Crossdressing at College

[missattitude]

I was just curious has to how many of you all dressed why going to school at college, that is. I am currently going to school, very in the dark at school. I would love to go and dress at school, but not sure if it is a place to do it at. Studying , learning and in drag would be a cd's fantasy, I would suppose anyways. But you never know. Just thought of this the other day, and want to know. Thanks.

Maria

[boy2girl31]

I went to college (never graduated) but it all depends on the class size and avalibility of seating. If you can sit in the back by yourself you may not be noticed. Better is if you can find a reason for dressing. I had a psycology class where we discussed the book "Black like me" (a story of a white man who pretended and tried to look colored to see the social ramifications) while discussing this the topic of woman's rights came up and 3 guys myself included dressed as women for 48 hrs (strictly to see how a woman's life differed from a man's :battingeyelashes: yeah ok). It was great and who would have guessed I got a 98% on the paper gee how did I manage to show so much empathy. I do recommend you try it you would be amazed by how understanding people of the college age and younger are.

[brittany]

i am in college too and have thought about doing this many times. However being very much in the closet and no one knowing i have kept this to myself as i cant have 26,000 people hassling me about why i do this.

just my opinion but this would be a great thing to do. If i could come up with an excuse i would deff. do it......maybe Halloween.

[Sheri 4242]

When I was in college dressing would have been difficult (the time and the small town atmosphere). However, there were a few times when it was ok -- like when a sorority held a pagent where the guys dressed up. I can see where it would be easier to do this today in many situations.

[Joy Carter]

Are you kidding me ? It was the seventies. I had to duck bullets and Molotov Cocktails, just to get to class.......LoL

I read not to long ago the TGers are getting more common on campus. And they report no negative reactions. But your situation might be differant.

[Kristen Marie]

Today there are a number of groups that did not exist before on campus. Most campuses will have a diversity initiative so I would find out what support groups exist first. A number of our faculty are ALLY's to assist students with a safe place/faculty member to talk to. I think
ALLY is college term for all campuses.

That being said, attending class dressed may prove difficult as male classmates can be less than supportive. I would think, from what I have observed first hand, is that the females tend to be more supportive. Picking and choosing your times to dress is the better course I would believe.

[LisaSae]

Personally I think it depends on the college. I did a few semesters at CU Boulder and that was a VERY liberal town. Something like CDing in class in my opinion wouldn't be unheard of. That campus made it very clear that it was a safe place for people of different sexual / gender orientation (however I'm sure there'd be some bad apples amongst the bunch).

I finished college at the Auaria Campus in downtown Denver where it still was very open and liberal and the colleges there did a great job of letting people know that it was a safe haven I'd still be leery what with it being in the heart of a major city and not everyone can be that open minded. Maybe that's just my imagination or whatever but still...

Lisa

[lizbendalin]

Dressing at college/university can be difficult. My wife and I live less than a mile from the local state university, and are both active with the schools LGBT organization as mentors, advisers and supporters. Their meetings are safe places to dress, as are their activities. The challenging aspect of dressing is that (depending on school size) you will be taking many of the same classes with the same people - same major=same classes. People are used to seeing familiar faces as they look around the lecture halls. Unless you are prepared to have your gender identity potentially revealed to all, it's a step that I would take with a great deal of care.

That said, most university campuses are used to seeing people who follow the beat of their own drummer. Seeing individuals who do not fit the mold that society likes to present is a regular thing, and as such people who don't understand just shake their head, say a thing under their breath, and head off across campus. A guy in a dress, makeup, heels, whatever would be just another person to be lumped with the other students with blue hair and etc. If you do decide to do it, I would suggest that you find a GG partner who will be willing to hang with you, people are far less likely to target someone in a group than wen they are alone.

Best wishes

[Karren H]

Yep.... back in the early 70's... I had long hair and always wore it in pony or pig tails... and wore bras and panties all the time... Some nights I'd venture out on campus enfemme.... A mostly male engineering school that gets 400 inches of show... in the winter males and females looke alike anyway!!! hahaha

[AshleyCD]

I would say you are a very brave person if you were going to do this during school. I think almost all degrees you will have to at some point work with other students and get together in study groups if you are going to make it through the classes. School is mostly a group thing and there are very few that can make it without the help of others, meaning you will certainly have to be interacting with peers and inevitabily the large group will find out with some accepting and others certainly not, which even with the help of diversity centers on campus and such can be dangerous, so you certainly need to watch you back more then most would need. Even GG have to watch their backs more at college, even guys probably want to watch their backs. Specially late at night, everyone should always be in a group. Never know if a classmate found out something about you that they don't like or even just some psycho who watches people to attack on campus. Of course this goes for a lot of places where certain types of people are more likely to be and so can bring out the haters or psychos.

[MsJanessa]

I was just curious has to how many of you all dressed why going to school at college, that is. I am currently going to school, very in the dark at school. I would love to go and dress at school, but not sure if it is a place to do it at. Studying , learning and in drag would be a cd's fantasy, I would suppose anyways. But you never know. Just thought of this the other day, and want to know. Thanks.

Maria

Depends on where you go to school. A large urban university, no problem---a small religous college---or even a larger one like Liberty Baptist University--maybe a big problem.

[CharleneT]

I went to college in the seventies, in the middle of Iowa. Very conservative state ! The campus is quite liberal, but back then no one openly cross-dressed ( day to day, parties, different story ). We thought we were being open minded by accepting gays, truthfully, bisexual people were looked down on. It is sad to look back on that, but the good news is that attitudes are changing. I think the progress that has been made, and will be made soon is great !!

C.

[missattitude]

Well, I go to school that is more African American and not sure if they support or approve of the different life styles. Just wanted to know the feedback from you all, which is cool. The school is a community college so I don't know if they have support groups for such, but I should check it out. I know Wayne State University has support groups, but I am a few years away from going there. The bigger college's tend to have more support groups and have a bigger class of people with different lifestyles. I forgot that most people on here are quite older than me and grew up in a era where it was not accepted anywhere.

Maria

[Bobbi Lynn]

400 inches of show?? New math for engineeing schools? How's it Karren?

Yep.... back in the early 70's... I had long hair and always wore it in pony or pig tails... and wore bras and panties all the time... Some nights I'd venture out on campus enfemme.... A mostly male engineering school that gets 400 inches of show... in the winter males and females looke alike anyway!!! hahaha

[rachealgirl]

Hi, just wanted to add my two cents:2c:. I think everyone here has brought up very good points. The only thing I would really add to the discussion is this. Find the theater program on campus, and then enlist in the stage makeup class. Usually, these classes are opened to both theater majors and non majors. There is a very good chance that they will have a section on “gender reversal” makeup. If you are not sure, you can always ask to see the syllabus in advance. This will give you the freedom to express yourself, and at the very least, improve on you makeup skills! All in an open environment (we know how us “theater” people are!! LOL) and, to answer your question, yes, I dressed up while in college. In fact see my post entitled “story behind your first pictures”. Hope this helps and be safe!

[Kayla_CD]

I would start slow, dress at functions. Get to meet some people who are supportive. Once you're comfortable and know you have a support group then try something like going to class dressed. And do it with a GG friend, it's always easier with someone at your side. I never dressed when I was in uni, but there was someone who did and I never heard an unkind word about her.

[MentalMercury]

Currently in college now, here's my personal experience from as little as a couple months ago.

I'm in a medium sized- 'normal' college, as in not aligned with a religion or anything like that. I have never seen anyone on campus dressed or known anyone to dress there, unless they were convincing and blended right in or I just wasn't around when they did. I don't think it would go over too well unless that person had supportive friends around him at all times because college is a breeding ground for male insecurity and hyper-masculinity. I see lots of them with 'something to prove' about their masculinity and I'm sure they would put you down to further their own male security. I'm talking about the womanizing douchebags I see all over campus.

Also I doubt the willingness of my campus to deal with such issues. We have a GLBT group, with it's own campus home page, I emailed them and never got a response back, real professional huh? My campus is way more focused on racial equality and spamming my inbox with lots of emails talking about how much money they're spending on it, and maybe it's working because I don't see any kind of minority group being treated badly there, if only they gave such focus to an under-represnted group such as TG people.

So long story short- dress at your own risk. The only people you can count on to look after you are people you know personally. Maybe you'll be lucky and have an active GLBT group, that's probably your best bet. Maybe if you're brave you'll grasp at your fantasy, prepared for consequences.. and carve a path for others to follow.

Who knows.. I might give it a shot. Most people I know there have seen me in drag as it is. Halloween is a definate there though. I'll let you know if someone calls me a 'fag' to prove they're a man.

[lisa_e_love]

I'm in college now. I dressed in my dorm room and snuck out. At one time, I had a GG friend I could go out with and that's definitely reccomended. But that being said, I had a lot of fun just dressing up, sneaking out of my apartment and going to the library to study or going to the store. Honestly, a lot depends on how much you care about passing.

Just as a side note, I studied while dressed in the library of one of the most conservative, religious colleges in the U.S. (I've since transferred). It's one of my proudest, most subversive acheivements.

[CatAttack]

I did so last year in my dorm. but it was really on the down low. I let my roommate know, so he wouldn't bother me when I needed some time to myself, and luckily he was cool with it. He thought it was really weird, of course, but we still hang out and stuff.

[Jennifer in CO]

College for me was mid-70's in the mountains of Colorado. At that point in time, fashion was still a blur in many instances. I had a mix-n-match wardrobe that was both fem and boy like my turtleneck sweaters. All three were bodyshirts with a rear neck zip. T-shirts were a mix of boys n girls. Under-dressing was pretty much limited to panties and hose as I rarely wore a bra back then. Most of my jeans were from the GAP (back then a womans fashion store in most places) with bell-bottoms still the thing, the only clue to wether they were boys or girls being where the bell started (most girls pants the bell started below the knee). I really didn't go for the very fem look back then. I was more into comfort and to be honest, girls clothes fit me better than boys. And like Karen said, with 400 inches of snow on the ground, we all looked alike anyway (ok...maybe only 200...:))

Jenn

[Melinda Lou]

What you can do depends on the school, how accepting it is, etc., and on living arrangements. I did a lot of underdressing at college but never went out as a female--but then, I still am basically that way. I frequently had on a cute pair of panties and that was the only feminine thing I wore. I did have a single room (by design) and could keep my stuff secure. Doing laundry could be problematic sometimes.

It is difficult, but you don't have to abandon your CD'ing completely, as long as you have a little privacy.