How do you PICTURE yourself?

[Anne2345]

“A picture is worth a thousand words.” – Napoleon Bonaparte.

As a member of the forum community, what does a picture say about you? With the exception of the GG members, you are a male, yet you intentionally clothe yourself in the apparel of a female. In all likelihood, however,neither your parents nor society raised you this way. Boys wear blue, girls wear pink. So what gives? You cut across the grain of society’s acceptance, and indulge in this curiously remarkable endeavor.

“A picture is a poem without words.” Horace.

Do you see poetry in how you picture your femme self? Do you believe your life has become one of rhythmic composition, where your actions express excitement or pleasure by and through beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts of dressing and/or femininity? When you dress, are you poetry in action? Or is dressing simply something you just do?

“The soul never thinks without a picture.” - Aristotle.

“The human being is the best picture of the human soul.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Does your femme side mirror or otherwise express the being of your soul? Is the sum of your inherent femininity who and what you really are? Does your quest for femininity dominate your thoughts, and seep deep within your very being? Is this “lifestyle” so ingrained within you that it is not a choice, and a very much tangible part of your existence? Or do you view crossdressing more along the lines of a hobby, and to be enjoyed as such? Of course, some may argue altogether in a different manner, that this is instead a curse . . . . Are you one such person?

“The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.” - Francis Bacon.

I really, really hope this is true. Because when I look at some of my pictures, I gotta wonder just what the heck am I doing . . . .

Regardless, how do you picture yourself?

[kimdl93]

I take few pictures, either as I am (en femme) or as I sometimes must be (en drabbe). In family pics, I'll invariably stand in the back row or be behind the camera. I just have never liked the way I look. What does that aversion to photographs say about me? Perhaps I have a difficult time accepting an unpleasant reality, or maybe I am utterly realistic and see something that doesn't merit being memorialized in a photograph. Or maybe its a persitent vestige of that nagging insecurity and self-loathing that tormented me for so long.

I've provided only a few photos of myself on this site - mainly to affirm that I am a real person, not some lurker or poser. The avatar and profile pics were the most flattering pics I could manage. If my picture is an image of my soul, perhaps it reflects an underlying dishonesty.

[Kate Simmons]

Never the same way twice Anne but I am basically a nurturer, appearance notwithstanding.

[KrystalA]

Very interesting questions, Anne. I picture myself as much younger and prettier than I am. That being said, the feelings and sensations within are enough to satisfy myself. I just love feeling feminine and 'girly', and it's far more than a sexual thing. It brings me peace and makes me feel normal and very much at ease with who I am. It just feels right.

[LeaP]

“A picture is worth a thousand words.” – Napoleon Bonaparte.

As a member of the forum community, what does a picture say about you? With the exception of the GG members, you are a male, yet you intentionally clothe yourself in the apparel of a female. In all likelihood, however,neither your parents nor society raised you this way. Boys wear blue, girls wear pink. So what gives? You cut across the grain of society’s acceptance, and indulge in this curiously remarkable endeavor.

“A picture is a poem without words.” Horace.

Do you see poetry in how you picture your femme self? Do you believe your life has become one of rhythmic composition, where your actions express excitement or pleasure by and through beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts of dressing and/or femininity? When you dress, are you poetry in action? Or is dressing simply something you just do?

“The soul never thinks without a picture.” - Aristotle.

“The human being is the best picture of the human soul.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Does your femme side mirror or otherwise express the being of your soul? Is the sum of your inherent femininity who and what you really are? Does your quest for femininity dominate your thoughts, and seep deep within your very being? Is this “lifestyle” so ingrained within you that it is not a choice, and a very much tangible part of your existence? Or do you view crossdressing more along the lines of a hobby, and to be enjoyed as such? Of course, some may argue altogether in a different manner, that this is instead a curse . . . . Are you one such person?

“The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.” - Francis Bacon.

I really, really hope this is true. Because when I look at some of my pictures, I gotta wonder just what the heck am I doing . . . .

Regardless, how do you picture yourself?

Anne, never mind the pictures, one wonders more what your questions say about you.

In any event, I don't post pictures, so they say nothing about me. Some will (mis)take that for being inauthentic, but I'm not concerned about that and will have to let my writing speak for my soul. What A picture would show is a disconnect between mind and body. But I don't take pictures. I don't like seeing myself in DRAB or en femme. If I did, I would hope it would show the same thing upon which I've commented with other forum members' pictures - that something genuine shows through, regardless of passability.

No poetry for me. I dress because I have to. Lately, it doesn't seem to matter, but I have to do it anyway. Go figure.

I don't think in terms of femininity. I think in terms of femaleness, which I think very different. It does dominate my thoughts and pervade my being. It's played out throughout my life in ways that I'm only beginning to understand. I struggle with the question of whether it's a curse or not. Recently, I've written about self-acceptance. But there are terrible difficulties, too. Maybe a better way to put it is this: It's not a curse, it's a blessing to be what you are, but it makes life absolutely suck!

I picture myself in a better place.

Lea

[Marleena]

Okay Anne..somebody had to post the song.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy_ArpznZUs

I picture myself as prettier than my pictures *sigh*. My femme self is ingrained and the biggest part of me. I just needed to let her out.

Man your threads are always so deep.

[Karren H]

The photo in my avatar is pretty much how I picture myself... On a normal day

But on a good day I picture myself - http://m.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-g.ak/hp..._7662118_n.jpg

On a bad day I picture myself - http://m.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-d.ak/hp..._5333438_n.jpg

[JessHaust]

Anne,
I picture myself as something more than male or female, I'm one of the few lucky humans that can experience life from both ends of the spectrum. I am the sum of both, and not just one. There is no time when Jess is not part of me, and likewise no time when Jeff is not there as well. Is it a hobby? No, I ride bicycles for a hobby. A hobby is something you pick up, TG is something you are born with. It is an integral part of me, and I enjoy my time as Jess immensely.
Once again you have provided the thought provoking thread of the day!

[Lorileah]

I dislike me in photos in male mode almost always. I love pictures of myself in fem mode almost always. I have never thought of myself as handsome in male mode mostly because in that most important period in life when you want to start meeting potential mates, the girls told me how geeky I was. Now, for some reason I seem to be more attractive...go figure

But even at what I think is my worst when dressed, I get positive reviews. And I think this is because that is how I see me. When you are happier, your pictures show that. So what you see in my photos is me.

[*Vanessa*]

I see myself as not who I am, Victor Hugo's Quasimodo

[Rachel Mari]

I take few pictures, either as I am (en femme) or as I sometimes must be (en drabbe). In family pics, I'll invariably stand in the back row or be behind the camera. I just have never liked the way I look. What does that aversion to photographs say about me? Perhaps I have a difficult time accepting an unpleasant reality, or maybe I am utterly realistic and see something that doesn't merit being memorialized in a photograph. Or maybe its a persitent vestige of that nagging insecurity and self-loathing that tormented me for so long.

I don't like seeing myself in DRAB or en femme. If I did, I would hope it would show the same thing upon which I've commented with other forum members' pictures - that something genuine shows through, regardless of passability.

Anne,
I picture myself as some more than male or female, I'm one of the few lucky humans that can experience life from both ends of the spectrum. I am the sum of both, and not just one. There is no time when Jess is not part of me, and likewise no time when Jeff is not there as well. Is it a hobby? No, I ride bicycles for a hobby. A hobby is something you pick up, TG is something you are born with. It is an integral part of me, and I enjoy my time as Jess immensely.

These statements sum pretty well how I picture myself. I know I feel pretty normal and like how I think I look, but when I look in a mirror, I can see the male body (may be being too self critical, still working on the self acceptance).

[Kerstin]

When I look in the mirror I see someone that I feel I shouldn't be. When I dress as female and look in the mirror I feel better, and that I'm getting closer to what I should be, but I hate seeing any masculine characteristics. That sounds really weird but it's the best way I can describe it.

[Sally24]

When I mostly just thought about Dressing it was a fantasy. When I started dressing fully it was a hobby. After I started going out regularly it became a part of who I was. It is so intertwined with my thoughts that it is there every minute I am awake. I feel so much more like the "real" me than I ever have before. The world even seems a much happier place when I am out dressed as Sally. I am at the stage where I can't envision a future where I don't dress more and more.

[KellyJameson]

Pictures leave us naked to those whose eyes see clearly. The eyes are windows to the soul and the face a portrait of our hearts or lack thereof and so a picture has the power to capture and convey our inner beauty or ugliness just as it does the temporal beauty of the flesh.

Beauty is truly in the eyes of the beholder and how we respond to a picture tells us more about ourselves than the image in the picture.

Physical beauty is a tragedy masked as a blessing because it becomes a trap.

Being beautiful makes life hard because it becomes to easy, much like having great wealth, people become your subjects and subjects quickly turn into objects and with that you stay an object to others whether it is to be used for your beauty or your money. Life takes place not directly before us but in our peripheral vision and it is easy to be distracted by the obvious.

The paradox is that with beauty often comes ugliness but in it's absence the potential for genuine beauty born from the soul and not the face. The greatest expression of physical beauty is by those who see it as a sunrise or sunset, something to be enjoyed but not possessed, it is water held in the palm of our hands and when we try to grasp it we loose it and to use it as currency is to invite exploitation.

I picture myself as temporal, enjoying this vessel but not trying to possess it. I can manipulate it but I do not own it. We are tenants in our own bodies and the universe our landlord, I am what I am, changing from moment to moment. I picture myself beautiful for what is inside me and for what is not inside me and the outside is just for my own amusement.

Have no fear Anne your beauty is true and you will continue to be beautiful even when you are no longer beautiful on the outside. This is true for many on this forum.

[Gaby2]

I like the Bacon quote best, Anne.

After an initial photo-binge, I've stopped completely for the moment.
That coincided with opening up about my CDing to a good few acquaintances.
I do think that I'll start taking photos again...

At the moment, I need to (and am taking the time to) come to terms with how GG cloths feel on me.
I enjoy these cloths (and I like to think they enjoy me).
That's the basic foundation () of CDing for me - everything else is just cosmetics.

I do long for a reasonably passable female appearance in the long run.
I feel more attractive while dressed, although I must stress that I like my appearance and character as the man I am too.
All in all, CDing has been (and remains) a very personal development.
I look at myself in mirrors often... and I do indeed make a pretty picture... or so I like to think...

Gaby
ps @Marleena... I simply loved Johnny Tillotson

[PretzelGirl]

I am certainly not one that likes most of my pictures. I am definitely grouped in those that take some, but not many. But how do I view myself? Just like I do in any picture. It is a document of my life. Something that has the purpose of reminding me who I was and the memories that go with it.

[sometimes_miss]

I don't take pictures of myself as a female. And I have few pictures of myself as a guy. I know what I look like as a guy; a middle aged, average man. But when dressed in female clothes, I avoid mirrors; it allows me to feel as if I look the way I thought I was supposed to look, because all I can see is my hair and attire (clothes, jewelry, shoes, nails polished), which portray a mid teen age girl. And when I'm dressed, that's more or less what I feel like I am.

[Patrice_CD]

Interesting question.... I love seeing my fem side photographed as she looks so much better than my male side. As such, my male side is slowly starting to look more and more fem all the time. That being said, I hope to see myself as my avatar indicates.

[docrobbysherry]

I'm over 60. At NO point in any of those years have I been able to look in the mirror and say, "Yes! That's me!"
And, know who or what I was/am!

And, my avatar IS how my ideal fem self looks.
But, she is MOST CERTAINLY NOT ME!

That's Sherry! Some sort of phantom, willo-the-wisp, fantasy female creature!

I have no idea where she came from or how long she'll hang around.
And, I still have NOT decided if she's a blessing from the gods or a curse from the devil himself!

[Barbara Ella]

I do so have trouble picturing myself as this is so new to me. I have not developed what feels to be my femme personna so i cannot picture it. I have to take physical pictures and can only hope that a precious few of them match what my mental development will eventually coalesce from the vain attempts to achieve femaleness or femininity, I do not know which will emerge, or how. Maybe I will be Reuben's with only the background started at present.

Babes

[Michelle V]

I picture myslef as the person I know I am, a father, a husband and as someone who was born male but had female traits embeded in my DNA, Happy if I can look halfway decent as a girl and also happy when I look good as a male. Best of both worlds, if only society would accept us without so much negativity we would be the perfect gender. Michelle

[goodnhose]

Anne, I love to dress and the feel i get from it. More than that i feel like an artist painting a picture and when i'm done sometimes i can hang it on the wall and admire it and other times use it as a door mat to wipe my feet on.

[Staci]

I think I look at myself as younger, thinner, prettier than I really am when dressed as a girl. I cant help but feel that way in the very feminine clothing. It allows me to go and t be someone else for a while. So I see someone that is not only dressing pretty but someone who is pretty inside as well .

[ArleneRaquel]

I also see myself as younger and sexier, I know that I am now more sexually active.

[AnitaH]

Anne;

As always I enjoy your writtings you always leave me thinking. As others I picture myself as younger and prettier than I really am. This spills over into my drab mode, I still think of myself as younger than I am. At one time I saw this as a hobby although one that I was addicted to. Now I understand this is an intristic part of who I am Anita is always a part of me.

AnitaH