilnias in Hunt for Reed October!! :D

[Annette_boy]

Hi Everyone
I am beyond 50 ish but was in my late50's when I went fulltime I was tired of hiding ans with death of my supportive wife had no reason to
Hugs and Kisses
Annette

[celeste26]

Yes I think there is something that happened and yes I think there are a lot of 50's people here and in the CD world in general. Maybe its just that those of us who grew up at the same time find they had to deal with social pressures

[Jessica Who]

I am in my twenties

[Ellen Ross]

I'm 50, and I also think it seems like that is the average age. I believe this is my mid-life crisis, and that it has been around for a long time but hit me recently hard for some reason. I had wanted to know "why now?", which is why I looked for information on the web and found this site. But a year later I'm not sure I care - I'm trying now to just hold on and enjoy the ride.

["Mary"]

Still 40's.

[TxKimberly]

Early 40's. Personally I don't think that it has much to do with an epidemic of TG'ness 40 or 50 years ago. I think it has more to do with the fact that it takes men until they are 30, 40, or 50 to be secure enough to start looking for outlets for the CDing, including the forums. So it's not that there were more of us born then as compared to how many are born now, it's just that WE are now at the age where we are tired of the bullshit and are willing to say "Damn right I'm a cross dresser! So?!"

Oh, forgot to mention - I do NOT miss the polls! It had got to the point where I was grinding and gnashing my teeth because everyone wanted to start a poll that only one group or the other was allowed to respond to. Invariably someone else would respond, and then there would be half a dozen posts screaming about it and belittling the ones who did it. I can live with out the angst . . .

[carol anne]

:)Let's just admit that I was born well before the attack on Pearlt Harbor- am enjoying as a cd.
Carol Anne

[NikkiBeth]

I am 47.

[kristinacd55]

54 here, and by the looks of things I believe you're right about the ages!

[Ricochet]

Just turned 50. Damn!

I believe my Mom smoked when pregnant with me.

[WendyD]

I'm 46.

[Patricia1]

Great question Lori. It's the scientist in you that prompts a lot of your observations I think.

Anyway, I think the preponderance of older CDers is a function of the maturation process. So many of the younger set are in a lot of turmoil - dressing, purging, guilt, shame, in short, in denial. The older folk, having survived this journey through the wilderness, are somewhat more resolved to their state/fate. There are exceptions, of course. Some of us get smarter sooner & move easily in this world at a younger age. The rest of us are engaged in the ordeal of fire which is what eventually tempers us to accept who we are. How's that from a "science for dummies" graduate?

[bethw]

Late 50s here. Ok 59. Ok 60 in August. Yikes you girls are pushy. lol

[Berta82]

41 years young.:battingeyelashes:

[Tina Dixon]

52, my mother was hoping for a girl so I'm just trying to make her wish come true :battingeyelashes:

[Deborah Jane]

49, my mother was hoping for a girl too, she got one eventually :)

[Darla in Pa.]

49 here!

[Miranda09]

Chronologically I'm 56. Biologically I'm 40ish. Mentally I'm 30ish...not going any farther!! :D Not sure why there seems to be a preponderance of 50ish Cder's. Maybe it's because we were the leads in the sexual revolution and we're just carrying it on, in a very different sense. Or maybe it was an alien abduction!!! :)

[Alice B]

I'm and older member (classified as a Senior Member), but I think TxKimberly hits it pretty well on the head. I did not start until I was about 60, but as I look back I see there were times when I was dancing around the edges as I approached my 40's and 50's. For many of us that had profession and family obligations that would preclude cross dressing it required more time and dare I say maturity to come out to ourself. Let alone anyone else.

[Alana65]

I'm 44.

[5150 Girl]

I just turned 40, and won't advance again untill the end of November

[cindym5_04]

I'm 36 and although I can't 100% prove it without asking (and I try NOT to talk to my mother- if that's what you want to call her), I'm 99.999999~% sure that she smoked during her pregnancies. I've always known her to smoke like a chimney (even when she's folding the clean laundry), so it totally wouldn't surprise me if she smoked when I was in utero.

[Butterfly Bill]

62. Came out when I was 41. In the 1940s, everybody smoked. Click "Members List" in the menu bar at the top of your page and you can see a lot of ages displayed.

[Karren H]

52, my mother was hoping for a girl so I'm just trying to make her wish come true :battingeyelashes:

More likely you were dressed in red and white too much growing up just like me.. Maybe if I was born in black and gold country instead of Detriot things would be different? :D

[cindyscute]

A real girl never tells her age :heehee: ok late 40's :eek:

[Kate Lynn]

I'll be 60 next month,I do know my mother smoke and drank when she was preggers with me,but I recently found out she had rehumatic fever when she was a child and was bed ridden for over 2 years from it.

[Carole Cross]

I am 41.

[susie d]

17 with forty years experience and my sisters mother, I don't claim her, smoked and drank and jumped off the porch when my sister was heading toward the road so I was way premature at the time.
Envied all the great little girl dresses my sister got and really had to be sneaky to try them on.:heehee:

[TGMarla]

I'm 48. Well, okay, 49 next week. Kim's right about the polls. They were always fun if everyone followed the rules set down in the poll, but asking this bunch to behave maturely is like asking a dog not to eat. So I guess they had to go. Still.....too bad.

And Mom smoked, but she has since quit.

[Lorileah]

OK way out in left field with this and the reason I was wondering (and most of you won't know if this happened or not). During the late 40's-middle 60's it was not unusual for an MD to put a pregnant mother on "something" to make sure she didn't lose the baby. In some cases this was an estrogenic compound or similar hormone.

Like I said it is far out in left field (and I see Batty chomping at the bit to get to this) but being exposed to hormones in utero, and seeming like there is a disproportionate number of us in our "middle ages" I was trying to see if there may be a link? I am sure there is no scientific proof as far as dressing for this but males exposed to DES while in utero have a higher rate of prostate and genital problems. Since our sexual identity is likely formed during this time the excess estrogen (or progesterone in some cases) may have led to our hobby.

Of course if this is true, then we should see a decrease in CD's and TS's born in the 70's on.

See there is a method to my madness. :devil:

Now having explained that please continue posting general ages to see if there may be credibility to this

[Keely]

Almost 58.:eek::eek:

[charlie]

Hey, I miss the polls too! I'm 59.

[deborahtg42]

I am still in shock, lol.

Still cannot believe Lisa is 41, she looks fantastic.


Anyway , I am Deborah and 42, the name is a bit of a clue, lol

[Daphne]

57 and I think it was alien abductions!! Yeah!! That's it.. Bunch of Estonians snuck over and took my mom when she was pregnant... Made her drink Vodka.... Told her Russian jokes... Messed me up something fierse!! I still shudder when Sean Connery says Vilnias in Hunt for Reed October!! :D

LOL.

Im 44. All of a sudden I feel old.:sad:

[AKAMichelle]

So it's not that there were more of us born then as compared to how many are born now, it's just that WE are now at the age where we are tired of the bullshit and are willing to say "Damn right I'm a cross dresser! So?!

I think TXKimberly hit it for me. I denied that I was a crossdresser until I finally had it. Since coming to grips with being a crossdresser, I have felt like we are going to AA meetings. Hi all, I'm Michelle and I'm a crossdresser.

BTW, I'm 49


OK way out in left field with this and the reason I was wondering (and most of you won't know if this happened or not). During the late 40's-middle 60's it was not unusual for an MD to put a pregnant mother on "something" to make sure she didn't lose the baby. In some cases this was an estrogenic compound or similar hormone.

Like I said it is far out in left field (and I see Batty chomping at the bit to get to this) but being exposed to hormones in utero, and seeming like there is a disproportionate number of us in our "middle ages" I was trying to see if there may be a link? I am sure there is no scientific proof as far as dressing for this but males exposed to DES while in utero have a higher rate of prostate and genital problems. Since our sexual identity is likely formed during this time the excess estrogen (or progesterone in some cases) may have led to our hobby.

Of course if this is true, then we should see a decrease in CD's and TS's born in the 70's on.

See there is a method to my madness. :devil:

Now having explained that please continue posting general ages to see if there may be credibility to this

I know what you are talking about. My mom was given a drug to prevent her from going into labor prematurely. I have no idea what the drug was, but she took it.

[nancyish]

I was having a real hard time in my early 40's and wore a pair of my wife's panties,why-idon't know.All i do know is that i fell in love with them and have never stopped wearing them.Mid life crisis-maybe,did it help-absolutely!

[Charla McBee]

I'd like to think that if I was a 60 year old world war three veteran or something like that, none of this would be a big deal anymore. When you are older, successful and comfortable with who you are and what you've done in life it probably doesn't matter as much as it used to. Even if you are an alcoholic bum, at least you've probably seen everything and still don't care anymore.

As for me, I'm a 22 year old frat boy with a lot to lose. I like to handle any problems in life by myself but my recent struggles with my cding have driven me insane enough to need a place like this. I'm really glad there are young people here because it seems to me that everywhere you look, the most open cders are overwhelmingly older.

[allisonrn06]

In my forties!

[gretchen2]

Forty

[Deedee Dupree]

Will ask my mom tomorrow for the answer, her memory is amazingly intact.

The obvious reason(at least to me) why so many are present here, were the immense difficulties of coming up through the "dark ages" with little or no credible info or support, severely delaying coming to terms until life circumstances allowed the means and freedom to do so.

On the other end of it, why there are so few 60's and older here, some don't need the support... it's more of a social thing, and those long gone don't want to remember the hard times... rather do their thing out in the real world, CDing or not.

[Linda Laman]

I started crossdressing at 50!

[Sara Jessica]

OK way out in left field with this and the reason I was wondering (and most of you won't know if this happened or not). During the late 40's-middle 60's it was not unusual for an MD to put a pregnant mother on "something" to make sure she didn't lose the baby. In some cases this was an estrogenic compound or similar hormone.

Like I said it is far out in left field (and I see Batty chomping at the bit to get to this) but being exposed to hormones in utero, and seeming like there is a disproportionate number of us in our "middle ages" I was trying to see if there may be a link? I am sure there is no scientific proof as far as dressing for this but males exposed to DES while in utero have a higher rate of prostate and genital problems. Since our sexual identity is likely formed during this time the excess estrogen (or progesterone in some cases) may have led to our hobby.

Of course if this is true, then we should see a decrease in CD's and TS's born in the 70's on.

See there is a method to my madness. :devil:

Now having explained that please continue posting general ages to see if there may be credibility to this

Lorileah, you have raised several good points.

First of all, DES was apparently an anti-miscarriage drug given to women ...hmmm... right around the time I was born. Supposedly it has been demonstrated in some study or another to increase the prevalence of TS, or so I've heard. I have not heard of it being mentioned in the context of CD'ing but heck, we're one big happy family, right???

As for the age thing, I think there's two things going on. First of all, you have the mid-life thingy happening and this can manifest itself whether one identifies as TS, CD or somewhere in between. Certainly the replies here which are predominantly "older" as in some 30's, more 40's, seemingly more 50's, etc. Another thought I have on this subject is based on reading some of the laments of the younger set who wonder why there is so much obsession about specific items of clothing (which I'll keep unmentioned in this thread to avoid the flame which would surely follow).

But here's my opinion about why this is so. These are the children of the internet, something which those of us in our...(early) 40's like myself never had at our disposal during our formative years. Consequently, they haven't had to live into their middle years coping with or repressing a secret affinity for (insert name of clothing worth obsessing over here) or whatever. They are using the resource to their benefit to find their way and even acceptance in the real world with little need for what these message boards have to offer, for better or for worse.

Or so goes my opinion.

[Tiffany6791]

I'm 33 yrs old.

[Miranda09]

OK way out in left field with this and the reason I was wondering (and most of you won't know if this happened or not). During the late 40's-middle 60's it was not unusual for an MD to put a pregnant mother on "something" to make sure she didn't lose the baby. In some cases this was an estrogenic compound or similar hormone.

Like I said it is far out in left field (and I see Batty chomping at the bit to get to this) but being exposed to hormones in utero, and seeming like there is a disproportionate number of us in our "middle ages" I was trying to see if there may be a link? I am sure there is no scientific proof as far as dressing for this but males exposed to DES while in utero have a higher rate of prostate and genital problems. Since our sexual identity is likely formed during this time the excess estrogen (or progesterone in some cases) may have led to our hobby.

Of course if this is true, then we should see a decrease in CD's and TS's born in the 70's on.

See there is a method to my madness. :devil:

Now having explained that please continue posting general ages to see if there may be credibility to this

Hmmm. That's interesting Lorileah as I seem to remember reading something about that a long time ago. Might have been the case with my mom, but not really sure.

[Brenda456]

Guilty as charged. Early 50's here.

[Lisa Golightly]

My mother says she took nothing while carrying me :)

Deborah... Thank you very much ;) x

[Hope]

OK way out in left field with this and the reason I was wondering (and most of you won't know if this happened or not). During the late 40's-middle 60's it was not unusual for an MD to put a pregnant mother on "something" to make sure she didn't lose the baby. In some cases this was an estrogenic compound or similar hormone.

Like I said it is far out in left field (and I see Batty chomping at the bit to get to this) but being exposed to hormones in utero, and seeming like there is a disproportionate number of us in our "middle ages" I was trying to see if there may be a link? I am sure there is no scientific proof as far as dressing for this but males exposed to DES while in utero have a higher rate of prostate and genital problems. Since our sexual identity is likely formed during this time the excess estrogen (or progesterone in some cases) may have led to our hobby.


You know, I remember reading something almost exactly like this, maybe 2 weeks ago, but as it didn't pertain to me (Not a boomer) I shrugged my shoulder pads and went on with life, blissfully ignoring where I read it, or exactly what it is that I read.

Quick, someone the the google-mobile.

MY mother of course smoked, drank, and "caroused" significantly while she was pregnant with me. When I asked her why she didn't at least stop drinking while she was pregnant, she shrugged her shoulders and replied "Why would I? Drinking wasn't going to affect ME." Of course - I was an unhappy accident, born into a unhappy marriage - so lets just assume I didn't have an ideal childhood either, and that any issues I carry around could just as easily be social as physical.

[TSchapes]

Internet + Mid-Life-Crisis + Tired-of-Hiding = :rave:

-Tracy

[BLUE ORCHID]

At 66.5 yrs. dressing for 60 yrs I was in my early 20's whin I started
going into stores to buy femme things some times for my wife and sometimes for me.
It never gets old it just keeps getting better.
.................................................. ............thanks..........ORCHID

[erickka]

Late 40's here. Been enjoying it since I was 6 or 7 years old!

[BeckiB]

I am in my late 40's. I have to agree with Kimberly that we become more comfortable with ourselves and who we are as we get older, making it easier to crossdress.

[Ricochet]

...

So there's about a 20-year spread (age 50, internet 20 years old) during which CDs seem most common. I predict this will stretch upwards and be self-sustaining (some of us die or get worn out through sheer exhaustion, while other youngsters take over) until the day when it's about as commonplace as being left-handed and nobody will bother to talk about it. At that time, numbers on this site of any age will dwindle.


In the future, it's possible that we (men & women) will all be wearing the same unisex clothing. What will we wear for fun then? :-)

What a sad day that will be.

Later...

[suchacutie]

Social Science research is a nightmare of so many degrees of freedom, and this thread is a case in point. I'll be 59 in a couple of weeks, but Tina has only existed for four years. We are currently in a unique section of history where communication ability is like nothing that has ever existed. Also, we don't know if swapping genders is generally a thing that becomes more possible as we get older and have some control over our lives, plus enough life experience to realize what is possible, on the average.

Fascinating thread and I do miss the polls. I don't miss how touchy people were about the polls, however. I just wish they could be taken for the fun they should have been.

tina

[Lorileah]

Ok let's start with the case for societal norms. We all have them but what do we do with them (paraphrased from Jimmy Buffett).

This is definitely a major reason we wait to come out. But one has to wonder if this was just as common in the 50's when men were men and women were June Cleaver? Did men feel less need to be the woman they wanted because the women were the women they wanted (to look like)? Or were they so deep in the closet that even ET couldn't find them?

Several have made the point we have a new faster communication. Is this the primary reason us 45-70 year olds are blossoming more now? We have the time and we have the technology, we can make us better than before (Gawd I watch too much TV). So some think this is a way to be "out" without being exposed to fresh air. I'll buy that in some cases.

But how much is due to society? Native Americans had "two spirit" people who were never put in a closet (did they have closets? if they did they smelled like old buffalo). They were allowed to function as an integral part of the society from the beginning. Other than white man using the first case of germ warfare and ultimately technology, they survived hundreds of years.

So now is it society or drugs or communication? Hey I'm 53 I gotta know before time runs out

[bobi jean]

Late 50's, hell, in fact, late 59.

[reginaNJ1]

I just turned 61 in March. I have a thought that i would like to share and see what others think.To me IMHO I think the fact that there seems to be a lot of older crossdresers has to do with the advent of the internet.With the younger folks I understand because they are more internet savy to start with. For us older ones I think the biggest reason is the internet.We didnt have access to all this information , websites and wonderful forums like this to gather info or to share with others as we are doing now.I started dressing and trying on womens cloths at around 8. But back then you didnt have the ability to buy things online if your the shy type or to find out as we do here that that many many others cross dress or are tg and that there is at least accepptance among your peers here.

[Annie D]

I went to a retirement seminar and they classified "Baby Boomers" as someone born between 1940 and 1965. I am 1/3 of the way into that era/classification. Although I thought that my parents were ultra conservative, I found out a couple of years ago that my mother was pretty wild in her younger years. Anyone who would travel from post-war France to St. Louis to marry my father, who had gotten a "Dear John" letter when serving in the Army, I figured that there were some "hanky panky" going on. Oh by the way, they were married the first day of May and I was born the first week of February the following year. I just made it a tiny bit over 9 months.

Mom and Dad, wherever you are......you two were so Naughty!

[samanthascd]

70 here, trying to think like 39 - OK 49 -49.5 !!!!!!!
Luv Samantha.

[Diane Smith]

I'm 52. My town got fluoridated water the year I was born, which as everybody knows, was Khrushchev's plot to contaminate all Americans' precious bodily fluids, but it evidently had some other side effects as well.

- Diane

[Dressing Jill]

53 in august

[Melissa Davis]

33. Went on in public for the first time when I was 22

[Jaydee]

I'm 55.

As far as I know my mom didn't take anything, although my parents blood types didn't match and the doctors were afraid I would be a "blue baby".

I tend to agree that as we reach our 50's it is easier to open the closet door. The prevalence of the internet makes information on TG more available, maybe we are just now getting the word.

Jaydee

[Kate Lynn]

I recently found this article regarding men wearing heels,I get the impression it's becoming accpetable.
http://highheelspassion.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html

[Teri Jean]

60 and with the passing of my wife there was no reason to hide it and have been moving out more and more.

Keli

[Shari]

Just celebrated the 22nd anniversary of my 39th birthday.
Suffice to say i was a child of the Eisenhower era, and what an era it was!

Seems to me that the disproportionate numbers have much more to do with society in general.
How many women can you classify today as truly feminine? So many dress down. It's almost unisex already.
Whereas growing up in the 50's and through the mid 60's were the golden age that more defined a man and a woman and made so many of us want to emulate that beauty.
There existed a completely clear definition between the sexes.
Not anymore.

[TSchapes]

But one has to wonder if this was just as common in the 50's when men were men and women were June Cleaver?

Back in the day (50's & 60's) there were more secret social clubs like "Casa Susanna" (http://www.amazon.com/Casa-Susanna-Michel-Hurst/dp/1576872416)since there was no Internet. In the 1970's I belonged to the "Paradise Club" in Cleveland Ohio.

We couldn't "log on" every day, but looked forward to the periodic meetings that we had.

-Tracy

[Sam-antha]

Looking at the returns on this non-poll, members start around age 40.
Just about right for the internet intro at age 20.

Then they vanish around age 60, which is just about right for their internet intro at age 40.
But why the vanishing ?

If you do not follow me........I dunno either.

[kellycan27]

26....here almost 27

[kellycan27]

As for me, I'm a 22 year old frat boy with a lot to lose. I like to handle any problems in life by myself but my recent struggles with my cding have driven me insane enough to need a place like this. I'm really glad there are young people here because it seems to me that everywhere you look, the most open cders are overwhelmingly older.

Oh...to be 22 again..............:lol2: Just wondered what it would feel like to say that to someones else....

[trisha59]

I'm 50 which is the last number of the 40's decade:heehee::heehee: All of the different theories that people have offered in this post have been very interesting. I have a much simpler idea. I blame Marsha Brady

[Lorileah]

Marsha Marsha Marsha It's always Marsha

[sandie johnson]

I’ am 57 .I stop thinking about age after the big 40.I made the mistake of being 47 for like 2 years. You are what age you want to be except for the body. Not philosophical …Humorous..Lion King… Circle of life

[Sam-antha]

Oh dear, it must be age/memory... any way I forgot to enter my age.... I am just about to touch 80, middle of next month.

~Samm

[Lorileah]

Oh dear, it must be age/memory... any way I forgot to enter my age.... I am just about to touch 80, middle of next month.

~Samm

In what universe? You aren't really 80....you look much much younger

[Sam-antha]

In what universe? You aren't really 80....you look much much younger

Its only a matter of behaviour and belief. Legal things do not count, except in the other peoples' universe where they have certificates that are given away.
~Samm

[Lorileah]

so I should ignore that man behind the curtain?