What is a Crossdresser?

[calliekat]

We all know what we define as a crossdresser.

But if a guy, is "rough" looking, wears a mans style shirt and shoes, but say, wears a knee lenth skirt. Is he a crossdresser?

How about the guy that wears womens panties ONLY under his "mens" clothes? Is he a crossdresser?

[uknowhoo]

Ummm, yes and yes.

Definitions will vary, both within and outside of our community. But if someone regularly wears (only) panties or a skirt.. (s)he quacks like a crossdresser.

Tammi

[GypsyKaren]

I agree with Tammi, if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck...

Karen

[Julia Cross]

I feel titles are so inappropriate at times. They often cause us to lump everything into one neat category even when many of the items being lumped together are at best vaguely connected.

If for example, one only wears panties, it could just as easily be viewed as a fetish or a comfort issue. Because one wears medically perscribed compression hose, is one a crossdresser? Hose are for women, are they not? Panties are for women? Yet the man for all intense purposes is dressed as a man, panties or not, support hose or not.

I am unsure where the boundries are, but it seems difficult to call a person who only wears something as subtle as panties for example, a crossdresser.

Julia

[susancheerleader]

I agree with Tammi, if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck...

Karen

... must be a duck.


Julia, thats a very good point!

[Georgette]

Then to, you have on the other side of the coin the GGs that prefer towear mens jeans and mena shirts, does that make them a FTM, and this is perfectly acceptted by the SOCIAL community. Go figure.

[Tamara Croft]

Dut if a guy, is "rough" looking, wears a mans style shirt and shoes, but say, wears a knee lenth skirt. Is he a crossdresser? - Probably

How about the guy that wears womens panties ONLY under his "mens" clothes? Is he a crossdresser? - No, I'd class that more of a fetish ;)

[Julia Cross]

The more I think about it, the more I feel that first we need to determine what is the actual definition of a crossdresser. It's difficult to say one thing is crossdressing and the other is not if we can't agree on what crossdressing is.

The reason why a person wears the apparel of the opposite gender should be part of the equation, unless one views crossdressing as literally the act of wearing an article of clothing meant for the opposite gender to the wearer. If that is the case, then likely everyone on the planet is or has been a crossdresser at some point in their lives. But if the definition requires a reason for the wearing, then the act alone does not imply one is a crossdresser.

julia

[JoAnnDallas]

I have a neice that will joking tell you she is a crossdresser. She perfers mens shirts to women blouses only because she can get the mens shirt cleaned at the cleaners at fraction of the cost that it would cost for her to get her blouses clean. The pressing machines are desgined for mens shirts and not for women blouses. She has been wearing mens shirts for years now and ever once in a while another GG will ask her why and after she explains, they understand. My neice said a couple of GG's she knows started wearing mens shirts after she explain it to them.

[Julia Cross]

...they must be crossdressers then.

J

[MsJanessa]

if you have to ask if you are a crossdresser then you probably are

[calliekat]

if you have to ask if you are a crossdresser then you probably are


If this is directed at me, I never said I was asking for myself. I know I am a crossdresser. I am just wondering where the line is between someone that just wears panties, to those who are dressing to the "t" Is there a difference in definition?

[maid phylis]

as soon as you put on a pair of panties and wear them you are considered a crossdresser ,and its whats inside of you that counts...;)

[Nlenro-nu2]

Hi! I'm Nlenro-nu ...I agree with you. I know many that have fetishes of different kinds. As for crossdressing that idea didn't come into play until the invention of pants. If you look into history you'll see man actually work dress or skirt far long before pants. Women wore robes. A dress is basically like a robe is it not? Or simply like an extra long t-shirt! Why some or so against us crossdressing I don't understand. Maybe because they are jealous because they wish they had the nerve to to it too but don't have the guts?
Occasionally I take breaks from crossdressing and then some hollers he won't give up! Why would they wait till the break from crossdressing? are they hoping the break be a permanent break away from crossdressing? Well their attitude makes me want to rebel go right back to the crossdressing so I often cut short my breaks from crossdressing. The only reason for breaks is I don't want it to become a boring everyday thing!
Well I'm not giving anything up for anyone. If I give up something it's my choice to do so.. I'm not letting anyone eggin me into give up something I like doing! Another matter
What's the difference in Quote and Reply?

[Butterfly Bill]

What's the difference in Quote and Reply?
If you want to quote the words in another post (like this one does), you click Quote, and the computer will put the words at the beginning of your post (and you can snip parts of it, like I just did). If you don't want to quote, you just click Reply.

[Deanna2]

The original post stated that we all know what a crossdresser is. It then went on to put a couple of qualifiers in that made me wonder if we really do know what a crossdresser is.

I don't think we know the answer.

There have been a lot of surveys done and statistics quoted - particularly in this forum. The general concensus is around 5 percent of guys crossdress.

However, no one to my knowledge has defined the term crossdresser other perhaps than saying it is someone who prefers to wear clothing intended for the other gender. No one has ever said how much clothing intended for the other gender has to be worn to make a person a CD. Hence a guy wearing femme panties is a CD. As is a guy who wears lingerie, skirts, high heels, wig, makeup, etc.

I think there are too many labels that people apply to each other. Unfortunately that is not going to stop anytime soon.

Personally, I just like to wear femme gear, with or without labels.

[Kimberley]

I always FELT it was a state of mind or emotion and not necessarily fetish (I dislike that term). If crossdressing in anything of the opposite gender satisfies a gender related feeling or emotion, how can it be fetish?

[arianacd]

I agree looks like a duck must be a duck::angel:

[Ms. Donna]

The original post stated that we all know what a crossdresser is. It then went on to put a couple of qualifiers in that made me wonder if we really do know what a crossdresser is.

I don't think we know the answer.

There have been a lot of surveys done and statistics quoted - particularly in this forum. The general concensus is around 5 percent of guys crossdress.

However, no one to my knowledge has defined the term crossdresser other perhaps than saying it is someone who prefers to wear clothing intended for the other gender. No one has ever said how much clothing intended for the other gender has to be worn to make a person a CD. Hence a guy wearing femme panties is a CD. As is a guy who wears lingerie, skirts, high heels, wig, makeup, etc.

I think there are too many labels that people apply to each other. Unfortunately that is not going to stop anytime soon.

Personally, I just like to wear femme gear, with or without labels.

:sb:

In trying to come up with a concrete definition for 'crossdresser', you run into the same problems as trying to define man and woman. We all have our own ideal of what a man or a woman - or a crossdresser - is. That ideal shaped not only by the discursive nature of these terms but by our own personal experience as well. This renders a single universal, transcendent definition impossible.

With the term Crossdresser, specifically, the problem is that we have confused doing with being. Crossdressing is a action - it is something one does. And while we do this with other actions (swimmer, runner, etc) we do not look to include these as a part of our identity - our being; they are simply activities, things we do.

But with crossdressing, we have somehow managed to take a single action and tied to our identity - in essence setting up yet another system of binary classification. And when you do that, you set the stage to create a marginalized group: those who do not meet the 'criteria' for group inclusion.

You wind up with questions like how much of what do I need to wear to be a crossdresser? (for those looking to a part of the group) I only wear such & such, does that make me a crossdresser? (for those looking to not be included) Classifications like this only work for those who want to be and are comfortable with inclusion in the group. With no definable criteria, people will always wind up marginalized by their exclusion from the binary because they are unable to 'make the cut'. And you will have those offended because of their default inclusion.

Deanna's comments are spot on: there are too many labels that people apply to each other and it's not going to stop anytime soon. So why fight for another?

Love & Stuff,
Donna

[Raychel]

I dont want to take this thread off course, but maybe lighten it up a little.

So my question is. Is he smiling and happy or mad and pissed off? If he is smiling and happy, then he can't be a crossdresser.:sorry: I just had to say it.

[Patty Cakes]

I think there are innumerable factors and variables that lead to ones sexuality, fetishism, and transgenderism. What you need to remember is that everyone is different, so putting these complex things into a few broad based categories is never going to be definitive.
I was told some time ago that the crossdressing term was invented as a replacement for the "rougher" term of transvestism, however while the term crossdressing may be more aesthetically pleasing, it suggests a completely different activity to my definition of transvestism.

Crossdressing seems to suggest a more sexually inert form of dressing in that most crossdressers will tell you that they do not derive sexual pleasure at all from dressing. It's purely a way of expressing their inner self. Crossdressers can be any sexuality with the ratio seemingly in proportion to the straight/gay population.

Transvestism more describes one who also dresses in the clothes of the opposite sex but who also derives sexual pleasure from doing so. This also can be done by either gay or straight people.

Fetishism, is more to do with a specific object or objects being used to enhance pleasure at the actual time of sexual activity, it might also be an object that causes immediate sexual excitement. Rubber, rope, girls panties, the list is endless. It is said that everyone has a fetish of some sort.

So that's my take on it. For me, I fit in between a crossdresser and a transvestite, like I said, nothing is definite.

Patty:angel:

[Keri]

My own view is that I'm neither a "tv" nor a "cd" nor any other acronym. I just want to be feminine (note that I did NOT say effeminite) and enjoy the sensual pleasures ascribed thereto. If that state of feminism is enhanced by the wearing of sensuous clothing and the relaxation of my masculine persona, then that's what I'll entertain. Yes, the clothing and fabrics are sensual in their own right, but as almost all of my pleasure is non auto-erotic, so I do not classify the feminine clothing that I enjoy as fetishistic in nature.

Not wanting to be a female also eliminates me from the 'tg' category, eh?

[Kimberley]

How about the guy that wears womens panties ONLY under his "mens" clothes? Is he a crossdresser?[/I] - No, I'd class that more of a fetish ;)
**********
Hi Tamara,
I dont know if I agree with this because some TG's dont have any kind of support (moi) from their partners. This being the case, undies daily and dressing when we can doesnt make it a fetish. For me it is more like being chained and beaten until you are let out to play. Play? Nahhh; Live.
I think it is a frame of mind first. Correction, State of mind that creates the person. It is others who make labels and I detest labels because they can be so hurtful.

Hugs to all.

[nikisbest]

I have to agree with the duck comment.
I used to say I had a fetish, but now know I am a crossdresser.
Mainly wear panties and bras.
Niki

[JEANNE63]

I agree. Looks like a duck!