To what degree?

[Pantyfan]

Evening All!

My question for you is what degree do you dress? How often, and what level of being in public do you dress? How has your dressing changed or progressed over the years?

I certainly have dressed fully before, but thats growing up or in privacy of home. One past GF dressed me up and was really ok with letting me explore. Even this year I?ve gone shopping in leggings and short skirts, but not dressing to pass or be overly fem.

I do have a close female friend I?d like to mention CD with, but dont want to come across in a sexual way at all. She?s seen me in leggings so she knows at least a little bit!

I think CD is a broad term, and wherever you are on the spectrum is great and own it! I consider myself a CD, even though I dont have fake boobs, makeup, or a wig.

It was fun reflecting on my experiences, looking forward to hearing your thoughts, experiences, and wisdom!

[docrobbysherry]

I live alone. But, I still dress all the way or not at all. Whether at home or going out to party with other T's at LGBT friendly venues or at vanilla clubs and bars.:hugs:


If u even just wear girl undies under your jeans? Your a CD!:battingeyelashes:

[Heather76]

I dress to some degree virtually every day.....at home. I wear panties 24/7. I always wear a bra, forms, stockings, and a nightie to bed. Most evenings after supper I will change from drab into a dress, stockings, bra, and forms. A lot of days I will wear a bralette with A/B inserts. I've only been outside fully dressed on 6 occasions now. I'm fortunate that I have a very understanding wife so I can dress at will at home. I don't use makeup and a wig in front of her except on very rare occasions.

[kimdl93]

I would never go part way. When I go out I aim to present as a woman, even if the likelihood is that I will be read.

[GretchenM]

I am pretty much the same all the time. I include some items that indicate a mild female-like expression. These are mostly shirts and tops and mostly emphasize the stereotypical female colors and somtimes include a flowery motif. The flower motif is mostly driven by me being a botanist, but gender also plays into it and perhaps I am a botanist because of my gender identity. If I wear a mask it is a flower pattern mask (I sometimes wear a mask again as airborne diseases are afoot again). I have never been able to understand exactly why all of that is there, but it is real as it is with most of us in one way or another.

I rarely dress all the way and only when I am home alone and do not go out that way. In the neighborhood I am too well known and my wife and I have an agreement on that.

I would also like to point out that even though most of us associate with CD most of us also show signs of gender identity reversal even though they may be mild. If that was not there to some degree it would be difficult to explain the CD aspect. The fact is that if the form of expression communicates some degree of femininity, even though faint, then there is a touch of the transgender mode to the sense of self. That is almost always the motivator in any degree of crossdressing. However, it is wrong to think that there is no female-like gender traits and characteristics present. That is a part of the old gender binary thinking that modern science has shown does not exist and never did exist - in its purest form it is nothing more than an interpretation that results in a distortion of the truth.

In modern thinking everyone has some behavioral traits that are fundamentally characteristic of the opposite sex and gender. That is normal and also necessary for a person to navigate the world. However, the point at which that lapses over into the transgender world is nothing more than a vague transitional zone. If it was possible to assess this clearly one could define a percentage that is needed, but being that accurate is impossible because our identities are constantly shifting around in response to our experiences in our environment. Thus if a person does not want to include that transgender element in their identity it is perfectly fine to do that. But that does not mean it is not there and is affecting some of your behaviors. Thus those gender reversed elements being present is quite normal; what is not normal is for a person to be missing those elements. Studies have shown that is true of, at most, about 2% of the population and even they are not that way 100% of the time.

So, in a practical sense being able to apply the transgender label is really a perception issue. If you are able to sense an identity shift of some kind then you have a goodly number of mixed gender neural networks. If you feel you can't sense it then those mixed gender networks are fewer, but still there. If you feel it strongly and it dominates your sense of who you are at least sometimes then you are probably a bit transgender. If it is constant then you are definitely transgender. But what you do with it is all your own choice and that is a completely different matter.

[Jillcder]

At age 55 I decided it was now or never so I put on dress and went shopping at a mall 7 years later and many trips out in public I feel pretty confident in my female presentation.

[Kris Burton]

I have just begun to go out publicly, and so far I always present completely as one gender or the other. I enjoy the duplicity immensely!

[sara66]

99.9% of the time I am all or nothing at home. Only 100% when I go out.
Sara

[Stephanie Michelle]

I am retired and will dress most days. I do not do makeup everyday. Too much of a pain! lol Have gone out just a few times, mostly Halloween. But have driven at night in the winter.

[Helen_Highwater]

I go what i call PF in my diary, partially femme, pretty much every day. It can range from skirt and top or to include bra, forms and sometimes with wig, heels and accessories. Always sans makeup. Duration can be an hour or sometimes 4. Going out is normally restricted to one entire week every year and then it's a case of 24/7, out and about all day for me.

[Geena75]

Mine is a varied tale. For many years I had dreamed of being able to present as a woman and go out and about. My facial hair kept that at bay for a long time, but I still enjoyed the clothes and might find the opportunity every few weeks when I had the place to myself for a few hours. Then I discovered covid masks, eyelashes and makeup and began venturing out, but avoiding close contact. As I developed on those lines I ventured out more, several times a year and lost most of my fears of interaction. In the last 8 weeks I have shed the facial hair, learned full makeup application, and have really enjoyed going out with little concern of interacting with sales staff. Since my initial plunge 8 weeks ago, I have gone out 7 times, but am gradually slowing things down.

It is a mixed bag, though. It used to take me 10 minutes to dress, then 20+ minutes to do a little makeup, to now when I want an hour to really transform. Really limits when I have time to really enjoy being Geena.

[NancySue]

My being retired with a supportive wife, I enjoy beginning each day dressing. 24/7, panties, bra, (sometimes with forms), and hose. After, it depends. Usually a skirt, pants, a top, etc. I apply moisturizer to my face daily and at night and usually dab on a little makeup, eye shadow, eyebrows and light lipstick along with a flit or two of one of my favorite perfumes. Our small town limits going out and walking around, but when going out for a drive, grocery shop or getting gas, I?m dressed. A couple nights ago, we were out looking at Christmas lights and decided to stop and get something to eat. I did remove my b cup forms and went in. All went well.

[Stephanie47]

With my wife and I both retired, she not accepting, there is little opportunity to "go all the way." I can thank Covid for stopping her from overnight babysitting our grandson at our daughter's home. When I had the opportunity to be en femme, whether in-home or outside the home, it was and still would be all the way or forget it. My wife and I sleep apart due to back pains which allows me to sleep in bra and panty under either a nightgown or full slip. Most days I also wear a full coverage nylon panty under my jeans. I forego makeup and nail polish with the exception of light makeup, if I go out for an evening drive and stroll. Makeup takes too long to apply, and to long to remove. Most women do not apply makeup unless attending some societal function. I figure if I do not look in a mirror I am not going to see my aged face anyway.

[alwayshave]

I wear panties everyday. Other than that when I dress, I dress completely. I dress about 8 times a year. I'd dress more often if I did not have adult children in my house. I go out to hotels, bars and restaurants.

[April Rose]

I live alone and dress at home most days. Over the past few years I have evolved an approach to my gender issues that lets me live with myself, and minimizes my stress. I have recently been diagnosed as having ADHD and this figures into the equation, and really, has explained a lot to me.

I now keep an appointment calendar (I look for the prettiest, most feminine looking one that I can find; to encourage me to use it.) Each day , in addition to Dr. appointments, etc. I write down 5 things that I want to accomplish the next day. Even the most routine things like"practice guitar" or "clean Cat box" or "go to post office". ADHD folk will know why I have to do this; for example; I sat down at this computer to bring up a song to practice but now I am writing this instead.

That being explained my routine goes like this: I wake up, take off my nightgown, put on bra forms and wig, put my nightgown back on and have breakfast. Before getting changed for the day I look at my calendar to see what I need to do. If I need to go out I will wear something easy to change out of. For example today I am in a denim skirt, tights and a turtleneck. When I go out I can just swap the skirt for pants, take off forms, wig and jewelry and off I go. It takes like two minutes, and two minutes to change back when I come home. If I know I am staying home all day I will probably wear a nicer dress, But I still don't bother with makeup unless I'm doing something special. The wig takes care of my dysphoria when passing mirrors.

When I go out to certain venues, like my electrologist, I will dress androgynously, otherwise it's as a "normal" male, except with earrings.

I don't try to escalate or de-escalate my self expression, but rather to accept it as it comes. I see my gender as neither a gift nor a fault , nor an addiction , but instead as something akin to a religious calling. I didn't ask for it, and yet I can't run from it. I sum up my attitude toward it in my signature line.

[jessica33]

I am with sherry on this , all or nothing either at home or in the public .

[Fiona_44]

I am out in public fully dressed 5 days out of 7 on average. At home I am almost always dressed at least partially.

[Cheryl T]

My degree is fully nearly all the time. Sometimes I go sans makeup or wig around the house but usually not.
We go out all the time and I?m very comfortable with it.
It?s changed over time in terms of my style. I?ve become more average and less flashy mostly do to the area we are in and the effect that Covid had on outings for that extended time.

[Andrea Renea]

I dress most mornings. Being retired I have time to do so.

I go to Target Kohls TJ Maxx Ross Burlington Walmart and
the grocery store dressed like my avatar and profile pics.

I also run other errands.

Lots of contact with people. One lady in the deli at Foodlion
loves to chat me up. She says she got concerned when she
didn't see me for a few weeks. She saw me but I was dressed
differently she didn't make the connection lol.

If you dress appropriately you'll have no issues.

[Krisi]

Like many others who have responded so far, I am either dressed "all the way" or not at all (well, dressed as the male that I am). I do wear panties every day and my jeans are from the women's side of the store, but I am not trying to fool anyone or appear to be anything other than male.

Even at home, I am dressed either male of female, not half and half.

[Genifer Teal]

Pretty much all the time I'm being social or even just out and about. My fun way to put it I'm not a working girl. But most people have it figured out at work. The fun thing is it's never really mattered they know about. And things are good at work so it doesn't seem to change much.

I think we all can look back over the years and can't believe some of what we wore and how we look when we went out. I'd be mortified to wear some of those outfits now but I love the smile on my face back then. So much younger such fewer concern s I wore what I wore and didn't give a crap I was happy.

What else has changed? I used to be clubbing on the weekends all the time. Eventually the clubbing that I like moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn and public Transportation at night got worse. It shuts down too early and no easy way to get to many places. Then I moved my fun out to the island to a more appropriately aged straight crowd. This is good still gives me the same outlet close to home. Make new friends. Had a place for a while which felt like my version of Cheers. Covid shut that down and said a lot of places down. So at the moment I'm floundering for a new Outlets. I started running errands and shopping Etc like I said pretty much most of the time now.

[BrendaPDX]

When I dress, I go all out. It may be a dress, skirt, or jeans, but If I am going to do it it's all the way. If I could ever figure out just how to post a picture here I would. LOL

[Genifer Teal]

100? is pretty much my hard limit. I'd say 95 and I might second guess going out. Depending on the humidity I can deal with 90? and very few clothes. Too much humidity in my hair just goes poof!

[Alexandrea]

Im pretty new to the scene but i try to wear panties most days. Im currently at my moms for the holidays so cannot get dressed up but i still wear leggings under my jeans. When im back at home i try to dress up as often as i can and apply makeup at the weekends still need a lot of practice. I did buy some jeggings the other week and went to the store with them, unlucky for me i bumped into my friends but nobody said anything.

I really want to go out dressed up but i need to master my makeup skills and then figure how to talk to people without sounding like a man, i did get dressed up a few weeks ago and walked through my apartment parking lot and back at 3am, that was scary!

[BLUE ORCHID]

I now dress a Couple times a week, and it is all the way,

[DianeT]

I dress up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Above that it gets too hot.

[OrdinaryAverageGuy]

Never what most of you would call "all the way"; no makeup, ever. But never 0% either, socks (if I must wear them), underwear, and jeans are all from the women's side of the store. Why? The socks are colorful and fun, and the underwear and jeans are more comfy than men's. Beyond that, it varies greatly. Right now I'm enjoying the cooler weather and wearing leggings most evenings, something that's usually too hot to bear.

[Misty_cder]

My question for you is what degree do you dress? How often, and what level of being in public do you dress? How has your dressing changed or progressed over the years?

My degree of dressing varies. I underdress all the time wearing panties and sometimes bras. There are times when I will wear women clothing like jeans or yoga pants around the house but are presenting as my male self. Then there are the times when I will go full feminine with forms, makeup, wig etc. How much I get into dressing is typically dictated by two factors, my mood and amount of available time to dress. There are times when I want to go fully feminine but don't have the time, and vice versa. Going out in public, the only clothing I worn which was visible to the general public were women jeans. I have not ventured out being fully dressed. Although, I am working up the courage to do that.

My dressing has evolved over time. When I was younger (early twenties), my style was borderline trashy. It was body tight dresses, super high heels and horrible applications of makeup. As I got older, my style became more appropriate for my age with a professional flare to it. Makeup is now a natural / minimalist look. Another aspect of dressing that changed over the years is how I am taking better care of myself. When I was younger, I did not do any kind of skin care and ate anything I wanted. Now I am moisturizing every night before going to bed, removing calluses from my heels, and watching what I eat. One could state these changes are just a natural progression from the younger foolish days to being older and wiser, which I would agree with. I also believe being a CD'er and not suppressing my feminine side has allowed me to be more open minded about addressing health issues and not suppressing / denying them. An example is I recently developed Type II diabetes and really have to watching what I eat. Some people may think this is an unfortunate situation, but I looked at it as motivation to lose weight and drop down a dress size, or two.

[TheHiddenMe]

Generally when I dress, it's to go out. Full on, makeup, wig, etc. I've been out roughly 60 times this year, or on average five times a month.

Occasionally I will try on things without makeup, or put on makeup and stay at home to take pictures. I will often wear panties, and something feminine to bed.

I've been going out regularly since October 2016; before that a handful of times.

Married, with an adult son who lives with us, but he works overnight and sleeps during the day. Lots of practice changing in my car.

[sometimes_miss]

I don't go outdoors in female attire. Just at home for me. Everything is changed, no male clothing at all, and I wear a wig and female specific jewelry. The wig is important; I've always seen the long pretty hair as one of the defining things that shouts 'female' to me. As I'm stuck in a female adolescence, most of my female clothes are of things that you'd find in the juniors department in clothing stores. So, no outrageous sexy stuff that you'd see on RuPaul's drag race, no wedding gown, no evening gown. And as my knees have completely worn out, I wear mostly flats of some sort, the heels remain in the boxes most of the time.

[mona lisa]

I rarely have the time nor opportunity to do much but one thing I have taken to doing is wearing sandals to show off my pedicured feet whenever the weather allows for it. My wife does not know about the cross dressing but a few years ago, I started getting colour on pedicures. She was resistant at first but for the most part she accept it now and even compliments me from time to time.

For example, last week we got Christmas pedis with matching colour, OPI's "I'm Not Really A Waitress." She has mentioned more than once how she really likes the colour when she has seen it on my toes.

[mbmeen12]

100 percent present or nothing...

[Michelle1955]

To what degree? Is a open ended ?
Since you are new here and you name is Pantyfan I will assume you are at this point a fetish crossdresser.

I go by Michelle, I start at 5 or 6 years old with wearing a girl friend panty when we switched underwear. But the desire was before that day. I underdress daily in panties, and bra and forms when the pink fog feels like it going to roll in, leggings especially in the winter/fall to keep warm. Leggings and shorts are good when exercising.
When pink fog develops some clothing is required to address the pink fog.

I actually do not care for labels, but I do prefer the transgender label since I believe we all are somewhere on the transgender scale. Ie(crossdresser to transsexual) and every term used in the middle as a group of individuals. Yes, others has terms they use, but there no hard lines in the sand. Everyone can us what ever term they want.

To what degree? Transgender
Length of time: 60 + years

[jacques]

hello Pantyfan,
Oh I do wish Universities offered a degree in crossdressing! I am sure that many members of this forum would get firsts!
To give a more serious answer - I pretty much go all the way at home with my wife and always wear something feminine in public without attempting to "pass".
stay healthy!
luv J

[Brianne_bc]

I underdress daily. Full lingerie most days. Hosiery bra panties shapewear.

[Natalie5004]

For me, I dress 100% or nothing. I might put some lipstick and mascara on for a little pop when not dressing.

When I dress I go out as needed. I do tend to wear dresses and not pants or tights. So, I am usually a bit overdressed when shopping for clothes or food stores.

3 to 4x a week is my average. I spend all day dressed. My wife has spent time with me and has seem me in most of my wardrobe. Some dresses she does not like but other are "looking nice" on me.

So to what degree? I do not really know the question. But I think I answered it.

I will say this, If I did not care what people (my family) thought of me, I would be a woman 85% of the time.

[Jessica Secret]

I wear romantic lingerie or satin pjs to bed every night and have been for years!

[Ursula Harrison]

My best time was my twenties and thirties when I was going out dressed about twice a week.
Now retired and living alone I can dress when I want so will wear at least lingerie and nylons most days. Very rarely go the full nine yards at home. There's no way I would leave the house dressed. But occasionally I visit a local support group. I also plan trips to London, Manchester, or points further afield where I can binge and go out dressed for several days at a time. It was going so well until Covid shut everything down.
Hopefully next year will be much better.

[Diane P]

I live alone, since my wife passed in July, so I under dress every day, at the very least bikini panties. I have a pair of B cup forms and found that I can put them into a sports bra I bought. I've been wearing that just about every day, enjoy the feel and love looking down at the forms. Just about every night wear a night gown to bed, and the last couple days add the sports bra and forms to bed. Wear a dress or shorts and top during the day when the pink fog rolls in.

Haven't gone out dressed as Diane yet. I'm thinking about doing so at a convention in Tulsa the end of next month. Kind of excited about Diane being able to go to sometihng, will of course wear a Covid mask to hide my beard. Depending on how that goes I might go to another convention the end of Sep - beginning of Oct as Diane.