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

[Becky Blue]

Recently i was reading a book by Trans woman about her journey. She recalls as a little boy the moment she read about a Person who underwent a 'sex change' as they called it in those days and how suddenly things started making sense.

My question is when did you first hear/read/learn about CDing/Trans/Whatever and how did it impact on you?

We subscribed to a weekly magazine, that you collected and put into binders. The magazine was like a mini encyclopedia. I must have been around 12 or 13 and there was an article. I cannot remember what the article was on, but there was a couple of paragraphs about men who dress as women - called transvestites in those days. The paragraphs included a very small picture of 3 transvestites, the picture was tiny and blurry and did not show much at all. This was the 70's the article was very factual in nature and tone. I was fascinated by this and must have read those few paragraphs 1,000 times and stared at the picture. I don't think at any stage I thought this is me or anything like that, but I was totally fascinated with the concept. I cannot recall if this was before or after I first tried on my mothers clothes....But it had a huge impact on me.

[Gillian Gigs]

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.

[BarbraAnne]

I've crossdressed on and off since I was in 5th grade. I only found out about "crossdressing" when I was 18 and in the service. It now had a name, and I knew I wasn't the only one. I'm 75 now and still going strong, and I'm the director of a Crossdressing/TG support group.

[Kas]

I think the rocky horror picture show was my first exposure to it. It's definitely did not contribute to me wanting to CD (I don't like the transvestite character) but at least made me realise it's a thing men do.

[alwayshave]

I'm wondering if it was the Klinger character on Mash, I would have been about 11.

[Lacy PJs]

My first exposure was probably the Michael Salem ads in some "adult" materials I had acquired from somewhere. I didn't think much of it at the time but do remember that one of the ads had a set of gingham baby doll pajamas and it said something like "For the girl you always wanted to be..." or something along those lines. It was after I was married that I wondered what wearing some of my wife' "frillies" would feel like and since they sure felt good when we snuggled; as they say, the rest was history. But the first item I actually tried on was a turquoise leotard. "Back then," we were the same size and it felt pretty good.

Lacy PJs

[Lana Mae]

I am with Lacy PJs on this! Michael Salem ads in Penthouse magazine! I have a picture in my head of a "man in a dress" from the past and I just felt sorry for him and I am not sure that I ever understood that! Until recently, all the prejudice and what not from that era! It is just such a sad vision of a fellow human being! Sort of a transvestite Aqualung!(if you follow Jethro Tull) Hugs Lana Mae

[Rachael Leigh]

I’m sure I was in my early teens Becky and like you I read an article about Christene Jorgason who went through sex change in the late 60s. I remember thinking is this person me is this what I am.
So here I am now some 40 years later and going into transistion my how time flys
Rachael

[sometimes_miss]

The first gender bending person I learned about, was our neighbor, who was gay. He was effeminate, wore woman's tops, but with men's pants, and women's stockings and women's shoes, and a woman's watch. He also had pearl style necklaces, and bracelets. He spoke with female vocal patterns as well. I was 10 when he moved in next door. I think I was maybe 11 when I heard about homosexuals, and recognized him as such. He was a very nice fellow; he was an actor, with occasional supporting sort of roles, but never high up enough to win any awards or anything. He had a regular boyfriend who stopped by once in a while. Mom would invite them over for holiday meals. So I knew what gay was, and also knew that I wasn't that. The first transsexual I learned about was Christine Jorgensen; that was when I was 13 or 14; I'm not exactly sure what source. Perhaps Penthouse, Playboy, or Forum magazine. That also made me wonder if THAT is what I was, but just as with homosexuality, I couldn't resolve it because I felt males were repulsive, and back then I naturally believed that if I truly were a girl, then why was I only attracted to girls? It simply didn't make any sense, wanting to be a girl, and being attracted to them as well. During my freshman year in high school, my older sister took a class in psychology, and I would sneak her textbook when I could, trying to learn why I was so mixed up. This was in the late 60's early 70's, so there wasn't much about gender role confusion back then in textbooks. Virtually everyone (adults, anyway) only knew two possibilities: Either you were straight, or you were gay. The transsexuals weren't on much of anyone's minds yet; and those who knew about them, simply considered the transsexuals either very, very mentally ill, confused, or just plain perverts. Straight people thought they were crazy, homosexual thought they were gay but just in denial, and I couldn't figure out much of it.
A few years later (around '73 or '74) once I was old enough to venture into New York city by myself, was when I started going to the huge NYC main library to read, and learned more about sexual variation and gender identity. John Money' experiments on the Reimer twins were covered at some point during that time, but I don't think they had released the twins' names. This was probably when they were still minors.
I don't remember exactly when I first read about transvestites; it would have been in my mid teens. The problem with that, was my desire to crossdress had nothing to do with sexual arousal either, which left me even more confused, as at that time, a transvestite was defined as a male who dressed up in female clothing for sexual thrills, which kind of left me out of that category, too.

[DIANEF]

In the UK in the mid 70s we had a hugely popular drag act called Danny La Rue. As a kid I knew he was a guy but couldn't get my head around the fact he looked so good as a woman, and when he came on TV wearing a Las Vegas style showgirl outfit, all I could think about was 'where are his bits?' I also distinctly remember him glancing downwards and saying 'Don't worry, I've got a little bit tucked away' Obviously I didn't get the reference at the time. I'm pretty sure I soon attempted to hide mine, and liked what I saw down there. I first heard about 'Transvestites' in dodgy magazines that would turn up at school, as they do. All the boys were looking at the obvious, but I just wanted to see the articles about the 'trannies'. I was already wearing items of undies at home, but at 15 put on a dress for the first time. I knew then what I wanted to do.

[Jayne44C]

My earliest recollection is some of the women in the family talking about "queens", during a summertime cookout. I thought they were talking about the borough of "Queens, N.Y." I was probably around 8 or so and later found out my two aunts had visited NYC the night before and had seen three drag queens walking the street. I was wearing my mom's things already but, their conversation and comments didn't have any ill effect on me.

[Minnietheminx]

I know i was influenced in a different way to you ladies but as Diane says Danny la Rue was the first i ever saw dressed as a woman as a child but later it was Rocky Horror that really struck me and gave me that wow feeling that i didnt quite understand as was still a young teenager..then Freddie Mercury who i was a great fan of when he did Break Free and dressed in stockings etc. and i knew then i really had a thing for guys dressing Back then we didnt have the internet so i suppose they were all i ever saw or knew of that dressed and didnt really realise that there were guys in reality that did dress until i was older xxx

[Rayleen]

I guess when a teen, reading magasine , first about someone was gay and we saying he was sick attracted to same sex.
It did not turn me on for sure. Then when we were playing with some neighbours, we played dress up games with their Moms girdles and nighties. After that I started to read more about it and when women were visiting Mom at our house, I started envy them because I Imagine being in their cloths and would very much liked it. At first I started with panties and Bras and since then, very much felt it was natural for me.

[Ressie]

There was an article in our local newspaper sometime between the late sixties and early seventies. It was about crossdressers that got together every so often to dress as women and hang out for a weekend. One of them was quoted saying "we just have a different pastime than other men".

I think that was the first I read anything about real life crossdressers. Sounds like it was something like Keystone or Southern Comfort way back when.

I also vaguely remember an article in Life magazine when I was quite young about transexuals or transvestites. I said something to my mom about it and she said, "didn't you know about that?..."

Both of those articles meant something to me. I felt that it was what I wanted!

Just for the record, George/Christine Jorgensen had reassignment surgery in the early '50s! Walter/Wendy Carlos had the surgery in 1972.

[Jen60]

I remember seeing anissue of Esquire magazine in 1967 that had an artical on “transsexuals” as they were termed in those days, with pictures of men who had transitioned. I was fascinated by this article, kind of a “guilty pleasure.”

[JocelynJames]

There was a jerk back in high school that called everybody a “tranny” to see if he could get a rise out of you. I remember thinking “am I . I didn’t really know what I was or the definition of that term.

[Kendalli]

There are two instances that I can think of. The first when I was in fifth grade, my growth plate in my knee has chipped and a bone was growing out of the side of my leg. Anyways, the doctor's office I was going to to get it fixed apparently worked with a lot of trans people transitioning. My mother made several comments about how sinful it was. But I remember being kind of intregued and secretly wanting to learn more. Then again in highschool watching a Billy Bob movie where a trans woman gets murdered, and I became obsessed because I was like "that could be what I am". The trans not murdered bit.

[Trione]

In 1967 I went thru basic training with a guy named Jorgensen, The first Transgender was named Christine/George Jorgensen, So one time we teased this guy about was he any relation, he got real serious and said he was a cousin and the family didn't talk about it. Never another word was said. What a long ways we have come and yet we are still in the middle ages as far as CD ing goes.

[Gillian Gigs]

Talk about a flashback to the old days. I remember those Michael Salem ads and wished so hard I could find a way to order something without getting caught. Alas, I could not figure out how to do an order without someone finding out, so it never happened. I remember those ads in Penthouse when I was in my late teens.

[michelleddg]

I believe my first encounter was Jim Bailey on the Ed Sullivan show around 1965. Hugs, Michelle

[docrobbysherry]

Finocchios in San Francisco in the 60's on a college band bus tour. I assumed they must be gay to dress like that!

[Becky Blue]

Thanks for all the great replies girls

Funnily enough I never connected the concept of transvestites (as they called them) with gays, maybe I was naive about sexual things at that age.. but something in that picture and short few lines really resonated with me. I also didn't see the Danny La Rue type drag acts as the same thing, i simply saw them as actors playing a role..

[Jaymees22]

I went to a party with my parents when I was around 5 or 6. The host of the party told us he went to another party where he had danced with Christine Jorgenson, he said she was a good dancer. After we left I asked my mother who Christine Jorgenson was and she explained to me that she used to be a man.

[nvlady]

I first learned that people could transition when Christine Jorgensen made the news. I was very intrigued by the fact that he could become she although I knew I would never want to go that far. I'm thinking I was only about thirteen or fourteen at the time so that would put it in the late fifties. When I finish here I'm going to google her so I can see when she made the news.

[OCCarly]

I first learned gender transition was possible in 1981 or 1982 when I saw Dr. Renee Richards on television in a “Where are they now—five years later” segment five years after her famous lawsuit. That catalyzed my first attempt at transition. It would take three more attempts and thirty five years for me to succeed.