What's the difference between being a CD and a TG?

[Brittany CD]

I've seen a lot of people classify crossdressers as being transgender as well. I'm a little unsure about this and I'm hoping someone can tell me what TG is defined as and if crossdressers are considered TG

[DeeInGeorgia]

TG is an umbrella term for the breadth of variation of gender identity, gender expression, and gender presentation. As a adjective, it describes traits of non-tradtional gender expression and presentation. It is a term that is only self identification, ie. only the person can decide or identify as being TG. Hence, a crossdresser may not consider him or herself as being TG. People can say the person has transgender traits, but that does not make them TG. An effemenate gay man is not TG, even though he has feminine gender expression.

[Mel_CD]

Unfortunately the alphabet soup of acronyms, abbreviations, has so many different meanings -- a lot of them defined by NON-TG type people who have no clue of the TG world. ie TG TS CD butch les sissy she-man girly-man .... on and on ... ad nauseum!!! LOL

There are a few TG type sites that gives more precise and less demeaning definitions of the various terms. There is one site that lists out differents "levels" of "TVness" so to speak. (transvestism) Too bad most of us always has such binary type thinking -- all or nothing at all -- black or white -- on or off -- male or female. It is total one way or the other way -- never allowing in-betweens. Whereas nature and reality has all shades of gray or pink -- rainbow colors -- many shades of many colors -- endless variety

I have seen a few definitions that TG is the actual transition physically and mentally using surgery etc to change the gender
Whereas a CD only wishes to act out the other gender in dress and behavour temporarily -- it is matter of degree and not totally one state or another

Hope this muddled type explanation helps.

Of course you can always take the attitude ... OK I am a CD ... if you wish to call me a TG also ... so what!!?? who cares??!!

[Barbara Ella]

You got a pretty good read from the two previous posts, and I am sure you will get a lot more. It is difficult to put a definition on it, and I agree it is a matter or personal introspection. Some will cross dress just for sexual pleasure, fetish, and may or may not feel feminine while doing it. Others crossdress because they love the feel of feminine clothes, and may or may not get sexual gratification. Others have a definite feminine presence within their being, and must crossdress to feel the inner peace of their feminine psyche being recognized. Other crossdressers know that they are a woman trapped wrongly in a male body. This group may or may not go ahead with sexual reassignment surgery to relieve themselves of the male vestments.

Am I transgender. I started dressing just because it felt right. i began to question why, and I now know that there is a feminine presence that has led me to do this. This is my definition of being transgendered. It might not be someone else's. I crossdress because it is normal for me to do this, I have a female presence within me sharing my being.

Just MHO

Barbara

[Lesley_Roberta]

I consider the term CD to be limited to wearing clothes meant for the other gender body type. Now there are a whole big ole bunch of reasons to explain WHY a person is cross dressing though and being TG is just one of them.

Put another way, I like history. And I could give you a whole list of reasons for liking history. But taking a course in history, is just taking a course in history.

[Ressie]

It's a good question because it is confusing. From what I understand, one is considered a cross dresser even if they only wear one article of opposite sex clothing occasionally. But getting fully dressed everyday one is still a cross dresser. Transgendered, has more to do with gender identity. I'm probably somewhat transgendered, even though I only dress a few hours per week at home. It seems transgendered is leaning more toward being transexual without undergoing surgery.

I feel pretty feminine when dressed, but masculine when in drab. Darn labels anyway!

[NathalieX66]

Here's my 2¢ on the question of CD vs. TG, I'll start with a question: If you are someone who dresses for pleasure at home, but never venturing beyond your front door, would you consider yourself as transgender?
The way I see it is once you transgress the line of gender when you present as the other gender to society is when you begin to morph into being transgender. USe this definition loosely.
I agree with Dee3, that it has to do with gender identity, as how you see yourself.

I also don't believe that not undergoing any body altering procedure such as hormones, permanent hair removal, surgeries disqualifies anyone from being transgender. Transgender is an umbrella term. There are some transsexuals that feel the need to exclusively co-op the term transgender because think think it exclusively suits them. However their umbrella definition is transsexual. Maybe they don't care for the sound of word transsexual, but it is what it is. I never considered having srs, nor will I ever, so therefore I am not transsexual. But I do present as female in public sometimes, and to me it is more than crossdressing.

[ArleneRaquel]

NatalieX66,
An excellent post, I live as a woman 24/7, or pretty near it, and I would never consider hormooes, or similar body changing procedures.

[Frédérique]

I've seen a lot of people classify crossdressers as being transgender as well. I'm a little unsure about this and I'm hoping someone can tell me what TG is defined as and if crossdressers are considered TG

Some insist that all MtF crossdressers are transgendered, but I don’t subscribe to that notion. To me, a crossdresser is someone who “crosses” from one gender (sex) to another by way of clothing. A transgendered person does the same, but they cross over and stay on the other side. In other words, being transgendered is a one-way trip, and crossdressing is a back-and-forth thing. I’ve discussed this by way of definitions on occasion – “cross-” means just that, crossing from one side to the other, or briefly intersecting with something, in this case gender. “Trans-“ on the other hand means to go from one to the other (over, across, beyond), such as transformation, transmigrate, transplant, transverse, translate, and so forth…

If I’m putting on female clothing for a while, and then reverting to my drab maleness at a later date, I cannot be (accurately) described as transgendered. I have merely “crossed over,” enjoyed my stay, and returned from whence I came. Can you see the difference? A transgendered person, by my definition, presents as the other gender (as a female, in our case) 24/7, but does not undergo SRS, and has no plans (or the funds) to do so. In many ways, CD and TG are very different, a fact that causes personality clashes on this site, but, since we do share MtF, albeit in varying degrees, there is some common ground for discussion…
:straightface: