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Thread: transgender or crossdresser?

  1. #1
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    transgender or crossdresser?

    What is the difference between a transgender person ans a crossdresser?

  2. #2
    Platinum Member Eryn's Avatar
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    Transgender is an umbrella term that covers the full spectrum, from crossdressers who wear clothing of the opposite gender to transexuals who transition to the opposite gender.

    The definitions aren't carved in granite, but this is the common interpretation.

    Here's a resource thread for you:

    http://www.crossdressers.com/forums/...-Abbreviations
    Last edited by Eryn; 07-12-2011 at 08:27 PM.
    Eryn
    "These girls have the most beautiful dresses. And so do I! How about that!" [Kaylee, in Firefly] [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    "What do you care what other people think?" [Arlene Feynman, to her husband Richard]
    "She's taller than all the women in my family, combined!" [Howard, in The Big Bang Theory]
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    Member AnnaCalliope's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Eryn View Post
    Transgender is an umbrella term that covers the full spectrum, from crossdressers who wear clothing of the opposite gender to transexuals who transition to the opposite gender.

    The definitions aren't carved in granite, but this is the common interpretation.

    ]
    She's right, as a know a few crossdressers who do not like being labeled transgendered. To them its not an issue of gender, but just a matter of clothing and fashion. Myself, I preferred the term transgender over crossdresser, in that even before I decided to transition, I knew it was entirely rooted in my gender identity and having a way to explain that it was gender related, like Transgender, was satisfying.

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    Miss Conception Karren H's Avatar
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    Both labels... I have an old Dymo label maker.... So I can change my label at will..
    Current Obsession - Breasts and Lingerie!

    .......My Photos

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    Senior Member joannemarie barker's Avatar
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    lmao I don't care what I'm called but I'm just laughing at Karens comment as per usual

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    Just getting my feet wet Marie-Elise's Avatar
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    This was a question I was asking myself. Personally, I call myself a crossdresser. I know I am a man. I just like to wear women's clothes. No biggie.

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    I am a crossdresser but when I start thinking about what I am doing, Using womens bath gel, lotion, underarm, some shaving, am I becoming more transgender. I started out saying that it was just the feel of the clothing but as I dress longer and wear outerwear I feel even better and prettier. I guess that I love the girl side not just the clothes. Am I more than a crossdresser? Hugs

  8. #8
    Platinum Member Shelly Preston's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by willie View Post
    I am a crossdresser but when I start thinking about what I am doing, Using womens bath gel, lotion, underarm, some shaving, am I becoming more transgender. I started out saying that it was just the feel of the clothing but as I dress longer and wear outerwear I feel even better and prettier. I guess that I love the girl side not just the clothes. Am I more than a crossdresser? Hugs
    Hi Willie
    Since transgender it an umberella term covering all types of people who "crossdress" (for whatever reason) you cant be more transgendered

    You may however be nearer to being a transexual than a crossdresser

    The abbrevations link will give you this information in more detail
    Shelly

    Super Moderator....How to tell your partner......Abbreviations

  9. #9
    Gold Member DonnaT's Avatar
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    Most crossdressers are transgender. Some don't believe they are, and some probably aren't.

    To me, the need to crossdress comes from some urge deep within my psyche. That thing that pushed me to first try it. Now I can't stop. I consider this to be an indication of being trans.

    If I dressed just because the clothes felt good, but could stop at any time, then I wouldn't consider myself to be trans.
    DonnaT

  10. #10
    Oh to be an English Rose Jane G's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Karren Hutton View Post
    Both labels... I have an old Dymo label maker.... So I can change my label at will..
    LoL As so often Karen has it coverd.

  11. #11
    Member sara.s's Avatar
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    These definitions are more accurate (from oxforddictionaries.com):
    crossdresser: one who wears clothes of opposite gender
    transgender: denoting or relating to a person whose self-identity does not conform unambiguously to conventional notions of male or female gender.

  12. #12
    Exploring NEPA now Cheryl T's Avatar
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    I'll stick with transgender.
    It's not the clothes that make me feel the way I do, it's the clothes that let's others see those feelings. Inside I'm the same all the time.
    I don't wear women's clothes, I wear MY clothes !

  13. #13
    Gold Member NicoleScott's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AnnaMarieYelton View Post
    She's right, as a know a few crossdressers who do not like being labeled transgendered.
    Agree. On the other hand, there are some on this forum (I can name names, but I won't) who have declared that they will no longer use the term "crossdresser" to describe themselves, but rather "transgender".

    I adhere to the umbrella definition of trandgender(ed). There are some who have more narrowly defined transgender as one who has an internal feminine identity (it's not about the clothes) and is separate from a crossdresser (it's about the clothes).

    For clarity when posting on the forum, I prefer to use the terms "identity dresser" and "pleasure dresser". Both are crossdressers, and by the umbrella definition both are transgendered, but I believe that identity dressers and pleasure dressers (as it relates to what drives the dressing) are fundamentally very different.

  14. #14
    Crystal VioletJourney's Avatar
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    Transgender means you cross gender boundaries, and crossdressing means you wear clothes of the opposite sex. So, for example, if you wear makeup but with male clothes you are TG but not CD. CD is inherently TG.

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    Gold Member NicoleScott's Avatar
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    Violet, I never thought of it like that, but I guess you are technically correct about the makeup. I much prefer to transform completely (wig, makeup, the works), but sometimes in the past I have not had enough private time to do so. Sometimes I have just put on makeup (sometimes lipstick only) but I always considered that to be a crossdressing activity, albeit an incomplete one. Of course, that's different than going out in guy clothes and wearing makeup.

  16. #16
    Junior Member Beverly's Avatar
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    @Violet, So just because I crossdress, I am transgendered?

  17. #17
    GG ReineD's Avatar
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    I'll echo Eryn: transgender is the umbrella term for anyone who wishes to cross gender boundaries in any form.

    Some birth males who identify as women but only when they dress, who may also feel that the term "crossdresser" means to dress for fetish or sexual reasons, yet who do not feel they are partly or fully transsexual or perhaps they are questioning whether or not they are transsexual, do identify as "transgender". They are taking the general term and applying it to their own personal situation simply because they do not feel there is a term that accurately defines who they are.

    There are also some people who use the term "transgender" because they simply do not wish to define where they fit along the gender spectrum.
    Reine

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    :) Post-Op Hippie Chick CharleneT's Avatar
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    .... about two years.....


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    Quote Originally Posted by NicoleScott View Post
    there are some on this forum (I can name names, but I won't) who have declared that they will no longer use the term "crossdresser" to describe themselves, but rather "transgender".
    Quote Originally Posted by ReineD View Post
    There are also some people who use the term "transgender" because they simply do not wish to define where they fit along the gender spectrum.
    I'll count myself in there. I used the word "crossdresser" for self-definition early on but I at some point in the late 90's I drifted into "transgender" because I wasn't comfortable with the seeming specificity of other labels. I didn't like the word "crossdresser" because *for me* it felt like it superficially described an action rather than a whole sense of being. To each their own, however. Everyone has to find their own place and my friend who described herself as "*******" was quite happy with her own self-definition.

  20. #20
    Joanie sterling12's Avatar
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    You have probably never been to Some Group Meetings, or talked with Other T-Gurls at a Bar. When you hear The Phrase: "Oh, your JUST A Crossdresser," it really tends to Tick you off! "Transgendered," because it is an Umbrella Term is much more neutral, and avoids a lot of The "Us and Them Pettiness," which often seems to plague our Community.

    "Crossdresser" is a term invented by Virginia Prince, in some Circles it has become as stigmatized as using The Term "Trannie." Virginia is no longer with us, sometimes I wish That Term would also go away.

    Peace and Love, Joanie
    Last edited by sterling12; 07-15-2011 at 02:03 PM.

  21. #21
    Silver Member Inna's Avatar
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    T+d=tg
    t=c
    g=t+d/t
    g=d
    t+g=c+d

    where: t-trans; g-gender; c-cross; d-dressing
    It's just..........logical
    Last edited by Inna; 07-15-2011 at 01:59 PM.

  22. #22
    Emerging Diva Nikki A.'s Avatar
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    I think of it a little differently. If you dress for just the sexual thrill, I wonder if you're also TG. Anyone who dresses for any other reason I would and sexual included I think can be considered as TG.

  23. #23
    Member TxCassie's Avatar
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    I agree. I feel I'm transgender for the simple fact that I do cross the gender lines, not just because I crossdress, but because my self-identity is not exclusively male. My crossdressing is my expression of my transgendered self. I used to be so afraid of this very fact. I think even more so than the dressing itself because, it was a self-awareness I could not ignore. "To thine own-self be True". Now, I am becoming very comfortable and so much more joyous in accepting that I am not exclusively male.

  24. #24
    GG ReineD's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by beverly View Post
    @Violet, So just because I crossdress, I am transgendered?

    Yes you are. You have a femme name, and your avatar is decidedly on the feminine side. You are crossing a gender boundary. But remember that "transgender" doesn't mean you are transsexual, or that you want to be a woman, even sometimes.

    BTW, a more accurate term for people who feel they are men while in guy mode, and women while in femme mode, is dualgender or bigender, which is still under the transgender umbrella.

    The word, "crossdresser" is a huge catch-all too, since even the way we used to think of it is changing IMO. In times past, the word conjured up images of men presenting solidly as women when dressed, with makeup, wig, etc, whether or not their motives were sexual. But in addition to men who wish to dress in order to feel feminine, there are an increasing number of guys who do go out solidly looking like guys but who wear women's clothing because there is some aspect of it that appeals to them. It has also been better accepted and even stylish in some circles in the last few years (decade?) to be androgynous looking. So, of all these people, some may identify partly or fully feminine, some of the time or all the time, while others say they never feel feminine at all but just like the clothes.

    And then there are the people who KNOW they are male, who know they would never be taken as female (because of their height, physiognomy, age, or whatever), and who at the same time do not conform to their own ideas of what being a stereotypical male means. So in contrast, they may feel they are feminine. So they just dress as best they can in a way to straddle the gender line, without going into all the "ooohs" and "aaahs" of femimine fashion, like the stereotypical crossdresser.

    Is this complicated enough? lol

    Quote Originally Posted by Nikki A. View Post
    I think of it a little differently. If you dress for just the sexual thrill, I wonder if you're also TG. Anyone who dresses for any other reason I would and sexual included I think can be considered as TG.
    I agree with you! There are some people for whom wearing one or more items of clothing is a solid fetish and nothing else, just like people who are into latex, feathers, angora, or whatever else there is. In my view this type of dressing is strictly fetish and shouldn't be called "crossdressing", just because the object happens to be an item of women's clothing. There are such people in the BDSM community for example, who wear the panties, hose, corsets, shoes, etc just with their dommes during sex and that's it, although there are certainly CDers who are into BDSM as well.

    It all has to do with the motive and the tricky part of this is, it is often difficult to get at the true motives.
    Last edited by ReineD; 07-15-2011 at 02:41 PM. Reason: Responded to second quote.
    Reine

  25. #25
    Gold Member DonnaT's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by beverly View Post
    @Violet, So just because I crossdress, I am transgendered?
    Do you really want Violet to label you, or do you want to chose your own label, if any?
    DonnaT

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