Were you actively helped and encouraged to dress as a little boy

[Belfast Bill]

My cousin had school friends, boy and girl twins who would come over to her home to play dress up at least once a week and the boy always wanted to dress as a girl. He was encouraged by the two girls and grew to be better at walking in heels and makeup than the girls. They would put on a fashion school or little play for my cousins Mom all the time and she loved it.

[Lady Catherine]

I wish I would have had that as a child. That would have been wonderful.

[Joanna Maguire]

`MY mother put me in a dress when I was about 7yrs old Hated it at first But when she started taking her little girl out shopping on weekends and holidays No one recognised me I soon began to love it This went on for 4 years till I had to go to high school. After I left school and began to work I started buying my own girls clothing I am still a Cd now aged 71

[LadyPilot]

I wish there was encouragment when I was younger. I had to do alot of sneaking around.

[Rogina B]

I had an accepting Mom,so I was free to explore.She encouraged me to be in a school play because some of the players got to wear[green] tights and a leotard. "And you like that" she said. Glad I had an open minded mother that accepted that her son was different.

[Jana]

Nope, never. Had to do it in private and in utmost secrecy.

[MelodyS.]

My sister used to dress me up when I was very young.

[I Am Paula]

My sister is two years older. As kids we used to do all the girly things together. Barbies, dressing up, tea parties etc. She also used me for a make up manequin.-Celeste

[Angela Campbell]

No. I told my mom once I wanted to be a girl and she told me to stop being silly, that I was a boy and will always be a boy. I did this around 4 years old. I was allowed to play with the 2 girls across the street all the time and we played with Barbies, doll houses and stuff like that. I even asked for that stuff from Santa but instead got G I Joe. It was ok because I could get some of barbies clothes on him. I also learned from a very early age not to get caught wearing my mothers things. I was very good at not getting caught because in 55 years I never have.

[Beverley Sims]

Played mothers and fathers with two sisters next door and I was always the little girl.
One day they thought I should wear a dress. So I was put in the baby's smock and frilly pants and got rides in the stroller.
One day we went down the street with me in the stroller and sucking a dummy and covered up as if asleep.
Some asked about me and how old I was and "what a beautiful baby" One of my youngest memories as I was only four and the girls were six.

[GondorRachel]

I would sometimes purposefully lose at truth or dare with my sister and her friends and they would "force" me to wear her ballet tutu... We actually joked about those times when I came out to her a few weeks ago.

[DebbieL]

Yes and no.
When I was 2 years old, I remember putting on a plastic dry cleaner bag and making it a "dress" and telling my mom I looked pretty. She even tied a belt so I'd look pretty. And I wore it quite a bit.
From 3 to 5 I regularly played with girls and on various occasions wore tights, leotard, and even wore dresses and shoes that were way too big.
When I was almost 6, I was playing with some girls and we traded clothes, and her mother saw me in a dress, tights, patent leather Mary-Janes, and even a slip and panties, and she just freaked.
After that, I had to sneak - I would get into the dirty clothes hamper and wear my mom's clothing. When she caught me she agreed to buy me a pair of tights, but dad insisted that I dress like superman rather than dress like a girl.
When I was about 8 my grandmother caught me going through her drawers, curious about her corsets. She took me to the cellar and told me I could try on some of the dresses down their, but I had to keep them down there and hang them up when I was done. I know that two of my other male cousins liked the dress closet too (both committed Suicide when they hit puberty), and at least 3 girl cousins liked to play dress up down there with me.

We had to be careful not to let the parents or my grandfather catch us, or we wouldn't be allowed to play down there anymore.

Mom was more covert in her support, since she knew dad didn't approve. She would tie knots in her pantie-hose which meant they had a run or snag somewhere. There were times when there was nothing wrong with them. She would let me do the laundry and I could throw out the hose or keep them and stash them between the mattresses. I also had built-in drawers which meant I could stash things in the false bottom under the drawers. When mom found a stash in my closet that included a teddy she didn't really like - she told me I could keep it, but I had to stop taking things out of her drawers. She was more worried that I was stealing her underwear than that I was wearing it.

Even more covert, mom would take me shopping with her and let me help her pick out outfits. She got lots of compliments on the wardrobes I picked out, so she got a gain, but I realize now that she often purchased things for me. For example, she bought some Go-Go boots but she couldn't wear them for more than about 30 minutes because she had had polio and an operation had left her right ankle the size of a large grapefruit. She got them for me. She also got a wig because she didn't like a perm or dye job, yet she rarely wore the wig. By the time I was 12 or 13, I could wear mom's clothes and look like a very pretty girl. I could even pass to some degree, but I only went outside a few times. I was afraid my walk would give me away.

She knew that I was dressing up, but she didn't want it made public, because the "treatment" for "Gender Dysphoria" was electroshock, drugs, and if that didn't work, lobotomy. She had been through shock therapy herself and wouldn't have allowed it, and would do whatever it took to protect me from that kind of "medical abuse". Keep in mind that back in those days, they forced you onto the gurney, strapped you down, gave you no sedatives, and gave shocks that were very painful and caused convulsions and cramping. After the first treatment, they would have to use more force and be more brutal to get you strapped down because the patient knew it was going to be like torture. Eventually, the patient would stop fighting, but would still dread the experience. Usually it was 30 days in a row, then go home, and come back for more a month later - until your insurance ran out.

Once the insurance ran out, you went to the state psychiatric hospital, where they would do a transorbital lobotomy (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/16/arts/16lobo.html) Thank goodness we no longer live in those dark ages. Thank goodness mom figured that out early, and prevented me from meeting that end.

[Amanda_P]

My mom made me and my brother wear a dress one halloween when we was about 7. Then with 4 boys and only 1 girl. Us boys went through our underwear faster then mom could do laundry. So sometimes had to wear my older sisters panties. Now about 10 had a friend I went to his house all the time. This one time him and another friend was there and he asked if we wanted to put on his sisters swim suit and go play in the pool. Being young and dumb I said no and went home. To this day I wish I had said sure. So yeah I guess you could say I had some help but was never really encouraged. When mom would find some of the girl clothes I had stolen from a girl next door. She would make me return them. Once my brother was caught wearing a pair of nylons. Never had the guts to ask if he still wears them.

[GabbiSophia]

nope in fact the opposite .. parents punished me for wearing girls clothes

[crazybiker]

When I was younger as early as kindergarden that I can remember... I use to always dress up as a girl when we played dress up, or doctor, I was the girl doctor or what ever other "game" we played, I was generally the girl. By grade 2 maybe it had come to a hault. My friend down stairs who use to play with us moved away and we were getting ready for a move so the dress up clothes got donated and the bin used for moving stuff.

[Diane Smith]

My mom never expected to have a boy and was a little confused when one popped out. She made the best of a bad situation, but couldn't resist playing around just a little bit. Although I never dressed in girls' clothes around her, she occasionally put nail polish and/or lipstick on me when I was little (starting about 3 - 4 years of age, I think) and even took me out to visit some of her friends' houses that way. She let me wear her clip earrings from time to time, and didn't object (although it wasn't her idea) when I got my ears pierced at nine years old. When I was 12, she took me downtown to a fancy department store (wearing earrings, nail polish, lipstick and pantyhose) to buy me my first pair of "grownup" high heels.

Her interest waned very quickly after I went off to junior high and puberty hit, and I think she was slightly embarrassed later for having done all this. We hardly ever talked about it again. But I wouldn't be surprised if it influenced my dressing later. (It's hard to know whether I would have developed my interest without this encouragement, but I actually think yes, it was more nature than nurture. She was simply helping me act out what I wanted to do anyway.)

- Diane

[Jennifer in CO]

Lets see...

If you don't count the the 3 weeks I spent with my Aunt when I was 10...when Jennifer was created, then no.
If you don't count going to my grandfathers funeral in a mini-dress and heels when I was 12...then no.
If you don't count the summer I spent with my grandparents as Jennifer when I was 15...then no.
If you don't count the stories I've related before about my Mom finding my stash of clothes and me hiding them - her putting them back in plain site or in my drawers and closet and buying me my own panties but never saying anything about them...then no.
If you don't count the many times my sister went to the Dermatologist and I had an appointment as well...then no.
If you don't count that as a teen most of my clothes coming from the GAP (when it was a "Teens to Twenties" girls clothing store) and other similar stores...
then no


Jenn