Update why are us olders, so interested in this

[JustWendy]

I'm good with #'s 2, 4, and 6 - I have enough money to support Kathi (My, that girl can shop! ), I'm getting older, and I will take every chance I can get for happiness, and this website really helps. I don't care about society, so #7 can take a flying leap! Although that could just be the old age talking. Darn kids today. Hey!! Get off my lawn!



Kathi

Kathi - be careful leaving out numbers 1, 3, 5, and 7 - they may try to get even. Ouch, sorry, I was a math major.

[Imogen_Mann]

I have more time, because I don't get distracted by trifles as I did in my 20's.

I have more money, and a level head helping me achieve financial freedom through delayed gratification.

I have fewer work worries, having settled into a job that suits both my personality and my pocket.

I have at least 10 years before mid life, assuming I live to 100... Which I intend to.

I have realised that I play the hand I am dealt, I'm not going to be a porn-star shaped trans-goddess, I'm going to be me... In a dress if I like.

I have realised that 99.9% of all the things I worried about even 10 years ago, are just so much old toss. Happiness is what matters... When I'm gone I'll be just as dead as a miserable millionaire.

When I lie on my death bed I'm damned if I'm going to be saying... "I wish I spent more time worrying about what people thought of me".

[minalost]

While you wait - I'll let the old biddies on the site answer!

...but I'll bet you can out run me ! Young whipper-snapper...

As far as #2: I WISH!
After that I'll go with 3, 4, 5, and 6.

Karren makes a good point too: not much time left!

[msniki48]

Barb,

I really think that society is more tolerant today...or within this past 8 to 10 yrs. If i thought about walking into a store when i was in my 20's, i would have a headstone right now. i really think that. i believe we all dressed at a younger age but did our very best to hide it...even from each other...there was no internet to find people with like interests. So for me it is number 7#.

and i do think this sudden burst of middle aged dressers, is that we know much more about the psychology behind the dressing, and it is more acceptable to to society or at least they are tolerant and we've been dying to get out for the past 30+ yrs or more.

PS: i'm 58

just my

[TammyCA]

So many different reasons for each of us. For me..a divorce (reasons not related to dressing) gave me the freedom in my life..*finally*...just to be me.

[Terri D]

Has to be #4 for me. I know I certainly don't have the extra money. I just work some overtime and pay for shopping sprees that way.

[Madilyn A.]

For me, it's 1,4, and 8. Yes I have more time to spend dressed in my pretties, and yes there is less time left to spend in my pretties, and I enjoy dressing more each day. Simply put, girls have more fun ! I can only imagine how much fun my blonde sisters must be having. lol !

[Kerrylee61]

Ok, so I certainly qualify as "older" and have absolutely nothing holding me back. My wife is fully supportive, I'm retired, our children are totally accepting and I have no issues going out in public, shopping or anything else. Guess what....

I haven't been fully dressed in at least a year or more. Sure, I am always under dressed to some extent but the full meal deal just seems to not be worth the effort anymore. It hasn't been for at least 5 to 6 years.

It's mystifies me. Maybe there is the lack of the "thrill" or maybe given that I was diagnosed as gender disphoric years ago and I chose not to have the srs that I just sort of accepted things as they are?


Kerry

[Annaliese]

All of them, work for me.

[vivian fair]

While I have dressed all my life I do find I'm doing it more now. like everyday! I can afford the expense now, I have the time, I do it for myself, I no longer give a rats a-- who knows, I have a permit to carry and do,and I use transderm patchs to overcome the normal drop in testosterone. And I have retired from the military which did hold me back somewhat. My close family knows,and I live alone. So I dress as I feel. Vivian

[Jodi M]

A lot of us are older girls because thats how long it took us to come to self acceptance and realize there is no reason to be embarrassed or ashamed of what we do.and we have discovered there are so many others just like us. Also you get tired of living by every one elses rules and decide to go by your own rules. Numbers 1,4 and 7 I guess.

[AllieSummers]

I would say all of the above. I just think that most of us finally reached the age where we saw our youth slipping away and instead of fighting it, we finally gave into it while we had some youth left.

Like they say, "If you can't beat them, join them".

Kisses,

Allie

[Raychel]

We are thinking “screw it”; what am I waiting for?

[renee k]

2456, that my answer! I can afford it, and have had alot things done too prove it. And yes I can pull off a mature woman look. And since Al Gore invented the internet I can connect with others that share my feelings on this subject. And I don't give a rat's a$$ on what others think!

Renee

[JustAlex]

1. We have more time on our hands and it is something to do

I think this one applies to people way older than 45. I'm 50 and I'm busy as I was at 20, 30 or 40.

2. We now can afford to do it right and we didn’t years ago

This is definitely a factor but I don't think it's completely related to age but stands to reason to assume that you're more likely to have a better financial status at an older age.

3. We are going thru or have gone thru mid-life

Not sure about this one. Surely I got more confident about who I am and what I do.

4. We are thinking “screw it”; what am I waiting for?

I guess this one applies to me from the moment I started wearing my own stuff at my own place.

5. Any illusion that we could be attractive woman is gone and we can settle for a pleasant looking middle age woman. A lot easier to achieve.

Not my case.

6. We talk about it more because of this web site.

Absolutely. Maybe not just this site but the opportunity to talk about it with some privacy.

7. Society is more tolerant

No way

8. It is just more fun than it used to be when your older

I don't think so. It was a lot more fun when I was a kid because it was play. Now it's not. I'm not saying that I don't enjoy it but I enjoy it as much as wearing things that I like and look good on me gender aside. Only sometimes I wear for fun.

[Melinda G]

When I was younger, I was busy working, paying bills, raising kids, etc. I dressed when I could, but I surely didn't have several hours a day to play on a computer, or the internet.

[Kathi Lake]

Kathi - be careful leaving out numbers 1, 3, 5, and 7 - they may try to get even. Ouch, sorry, I was a math major.

Ouch indeed! A math major, eh? Wow. I, on the other hand, am severely mathophobic. Why, even the thought of mixing numbers and letters together (it's just unnatural!) almost gives me vapor lock. You should use numbers for counting things, and letters for spelling things.



Kathi

[kathie225]

CDiing is somewhat different from that stated in the various replies. None of the eight factors really apply to me although I experienced a mid-life crisis. That crisis however, was unrelated to my cding and did not influence it in any way. It was at that time (a little over forty years ago) that I said "screw it". Again it was unrelated to cding and was of no influence.
I enjoy cding to a far lesser degree than most. I do not seek to pass, but I do seek my feminine side. That however, is satisfied by weariing ladies undergarments and lounge wear. So if I need to vacumn and dust the house or cook meals or engage in other domesticate chores, I slip into panties, nice lounging wear and have at it pretending my gender miraculously changed.
Absent that I am always in panties at work or play and enjoy the ride.

[Samantha B L]

Hi Barb, I'm pretty sure I answered your survey. I can't remember exactly what I said. I'm 53 and I want to spend some of the time I've got left dressing. I dressed openly for about 6 months or so when I was like 19 or 20 but some family members of mine were so obstinate about it I had to stop doing it and act like I "quit" crossdressing. They acted like they were cool with it but they really thought it was ghoulish and freaky. I resumed dressing a few years later with my girlfreind as my mentor then she died five years ago, so really,I feel like "what have I got to lose". I have family in a town about 40 miles from here but I'm in my apartment living by myself so I figure "why not". I have middle aged health problems but my doctor says I could live another 40 years if I continue to take al my cholesteral and blood pressure meds and continue with not smoking. I quit smoking in 1995

[Loni]

yes the first responce is about right.

life is short, after 50 not much left to have fun with.

almost killed in a very bad auto crash last year... time to enjoy what is left of my time here.


.

[Shari]

Nice one Barb. You snuck a survey through even though we're not allowed to have them anymore.

As far as the what did I do before with the time I have now....
Does beating my children count?
It seemed it was a full time job keeping them on the straight and narrow.
Just kidding about the beatings.
Actually, I worked a lot trying to feed three kids and keep a roof over our heads.

[SweetCaroline]

I'm relatively young--37--so I don't know if I qualify as an "older", but I've been interested dressing since childhood, and actively crossdressing since I was a teenager, but I didn't start going out and about until about 3 years ago, so I consider that quite a long wait.

I would have loved to have gone out when I was much younger, and even dreamed of it, but it was mostly just a fantasy. Part of the reason was because I wouldn't have known where to go. I wouldn't have thought of going to a gay club, since I don't consider myself homosexual, and I didn't know of any Transgender groups at the time. (This was around the early nineties, before the internet was really big.)

But the other reason was because there was always a certain element of arousal associated with crossdressing as a teen/ young adult. I wouldn't have been able to dress in public because of that reason. As I got older, I was able to control the 'fetish' aspects of dressing a lot better. At least that's my take on why I waited until I was older to become more active.

[Claire Cook]

Maybe 5 and 7, but I'm not sure that any of them really work for me. The older I get, the less I worry about this uptight male persona I'm supposed to have and just let the real me that is inside express her/my self.

Oh -- and Karren as usual has it dead-on!!

[RADER]

I dont think I awnsered your survey. How ever being 63 now, and retired,
I have more time to undulge if it were. Since I do not have to go to work,
(construction) or have to worrie about being "Found Out".
Yes, I do under-dress 24/7, witch before almost never happened. All though I will never pass out side the house, I dress 2-3 times in the house each week. About the limit for my Wife. Rader

[Jenny Doolittle]

Barb,

Great question, sorry I missed answering earlier.

I am in mid 50's now and have been dressing since I was 6-7. In the early years there was no internet so I did feel all alone. Through late teens and 20's I would purge and make empty promises to stop because of religious teaching and society said it was wrong. Of course the pressures of make a living had to play a part of staying in the closet.

It was not until I grew older that I realized through the net that there were others like myself. Making friends with this common bond had to have impact on my decisions. I had rationalized that I am who I am, God made me that way and I should allow myself to enjoy that fact.

So, in a nut shell I think it was a combination of all the reasons you had suggested. The most important thing for me is accepting myself as a good person. If others can't deal with that, well that is their problem.

But, Like any girl, I sure wish I had this attitude when I could have really experianced what it was like to have been a hottie in my teens!