The first time you heard or read about....

[GeorgeA]

I'm a little surprised that no one so far mentioned the "Barney Miler" show where each man would crossdress as a bait for muggers. Some of them did a very good job of it.

[Vicky Peters]

I have been dressing for a while, thinking I an the only kid dressing in women's cloths. Than Flip Wilson came along but more important to me was the monthly Variations stories about dressing.

[Lea]

The first time I finally understood completely that I was not alone and that there are crossdressers was a Phil Donahue show. That show helped me so much. Thanks Mr. Donahue.

[Wasp]

For me it was South Park... there was an episode where Mr. Garrison gets a sex change operation and they actually showed the operation. I had no idea at the time that it was a real thing and just thought I was weird for wanting to be a woman. I immediately googled “sex change” after that and discovered that it was real and that people did undergo surgery. Then I found YouTube videos and watched as you tubers underwent transitioning. I started watching Ru Paul’s drag race, listened to How to be A Girl, followed Janet Mock on every social channel possible. Anything I could do to see that I wasn’t alone after that

[Abbey11]

In the Uk there have been many Television entertainers that dressed as women such as Danny La Rue, hinge and bracket, john Iman, the Two Ronnies. The Person who had the biggest influence on me was Rupaul, the the first time I saw her, about 20 years ago, I was just in awe and love her to this day, very glam and owns it!

[Cheryl T]

The first sex change would have been Christine/George Jorgensen, but I don't remember the date. As far as Cd'ing goes, I thought that I was the only one for a time. It probably would have been some of the comic actors who dressed as humour that helped me realize that I was not alone.

I believe that was in the mid 50's and she was the first I had heard about anyone going from male to female in any way. At that time I was already wearing my mom's things and thought I was so alone in the world, that I was the only one like this. She helped me feel better about myself and then later on seeing more about it in my teens definitely helped keep me sane.

[StephanieM]

I learned about CDing when I was 5, my dad came to pick me up from my biological mom's house to live with him and my stepmom and they told me about his "hobby".

As for TG, I heard Rene Richards on the radio in the car while riding with my folks somewhere in the early 80s, the car had an AM radio only and it was on a talk station.

[Richelle]

For me it was when the movie about Christine Jorgensen, came out in 1970. Although I had already tried on my sisters clothes just hearing about this movie made me start to think about being a woman. It has taken 45+ years to act on it, but I now acknowledge that I am a transgender women

[CONSUELO]

It was in the 1950's and I read about a man who underwent a sex change operation. He had been in the Royal Air Force and was called Robert. He made the slight change in name to Roberta. I just remember being fascinated by that news. I must have started dressing in lingerie by that time but I cannot remember making a connection between my dressing and what Roberta was doing. What was interesting though is that I really took a strong interest in that piece of news and I remember reading the articles over and over.

[Brenda Freeman]

My first real knowledge about sex change surgery would have been Dr. Rene Richards. I had seen crossdressing from Flip Wilson shows, and others but actual surgery was new to me.

[BLUE ORCHID]

Hi Becky , Probably it was the DEAR ABBY column in the news paper .>Orchid......

[marlacd]

I was like many others that thought I was the only one that wanted to wear women's clothing. I didn't hear about Christine Jorgensen at all. I saw the Michael Salem ads, but I really never put two and two together on that. What did, was being on vacation in New Orleans. I was 17, and with my parents in the french quarter one evening. One bar was having a drag show, plus one that was transitioning. They were advertising her as an attraction. She was out on display, on a stool, as others were busy hawking the show to people passing by. My parents, being observant, had shuttled me acrossed the street. But I still got a good look at what was going on. The original plan was to go walk the French Quarter after we went to some band playing dixieland music. After that was over, I was very neatly told that their really WASN'T anything to the french quarter, and we went back to the hotel. The two days there got cut off and we left the next day.

Guess I never thought about it before now, but my parents were really good about telling me nothing about women, dating, and relationships. Both went to their graves not really seeing me date. (Or getting married, for that matter)