Pre-Internet Meetups???

[Debglam]

Hey Ladies,

I'm a little envious of the fun that the "young folks" on this forum have these days and have been thinking about something lately. I went to a large university in the pre-internet days. Given the numbers, there HAD to have been a fair number of "sisters" on campus. I remember a nascent "gay" group but no trans and I don't think I ever saw another TG (other than Halloween) during my four years there. Of course I wasn't "active" at the time, so who knows what I was missing!

Anyway, I'm curious to know how you would find other transpeople back before the internet? No one needs to give their real age !

Debby

[NathalieX66]

I never went to these things but back in my early days, I saw a flyer on a bulletin board at New Haven College for a CD/TG/TS event in Connecticut back in the late 80's......stupid F'ing ' chicken I was.
The Fairfield County Advocate always listed on the back, a CD'er shop and TG event that went by the name of Eidelweiss somewhere in NY City.
One of the senior members at my local Tri-Ess told me that everything was done by Polaroid snapshot back in those days.
You could go to Hudson News, which sold every single magazine available, and go to the adult section, and find mags like Transformations that gave out lots of info. That was my 80's experience.

[rebecca.cross2]

Before the internet. Local gay bars or a local rights group would probably be the best place back then..... Thank god for the internet!

[Patty B.]

Way before the internet and marriage had no info available where I live, I did look, but nothing. I'm sure it would have made a big difference in my life if the internet would have been available back then, and of course the internal struggle over cd'ing was very intense to say the least.

[Niya W]

Blaspheme there was always the Internet. In the back of magazines you would see ads .

[kristinacd55]

Geez, I didn't even know there were so many of US back then!! I thought I was a lone navigator through the land of transgenderism.....

[Karren H]

I went to college before computers were invented! And I crossdressed in college. But for "fun" a group of us would sneak out of the dorm and meet off campus... It was an exclusive place where we had to pay to get in. They had rooms where we could change our clothes and put on what we brought along. I always wore a garter belt and stockings and a girdle!! Then we would all go out to the main room and get intoi a circle...whip out our sticks... Throw them into the center. Pick teams and play some ice hockey!

[Niya W]

ANd it's back to hockey. Wonders how Karren manges to do that ?

[Karren H]

ANd it's back to hockey. Wonders how Karren manges to do that ?

There is more to life than just wearing a dress ya know. Lol.

[marlaNYC]

wow, that's going back! life before the internet did exist, as it did before the filofax and velcro! growing up in suburban London, there really wasn't a lot of access. Drag queens were on TV all the time - we had Dick Emery, Benny Hill, a Victorian styled entertainment show, all of the Sunday tabloids - so it really wasn't 'hidden' or something that was never discussed or witnessed. no real access to anything in suburbia though, until a shift in the societal, political and musical/art environment, where the natural rebellion meant that London now became accessible, not some 'thing' over there to be afeared of...

and so we'd jump on the train, go see shows, buy exotic clothing that crossed gender (and it was ok as making a statement was the norm), hit the clubs. and there were always those in the clubs and stores (some who became more than famous, others infamous) who pushed the envelope even further and i gravitated to those folks, some of who were either gay, trans, drag, and became friends with some. and so it was a natural, almost osmotic discovery.

[NicoleScott]

I thought Al Gore invented other crossdressers right after he invented the internet.

[Jorja]

You have to stop and realize the Internet, as we know it, has only been available since 1995. That is only 16 years ago. I remember the comotion that was made in 1984 when apple released their PC. Everyone saying how it was going to revolutionize the world. Most of us sat around and looked at it like, how is a metal box going to do that? Then we went back to writing our letters in cursive and sending them off in the mail. I too was in college at this time and there were fliers put up on bulliten boards or one of the gay clubs would advertise an event. Usually it was just passed by word of mouth.

[BillieJoEllen]

Back when I was in college there wasn't much public CDing going on that I was aware of. Main reason was that you could get arrested for doing so. When I first went out around April of 1972 I was more afraid of being arrested than being seen and found out about by somebody. I looked a lot better back then and I did take my chances.

[Sara Jessica]

This is precisely the reason I cherish my friends, because back in the day I cannot even remember how I found TG boutiques (pretty much hated them) and TG support groups. And pre-Internet, there was no way to really cultivate a friendship because gosh knows I wasn't giving my home phone number to anyone. Now with email and cell phones, things are much easier...and so much more rewarding.

[Robynts]

Before Al Gore invented the internet, I would chat with other CDs on various bulletin boards and echos. Before that you could find Tapestry magazine (a really classy slick paper magazine put out by Tri-Ess) in various porn stores, even though Tapestry was not porn. Before that, when Karren was young, you could find ads and other information carved into ice banks by gurls with their hockey stickie thingies.

[Debglam]

Thanks for the input, even if it is only a segue for Karren to talk about ice hockey again!

Mid to late 80's in school for me were TRS-80's in high school and FORTRAN and punch cards in college. No "internet" until I discovered BBS in the early '90s.

I remember a newspaper called "Transvestia" (NOT!!! the Virginia Prince Tri-Ess publication.) at a place where I worked. I saw it every week and never saw anyone buy it during my shift. I finally got the nerve to take a copy out of the shrink wrap and it was mostly BDSM stuff and scared the crap out of me.

One Halloween in college (mid 80s) I was on a bus and a guy in drag gets on. This was much more than a costume if you know what I mean so I would have bet that she was a sister. Just couldn't get the nerve to talk to her and another golden opportunity gone!

Oh well.
Debby

[RenneB]

I was in a world of my own. I truely thought I was one of the only people in the world that was like this. Yes, I was raised in a sheltered family. But dressing on and off since the age of 5, I'm now goin' on the half century mark. Until this forum came up during a search I never knew there were sooo many great girls out there with the same life style that I was leading...

Yes I was the punch card generation from high school and didn't get my first computer until the Macs came out. Didn't get internet until late 98. I wish I knew then what I know now. I know I'd be on a completely different timeline. I'd taken that money I wasted on new cars in the late 80's and put them into my own body improvements. But that was then and this is now, so I need to make the best of what I've got.. left.

Renne.....

[sara.s]

There is more to life than just wearing a dress ya know. Lol.

Absolutely.. Like pedicure, manicure, facials, shopping and so on and so forth