If you were born just 11 or 12 years ago?

[Cheryl Ann Owens]

Many of us on the older side know how much society and the enlightenment has changed since the 1950's-60's. I remember seeing Christine Jorgenson on the Mike Douglas Show when she came out around 1966. (Funny how my Mom made sure I watched the program. Hmmm?)

For what we all know today in retrospect, me at 60-yrs-old, would you do anything different if you were a pre-teen knowing what we know today? I WOULD!

Cheryl Ann

[CynthiaD]

Yeah, about a million things, most of which have nothing to do with crossdressing.

But with respect to CDing, I'd go 24/7 as soon as I possibly could. It's a pain having so many people who know me only as male.

[Leslie Langford]

I don't know if I would have done things differently overall as I am not transsexual and have never had the urge to transition.

That said, considering what I know now and how society as a whole has evolved to be more aware, tolerant, and accepting of the fact that people like us exist, I would not have spent so much time in the closet, nor felt as guilty, dirty, and ashamed of being something that I had no control over.

[Ciara Brianne]

If i were born 11 or 12 years ago I would be at the I was when I started dressing. There are many things I would do different in retrospect. In association with CDing, I would probably come out at a much earlier age. I didn't because I did not want to lose my friends...friends I no longer have anyway. Now I'm faced with the possibility of losing long time friends. If I had come out earlier in life I would have lost friends...but I would have gained friends that accept me and I feel these friendships would have been long term too. That's not how life went though, and when I finish my degree I know I will be moving from this town and will lose contact with the majority of the people i know here. I will meet new friends wherever I go...I always have. I have decided that when I move, I will no longer hide who I am. Anyone I meet is going to learn who I am and either accept me and be my friend or not...and I accept that.

[Diana Bain]

If I was 11 or 12 now, I'd catch hell from my parents if they caught me on this forum. Seriously, certainly I would have more access to information...but internaly would it help? Social media can be a wonderful thing...but it also has it's darkside as we've seen recently in the news. I do believe if I had the chance to do it again, I would have lived more as a woman and made that leap to transition.

[Cheryl Ann Owens]

Ciara, I like your response and attitude about friends. Over the years I've lost some friends and some have drifted away. And I quickly lost some once they found out about me during a nasty divorce. Were they really friends to begin with? I doubt it! Today I've made many new friends and restored old high school friendships with "the girls" who now know the real me. It's SO much better! The ones that matter most are those who I can relate to today.

I thought I would throw out my original question because while many of us crossdress, I wanted to know how many of us like me would have maybe approached parents, admitted we really wanted to be a girl, and who would have started to take the necessary steps to transition. I'd be posting this in the TS board but wanted to see how many CD's would have taken this route. I wish I could have in a more tolerant era.

Cheryl Ann

[Laura912]

Crystal ball broke so hard to imaging the scenario. Because the events of my past shaped who I am today, obviously the person born 11 or 12 years ago would not be the same as the 70+ person typing this.

[Ciara Brianne]

Cheryl, you bring up a good point. Had we been born 12 years ago, we would have grown up in a more informed and tolerant world. It's possible that alone would have made me comfortable enough to come out and come to terms with myself sooner.

[Cheryl Ann Owens]

Laura, forgive me if your crystal ball shattered. We were probably born too soon. And Ciara, were we at a pre-pubescent age realizing that we were born in the wrong body, it is highly likely that we'd have parents who could get us the proper evealuations to determine the direction we'd take. I know it's all water under the bridge. I guess we have to make the best of it today. I'm just happy for the friends I have who know how to love me the way I am.

Cheryl ann

[kimdl93]

If I was born 11 years ago, I suppose all the other factors that determined the course of my life would be up to chance too...and I might be sewing cheap clothes from dawn till in a sweatshop somewhere in the third world.

[boink]

I'm relatively young (27), but I was also born into a very liberal/progressive family and community. So my experience has largely been one of support and acceptance. I don't know that I would've taken a different path if I had been born a decade later. That said, I do think things are a little easier for trans/gender variant people now, and there's certainly more information out there. Still a lot of that "figuring yourself out" stuff still needs to happen. So yes, in some ways it's easier, but it's not like many of the challenges of being trans/gender variant are totally gone.

[Kelly DeWinter]

I would change only one thing ...... I would have bought Apple stock !

[Diane Smith]

I doubt I would have had the level of clarity and organization to do anything proactive about my gender issues at age 11/12. But for sure, I would have been dressing more, and more visibly, during my college years at least. I hung out with a pretty "alternative" crowd anyway, and I think today's students are even more tolerant. Hopefully this could have set me up for continuing my gender adventures into adulthood.

- Diane

[SheriM]

It's hard to say what would have happened if I had been born in 2000. I'm sure I would have explored my CD side more. However, I have been secretly wearing fem underwear for as long as I can remember. It is because of the internet that I have gone out in public wearing fem clothes on the outside and actually trying to present as a woman or at least a man wearing women's clothes. So I'm sure that side of me would have come out earlier. However, I have a great family and would not want to give that up - hard to say if I would have found my wife if I had been wearing a skirt. As much as I would like to be younger and live more of my life in women's clothes, I do not want to give up the past.

[Beverley Sims]

I would be 13 now and still not have the life skills to make a reliable decision.
If I was eighteen I would have been able to make a more considered decision now.