Lucky to Be trans today

[Bobbie Taylor]

Being a Trans (you put your own lable here) today is never easy, however for those of us who were born in the 40's and 50's being trans at lease for me was very lonely. I first dressed when I was 4 or 5 and have been doing it since - but it wasn't until the advent of the internet and URNA and other web sites like this one that I knew I was not weird or crazy.

Up till then I met a few crossdresser, went to stores in NYC that helped us but it was still lonely -

Don't know how some of my sisters of the 40's, 50's or 60's feel but if I were born in the 70's or 80's and had the same feelings and all the information that is available today I sure I feel more confortable about life but also a little uneasy as to how far I might want to take my fem life styles!!

I guess when you have these feelings of being different inside it is difficult to figure the real you!!

Sorry Ladies for the rambaling - Just wanted to share some thoughts and hear from other's their thoughts.

Must be the snowy weather!!

[Daintre]

I was born in the '50s and finding information on anything trans was a problem. Look in the library and you found a paragraph or to in the Abnormal Psychology books. When the internet burst on the scene information became so much easier to get, friendships could me made also. It is a far better time we live in now.

[Stephanie Miller]

I have to agree. It was really hard back then.
If I had been born with all the information that is available today - I would be female right now!

Of course on another note.. my wife says I'm still "weird or crazy". And it has nothing to do with crossdressing!:doh:

[Julogden]

I know what you mean, as I was born in 1951. I thought I was the only one for a long time. My first contact with others was with pen pals, and I mean real pen pals, as in write a letter, mail it off at the post office and wait days for a reply, nothing like the Internet's immediacy in those days.

Carol

[sissystephanie]

You all are very right. With the information available today it is much easier to be a CD or Trans(whatever). I started at age six or seven and am now 77! Yes, I have been a CD longer than most of you have been alive! I am so glad for this Forum and the info available now.

[Traci Elizabeth]

Being from that time period myself, I can surely relate and you are right. All the wishing we were 20 or 30 again will not change anything for us.

A fellow transgender told me not long ago that I needed just to be thankful that I have decided to transition now, and to just enjoy every moment of today. She was right of course.

So let's enjoy our femininity!

Traci Elizabeth

[JustWendy]

The internet certainly makes information available as well as providing a place to socialize and share experiences - a place where we can talk openly about our feelings. I didn't feel there was anybody I could talk to about this growing up in teh 50's and 60's. Plus, for those of us who are a little shy about buying some items in the store, the internet provides shopping alternatives. Times also changed. It wasn't until the British music invasion that it started to become acceptable for boys to have long hair. Later it became OK for them to pierce their ears. Other barriers also blurred. I'm happy for where we are today, but I can't help but daydream sometimes about what I might have been like at 12 years if things were as they are today.

Wendy

[renee k]

I agree as well. I wish the internet was around back in the sixties and seventies. All we had back then was Virginia Prince and her Transvestia magazine. I was lucky enough to be living in Northern California then and hooked with a group in Walnut Creek.

Renee

[Jamie48]

Born in the late forties. Really no information until I found all you girls. This site rocks. All those years just plodding along. Much better informed these days & a better person because of it.

Love You All,

Jamie

[Cathytg]

You are so very right.

Life is much less lonely today thanks to all of you in space.

[Karenmarie]

I agree with all of you. I was born in 1942. The big war was going on.
WOW!!!! Sometimes its really hard to believe. Not only did I think that
I was the only person alive like this, but when I was around 11, my Mom
caught me wearing her clothes and told me that it was the devil making
me dress. Now, I not only felt that I was the only boy doing these
things, but I thought that the devil had zeroed in on ME. hahahaha

I have thought SOOOO many times in my life how much better life as a CDer
is because of the computer and FORUMS LIKE THIS ONE!!!

HUGS TO ALL OF YOU

Karenmarie

[Karen564]

Hope nobody minds if I park my butt in this thread a bit...only because it's making me feel so young now......:daydreaming:
Since I was born in 1960, I'm just a punk to most of you !.....lol
:hugs:

[Charla McBee]

I knew when I first started dressing all the way that other CDs existed thanks to the internet but I still chose to go it alone for a long time. But I will still agree that Im lucky because 20 years earlier I'd just drink more than I already do.

[NiCo]

Sorry for posting here, in the female section- I was born in the late 80’s, grew up in the 90’s…I might as well have been born in the 50’s tbh. I didn’t come from a rich family so internet was out of the question, the nearest library was 20 miles away. I couldn’t afford to get a bus to it, and even if I could, I seriously doubt it would have had information on transgender issues. Besides, I didn’t know what was wrong with me so I wouldn’t have knew where to start.

I grew up in a tiny town in Scotland which was extremely homophobic. The only gay person who came out to people in that town got murdered in broad daylight in the town centre…

So, what I’m trying to say is, it doesn’t matter really the era…cause I seem to get it a lot from people “you should be grateful growing up when you did” sorta thing…when actually, that’s not really true.

The only thing I’m glad about today is having the opportunity at 14 to be moved away from that town, so I could come out and be myself, cause if I didn’t…I wouldn’t be alive today, to see 21 years old.

I’ll forever be grateful for that chance.

[DanielMacBride]

If I can weigh in too, I was born in 1970 and there was so little information around about TG folk that I didn't even know MtFs existed till I was in my mid-teens and that was only because I heard my parents talking about one of our family members who transitioned....I never knew there was such a thing as FtMs until I was 37 and realised I am one after talking to a MtF friend of mine and stumbling across a transguy's website on the internet by accident.

I am grateful for the internet because without it, I would never have known who I really am and would never have met the wonderful people who walk this path with me and share experiences and support each other.

Oh, and *waves* hi ladies! :) I don't usually venture into this side of the board, but thought I would stop by :)

[Angie G]

I started dressing in the 60's and you I was lonely in it for a long time. Being an only child I was alone a lot. It would have been really nice to have to have benn able to talk to others back then. But I did OK.Dressing filled some of my alone time. And I naver felt wierd or crazy about it.It always felt right dressing like a girl.:hugs:
Angie

[mklinden2010]

It's a different world today, no doubt about it.

But, I recall a great deal of information always being available to those who'd pay attention and check things carefully.

Rene Richards, for example, had her surgery and was the talk of the world long before the Internet came into being. Not to get into a soup of CD/TS/TG/etc. issues, the point is that for such public things to happen - at all - there had to be a support system existing somewhere to make it possible and to keep such things going. Follow the clues....

Also, Hollywood... An open secret that many actors and actresses often crossed the line when it came to "normal" behaviors. Again, it was widely talked about and anyone who wanted to follow the clues could figure out where to go - either all the way there, or, to something more local that fit the bill.

Ditto for discussions of "strange behaviors" in the family, the neighborhood, certain areas of town. The grapevine has always been alive and well. If you have an interest in something, you can find a way to expand on it. I have noted before that I searched for and found a great deal of "scientific CD/TS/TG/Gay research " at the library, but was smart enough to know they didn't really know what they were talking about when it came to myself. So, I just kept looking.

The Stonewall riots - something I'd gladly have been a part of - was basically a civil disobedience riot led, at first, by CDers... Gays were suppressed enough in all areas of life to hold back that first night - but CDers lived in both worlds and just got tired of being hassled in their free time. When I heard about it at the time - it was in newspapers (remember those?) - I remember thinking, "Good for them, wherever that is... More people should stand up for their rights to left the h*** alone."

I digress... It's important to note, in pursuing the tangents, that the club wasn't surrounded by pitchfork carrying mobs that locked the doors and burned it to the ground. On the contrary, you could glean a lot of useful information from reading what the police did, what the neighbors did, what the media did, etc. It wasn't "internet days" but you could figure out that there was a lot more you could freely do in life if you just paid attention and moved in the right directions as you figured things out.

The Internet provides a lot of information, and allows a lot of sharing, but it hasn't changed the world all that much - read all the job/wife/family/church fears still being posted here daily.

What it has changed is allowing "us" to shape and spin the information so that those fears can be muted and we can actually do more to help ourselves and those we care about as we live our lives as we see fit.

Happen to life!

[msniki48]

Bobbie

I agree with you 100%. There was a thread a couple days back asking about why there are so many of us older sisters here.... numbered 1 though 8 or 9... i still think this is one of the main reasons. if we had this info back in the 60's and before, i think many more of us would be girls right now. also those that dress as a hobby, would have been out more back then, and the added exposure would have made it a non threatening thing today...to passers by. this is the first real generation to explore this in masses...

How many of us thought that by meeting a good woman, and getting married and having a family...the desire would all go away. How many families back then also, thought the same about gay men or women....'you'll meet a good man or woman, and get married, live in a home with a white picket fence, have a bunch of kids and this will all go away...lol

if we only knew back then....lol

my wife's dad, was military, had 8 kids....and was gay....after her mom passed he moved to florida to finally live his life the way it was meant to be for him....

So many of us, made different choices, because we didn't have the information to make...."maybe the right choices"..... and today we are finally able to realize part of the dream ....hmmmmm makes you think.:2c:


hugs:battingeyelashes:


maniki48

[Jocelyn Quivers]

Being born in the 70's it was not much better. Most of my exposure to anything trans was movies such as Dressed to Kill, Tootsie, the 6 P.M. news in which a "Transvestite" either robbed a bank, was arrested for shop lifting, prostitution, etc. and talk shows.

I do consider myself lucky that I was able to learn more on the internet at a fairly young age still so that I am able to enjoy life and not feel like an abomination. Which was what I felt like before the internet.

[Renae Word]

I also am a product of the 50's & 60's. The internet has been a life saver for many of us. I firmly believe, that in time, gender will become more acceptable. Just since the 50's we have seen the equality of all races become more accepted. We have seen the gay lesbian rights and life style become more open in the public. Although society has a ways to go to be completely accepting. With every generation these will slowly become non issues. As more information becomes available to society, the more tolerant they will become. Maybe not in my generation, the next will also start breaking down these barriers. So in time all TG CD,s will be able to come out of the closset and make decisions, that will allow them to be complete.

[lavistaa62]

Weren't those well above the knee styles in the late 60s/early 70s just the bomb? Really wish they would return.

[Teri Jean]

Since I was born in 1960, I'm just a punk to most of you !.....lol
:hugs:


Karen you are not a punk but you are a cute little sister. Beings I was born in 49 to a 49er I guess you could say I'm seasoned,LOL. The truth is the internet has made it easier to not only search out information but to communicate throughout the world. If I had known this was out there back in the 50s-60s-and beyond there may have been a different road. Don't take this wrong but I'm glad to have the kids and grandson and the years as the father, and husband.

Now it is Teri's time to have fun and be all I can be.

Teri