Part of my reason for crossdressing

[Terri Semes]

My thought of the day is that one reason that I am attracted to women?s clothes is all my life I held blue collar jobs that required me to be sweaty , stinky , dirty and greasy .
When I had opportunities to dress in women?s things , that would be like a vacation from my normal self .

[kimdl93]

There is some logic to that. I know I reserve my male clothes for dirty jobs and am very happy to discard those things into the laundry pile, get cleaned up and again presentable as a woman.

I used to think that dressing as a woman gave me an escape from having to play the assertive, dominant, responsible male role that I found myself playing in my personal and professional life. I could put on women’s clothes and perhaps for a moment assume a woman’s demeanor.

That was until I began to realize that much of what I saw as ‘masculine’ was really just loutish behavior and that women in positions of responsibility were able to perform those roles with a measure of assertiveness absent the coercive, domineering or intimidating behavior that I too often exhibited. It was also before I realized that could I put on women’s clothes without becoming anything other than the person I am without it being an act or pretense. Or to put it another way, I realized my inner self feels more connected to my outer presentation when I am dressed as a woman.

[CynthiaD]

But on the other hand, who needs a reason? :)

[candykowal]

I use to love the change after work too, it was a great stress reliever. No one knew that was me while I was presenting.
I actually had the pleasure of walking past a co-worker who knows me very well while I was presenting as a girl and he looked at me up and down but never knew that girl was me!
Talk about a thrill! No friends running into me asking me for free tickets and back stage passes, no co-workers coming to me when they broke their equipment, no bosses demanding setup times before a concert. I loved being incognito!

[Crissy 107]

Candy, They may have looked at you and thought to themselves, I know that person from somewhere.
BTW, Can I get two tickets to.....

[Kay J]

Sounds like me also really dirty or really girly! The best of both worlds! ;)

[Di]

But on the other hand, who needs a reason? :)

Exactly , I never understood coming up with a reason. It is just who you are .

[Crissy 107]

I do agree that we do not need a reason to crossdress but the question of how did this get in me and why is it impossible to walk away from it is something I would be interested in knowing.

[GaleWarning]

I do agree that we do not need a reason to crossdress but the question of how did this get in me and why is it impossible to walk away from it is something I would be interested in knowing.

Crissy, I don't think any of us knows the answers to those two questions!

[Krisi]

We don't need a reason to dress as women, but obviously, there is a reason why we do it. Not the same reason for everyone, but there is a reason.

I doubt that most of us understand the reason though.

[BrendaPDX]

I really don't know why I crossdress, or haven't admitted it to myself, I just know I have to. I love the way I look when I have done it right!

[Raychel]

I have to agree, As a mechanic all my life, It was like a vacation from the normal every day life

[NancySue]

Neither do I need a reason to dress. The pink fog is with me most of the time. I do understand...whether working outside, golf, etc., I always look forward to a shower and slipping into something soft, silky and comfortable.

[Stephanie Julianna]

"vacation from my normal self." I find that it is a vacation as my true self.

[Cheryllynn]

I also can look at it as an "escape" from my everyday male mode- and the high stress job that I have. Other times it may be more of a "get in touch with my feminine" aspects; it has on occasion helped me gain perspective on things or see a problem from a different angle. After almost 40 years of dressing I STILL don't know why, but I have learned to accept it. And once I did that, most of the inner turmoil dissipated for me. Just my perspective I guess.

[Rayleen]

No big reason, just love it every day ...so relaxing to dress in soft things

[docrobbysherry]

My reason for dressing is I woke up again this morning!:tongueout

[April Rose]

I can certainly understand the "aahhhhh...." moment when coming home from a hard or stressful day and slipping into something soft,feminine and pretty.

[Christina89]

My reason for crossdressing used to be the thrill. But now it's just to relax and be me since crossdrrssing has become a big important part of my life. I use it as a way to let my troubles of work ease of my body. I feel when I am Christina I am at peace for a bit.

[MonicaPVD]

That seems like a wonderful reason, Terri. Within the vast spectrum of reasons that motivate our sisters, there's nothing wrong with enjoying a little escapism. I always felt that this was my motivation, and it was, but as I got older I came to terms with deeper rooted identity issues. Either way, escapism is a lot of fun. I like to think of my dressing as on-demand cosplay.

[Shirley Rose]

I have always been attracted to feminine things from a very young age. My brain must be wired differently and at this point in my life I am ok with letting the girl in me out. I have been buying clothes ,wigs,shoes,forms,jewelry,nail polish and am wearing all of it as it feels wonderful. As a man I wear an ugly black uniform to work hate the heat and sunshine but as a woman I love the heat and working on a tan. I am a bit out of control and need to find a balance between the male and female sides of my life.

I just love girly things !!!!

[GretchenM]

We don't NEED a reason to present the way we do, but there ARE many reasons that we do. We now know and understand some of them but there are still a lot of empty boxes in the wall of reasons why we do what we do that need to be figured out so we can understand. But you don't need to understand to participate or engage in that behavior. And Terri, your reason, although I have never heard that one before, is as perfectly good as any other reason. We are all different, but the same forces affect each of us. The result is not tomato soup; we are each more like minestrone soup, but each bowl of soup is custom made and different from all the other bowls of minestrone.

[Beverley Sims]

It is something that was inbred from an early age.

It all seemed soconvenient at the time.

Yes, I enjoy being a girl.

[Asew]

I can see that. As I dress most of the time around home and yard, I find it weird to get feminine clothes sweaty or do dirty jobs. I think part of that is I see feminine clothes are pretty and am more careful in them and when I launder them and see male clothes are more utilitarian and replaceable. At least I have 2 aprons for kitchen tasks so that is no longer an issue.

[Just Dana]

For me, dressing is a way to sort of fool myself visually into thinking/feeling that I am a woman. Of course, that brings up a different question, to which I have no answer.

I also understand the escapism angle. That makes a lot of sense to me. However, Docrobbysherry gave my favorite answer!

Dana

[RADER]

I myself also worked construction, Out with the mud and the Blood.
I like your ideas of getting home and change in to something soft and clean.
Rader

[nancymo4242]

That's a part of the reason I crossdress, too.
I have never worked in construction, but I come from a background where men are expected to act like men, you know...
Which sucks. Big time.
Anyway, when I started crossdressing on a regular basis, I always got a great release of it.
For those few hours that I sat there in my nighty, I can let go of people's expectations of me, and be my own true self.
That's probably why I will never have a relationship that lasts. I've come to the conclusion recently that I can never totally give up crossdressing. And I also can't promise a woman that I won't turn into one, lol...

[Confucius]

If working in construction, or another manual labor job, was a driving element for crossdressing, does that mean that there was little interest in crossdressing before you worked in that profession?

Personally I can't remember a time when I wasn't attracted to crossdressing. There are so many factors that can contribute to my crossdressing. I'll list just a few:
1. My mother made it clear that she wanted a girl when I was born.
2. My sister was born a year after me, and she was pampered by my mother. I was jealous, and believed my mother would love me more if I was a girl.
3. My older brother beat me up routinely, even breaking several bones. I believed that being a girl was a way of escaping.
4. My next door neighbor was a very feminine boy, and we were good friends. He loved crossdressing too. (I didn't realize it then, but he was gay, and when he got older he died from HIV.)
5. As a child I had a very low self esteem, highly introverted, very shy, and very quiet. (One of my teachers even called me a mouse.)
6. I admired the in female adults in my life, they were nice to me. Male adults were vulgar, heavy drinkers, smokers, who showed no interest in me.
7. In my world view, parents preferred girls. I never doubted that I was a normal boy, however I also believed all boys secretly wanted to be girls.
8. It wasn't until I was in college before I even imagined such a thing as "male privilege". Before that I believed girls had all the privileges.

Yes, I believe I experienced some gender dysphoria in my childhood, but by the time I was an adult I had accepted by biological gender. In the end my brain was just hardwired to respond to crossdressing by releasing a host of feel-good neurotransmitters, and they make me happy. An old saying, "give me a child till seven, and I will show you the man," helps explain why I need to crossdress today.

[Natasha.k]

For me its a release of daily stress. Male me is very angry, couldn't care less. Natasha ME is a caring, loving soul. Looks at the positive in every situation. She is kind, gentle. Even when I write male me the writing is bad. Chicken scratch. When I am Natasha the penmanship is beautiful. I love being Natasha. Others I meet do to.

[alwayshave]

Terri, as my name states I always have crossdressed. Don't know why and really no longer question it.