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Charlotte7
07-19-2018, 03:11 AM
When I look back to when this all started, well, it didn't so much start, it's more that it's always been there, this girl inside me wanting to get out, wanting to express herself, I often end up remembering those first few steps along the way. As I say, I can't remember a time when I didn't feel that I was a girl and so, from the moment that I knew that it was girls who wore dresses, I wanted to wear a dress. My mother even let me do this once, but only once. But the need didn't go away and didn't diminish and so I started, as I believe is common, using bath towels as surrogate clothes. When I discovered where my mother kept her clothes, particularly her underwear I started a short period of overdressing.

Then came one of the most important days of my life, though I couldn't know it at the time. It occurred to me, that rather than putting the clothes on over my everyday clothes, I should wear just them, as, and this is the important bit, I would be doing what a girl would be doing and just importantly, feeling what a girl would be feeling.

And that is what has defined me and my dressing ever since. Even as a child and teenager, I wouldn't really have passed, I certainly wouldn't pass now, but that, to me, isn't the point. What is important to me is that when I dress I'm making the choices that a female would make and I feeling the feelings, (the snug fit of the bra straps, the looseness of a slinky top, the swish of a skirt about my legs, the grip of a ladies shoe). There are soo many different sensations that are available to women that are simply not available to men: long; short or something in the middle; tighter fitteing of loose and flowing; lacy, slinky or something more constricting; a skirt and top or a dress; hair up or down; the list is more or less endles.

And this is the nub, in making these choices, in dressing the way that I am, I am making the same choices that a GG has made, I am thinking in the way that a GG has done. And this is never more true than when I'm out and about and I see a GG walking along the street is something that I have a home. This happened a few weeks back when I saw a woman walking along wearing the same short green faux leather skirt that I have from the Sainsbury's TU range. In that moment, I feel totally connected with that person in a purely female sense as we have both gone into the shop, we have had the intention of buying clothes, we have both seen the skirt, liked it enough to buy it and then worn it purely for the want of wearing it.

As I said searlier, I can't look like a girl (I sometimes wish I could, but realistically I can't [I'm thinking about using a dressing service to test this thesis though]), but the one thing that I can do is have the same wishes, desires and, just importantly when it comes to wearing clothes, feelings.

I wonder what other people think to this idea of dressing as being a mental (thinking and feeling) thing?

Teresa
07-19-2018, 04:30 AM
Charlotte,
It is a shame you can't be out and about because the looking and the feeling come together , some may say it happens in the closet but the big difference is you are with the general public . You may feel fantastic in the clothes but how you look is controlled by other people's reactions , I have to say they have gone very well , it really has been an eye opener how accepting they are , OK back to the passing issue , well how do you assess that ? You can't go round asking them all , that's why I posted my thread about the sewing classes . It was a lovely way of saying I've arrived where I want to be , integating into the community .

Making the same choices as a GG makes also means making the same mistakes , they don't get it right all the time . As I keep saying doing everyday is more difficult than dressing to the nines , somedays just a simple skirt and Tshirt feels overdressed , at least the warm weather has brought out skirts and dresses . I had to smile at Helen's qusetion of why on a hot day do some wear a lightweight tunic/dress and pull on black winter tights , we all know how sticky and itchy they can be in hot weather .

Dressing is a mental issue otherwise we wouldn't do it , the clothes to me are the window to how I feel inside , whatever label we now choose to put on it .

Helen_Highwater
07-19-2018, 04:30 AM
Charlotte,

I have the utmost empathy with your post. The feel of femme clothing is a far more tactile experience compared to drab wear.

Dressing is an event, a positive action. Putting on femme clothing is an affirmation of who I am and I feel connected to clothes in a way I've never known in drab.

A couple of years ago I bought a crochet top that had a cami underneath. I can still remember putting it on for the first time and being overwhelmed by just how it felt on. I've never come anywhere near close to that feeling putting on anything drab.

Congratulations on such a thoughtfully written post.

GretchenM
07-19-2018, 06:10 AM
So many of us have such similar stories, but with our own personal variations along the way. I think yours is very interesting and the way you describe it shows how much it means to you. Wonderful.

I have noticed there seems to be two approaches to the motivation to dress. For some they dress because they feel feminine while others dress to feel feminine. Both have the same result, but the motivations are different. I dress because I feel feminine. My mood, level of contentment, and feelings suddenly change to a very gentle form from the more directed and somewhat more aggressive and analytical masculine form. It is like the feminine switch is thrown first and that, if strong enough, leads to dressing which becomes a completion of myself. I also behave and do more feminine things when I feel a strong feminine feeling even though that feeling may not lead to dressing. Knitting while dressed or fixing a wonderful dish for dinner is almost euphoric. Of course, as you have observed, it starts in your mind and expands from there until it changes much of the way you perceive the world around you and interact with it. I sometimes feel sad that others, like my wife, cannot experience these changes because they and she are not configured the way I am. On the other hand, I have no idea what it is like to have only one identity. Works both ways to produce differences that those who do and those who don't really can't share in any genuine and accurate way. We are who we are and we aren't who we aren't.

Stacy Darling
07-19-2018, 09:02 AM
Meeting in the middle, and then leaning either way?

I'd be looking at blending your look if you can, part M + part F= Charlotte.

I suppose that it's a compromise at first when you can't have that total womanly self being, just a thought though!
Stacy!

Vikky
07-19-2018, 09:30 AM
Hi Charlotte

Such a well thought through post, one that I can empathise with entirely.

There are so many wonderful sensations to be had en femme, especially during the UK heatwave (and I think you must be in the UK – mention of Sainsburys), when we are wearing lightweight skirts tops and dresses.

As for ‘looking or feeling’, I don’t think it’s as easy as that. Its 33% of each, but another 33% is deeper than that, a driving force that takes us to a zone where we dress to experience the femme lifestyle.

Teresa: I can’t understand the tights issue in this weather either. Its perverse.

Vikky

docrobbysherry
07-19-2018, 12:09 PM
Charlotte, I read many posts here that refer to thinking, acting, and feeling like a female. Altho I've had these from time to time, too.
I can't help thinking these feelings r presumptive. At least on my part. As I've never been a female, how would I know when I feel like one, it's accurate? And, not just my personal version of what being a female mite be like?:straightface:

Teresa, I wear skin tone tites even in the hottest weather. Because my legs r so messed up. And, girdles, cinchers, wigs, and silicone prosthesis which r all very warm items! While I do perspire, I've never itched. I'm wondering if you're wearing tites that irritate your skin? Why don't u try tites made of a different fabric?:thumbsup:

Nikkilovesdresses
07-19-2018, 12:33 PM
How could our experience of it be other than mental, thinking and feeling?

The difference between us and women is that they've had an entire lifetime of wishing they had more clothes, shoes and accessories.

It is our sworn and sacred duty to try to catch them up.

Beverley Sims
07-20-2018, 07:21 AM
Charlotte,
There is a lot of support and good advice here and you should be able to utilize it towards your situation.

Many of us do fit into the same groove that you are in and with a little encouragement and some bravado on your part we seem to get out.

Not always straight away but after a little time experimenting.