If You Never Crossdressed When Younger, But Do Now, Were You Always a Crossdresser?

[heatherdress]

Many of this site's members admit that their crossdressing experience began in their youth. My experience, and others, is different. I did not begin dressing until my wife nudged me into buying a pair of high heel shoes that I admitted liking when we were out shopping for shoes for her. I never had thought about crossdressing when younger.

[Lady Slipper]

I have wondered this as well, as an early-onset dresser I can't seem to fathom this. Crossdressing has allways been a part of my life, I can't imagine it with out it. :strugglin

[Krististeph]

never had the chance until early teens. but always had the interest, I think, beyond mere love of the female sex as sexual partner. Kind of a mystique, kind of like a sorority I was not invited into. I managed to get into a few occasions of the sorority, by pure chance of course. and i liked it. Much better than the fraternal associations. Yes, I called in artillery right over my head, and barely 800 yards away (203mm shells), yes i've jumped from planes, hung off rope 150 feet over a rock floor, yadda, yadda, yadda. And do similar things as needed all my life without complaint or fear. But i'd just rather hang out with the girls. Even as nasty and vindictive as they can be-

maybe a guy, I am not nearly as threatened by the female viciousness venerated in the popular culture...

I was always at least, half, i'd say, female. CD TG or otherwise. Count me in.

Kristi

[Eryn]

As a late-onset dresser I now realize that the seeds were there all my life. I always had an inordinant interest in things feminine. I just didn't know what to call it or how to act upon the urge.

So, I'd say that I was always a crossdresser, but for much of my life I was unselfdiagnosed!

[Roberta Young]

Heather, I believe we are born with this gift. Roberta

[Crissy Kay]

That may be true for most members here, but, I had no real interest in cding until later in my life. I do not think I had any interest in any fem stuff, except for petticoats, while I was younger.

[FeliciaK]

im similar to eryn (i didnt start cd'ing til i was in my early 20's) i think the seeds were there earlier-i just never had a chance to act/acknowledge due to certain circumstances in my life.

[noeleena]

Hi,.

As a thought what if you never crossdressed as younger . never did later on. though you had a hate of male clothes, anything that related to male clothes shape or form,

Yet no interest in wearing womans clothes, did not even think to be like a woman. as in dressing as one,

Yet knew at some stage in your life you would grow as a woman & then wear womens clothes as it was a normal part of your life, & you can leave out being trans of any form,

so would you look at the make up of the person, as said dressers are born with the cant get away from dressing like women.

an other way to look at this, maybe,
as you know what i am & my difference, we dont all come with the same mind set,

...noeleena...

[Cheryl T]

I never gave that much thought. I was always in this frame of mind from as long as I can remember.
I finally tried on some of my mom's panties when I was about 7 or so and from there it was just something that felt so right, like something I should have been doing all along.
I can't imagine my life without it.

[Jenniferathome]

I am a firm believer that it is with you always. For whatever reason, opportunity, fear, whatever, some crossdressers start late. To me it's like a gay person coming out late in life. I have two friends who swear they never thought about being gay until they met that certain "someone." I don't buy it. To me it repression at its finest. No one would choose to be gay in this society and no one would choose to crossdress if it were not part of them.

[Stephanie47]

Heather, you present an interesting situation. When out shopping with my wife, she will ask my opinion on her selection. It would seem natural to express an opinion on a article of clothing. "Honey, do you think these heels would look nice on me?" "Yes, but, I think these are nicer!" So, there's a little banter back and forth, and, she buys them for you. What progressed next? Just wearing a pair of heels around the house with presumably hosiery? Did you start dressing as a woman to please your wife? Does she give you some additional rewards for dressing? Maybe you're more open minded about giving into your wife's quirks? In your relationship, who is leading who? Interesting to say the very least.

[KellyJameson]

In my opinion the crossdressing is the expression of something else that was always there.

It is a relationship to what is outside of us because of what is inside us.

This design which for me is our essence that everything is born out of creates the crossdressing as well as gender identity and many other aspects of self.

Sexuality and gender identity come together and act on each other to influence the experience of crossdressing.

I to see it as a gift because even though I am a part of nature I also stand outside of nature and experience it as an enlightened state of being.

[docrobbysherry]

I am a firm believer that it is with you always. For whatever reason, opportunity, fear, whatever, some crossdressers start late. To me it's like a gay person coming out late in life. I have two friends who swear they never thought about being gay until they met that certain "someone." I don't buy it. To me it repression at its finest. No one would choose to be gay in this society and no one would choose to crossdress if it were not part of them.
U can believe what u like, Jenn. Maybe for most that's tru. But, for me and others here it ISN'T! I began dressing in my 50's. I had so many opportunities to dress in woman's things over the years. But, it never even occurred to me to try them on! Until age 50!

I even went to a Halloween party dressed as a sexy babe with my ex in my 40's. Wearing those nylons, heels, wig, and boobs made such an impression on me I didn't even recall that experience, which happened 20 years earlier, until I had been dressing for 10 years!

[Dusty815]

Being 51 I feel the urge has always been there, I just suppressed it.I have not always wanted to dress that I know of, when I was younger I liked female things but never seemed to connect the dots, but now that I do I wish I had started earlier. The fact that you have a career going, kids in the house all the time, comings and goings all the time when I was younger helped in the suppressing. I have always loved female clothes and shoes better than male, even female tennis shoes looked better to me than male ones. Now that we are empty nesters and we have more time for each other we are more accepting of whatever the other wants to do and for that I'm grateful.

[xdressed]

I didn't start dressing till I was about 14 maybe 15, but looking back I think it was probably always there. I never liked most typically manly things, I was always attracted to games and cartoons with a strong female lead (although not in a sexual way, I was a kid after all) and for most of my life my closest friends and/or the ones I see the most have been mainly girls. I guess that just kind of rubbed off on me lol.

[Julie Gaum]

The most accepted and agreed upon opinion remains (Until a better one shows up): When some percentage of us were born our brains were already "wired" to react to a "trigger". Now for most that reaction came about before puberty or in early teens while for others it might not be acted upon until the 40s and 50s. The unanswered question is whether there actually was a reaction to that trigger or merely supression due to work, or military circumstances, family being raised, assumed religious beliefs or whatever. Bottom line? It's been there and you can't do a thing about it!
Julie

[Contessa]

mother + father = son or daugther

xx + xy = xy xx

Chromosomes which one may be the dominate one. Your mother and fathers mother are more a part of you than your father. So we are all crossdressers?

Tess

[Ava Tryptyk]

You said in your post that you never thought about crossdressing when you were younger. For that reason it's hard to tell if you would have had a positive reaction to it if you had been introduced to it from an early age. It would be different if you had had fantasies or other thoughts about dressing from a young age but simply didn't have the privacy/resources to dress en femme, but to me it sounds like the interest didn't exist before your wife encouraged you to buy that pair of heels. So I would say no.

[heatherdress]

I think there would be many, many more crossdressing, or experimenting with crossdressing, if they had someone who helped them become more self aware, who supported their happiness and helped them address barriers to personal enjoyment and growth.

[bobbimo]

Yes indeed!
Now that I have shared this desire with my wife, and have been Bobbi for over a year, I look back at my youth and discover that maybe all those little things I did were not a bashful boy but a CD in the longing.
I always enjoyed looking at the Playboy girls more in their beautiful gowns and lingerie, than when they were naked. I would get teased about this all the time and couldn't explain it. But I can now.
The same with the Sears catalog. The dress section was more interesting than the undies.. but just by a hair.
Everything I did as a kid was pointing me to what I am doing now, but life was much more sheltered.
I actually remember reading in Parade magazine about Christine Jorgensen, and her sex change, but that was too much for my kid brain to swallow. I can still see her picture on the cover and my amazement.
But yes I believe that since there is so much more available information out there that CD/TG/TS will become more common than we can imagine. And a lot of the credit will go to this site and all the wonderful people that contribute.
Bobbi

[Beverley Sims]

Being a girl was always there it just took a small incident to light the flame. :)

[elizabethamy]

I'm taking the minority view that it might not always have been there. In my case, there are signs and clues but just as many to disprove that it was always there. After months of reading in journals and books, I've not seen any real evidence based on real research or data that would indicate any understanding -- particularly for late onset CD/TG folks -- that it was "always there." The vast majority of research is on declared transsexuals, and only a handful of those truly didn't know until midlife. There could be environmental issues, changes in hormone levels, other medical changes within, or simply just that we late-onsetters get a D- in awareness but an A+ in magical repressive power. Hmmm.