Do you think that the desire to CD starts in early childhood?

[ReineD]

Yes, but when women wear men's clothes,

Nikki, you're new so first let me welcome you, and second let me give you a head's up on this. We don't wear men's clothes. We wear women's clothes purchased in women's stores, cut and sized for women's bodies.

Or, if we use a son's or husband's old shirt to paint in for example, this is just wearing a loose old rag so as to not soil our own clothes. Or if our SO has an old discarded flannel shirt or sweat pants that we think is comfy because it is loose, we wear it around the house because it is comfy like a pair of pajamas. Or, if we wear our boyfriend's jacket or shirt occasionally, it is to enhance our emotional bond. We do not wear our SO's underwear. We do not go to parties, to work, or have other outings with our friends in those clothes, nor do we wear those clothes because we think they make us look attractive. Generally speaking.

[Georgette_USA]

Yes, but when women wear men's clothes, When my wife runs out of underwear and borrows a pair of mine, there's no psychological baggage associated with it.

Few women actually wear MEN'S clothes. There are exceptions, FtM TS and Drag Kings, Both are presenting as men. Also some Butch Lesbian might, had one as a GF for a while and she did, might have classed her as a FtM CD.

Are you talking about a pair of men's underwear. She must really get behind on her laundry, or you might suggest she needs to buy some more. I go thru a dozen or two a week sometimes.

[Jenniferathome]

Yes, but when women wear men's clothes, ... When my wife runs out of underwear and borrows a pair of mine, ... I doubt few gg's have any association with gender bending when wearing guy clothes.

Nikki, three comments:

1) Women don't wear men's clothes unless they are a cross dresser and if this site is any representation, those female to male cross dressers are exceptionally rare. Women's pants, shirts, everything is cut to fit them. That is why it is so hard to find things that fit us! When you see a woman wearing male cut clothing, you can tell instantly.

2) Really, your wife borrowed your underwear? I find that super hard to believe. They won't fit, they'd look odd under her much thinner clothes. If true, she's uber-unique.

3) No they don't because they aren't wearing men's clothes. A t-shirt worn as a smock is not cross dressing. It's a cheap smock.

This is a real common proposition by cross dressers but it just doesn't hold up under any plausible thought.

[Nikki.]

we are on the same page. I was referring to the rare incidental occasion, and the lack of any attachment to it other than filling a functional requirement at that time. poorly written on my end.

[ReineD]

OK. lol. Hope you don't feel pounced on.

I guess a few of us wanted to nip it in the bud. We do have many newcomers who believe that when women wear pants, they are CDing.

[Nikki.]

Nikki, three comments:


2) Really, your wife borrowed your underwear? I find that super hard to believe. They won't fit, they'd look odd under her much thinner clothes. If true, she's uber-unique.

This is a real common proposition by cross dressers but it just doesn't hold up under any plausible thought.

Agreed except for #2, which is a bit unique- silk boxers from rei I bought for xc skiing (seriously!). I have no idea if she wore them out of the house or not, just that she told me she did when she ran out. I doubt they would show through jeans.
Georgette, I think her underwear inventory levels are fine. she's a busy lady though.

[SIZE=1]- - - Updated - - -[/SIZE]

OK. lol. Hope you don't feel pounced on.

I guess a few of us wanted to nip it in the bud. We do have many newcomers who believe that when women wear pants, they are CDing.

I'm good. It takes a while in a new culture to figure it out. each Internet forum I've ever been on has its own vibe. I've noticed what you've wrote above; that some CD's equate women wearing pants or a male shirt inspired but intended for a woman dress shirt as cross dressing, which doesn't make any sense to me. to me cross dressing has a psychological dimension to it that is related to a gender issue. a gg wearing pants doesn't have any attachment to it other than being a piece of clothing that fills a functional or fashion or other non gender related need.

I'm qualifying the above by purposefully stating "to me". twice.

[Georgette_USA]

Georgette, I think her underwear inventory levels are fine. she's a busy lady though.

I assumed you are out to her as you said you borrow hers ???

Maybe you should help her with the laundry. I hand wash all mine. But I would do a lot of my partners and my clothes laundry.

[Nikki.]

I assumed you are out to her as you said you borrow hers ???

Maybe you should help her with the laundry. I hand wash all mine. But I would do a lot of my partners and my clothes laundry.

yes.

the laundry backlog really isn't an issue. though we both take care of it. as the need arises. except for that one time. when apparently we didn't. because she ran out. and had to borrow my rei cross country skiing underwear. which really is odd that I bought a pair of underwear for cross country skiing. because I'm not really a huge cross country skier. I think it was during my outdoor adventurer phase. come to think of it I have a north face internal frame pack I've only used once. and a whisperlite stove with ultra low mileage. which overlapped my CD phase. which really isn't a phase. or maybe just a very long phase. I guess time will tell.

[ReineD]

I'm qualifying the above by purposefully stating "to me". twice.

You'll do just fine here. Welcome again!

[CarolynO]

My cd'ing started somewhere around age 5.I was aroused by my sister's dress and on impulse put it on.Was caught wearing it too.

Later in 1st grade,i was transfixed by my teacher and the dress she was wearing.I was turned on all day looking at her,and get this.Sooo stupid what i did.After school hours,i snuck back into the school thinking teachers changed back into their own clothes and went home,believing that dress was hanging in the closet so i tiptoed down the hall to the classroom,heard a noise and darted out the door.

That was it until grade 6 when cd'ing began in earnest.

What Reine mentioned in her post(#6) is almost exactly how it happened with me. I think this is simply the way we are hardwired.

[Randee]

I am certain a lot of it begins from some unwitting exposure in childhood gives us our first turn on, and it feels good and we remember it forever.
For me, a girl in my 4th grade class performed a hula dance for us and came into our classroom wearing a black leotard peeking out under her grass skirt. I was captiviated by it and I didn't know why. She looked so good, but for some reason I began to think about being made to wear a leotard costume myself, getting turned on as I mused. Even though my younger sister took dance lessons wearing the requisite leotards and tights, I really gave little thought to her outfit which was a black nylon backzip short sleeve leotard and black tights. I was getting aroused at the thought and at that time I did not understand what was going on. I remember the day I first put them on, coming home from school with anticipation of trying on her leotards. I was tremendously aroused and feeling ashamed about putting on her silky panties but couldnt stop, and continued to slip into the tights and stepped into the leotard, pulled it up, fitting my arms in the sleeves. I reached back and wrestled the zipper in back and I was closed in them!!. Dressing in leotards and tights, sis's and mom's bathing suits and pantyhose gave me tingly girly feeling inside for the first time, and been hooked on wearing these garments ever since, wondering why.

[jacques]

my dressing started when I was young - I wanted to be Robin Hood s I put on a pair of tights!

[Mindy Fey]

I gotta agree with Randee, it seems like a lot of us have this one moment in our early years where it just clicks. For me it was in 5th or 6th grade when I going through puberty and realized that the sunday ads from Macy's, JC Penny and Sears ads had pictures of girls in bras and panties. I would cut the pictures out and hide them under my stereo in my room. I loved seeing these beatiful women in cute, lacy bras and panties. Then one day I wanted to know what it would feel like to wear sexy underwear. So I snuck into my mom's room and found her underwear drawer. I remember how my heart was racing with the excitement, the thrill of doing something so wrong and so sexy. And putting on the panties was amazing, the soft fabric felt so good and the the blue, flowery underwear was so cute looking. And from there it progressed, I told a friend about it and we both started dressing. We would take turns, i would dress up and he would dry hump against me as I lay on my stomach and vise versa. Needless to say, they are experiences I will never forget and crossdressing will always be a part of my life.

[JoselineWalthorne]

Humiliation? No I can actually remember vividly i wasnt ashamed to play with a gender specified toy or game from the begining
My brain didnt process it like that even though i was teased for it. I liked what i liked, I did what i did and never felt ashamed of anything unless i was taken to church. I never felt ashamed of anything, only unclean. after i stopped going to church and moved in with my mom that unclean feeling developed into shame. What made me Grow into CD was playing games where you can choose details of your character and i would always play the girl, later that turned into my alter ego in which i put all the things i was "ashamed" of and lived in that world where i could be that person im so ashamed to be. as time passed this character i made,took on aspects of the real me, or better yet, i became her.
I guess the alter ego i created was someone i developed to end that part of my brain that feels ashamed of being me. Now i am ashamed and get depressed when i have to turn the real me off and go out as a fake me.

( Google translate wont help any of this, and i am sorry)

[sometimes_miss]

As Confucius said, wearing of women's clothes stimulates the same type of pleasurable feeling we get from just being in close proximity to an attractive woman.

Perhaps not so much. Humans actually need the physical touch of another, not just being in proximity with them. I can't be sure, but I've never gotten pleasurable feelings just from being 'in close proximity' to an attractive woman, and I've spent a whole lot of time very, very close to many of them on the NYC subways. though if he feels that, I guess it's possible. Anyone else here get pleasure just by being 'in close proximity' to pretty women, other than the smell of her scent (because that wouldn't be part of the sensation of just wearing female clothing on your own)?

[TheHiddenMe]

The desire started early for me; I can't remember the exact year, but I was younger than 10 and wanted to try on a dress (unfortunately it was too small).

I can vividly remember Halloween when I was in 6th grade and one of my boy classmates came to class dressed as a girl, and I was jealous.

Fast forward a number of years, and a work colleague (ironically, the younger sister of one of my 6th grade classmates) brought in a picture of her son crossdressed for Halloween, and I was jealous then too.

So for me the urges are at around 50 years and counting.

[Tina_gm]

I think I might have answered this, but for me, it started as a teenager. My 1st cognitive moment happened in a bar. I was under age, as was several others in there that night. There was this girl, probably a college girl, and I noticed her sitting at the bar, so half drunk me decided to go buy a drink and start a convo. As I was doing so, I got a sudden feeling of wanting to wear what she was wearing, look like how she looked. I wanted to BE her. Freaked out would be way to mild of a statement for how I was feeling about this. I blamed it on the beer and went straight home. It didn't take long at all for those feelings to start re surfacing. Imagining myself being one of the cheerleaders, I started noticing all the girls outfits.... There the intense denial and repression was started. A battle that waged on for 30 years, one day finally I waved the white flag.

Now, looking back, I was not one of the bigger tougher boys. I was kind of fem but didn't realize it at the time. I had a much better relationship with my father than I did with my mother. I am an only child, and my mother being quite a bit anti social, there were never many people around when I grew up. I was sheltered quite a bit. Had things been different, I imagine I likely would have discovered it sooner.

[SusanCACD]

Wow, this this thread really took off...
As long as I can remember my mother loved to tell stories about what I looked like as a baby and young boy. Our neighbors told her I should have been a girl or the teacher that asked if I was a little girl or a little buy. There were alot of these stories, of course everybody laughed (their are 8 kids in our family) plus whoever she was talking to. I never recalling laughing.......
Susan

[Stephj]

For it started at age 4 or 5 my mom and sister would find me in the lingerie section on the store feeling and looking at all the bras and panties then at age 8went into my sisters room one day and snatch a bra and pair of panties went to my room and put them on I was in heaven wore them for weeks till I got caught childhood memeraes

[CallmeAlice]

As a kid growing up I hated to be called girly and such. But I finally grew out of that.

I do think these kinds of things (for the most part) start in childhood and teenage years, I started to CD when I was 12 so from my view, yeah.

[PrivateXDresser]

Puberty did it for me. I was curious and went through my mother's drawers when I was home alone and was turned on by the feel of her slips. Later, II found my sisters satiny panties, and in high school, I snagged a pair of pantyhose from a friend's house. I'm pretty sure everybody knew it was me, but nobody ever said anything. In public, I was as "normal" as could be. In the 70's, there were the shiny polyester shirts that I did wear in public. I bought some unitards, which I think weirded-out my now ex-wife. That may have been a major factor in the divorce. Everything else has been a secret and still is. I simply love the feel of women's underwear on me and especially on any lady friends I have had. I have never told anyone. It is a fetish, for sure, but I don't know if there is a way to do anything else.

[Sharon B.]

One of my older sister's dressed me up as a girl when I was five and she was nine or ten. Ever since then I have dressed as a woman. I have been caught by the sister that dressed me to start with only to be told by her that I am sick and need professional help. That was forty plus years ago. I often wonder what she would say if she knew I still dress and wear makeup as a woman.
I would be dressed now if it wasn't for dislocating my shoulder and still having problems with it now, hopefully by fall I can get back into dressing as a woman.

[stephambers32]

I don't recall the age I started to think about dressing, but I remember looking at shoes/nylons/dresses when I was very young. Didn't really try dressing until I was in my teens. Than I would start to look at woman's magazines, for pointers on makeup and dressing.

[Anneliese]

I remember nylons and high heels as a kid. That's about it. I don't think I wore anything else until I was in my late 40s.

[Jeri Ann]

For me it was more than a desire to cross dress. As early as I can remember I wanted to be, and felt like I should have been, a girl. I remember praying that God would make me a girl. It had nothing to do with the clothes. I really didn't like little girls clothes that much but would have worn them to be a girl.

Now, of course, feminine clothing is what I prefer, for the look, the feel, and the fit.

The fact that I am a DES son, with every possible complication of that condition, including testicular cancer, may have had something to do with it.

So for me, yes a desire started in early childhood, but not just to cross dress, but cross the gender line which in time involved way more than clothes.

Jeri