Is dressing almost all the time basically one step away from transition.

[Sissyboy2]

If you have the need to dress almost everyday is transition basically on the horizon. The more you dress the less fun it might be. So in theory the next thing would be just to become a women. That's just my opinion.

[Krisi]

I don't think (cross)dressing every day leads to transition.

I think the desire or need to transition (to a woman) is far deeper than clothing. I dress a lot, yet I have no desire to transition.

[~Joanne~]

I don't think so. I dress whenever I get the chance and if that is days in a row, all the time, or once a week, I still have no desire to transition. To even want or consider to transition, there has to be a lot more below the surface happening than just wearing the clothes.

[Rachael Leigh]

I too dress just about everyday most with no attempt at makeup or such but really no desire to transition
Would I prefer to go out just like this without all the fluff? Yes if it were acceptable I would but just not going to.
I'm happy with my guy self but have a strong female side that needs her expression

[Marcelle]

Hi there,

In a word . . . no.

Transition is not a progression step from cross dressing. Specifically, you don't start out dressing a little bit, increase dressing a bit more, then a bit more and then voila you are a woman. Transition is about being who you are "your target gender". If you dress as woman (regardless of how often) for whatever reason (e.g., sexual, emotional control, feels right, just fun to do) but you still identify as a man and no amount of make-up, dressing, trips out, gatherings will ever quell the fact that you are a guy . . . you will most likely not transition. However, if you identify as a woman, while dressing may help align how your present to the world, it has nothing to do with the clothes and every thing to do with being a woman in all aspects of your life both private and public. Specifically there is no guy lurking around in the wings, only the girl. If you feel this way, then perhaps (and I say perhaps) transition may be on the horizon.

IMHO, the key take home is . . . cross dressing is not a gateway drug for transition. You gender identity will determine if you transition or not. :)

Cheers

Marcelle

[nikkiwindsor]

I'm in agreement with others who don't consider dressing almost every day as a measure toward wanting to become a woman. Rather, everyone is different and unique across the t-spectrum. For me, I'm gender fluid with a very strong feminine side. I'd like to have more androgynous features allowing me to be more passable as a woman. However, I don't consider myself to be solely a woman so as much as I like to dress just about every chance I get I'm not one step away from transitioning full-time. Nikki

[Katey888]

Hey - you're entitled to your opinion, and an observation that frequency of dressing (subject to that dressing being to present completely as a woman) is proportional to degree of trans-ness seems logical on a simplistic perspective... :)

But I don't believe this is that simple...

MtF folk that transition - TS folk - have a digital identity (female only) but with their physical polarity reversed (female identity--male body)

A lot of us seem to be something else - we don't have a fixed gender identity - we don't fit neatly into one of the two gender buckets - our gender compass sits somewhere in between the two poles, and for some us also swings wildly around at random and unpredictably.

I don't think an assertion that the more you have to dress and express yourself publicly would seem to indicate a higher degree of gender non-conforming (transgender) behaviour, is unreasonable - but the final leap to becoming a woman full-time is a different story and we middle-ground folk are birds of a different feather... :)

Interesting point though...

Katey x

[Karen RHT]

I frequently wear lingerie, skirts/dresses, heels, etc., while in our home. I also wear "male" jeans, T-shirts, socks, underwear, while in our home. They're all just clothes that I chose to wear as I please. As time goes by, and as my wife becomes more comfortable with how I choose to dress, I suspect I will spend even more time in skirts/dresses.

I lead a very full and active lifestyle as a male, and I'm very comfortable and happy about that. As Katey stated, you're entitled to your opinion, but even if I were to dress full time, I'm too damn comfortable being me to even remotely consider transition.


Karen

[Jenniferathome]

No. Cross dressing is not related to transition. Cross dressing may be coincident in that some TS people cross dress, but read the active thread about being TS. CD does not lead to TS

http://www.crossdressers.com/forums/showthread.php?236452-Are-there-those-here-that-are-know-inside-they-are-really-TS

[Adriana Moretti]

I dress all the time and transition is not on my radar...is dressing less fun cause I do it more often?? Well its not exciting....i dont get a "rush" from dressing...its just clothes at this point...but it does not mean I do not enjoy it. I think Katey said it best !!!

[rachael.davis]

no, but when you need to transition you'll probably be dressing everyday for a while

[Teresa]

Sissyboy,
I don't think the two connect, it's what's in your mind and how you feel, not how much you dress.
Having that gut feeling every day doesn't always get satisfied with dressing, since my gender counselling I know I'm just on the male side of transition, it hasn't made any difference to how much I dress or need to but I feel more comfortable with it now. If I had the opportunity I would happily dress more because I prefer to look how I feel inside, what people now think of that doesn't bother because I'm not ashamed of something I can do nothing about, it's part of me.

[sometimes_miss]

I automatically figured I knew the answer as soon as I saw the word 'fun' in the topic. If you're dressing up for fun then you're probably not a transsexual. I'm not saying having fun and putting on pretty clothes are mutually exclusive for transsexuals, more that I don't believe either GG's or mtf transsexuals spend a lot of time putting on female clothing for the sheer entertainment factor of it. I mean....sure, once in a while; like when a woman, maybe after ten years of marriage tries on her wedding gown again to either reminisce or just to see if it still fits, but each day picking an outfit to wear is just something that she has to do, it's not something she does for fun. Having watched girlfriends go through that routine many mornings, I'd consider it more like a task that she must do, rather than a playful pastime.

[Eva Skarlatova]

My wife like wearing range of "male clothing" , mainly jeans, less skirts, dresses rarely....does it means that she is close to transition? ;) I understand the logic and as some girls should say that it's really unique. If you are bored of "just cross-dressing" thanks to the dressing more and more and you make a transition, let's say become a women, following the same pattern you would be borrowed again in some time...What next?

[pamela7]

Perhaps dressing all the time is not one step away for everyone, even for most people. For me it was a HUGE message. Only you can know, and you can only really know with some profound soul-searching. I took 9 months approx, of asking myself this, while dressing pretty much full time, before the full clarity emerged. I could imagine people with busier lives might have needed years to come to the same realisation.

[Eryn]

I've made the switch so perhaps my experience is valid.

When I first started, CDing was a part time activity. As I became more aware of myself, certain elements worked their way into my daily routine. It wasn't so much because I enjoyed them as they just seemed to be a natural part of my being. I didn't do that consciously. Slowly, those elements started to come together, displacing the male facade that I had used previously.

So, simply dressing a lot does not seem to be an indicator of being TS. Rather, it seems that discomfort in presenting in one's birth gender is the indicator.

[Lorileah]

I am not only a member of the club but I bought the company.

OK truth is that I started dressing 24/7 when I started transitioning. Before that the amount of time wasn't an issue

[raleighbelle]

I have to agree with most all of the posters above. I think most transgendered individuals know that they want to be a different gender from a very early age, well before puberty. For me it was certainly before kindergarten. But those who cross dress, without the gender dysphoria, go through various times in life where they dress a lot and sometimes don't dress for quite some time, but I do not know of many who make a transition just due to dressing a lot. Perhaps some only put two and two together and realize they are transgendered after doing some soul searching that might occur after dressing a lot.

[Robin414]

NO! YMMV but as a TG friend has said 'transition is a hell of a thing', unless you've felt it in your bones from an early age, probably not a good idea...I'm 'tween' myself and if push comes to shove...I'm jumping back on the 'guy wagon' 😐

[PaulaQ]

The positive things, the stuff you can see, tell you almost nothing about whether or not you'll transition.

It's the internal stuff, the things going on in your mind that no one else but you can observe, that really make the difference.

And to answer your specific question - in my observation, people who begin to live more and more fulltime often ultimately find that they really have been in transition the whole time, but only came to admit it much later. Not all transitions are traumatic, brutal, and fast like mine has been. Some of us move along, slowly, but steadily, sometimes in denial about what's really happening to them until much, much later. Again, though, something inside of them drove this - not the clothes or the dressing itself. Those are just the manifestations you can see.

BTW, I didn't transition to be a woman. I transitioned away from pretending to be a man. Living as a man took a lot of learning - it did not come naturally to me. Not at all. So a lot of my effort has been spent unlearning that stuff. Being a woman came pretty naturally to me. For good reason - it's because that's what I was!


unless you've felt it in your bones from an early age, probably not a good idea

This is also untrue. Many of us who transition do not know at an early age. We lived in a world, and still live in a world, that is hostile to the truth of who we are. It is unrealistic to expect children to stand up to a relentless barrage of adults who tell them "YOU ARE A BOY". Some kids do. Most don't. And even many of us who do realize it early on sometimes bury it or forget it because how can these feelings we have be real, when everyone else tells us they are not?

In the face of such abuse - and being invalidated on such a level is absolutely severe emotional abuse - a lot of us cave in and try to convince ourselves that we are who they tell us we are.

In a world like the one we live in, where the truth isn't really permitted unless it's the officially sanctioned truth, expecting someone to tell the truth when you've told them there will be an awful penalty for it is simply unrealistic.

[Nikkilovesdresses]

There are plenty of people who play Grand Theft Auto every day, but that doesn't mean they all turn into murderers- just some of them :)

But perhaps your question indicates you are considering transition?

[Dakota1981]

Have to agree with Nikkilovesdresses on this one. I don't think crossdressing all the time leads to transition. Everyone is different. Some people simply feel more comfortable in female clothing and dressing up yet have no urge to be a full time woman. Some people go through a gender identity crisis and perhaps they have barely dressed at all. It'll be a different scenario no matter who you ask, but a simple answer to your question is no.

[Kate Simmons]

It depends really. Being a woman is not about clothes, it's about being a woman. ;):)

[JanePeterson]

It depends really. Being a woman is not about clothes, it's about being a woman. ;):)

Exactly! Why not just be a man who wears women's clothes all the time

[Bobbi46]

I agree with Kate and Jane, you have both nailed it totally. I would never transition, not that the thought has not crossed my mind before but reflecting on such transition is not on the horizon for me. having said this dressing as a woman I think brings for some and certainly for me a whole new feeling of peace and happiness and "yes this is where I want to be".Where wants to be in the gender spectrum is where one feels happiest. Cross dressing for sure is a good world for me, but to transition? no

[Jennifer0874]

It doesn't for me. I dress 24/7 and I enjoy being a man, a really feminine man. I spent years trying not to be feminine and it was exhausting. With all the new labels out there some might consider me gender fluid or gender queer.

[kittie60]

No, far from it in most cases. For some it offers a safe haven from the turmoil of and drudgery of everyday life. Others just like the feel of the clothes and the results they see in the mirror. Some of us are born tg and are going to transition, while others are not. Then again they're some who can't transition because of health issues. And last other love to emulate the female personna and are truely happy. We all live are lives as we see fit. There are to many variables from dressing full time to transitioning.

[Beverley Sims]

I dress constantly and these days because of my situation transition is not on the agenda.

[I Am Paula]

Not to go against the tide here. As my dyphoria grew, I dressed more, and more, to appease it. Finally, I was full time, but had not yet admitted to myself that I would transition. Being full time still didn't help, and I sought medical intervention. I transitioned three years ago, and never looked back.
The long and short of it- If you are a CD, you can be a CD full time. If you are trans, it doesn't matter what degree you dress to, you will eventually need outside help. One does not lead to the other...but it might.

[lingerieLiz]

I dress every day and have no interest in transitioning. I enjoy femininity and the clothing that goes with it. I'm not a woman and do enjoy being a guy.

[heatherdress]

Sissyboy - Why do you have the need to dress every day? Maybe you need to ask yourself that question and maybe a lot more if you are thinking transition may be in your future. But as most have already said, I don't think crossdressing every day is an indicator that you are heading for transition.