Question for the late bloomers. REALITY?

[Wildaboutheels]

Would there be/could there be any here who did not dress [AT ALL] till after their teens? Or you only started dressing in the last year or so? Only you folks might be able to answer this Q accurately.

Question. Can you remember if BEFORE you started dressing you looked at Humanity critiically? As in, you never paid too much attention to whether someone was male or or female if they were wearing "obvious" female attire? Let's say any of the following: heels, lipstick, makeup, skirts, carrying a "largish" purse, obviously "shaped" like a well proportioned female with form fitting clothing, etc. OBVIOUS cues in other words.

Critically, as in you were trying to "bust" people/figure out if they really were a FEmale? Of course IF they were stumbling around in 4 or 5 inch heels or maybe had a baritone voice you might have been suspicious?

Is worrying that J D public is going to/out looking to bust CDers really a valid reason to not go out for those of you concerned with having a bad experience?

[Harley_Quinn]

I used to dabble in cross dressing i.e female underwear and the odd dress I might fit into of my ex-wife's while she was at work until about 5 ago years when I started realizing I was more comfortable in female clothes. I have never tried to purposely spot someone who was male dressed in female attire, I only ever spotted ones that looked like a man with a wig on or has big hands or feet but I certainly didn't 'bust' them. I have always been free minded and horses for courses, laid back, call it what you will.

I can still objectively look at someone and tell you if they look convincing though or if they are passable as a female or if it's something that as a non cross-dresser I would pick up on.

Anyone noticing that I wasn't female is enough for me to not go out in public but mainly because if I did go out, I would be alone, few people know about my CD and I don't think any one of them would dare go out with me dressed up. I don't know where gay bars are any other CD's, or any thing out of the joe blogs ordinary is and in truth, this is the only place I have ever felt I can discuss it openly. xx

[heatherdress]

I would be a CD "late bloomer". I do not believe that I ever had any particular fascination, notice, interest or prejudice regarding people who crossdressed. I was never interested in drag shows, movies or TV characters who crossdressed. I do not think that I ever looked at people critically for appearance. I was always someone who was more interested in behavior than appearance. I have always avoided people who were mean, arrogant, self-righteous, dishonest.

But since discovering crossdressing, I now pay more attention to female clothing, shoes, jewelry, perfume.

[AllieSF]

Late bloomer here. I started just before I joined this site in 2007. No, I never looked at people critically trying to see what might or might not be there. I was too interested in life, enjoying it, working in it, family, friends and whatever. I come from a very good family that never argued in front of us kids, was traditional in the sense that Dad worked as hard as he could and Mom took care of the house, kids and my Dad's accounting books. Never a prejudiced word was uttered in out house, nor was there any lessons in life, such as "It is inappropriate to say bad things about others." We just had a good loving family. My Mom was very pragmatic which turned into my view of how to live life, "Do not worry about that which you can do nothing about, and then try to deal with the rest as best as you can".

Maybe that is why I have adapted so well to this new side of me and do not worry about what others think, and just go about my life doing what I enjoy so much at this moment of time.

[bridgiit s]

hi i am a late bloomer to CDing as with every other thing in my life, last week was the first time i went public as a CD down to the mall to get some new clothes then later some shoes, it felt real good and at the same time "on the edge" and it wont be the last time - what is more odd is the acceptance i have found in most of the people who know me - they knew me better than i did myself

[noeleena]

Hi,

Dressing ill take the meaning as dressing in cothes other than what youd normaly wear every day in the sence of being a dresser. hated clothes , yet had to wear somit , okay, did not wear womens clothes till age 55 , & strange as it is did not wont too , work me out then you may understand this strange kid,
all through my life till then was not interested, did not bother me in the least, makeup shoes hair , my thoughts were held in hold down mode ,& really oh heck would , i when i think about it in most ways i know why i did not, the issue with myself, how i looked, i would not have dared to i mean come on look where i am now, sure ...not... my look.

( was gibt es 'u'ber mich , das macht jetzt besser aussehen.) did not wont to write in english, it hurts,

So it was not till after that time that my reasons for womens clothes was very different. not as a dresser,

The only time we looked was in the hippy times 60 to 70's Flower power times, hey lots of colour, is that or was that a m or f other wise, no.

I dought people who live around you or you see down town or any where are really that bothered, so to put it nicely many dresser's i know from our forums dress very nicely look nice & carry it off with a niceness to it, hey damm sight better than i can, you know why....

...noeleena...

[iGenny]

Very late bloomer here. No, I never paid attention as to whether a person dressed as a woman was a genetic man or woman. I'm trying to remember if I ever saw someone who might have been 'obviously' dressed ... can't say that I did.

With that said, recently saw a CD sales associate at a local Goodwill shop that to me was obvious. She was about 6'3" with broad broad shoulders, baritone. She presented very well.

Also there was an episode of "Sullivan and Son" on TBS recently that had a CD visit their bar. Not obvious at all but I picked up right away what the plot would be, so maybe I'm sensitized.

[Raychel]

Late bloomer here as well. For me I was only into underwear until I was 45
Then after I joined this forum, I started dressing more and more,
Now my closet has more women's clothes in it then men's. Just the way I like it.

I never really looked at other people and judged them in any way.
If they were going about their lives and being happy, then all was well.
Did I care how they were dressed, not one bit.

I find myself checking out the clothes women are wearing more now.
Some of the clothes are very cute, Just yesterday, I saw the cutest dress and a
very nice top, both of which I would love to have in my closet.

Funny, checking out the clothes, more then checking out the women.:brolleyes:

[AndrewJenny]

I'm a late bloomer: I wore my mom's clothes when I was a kid, but didn't really start dressing again until my mid-thirties. I don't try to "read" people who may be crossdressers, but I definitely look at women and ask myself why they look more like women than I do (or if I think they don't have typical female characteristics, why do I think that?) I read somewhere that wide hips are the single most dominant marker of the female body, even more than larger breasts, so I look for that a lot.

I also look at the clothes women wear and try to figure out why they picked an outfit, or matched a skirt to a blouse. And I look a lot at shoes, now that I know how uncomfortable the really high heels I like so much are to wear all day.

[flatlander_48]

I'm 64 and started buying and wearing women's clothings occassionally about 10 years ago. As a child, I did try on some of my mother's old clothes and shoes, but that got suppressed somewhere along the way.

I can only think of once incident where I spotted a person at I thought might have been crossdressing, or perhaps further as somewhere in the transitioning process.

I live less than 20 miles from Watkins Glen International Raceway and usually attend 2 or 3 events there a year. One weekend, maybe 12-14 years ago, I saw a tall, relatively thin person of fairly masculine facial features. The person had basically no hips and very round breasts (like very firm forms or a not-so-good augmentation). Anyway, other than the possibility of crossdressing, I didn't have any other explantion.

Normally I do not think in terms of gender presentation. About as far as it goes for me is seeing someone who may be a lesbian towards the butch end of the scale. That's about it in terms of people watching.

Concerning crossdressing in public, being outted is only one problem. I live in a small town of primarily people who work for the same company that I do and that is certainly an issue. However, specifically to address the question, harrassment with the possibility leading to physical violence gives one pause...