Definitely both for me, part of being feminine!
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Definitely both for me, part of being feminine!
adding my 2 cents worth, I too get both a sexual and calming effect from crossdressing . Right now I am fully dressed after a horrendous day at work where if something could go wrong it did. So upon coming home I dressed and with a glass of white wine I am decompressing and relaxing..I wish I could explain why we get the calming effect we do from crossdressing but apparently a lot of us do..so I don't question it anymore..just go with the flow ...might even decide to go out for a walk later...
Like many, I started sneaking panties and slips out of my mother's drawer and I couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old. I was obviously not sexualized at that age (had no idea what sex even was) but I do recall being physically stimulated by lingerie even at that age. I just knew that it felt wonderful.
In my later years it became much more of a sexual thing but that's not to say that I don't view it as a sensual thing as well (although admittedly I don't see a huge distinction). I still am attracted to the most feminine of lingerie... lots of lace, frills and pretty bows for this gal!
OK this is a site where people share feelings and opinions, some are looking for answers, why!
For me when in my teens it felt (great) (so cool) (so natural) to dress up, and in most occasions yes, arousal and of course followed by shame.
Then in my twenties it was more of just seeing my fem self that was satisfying and no arousal!
Dressing went from once a week to once a month to one every six months and then almost 20 years no dressing.
Then after my grown children moved out and I had time on my hands I started thinking of dressing again!
Wow I still had a stash from almost twenty years ago and then the Pink Fog hit big time.
I worked hard to bring back the so-called Judy I remembered.
Yes I was happy with the look I got but was disappointed that no arousal was achieved but still it felt so cool wearing a dress.
At that point, four months ago I tried to tell the wife what I was up to, wearing dresses which didn't go well.
Well I haven't dressed in four months but I'm thinking of buying a dress so when I'm ready.
To be continued.
For me it used to be more a sexual thing but now it just feels right to me to be Shelly I feel comfortable and good about myself being a woman. Everything is wonderful when dressed very happy.
In my early years of CDing, it was both sexual and sensual. Now that I'm older, the sexual/sensual aspect is still there but not as much. For me, it just feels right to express my feminine side while dressed.
ive done tons of research on the topic and im pretty sure the feelings of sensuality arise from the same place as the feelings of sexuality, its how they are channeled that manifests whichever expression. after practicing abstinance for a while i experienced results that backed up my hypothesis so i recommend trying to abstain from the sexual aspects and embrace the other ones, if that sounds like something youd want to do of course. (:
It started as sexual for me and that is still probably the majority of my feelings. But lately, I've noticed that I'm more and more comfortable with leaving the clothes on afterwards... if that is appropriate, like a night gown or pajamas. So while sexual is still a part of dressing, it is growing beyond that as well.
Lacy PJs
mostly relaxing, but also somewhat sensual, I enjoy the soft smooth feel. the lightness of women's clothing moreso than men's clothing. the typically more snug fit. Dressing doesn't do a thing for me sexually, the act of dressing, but after I have dressed, when I am feeling femininity in a more strong way it is easier for me to get aroused. Ive never really figured any of that out, It doesn't effect me directly but indirectly...
I, too, started wearing pretties way before I had any sexual thoughts. And even though I'd pencil trace women' figures from mom's magazines, it really wasn't sexual or even sensual, just curiosity. Then BANG!! Puberty hit, and everything seemed to become sexual, and it stayed mostly that way up to my aging point where my male biologics just stopped. Then, sensual. Now, I just enjoy being as pretty as I can.
hello,
my motivation has changed through my lifetime.
I started when I was young so it was about the feel of the clothing. After puberty it was a fetish. Now it is for relaxation and a deeper happiness.
luv J
Kassie,
At this moment: fully dressed, expert makeup and wig...I just feel joyous. I feel pretty and confident and feminine. Words don't describe....had a bit of a cry after getting home and seeing myself...especially my gorgeous eyes....so happy....not sexual...just deep core authenticity.
Really? What book is that? I'm curious.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dana44
We may subconsciously repress the desire to crossdress, which causes stress, but of course we're not aware of why we feel that way. So when we DO crossdress, we get relief of that stress, hence, feeling a sense of calmness.Quote:
Originally Posted by ronniegirl
Fully dressed it used to be sexual only. as time has gone on its become a mixture of both, but more sensual and less sexual.
Mainly relaxing above all else.
I think for most of us it starts off as a sexual thing then for some of us it turns out to be something else.
When I first started out I couldn't wear a pair a pair of panties without instantly being turned on. Now I rarely get turned on even when fully dressed.
Neither. I started wearing girls clothes (age 3) before I knew what sex was. I dress femme because I am transgendered.
FWIW......
Through the years, I have asked a few females about how they felt when dressed feminine and/or sexy .
They all said that it made them feel sensuousness and sexy, deepening of course what they wore but, skirts and dresses were said to be particularly sensuous.
Is that not what we feel?
Also, they said that are times when they do not feel like dressing feminine.
Again is that not how we feel?
The only difference is that we have a penis that can get hard but this is not that unlike a woman getting an erect little clit and getting a great felling down there about how she is dressed.
Granted, all females are are not the same and neither are all males the same.
However, a lot is made of the differences between the sexes but, not much is ever acknowledged about the similarities that can often exist. :)
Dressing pretty turns me on, pretty high heels and sandals also,good manicures , pedicures,dresses,gowns, skirts and more.
I get a thrill out of looking good.
Being able to dance at a club as a go go dancer and show girl gives me a thrill I can't explain.
I don't know if its the sexual part or the sensual part of dressing, but ALL I DO KNOW IS THAT I LIKE LOOKING AS FEMININE AS POSSIBLE AND I GET A FEELING OF CALM AND CONFIDENCE.
Mollyanne
When I was a teenager and early twenty's is was more of sexual thing but slowly evolved into sensual. These days it just seems right.
For me it's definitely sexual. I tweek what I wear usually to my fetishes....fishnets, heels, silk etc. I absolutely LOVE dressing up& getting pics of myself. Wife has even agreed to take pics of me dressed up in a secluded area for my collection.
Great way of describing it. Dressing up is both a sexual and sensual thing for me.
as many have said , it is both for me. Yes there is a fetish component with sexuality, but I also sometimes just sleep in some female clothes and find them sensual. Over time it is a bit of all those things and something i must do.
Can't say I started sensual or sexual, since my mom kept me in a dress almost the first year of my life. Dad put a stop to it. When I was in my middle teens I am sure it was sexual for pretending I was the girl making love to myself while I was looking at some old playboy magazines, this lasted till I feel in love for real and got married. I would sneak in my wife's makeup, hose, skirts and gowns. I told her and she was ok with it but reminded me she married the man. We played dress up every now n then till retirement. It was a sexual thing until the retirement years. Now it is sexual sometimes but I enjoy the sensual part more. Just getting dressed and relaxing and enjoying the feelings of the soft gowns, hose, panties, and makeup especially the dark red lipsticks on my lips. ( the lipstick can still make the dressing turn sexual especially if my wife applies mine on my lips and then hers) kissing another while both wearing lipstick is still hot sexually to me.
All the above, below.
For me its not that the dress itself is sexual or femine. Its more of an implied sexuality. The dress is not like a sock that is invisible to most people most of the time, the dress expects to be seen, it wants attention and forces people to make certain decisions, choices about the dress itself and the wearer. With the implied connotations of the dress and the general social expectation of gender roles, to see a male clothed in what is considered to be a female garment, confuses some people and they are caused to make descisions they are not prepared for and they are not informed enough to consider the complexities that created this situation, therefore giving the average viewer no solid base to make a logical descision about what they see. At this point most people use the fight or flight method, they either get offended or "ignore" what they see.
We do the same within ourselves.
To answer the question is wearing a dress a sexual thing, for me I would have to answer yes, is it a sensual thing, again yes. There are also psychological aspects as well. I feel great just wearing my dresses and not having any sexual thoughts, just being regular me like its perfectly normal, for me its just as natural as jeans and t. I admit there have been times when dressed that I have entertained homoerotic fantasies, I have strong desires to please a man sexually. Though I am not attracted to men, I would be ok with having one sexually while en femme. I would love to play out my sissy maid fantasies, being dominated by a strong woman and being " forced" to perform sexually for her in any way she directed me to. I love sissy maid uniforms and cant imagine wearing one and not wanting to sit on daddys lap.
Though I have never had any of this, it is fun to imagine. In reality I have considered the implications of having homosexual relationships when I only have those desires en femme, and am not attracted to men otherwise. I just cant work it out logically and I know its just a fantasy anyway but its fun. I do find some comfort knowing this will never happen. Still, the maid uniform, yummy...
Being honest with myself is something that helps me to understand me better. I dont always like the truths I find but its impossible to manage if its hidden or ignored.
Through all this I am still trying to find the real me
It is a Pavlo's Dog thing for me. When I started crossdressing it was in anticipation of sex. So it became that my sex life included wearing female lingerie and as time passed, female over-clothes. So now days when I dress, with no plans of sex, I automatically get sexually turned on.
Consider the following........
Dolly patron has said a few times that if she was not born a female, she would have been a drag queen as she loves everything feminine and the way feminine female clothes etc make her feel.. ..wigs dresses makeup fancy feminine underwear, etc .
I once knew a younger gal who did not even own any pants . She loved weaning pencil skirts. She confided in me that she loved the way they confined her legs.
So you can not lump all females together anymore than you can lump all CDs together. :)
Since both males and females are both human of course, they share-love much of the same sensations etc .
The position that females wear the clothes that they do just to attract men is just not true . :)
In my case, there is no doubt that early on just getting dressed was a turn on. At the very first, even panties were a turn on. Now it is something that I enjoy, feels natural and relaxing whether casually femme or full makeup/dress up.
Still, deep down the must be something more there. How many so called "normal" men own a pair of breast forms? :-)
Of the two options, it is JUST sensual for me.
Sensual is more than the silky feeling on the skin. It is the swish of a skirt, the look in the mirror, the elevation from wearing heels, the change of your face with the application of make-up, even if it is a just flesh hue of lip-stick (Bright reds for me please, I do not like many of the other colors out there.) . it is there.
No question that it was nothing but sexual when I first tried on panties. And it remained that way for a long, long time. However, I guess it was akin to an addiction. Just like a heroin addict needs more dope to get high, I found that in addition to panties, adding a bra added to the excitement. Then it was adding more and varying pices of lingerie that made the experience even better. Of course, it eventually got to the curiosity of outerwear as well. So even today ,I still think there is a sexual component to my dressing but the excitement is not so much putting on a pair of panties and going out underdressed but it is more the act of dressing up that gets me going.
For me it is both. Started out for years as a lust/ arousal thing, got worse and worse with that behavior that I sought treatment in SA and SAA 12 Step programs. Through that I surmised that was because I was in the closet too much - repressing too many feelings. As soon as I got out of the closet more and more, acting out behaviors dissappeared.
For me, it is both, sexual and sensual.
+1 on the 'both' vote. I still get a nice little thrill sliding on some pretty panties.
Just as many have mentioned on here, I sometimes get aroused by it, and other times I don't. I recently had the house to myself for three weeks, and for one of those weeks I was on vacation from work, so I spent most of the day dressed, and there was no sexual arousal from it. During that week I stripped out the bathroom and fitted a new bath and shower and tiled the walls, and in another room replaced a window with some doors, all while dressed. I just got on with my life as normal, but dressed.
Personally I find it more therapeutic. I feel more like myself dressed as Emily rather than Adam. I feel more confident in myself when I can express my feminine side, and present in femme. I also just absolutely love women’s clothing! I dream of one day having a walk-in closet filled with clothes and tons of shoes! I feel so much more comfortable in denim shorty shorts, a cute top, and heels, than I do in cargo shorts and t shirts. I envy the way women can express themselves through their clothing. I love the feeling of looking like a pretty Emily, rather than a boyish Adam. I would say there is an underlying sense of sexual pleasure/empowerment, but I really just feel more comfortable, and more like my true self in femme, than in boys clothes. ✌️💖😁
In a percentage answer I would say it is a 70/30 split. 70% sexual and that 30% percent I just enjoy relaxing being dressed without a sexual thought and doesn't end in a sexual manner.
Sometimes I feel super sexy while wearing something feminine, and other times I feel comfortable. Earlier on in life I felt a rush while getting dressed, but now I feel a genuine sense of calmness and being able to relax. To quantity this in terms of numbers does not work for me personally, I think it has a lot to do with other life events, or day to day events that influence your response to dressing up, or other forms of release. Sometimes the sexual release will satisfy the immediate desire to be whole, but may leave a bit of depression later, whereas I find dressing for the sensual, takes a little longer to feel whole, but tends not to crater out so bad later. This is just what I feel.
😘 Jennifer
absolutely, positively, yes! :)
For me it is both. I think the ssame xual side of it drew me back". I am gettng better are prlonging sessions when I have time to stay dressed for several hours.
Neither, dressing is the completion of being able to feel feminine. To get up in the morning and dress in a nice skirt and blouse and all the rest is now just a normal thing to do.
Kassie,
At your age I would definitely say it was much more sexual, that's the way it started for me at the age of 8-9 years and the feeling has never fully gone away . To me it's associated with AGP , the combination of females, clothing , dressing and sex all combined in my childhood , I describe it as a combination lock in my brain being set but the code to release it doesn't exist.
If at times it has that effect on you then you can do very little about it. I will admit I find it irritating and annoying at times , part of me is still a fully functioning male with certain needs so it's part of life that we shouldn't feel guilty about .
As a kid of 6 year's old it just felt good. When puberty hit it became a sexual thing. After college it was a combination. After getting married it became a natural feeling. It always has been and always will be a great feeling.
YES and YES!
Definitely both for me.
As with others here, it was sexual wearing female things and I thought that it may be a fetish, but something inside kept drawing me more and more to the idea that it is a part of me and that dressing is more than sexual. As the years have gone on, it has become more a feeling of release, a feeling of being pretty and attractive. When I take any pics, I always make them very feminine, I like seeing myself as female.
To me, the word sensual is pretty much a euphemism of sexual.
sen·su·al
ˈsen(t)SH(o͞o)əl/
adjective
adjective: sensual
of or arousing gratification of the senses and physical, especially sexual, pleasure.
"the production of the ballet is sensual and passionate"
synonyms: physical, carnal, bodily, fleshly, animal;
Put me in the yes yes camp!
I'd say I lean heavily towards sensual. However, I have some narcissistic tendencies, and since I see Emily as someone separate from my male self... well as a man, I'm attracted to Enily. It's an acknowledged weird thing.
It's definitely sexual for me. Wonderful and glamorous and exciting.
It's not really sexual for me at all. My female persona must be asexual because even thinking about sex while crossdressing feels weird. Like, not good weird.