what happen

[slamddoger]

when crossdresser go out in the 1950 and in the 1960

[sabrinaedwards]

This a very very open ended question. In that time frame we would all have to be careful. Society would be against us for sure. Our country is still closed to crossdressers. I would be castigated if my friends and associates knew that I liked to wear feminine attire.

[ericanjtgirl]

Only my fiancee or ex fiancee knows and she hates me for it. I could never tell my friends or parents or my kids. I know I need to crossdress. It doesnt control my life where I want to transition. I just wear panties all the time and pantyhose undermy work clothes and shave my legs and bodyhair. I am afraid to go out dressed to a mall. Went to a movie once and a 6'2 200lb in girl clothes and heels is a little much. Did feel nice to be out dressed

[phylis anne]

In the 50's and into mid 60's you could have been arrested as a degenerate or worse depending on where you were or even more likely killed by a bunch of homo philes
phylis anne

[Persephone]

or even more likely killed by a bunch of homo philes

I'm kinda confused here, Phylis Anne. Just why would a bunch of folks who like homosexuals want to kill a crossdresser?

"The word homophile refers to an individual who accepts homosexuals, a supporter of certain rights of homosexuals, one who has positive thoughts about homosexuality, or an advocate of its social acceptance." -- Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homophile)

Hugs,
Persephone.

[Michelle123]

Persephone, On the other hand, the word "Homophobic" (which is the word I think the poster meant to use), is also a word that is misused. A "Phobia" is described by definition, as an irrational, or illogical "Fear" of something. I do not think that fear is neccesarilly the motivating factor for most people who don't agree with the homosexual lifestyle. For most, I believe it is more of a moral, or religious factor that prevents them from accepting homosexuality as a way of life. I have never understood how that word has become the standard for describing people who simply don't accept homosexuality. And many think that anyone who is "homophobic" is really denying their own hidden feeling for members of their own sex. This is simply nonsense in my opinion.

[Beverley Sims]

Same as now just the fashions were different and probably less acceptance by others.

[Stephanie47]

Yes, the fashions were different. But, "probably less acceptance by others?" I am in my middle sixties as you can deduce by my tagline. If a man was anything other than a plain vanilla heterosexual male, he was subject at a bare minimum to scorn and ridicule. Cross dressers were deemed to be "queers and faggots." The word "gay" had not been co opted by the homosexual community. A cross dresser couldn't get a job. If he had a job there was no protection from being fired. If you ventured out you were basically restricted to a social club. Any main stream church would have damned you. You would have been subject to arrest, beaten up.

And, intolerance was not limited to just men wearing women's clothing. In many places women were subject to arrest for wearing pants.

Frankly, the only good thing about cross dressing in the 1950's and 1960's was many of the styles; slips, petticoats, poodle dog skirts, girdles.....

[rachael.davis]

On the other (needs a manicure) hand the Stonewall Riots that sparked the gay lib movement was primarily transgendered (at whatever level) women who had a bellyfull of cops harassing them in the few clubs that existed.

[Jaylyn]

Growing up in the fifties and the sixties, I can say that I was very careful playing in moms things. My dad was a hard nose about girly guys and I can vouch that if had known I was enjoying moms hose and girdles. I would have been severely worked to death by mending fences or digging a hole big enough to be kicked into it. The Churches back then ruled and the verse in the bible that says the effeminate shall not inherit the kingdom of God had a totally different meaning to them than what we know it means today. Even as some have mentioned already you might have been arrested or beaten up by the other guys in school and to say you'd have been bullied is mild. We have come a long way in acceptance today but I can say we had some great Rock n Roll music back then.....

[sometimes_miss]

Same as now just the fashions were different and probably less acceptance by others.

"Less acceptance"? Wow, are you not even close. Try NO acceptance. We had a man in our neighborhood who would occasionally wear his elderly, deceased mom's clothes. Others would call the police, who would come and arrest him. Disturbing the peace, or something like that. Mom and dad just told us that he knew better, that he wasn't respecting his mother's memory, and he'd been arrested for it before as well. A couple years later, we found out that he was gay. Whether the police already knew that, well at that time I was too young to know. But I didn't link what he did, to what I did, because of course, I believed that I was really a girl anyway.

[Confucius]

Back in the 50's and 60's there were decency laws that prohibited cross-dressing. At the time I was told that the police would arrest any man who was wearing feminine clothing and did not have at least five pieces of male clothing on also. So if this was part of a Halloween costume you still had to have male clothing on underneath. Police had to protect the public decency.

Also psychologists considered cross-dressing as abnormal, and a serious psychological condition. I remember reading a "Dear Abby" column where she noted that the vast majority of people recognize cross-dressing as a serious condition needing professional counseling. At the time the therapy of choice was electrical shock treatment used as a form of aversion therapy in the hands of a professional.

[Sharon B.]

I remember back in the mid 60's as I was a youngster back then, standing in the perfume section of a department store waiting on my mother and sister in another part of the store. There was a couple shopping in the lingerie section of the store, she was picking out bra's, panties, stockings, girdles, garter belts, pantyhose and slips. When they went to pay for it all the SA asked if they had a fire as they were buying so much, without batting an eye the woman said all of it was for him meaning the man that with the woman. I knew then I wasn't alone in loving feminine things.

[Kate Simmons]

Not really sure of the 50's and 60's. I didn't go out until the 70's en femme in a limited way but it seemed to be okay then. I'm guessing the earlier decades were just a bit more clandestine.:battingeyelashes::)

[slamddoger]

so back then you have to carful about going out as women

[Vickie_CDTV]

You can actually find out. There are journals and publications (Virginia Prince's Transvestia the most well known) from the 50s and 60s which describe what it was like to be a TV back then. Not surprisingly, people did not venture out in public as freely as they do now... but TVs certainly existed back then and there were men dressing.

[susan54]

I didn't go out until the mid 1970s (in the dark) but I recall before that (late 1960s?) a young man in Scotland was arrested for something like "pervading in female attire". He pled guilty to whatever the actual charge was, and a crusty, conventional journalist in The Scotsman (national newspaper) defended him and said "He wore a dress - so what?".

[BLUE ORCHID]

Hi SD, You would've been lucky if you were not Shot, Hung & Castrated in reverse order.

[Tina B.]

This week in West Hollywood a trans woman was shot to death, the police are trying to say it was a robbery, but they left her purse behind, many think it was a hate crime. So I'm not sure it was that much better or worse back then, at least now no one will offer you shock treatments to "cure you", beyond being locked up in a metal institution, or thrown in jail, the 50's where pretty much like today.

[Stephanie Julianna]

The 50's and 60's were not a good time for crossdressers except for maybe, Candy Darling, who hung with Andy Warhol. There were drag Shows in the big cities but all in all not a good time for us. I remember seeing pictures of very pretty queens being loaded into Paddy Wagons after a drag party was raided in the Daily News. They were treated like perverts. In comparison, these are the best times. Even if you get read you can tell someone you are transitioning and some even congratulate you for the attempt. I wouldn't go back there for anything even though I wish the petticoats and full dresses had stayed in style.