For You is CD'ing a Hobby or Lifestyle ? [Archive] - Crossdressers.com - #1 Community & Forum for Crossdressers, Family and Friends

ArleneRaquel

12-02-2006, 04:20 AM

I know that for some members Crossdressing is a hobby, a way to relax, a way to get away from it all. A recent thread asked the question " What other Hobbies do you Have ? ", but for some of us it is more than that, a great deal more. It is our way of life, a turning point to a new and better uderstanding of ourselves and others. Would any of the ladies care to comment on what CD' ing means to you ?

Cami_wi

12-02-2006, 04:26 AM

Hiya, it was the start of Finding out who I really AM. Definatley a Lifestyle for me that allowed me to Discover I am a Transsexaul Female. I think CD'ing is the Stepping stone to Everything that Fits under the BIG name Umbrealla .. TRANSGENDERED. Seeing the Term includes ALL from mild CD's to Post OP Transsexuals and ALL INBETWEEN the low and high end of it.

For many of us we can think back, thinking we WERE the only one that did these things, Dress Up etc .. No FRIENDS to talk to about it and all of sudden The INTERNET Set us FREE , to Find and Make Friends and Never to be alone again :-) I am very Happy the younger Generation is Growing up with The Internet and more acceptance to learn all this at an early age .

P.S. Katrina I was going to ask something very similar.

Mine was how many CDed for Sexual Gradification ( at the beginning ) and now that isn't an issue for dressing at all ? Now it is to Dress to LOOK Good, relax, enjoy life more or Become YOU Fully.

ArleneRaquel

12-02-2006, 04:30 AM

Cami,
An excellent start and you expressed my feelings perfectly.:love: Maureen

crossing-the-rain

12-02-2006, 04:31 AM

For me,I don't know is a hobby or life style ? I used to dress p only in deep depresssion,angry and even in halluciatiions.But since no bodies believe me ,I dress up every day at home when they are all gone to work or school.
Rain.

Kate Simmons

12-02-2006, 04:36 AM

Being Ericka has help me to better understand who I am and my feelings both in a male and female way. Being bi-polar (from a gender standpoint) has given me new understanding of myself and others. Not just TG people mind you, but everyone else as well. Once you are really in touch with yourself and your feelings, you become a more valuable person from the standpoint of being able to empathize with others . It's a "lifestyle" for me from the aspect of being comfortable with myself no matter who I choose to be. I find myself valueing people more for who they are and accept them as such, despite differences. All in all crossdressing for has opened the way for me to become more human and caring.:happy: Ericka Kay

Faye Emmette

12-02-2006, 04:44 AM

I don't think I could ever think of it as a 'hobby'.
I can see how it might be mistaken that way as from earlier years, it was the joy of adding to the collection of lingerie and clothing that paralleled hobbyists.
But for me (most of us?), it's just being who we are.

Vicky_Scot

12-02-2006, 04:57 AM

CD'ing to me is natural.

I was born a cd and had no choice in the matter. It was pr-determined in the womb that I would be a cd'er.

So the choice was accept it and embrace my fem side or reject it and live unhappily for the whole of my life. I chose the first option.

Joy Carter

12-02-2006, 05:33 AM

ArleneRaquel

12-02-2006, 05:58 AM

Sexual satisfaction and stimulation play a very important role in my dressing. In the nearly ywo years that I have been enfemme 24/7 I have found that my sexual drive has not diminished. Maureen

Faye Emmette

12-02-2006, 06:20 AM

Ya got me thinking .. it's been over 4 decades and many different thoughts've gone through my head since then.
I admit masturbation as a teen and sometimes later but it was also a comfort thing.
The Internet is probably the best thing that's happened to CD-ing as so, so many lonely people from all parts of the World can realise they are not 'sick' or crazy and from lonely years I know I've had in my femme world, now I can talk with my many friends.
Methinks you'll find that 99% of those in this forum treat it as a way of life. I think of it as a bonus to life :heehee: as I have the best of both worlds.
Faye.

Carroll

12-02-2006, 06:43 AM

I put together an article called "is being transgendered a lifestyle". Its from a messge board I belong to. http://www.vickyvogue.com/crossdresspage.html#oct%2005

Teresa Amina

12-02-2006, 08:31 AM

When I first found out that cding was considered a hobby by some I was astounded! For me it was, in those long years of being the "only one", that inner Me struggling to get out. Now I'm here:happy: . A lifestyle? Hmmm... Could become that, it's certainly a huge part of my sense of self and I spend all kinds of time and money at it, but really lifestyle sounds a lot more fulltime than my still infrequent outings.

Tina Dixon

12-02-2006, 08:55 AM

At the moment it has become just a hobby, but if I lived alone I think it could easily consume me towards a way of life.

MarinaTwelve200

12-02-2006, 09:14 AM

Definitely a HOBBY. Indeed, I often work at doing different looks to see how many diffrent women/people I can become.--As my avatar and Signature strip can attest to. (I think the "Marina" is the brunette, but even she changes) I even have MALE alter egos---but fewer in number for special occasions, such as plays or a costume party where I wouldnt wanna go as a female. My favorate males are"Mark Twain" and something I call "the Phantom", a top hatted character that looks a cross between A silent movie Phantom of the opera and "Mr. Hyde"(of Jekyl and Hyde)

But still, I have the most fun with my female forms, being Sexy in one, Glam in another "ordinary" in still others. I can be a Movie star or a Gypsy, old or young. My objective, in a hobby sense, is to make photos of the MANY people I can be.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r266/Marina_Twelve/Halloween.jpg

Diana West

12-02-2006, 09:45 AM

What Tina wrote goes for me too.
It is a hobby (presently!) that has the potential for a lifestyle (ultimately?) for me.

Karren H

12-02-2006, 10:19 AM

It's both....a hobby that is slowly becoming a lifestyle...

Karren

tammysuetv

12-02-2006, 10:23 AM

It is a hobby because of time and acceptance. It could easily become a lifestyle if those both changed. I enjoy dressing and could see myself doing it if it were socially accepted.

Byllie

12-02-2006, 10:29 AM

hobby -
An activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation: Her hobbies include stamp-collecting and woodcarving.

lifestyle -
A way of life or style of living that reflects the attitudes and values of a person or group.

For me, it's a little of both.

Sasha Anne Meadows

12-02-2006, 10:42 AM

Lifestyle for me girls.

Sweet Jane

12-02-2006, 12:24 PM

Hi

hobby or lifestyle?..for me I thin it's neither.
It's difficult to explain, but at the moment CDing is a facet of my life that I don't fully understand, and I'm unsure as to how I want it impacting on my life.....anyway, hobby or lifestyle? No!...for me it's just moments of compulsion and a "weak will".

Rachel Morley

12-02-2006, 12:46 PM

Is it hobby?......hummm....or you could say it’s kind of like having a gender vacation. But for me I'd have to say it's a bit more serious than a hobby or a vacation. A hobby is what I used to tell myself it was before I accepted what it really actually is for me. It effects me emotionally too much to be a hobby, I'd have to say that (for me) it's an integral part of who I am rather than a hobby. I know I can't be happy without incorporating at least a little bit of it (minimally underdressing) into my everyday life.

KarenSusan

12-02-2006, 12:57 PM

I always think of a hobby is an activity you choose to pursue.

CDing is something that I have to do. So I guess it's a lifestyle?

fancy nancy

12-02-2006, 01:06 PM

mostly lifestyle for me

rickie121x

12-02-2006, 01:07 PM

I build and fly model airplanes for a hobby. I use glue and balsa wood. :straightface:

In my CD-ing I use makeup and wonderful female frilly stuff. :heehee:

My lifestyle includes both - and a whole lot of other stuff. :D

Lifestyle is complex and all inclusive, hobbies are an accent. CD-ing is one of those accents - delightful, stimulating, exciting and deeply pleasureable, but only a part my style of life.

Rickie :doll:

Lisa Golightly

12-02-2006, 01:08 PM

It's my soul :)

crusadergirl

12-02-2006, 02:56 PM

Thats what i keep telling my self that its a hobby. But i'm sure its a lifestyle the only thing that gets me is as my male i hated shopping for clothes. But as Eris I enjoy it and it has helped me find a style for both my looks. Which in my case is a good thing.

Kelly,R

12-02-2006, 03:26 PM

For it's a hobby,as is my gun spinning(hobby) but the more I get involved the more it becomes apart of me...and who I am.Sometimes i feel like a boxer in ring fighting and I just drop my arms and tell my opponent...go ahead everyone else has.Has anyone else ever cryed at the movies?I have an do often,expecially ones that involve human acheivment.So to me dressing is only the iceing on the cake...It ust covers the outside of the fem I am inside.Can any of you relate...Oh god I might need to see a theripist,and a spelling teacher LOL.
Kelly:2c:

Kandi

12-02-2006, 03:38 PM

I thouroughly enjoy crossdressing and I think I might enjoy the anticipation of getting an oppurtunity to dress just as much. As for a life style...no I just want to dress for special occasions. Although those occasions have been more and more frequent! Less then a week and we leave for atlanta!

judyw9

12-02-2006, 03:40 PM

A hobby, one of several, but definitely the coolest and most passionate of my hobbies. I actually use my running hobby (I run competitive 5k) to camoflage my CDing--it's the excuse for being so skinny (5'9" 142 pounds) and having my body hair shaved (it's an "athlete" thing).

If I were younger though, I'd make it a lifestyle.

Paula G

12-02-2006, 03:50 PM

I really don't see it as either. It is just a part of me that I need to express in order to be a more complete person.

Lanore

12-02-2006, 04:17 PM

I'm with Cami on this one. I find myself as I get older, transsexual. It used to be half and half but the female took over some time ago. My body and mind have crossed to the area of no return and I'm happy with where I am in life. Since I do still have the male in me, I'll always have some type of label. However, labels are just words someone made up. I am who I am and I'll make no attempt to change.

I just love this place and all my girlfriends,
Lanore

Barbara Nicole

12-02-2006, 04:23 PM

Angel
So very nicely put ,and I'll agree with you 100% Still trying to figure it all out though.
Barb
Barb
Is it hobby?......hummm....or you could say it’s kind of like having a gender vacation. But for me I'd have to say it's a bit more serious than a hobby or a vacation. A hobby is what I used to tell myself it was before I accepted what it really actually is for me. It effects me emotionally too much to be a hobby, I'd have to say that (for me) it's an integral part of who I am rather than a hobby. I know I can't be happy without incorporating at least a little bit of it (minimally underdressing) into my everyday life.

tightsgirl

12-02-2006, 04:33 PM

Its a hobby or a fetish that is turning into a lifestyle.

janelle

12-02-2006, 04:41 PM

For me it started as a hobby untill my depression set in. I than went for help & soon found out my true feelings about myself. Its not a hobby, or a wish to be, it is who i truely am & i need to be honest with myself & follow the path that is ahead for me.
I hope others will be as honest with themselves as i have had to learn to be for myself. You will find if you are, it is a great feeling & very rewarding even with all the bumps in the road.
Take care Ladies.
:love: Janelle

Bethanygirl

12-02-2006, 04:57 PM

It has not been a choice since I started, I have no choice now, and I am happy as I am-I guess I can't think of it as a 'lifestyle', it is just my life, and I wouldn't have it any other way! (Couldn't have it any other way either!)

Those that love me love me for who I am, and I am what I am, an effeminized male. :bighug:

serinalynn

12-02-2006, 05:26 PM

For me my crossdressing is a hobby and I am getting bolder at it every week. I got called Madam when I went to have lunch after a couple of hours shopping this morning. I love being called MADAM! :be: I love walking around in womens clothing stores checking out the clothes with the GG's that are also in the stores shopping. The real fun is asking to use a fitting room and trying something on. After I got home I went outside and set up my little christmas display and when I got back inside the inside of my bra cups were wet with perspiration. Gotta love it when that happens. :heehee:

CarmenG

12-02-2006, 05:33 PM

As I began down this road, my reasons were not my own but that of a grandmother who felt that I should have been a girl at birth. Not knowing the difference as a child and without my older brother or sister around,( I was raised by my grandmother) I thought it was all the way it was suppose to be.

Could not understand why she would do this but I was cool with the idea. She would dress me up and we would go downtown shopping on Saturdays. Actually it was quite a bit of fun for me at that stage.

Of course as I grew older she would coach me on the dos and don'ts at school and when I was around other kids my age. I guess my understanding of the female gender for me came at a very early stage.

I've lived with this for the better part of 50 years and yes it has affected my life at various times but none so bad that I had to adjust. I've love and I've lost but who's to say when I am wrong or right. Hobby ? Nah.... A way of life? Nah.....

It's just me and who I've become. I don't try to put a name on it or label it simply because we all fall along the line somewhere. Besides, if your life is copacetic..... more power to you.... PEACE AND LOVE...:hugs:

Faye Emmette

12-02-2006, 05:46 PM

For me it started as a hobby until my depression set in. .. Its not a hobby, or a wish to be, it is who i truly am & i need to be honest with myself & follow the path that is ahead for me...
:love: Janelle
Dear Jan, I hope being here and realising you are one of many, the depression has gone.... and the enjoyment has taken over.
But back to the thread, I regret my earlier assumptions that "99% here think of it as a part of there life" .. I didn't know so many thought of it as a hobby.
I'm quite surprised:eek:

Jenni B

12-03-2006, 04:12 AM

I think its a hobby but being on here is a lifestyle, not that i'm complaning of course.:happy:

Naomi

12-03-2006, 05:05 AM

Penny

12-03-2006, 08:17 AM

It's a pastime. It's a past a time to put on my makeup. Momamia, it a must be a life a style:heehee:

Mary Jane

12-03-2006, 08:46 AM

I think of my dressing as a hobby BUT, if my wife were accepting then dressing might become a lifestyle. I guess I will never know for sure. At any rate I just enjoy and have fun with the times I do have to dress.

LaFem

12-03-2006, 12:25 PM

I so agree with Cami about the "transgendered umbrella". I have always felt that this is so. I wanted to post about this, but several girls on this forum seem to be um, uh, uncomfortable about this way of looking at crossdressing. For me it's way more than a hobby. As Brian Kinney said, "It's who I am."

vbcdgrl

12-03-2006, 04:56 PM

For me, Cding is not a way of life, but it's a significant part of it. I really don't want to CD full time or go further down the TG road, but I thoroughly enjoy my CDing times. Of course, the real world knows me as male, and I do have many hobbies and interests on the male side that I don't want to give up. So, like Ericka, I'm comfortable on either side.
A comment on Cami's P.S. The sexual gratification part of CDing is still a factor for me, but the urgency to "get it over with" and get back to drab isn't there like it was when I was deep in the closet. So much more fun this way.

Vikki

StacyCD

12-03-2006, 05:15 PM

Since I have no intention of transitioning or living 24/7 presenting as a female, I believe that it is a hobby. However, it is somthing that is an important part of me that I feel that I could not give up so it is probably more than just a hobby. I don't like the word 'lifestyle' because it seems that crossdressing chose me and not the other way around. So if we could choose our 'lifestyle', I would choose someone with much larger income than mine so I could afford the clothes that my life-style would require!

Julie York

12-03-2006, 05:22 PM

It's a hobby. I am also looking into amateur gun shooting. I am hoping to incorporate the two by either shooting in drag or shooting CDs. I haven't decided yet.

:D

RebeccaLynne

12-03-2006, 05:55 PM

Katrina, I've discovered my gender identity: female. Born with male anatomy. but psychologically female. Consequently, I dutifully fulfill the obligations of father and provider in male mode, yet live life to the fullest extent possible as a female on my own time. Typically, completed work week in the wee hours Friday morning, came home and slept. Awoke, ran some quick errands, and returned home to begin "me" time. Showered, dressed, made-up and painted my nails. Today's Sunday, back to work tonight. Worst part is removing the nail polish, it's so pretty! But, duty calls, and the bills will be paid. Had I the luxury of going female full-time, I'd certainly do so. Meanwhile, "working for the weekends", and enjoying 'em en femme!

Debb

12-04-2006, 05:18 AM

For me, it is an enforced hobby.

I derive satisfaction, relaxation, and pleasure from crossdressing; and I feel stressed and dishonest when I avoid or resist crossdressing.

I like to look at it as a hobby, since it's fairly transitional in nature for me .. I can go for a week or two without dressing at all, and then rather suddenly I am in the thick of things for a time. I have not yet figured out the pattern, but it is definitely a pattern not totally defined by life-factors.

Lilith Moon

12-04-2006, 09:13 AM

It's a fundamental part of me that I didn't choose.

It always has been and always will be. Whatever else changes and whatever I do, or don't do, I will always be transgendered.

Casey Morgan

12-04-2006, 09:59 AM

It really depends on what you're referring to by "crossdressing". If you're just talking about wearing women's clothes then it's a lifestyle for me. It's really just a form of self-expression, not much different than when I wear a T-shirt and sweatpants on the weekends or a polo shirt and twill pants to work. The weekend outfit says I'm looking to relax. The work outfit says I take myself seriously but I'm not uptight. Wearing women's clothes says there's another side of me that you need to be aware exists if I'm going to make any sense to you. Heh, like androgynes make any sense to begin with. LOL

When you go beyong the clothes and start talking about who I am, how I act, and things like that, that's neither a hobby or a lifestyle. That's nature. Choosing to be who I am may be a lifestyle, or maybe the lifestyle would be choosing to not be who I am. Either way it's like asking if being compassionate is a hobby or a lifestyle. Neither answer works.

JoAnnDallas

12-04-2006, 10:57 AM

IMHO, I think it is both a hobby and a life style. CDing for most of us started early in life. Since most of us started out as closet CDer, that in it self says it is not a hobby. Mabey a compusion or fetish. Then too what makes a item a hobby?

So to me it is a complusion, life style, and a hobby in that order.

ronnie06

12-04-2006, 01:33 PM

I try to tell myself it is my chosen lifestyle, yet I am forced to spend most of my waking hours as a man.

the world- in whole- knows me- as a man-in whole......so I have-to function,...as a man...
yet,...
I dream of when I can throw out all my male stuff and start living full time,..as a woman.
it all takes time hun.
the day,...will,....happen.

just not, today. nor tomorrow.

but in time, yes.

so if I am accused of this being a hobby....so be it.

is this answer okay?

Calliope

12-04-2006, 01:42 PM

Um, hobby sounds kinda frivolous (Dino on the green or something) and lifestyle infers a choice that doesn't describe my situation. It's my (fulltime) life. Of course, that's why I'm TG rather than CD. (I think it's cool so many of you gals go back and forth, but, to me, it sounds like a lotta work - like rehearsing 25 songs every week.)

12-04-2006, 01:51 PM

Lifestyle for me girls. in my younger days i dressed because it made me feel good .. better about myself then as time went on i found myself wanting more and more.. now i live full time and loving it... hugs Marissa

ColleenCD

12-04-2006, 01:57 PM

As an eight year old trying on women's clothes, I couldn't define it as a hobby, that would be model cars or collecting coins. As a grown adult who works in a male dominated work world, I have to deny it as a lifestyle also. Joann called it a compulsion, which is the closest term I can find, and Lisagolightly said it was in her soul. Both of these are closer to my belief than hobby or lifestyle.

Colleen

Lovely Rita

12-28-2006, 09:57 AM

Katrina,

thanks for a great question. For me it is more like allowing a very important part of me to surface. Not like "All About Eve",but more like Rita has always been a very important part of who I am. It is a completeness. I am whole because of cross dressing. I am free to express every part of myself. I thank God that I have an SO who does not hinder this part of me but supports and nurtures it.

For me hobby is too flippant a word to describe this experience.

thanks again

Mary Morgan

12-28-2006, 10:19 AM

Gee, to me a hobby is something I enjoy, but don't need to fulfill who I am. Over time, my hobbies come and go, change, get replaced, and otherwise do not rise to the level of importance of my feminine expression. For me dressing and all that go with it are part of my soul. I could no more give it up than I could change my height or eye color.

Carrie R

12-28-2006, 10:51 AM

For me it is neither a hobby or lifestyle, more of a anti-depressant.

CalvinKlein

12-28-2006, 10:59 AM

For me its a hobby because it's something i enjoy to do and something i do not feel I have to do. i really have no desire to pass at this time. I'm in college and living with my family, and right now wearing lingerie and girls jeans is fine for me at scool, and sneaking into my sister's collection of clothes (she has a ton!) when I'm at home.

Sidenote: Unfortunately I'm almost a foot taller than my sister, but she has some really, really nice stuff -- she works in an office and has an outfit for just about everyday of the year.

Marcie Sexton

12-28-2006, 11:17 AM

It is a life of its own...

for so many years, I lived in a cloud of depression, not knowing what was wrong with me or why...then I walked out of that cloud and accepted who I was...MARCIE in all her glory...the only reason I haven't went 24/7 is work...but in 18 months that'll change too:happy:

The best thing is my wife tell me that Marcie is so much easier tolive with than her counter part...Thank Goodness, but bless her heart for putting up with him for so long...unconditional love on my wife's part...:love:

marie354

12-28-2006, 11:20 AM

I'd have to say a little of both or neither.
Sam needs Sandy as an extension of him as well as Sandy needs her extension as Sam. Does that make sense?
:hugs:

Gisele

12-28-2006, 11:53 AM

At first it was a hobby but it has grown to be much more than that. I have the need to feel female and it is a challange to me to look as good as I can. It's kinda like collecting something you can't stop until you have the full set. With this your collection is a black hole it just keep going and going.:devil:

<------- I had added a comment under my name some time back. Funny how this thread poped up now.

Deidra Cowen

12-28-2006, 01:24 PM

Used to be a hobby...rapidly becoming a lifestyle. I luv being a girl and for example this weekend I am going to be a girl friday thru Monday! Yeah!!! :tongueout

Jocelyn Quivers

12-28-2006, 01:58 PM

I at first felt as if it were a curse that I was born with that threatened my macho male side and I could never get rid of. It's now progressed to somewhere in between hobby and lifestyle. Although I guess I would still have to classify it as hobby as I currently do not go out the house en-femme. Hopefully that will change in the upcomming year.:happy: Joceyln

RobertaFermina

12-28-2006, 02:44 PM

It started as a curiosity, as a dare that I was glad to embrace. For decades, I didn't do it often enough to call it a hobby - about once every four years - yet it is a yearning that was never satisfied.

Now, I am in a season of my life where I am (more and more) surrounded by accepting people and have given myself permission to embrace and explore this new hobby.

However, *SOMETHING ELSE* is happening now that I am really getting into this (or this is getting *out-of* me?)!

Dressing, and playing while dressed releases a playful, feminine and radiant self that is Roberta, and Roberta has *CROSSED OVER* into Bob's (drab) life, and also into those areas where Bob is most stodgy and tentative.

There is more freedom and playfulness and sensitivity everywhere.

Something hidden about myself is being revealed and released, and I don't know whether it leads to this being a therapeutic hobby, or a new lifestyle, or simply a more humane and balanced life (Boberta?). I feel it does not serve me to predict, and I hope I have the courage and integrity to let blossom whatever is rooted within me.

Hmmmmm....Construction Zone Ahead !

:love: Roberta