I don’t have a female alter ego

[TolerantCD]

Hi.

I noticed some people here have come up with names and have personified their alter egos.

That seems not to be the case with me, I have no female alter ego, or not yet at least.

Is this because my cross dressing is due to the fact that I have a cross dressing fetish? Or is it just that I have now yet fully developed depth and experience in cross dressing?

[Charlotte-Jones]

I don't really have an alter ego perse.
Its more of a pseudonyme i suppose. I very much feel like myself expressing myself in ways I wouldn't otherwise when en femme.

For me, irs more of a tool to compartmentalise it all if that makes any sense.

Charlotte is simply what I call myself when dabbling with dressing etc.

[Lana Mae]

Lana Mae is just to ID my feminine side which is part of me! It defines the feminine me! Dressed as a lady would you want to be called your male name? Think about it! Hugs Lana Mae

[Girl]

I've known from a very early age that Lisa is really who I am. I don't think of her as an alter ego, all of me is Lisa.

[Robertacd]

I don't have an alter ego,

I don't have a woman living inside me.

DRAG or DRAB, I am the same person, with the same thoughts, fears, and desires.

My forum name is just the feminine of my real name, with CD tacked on the end because I am a crossdresser.

[Jaylyn]

Same with me as many on here my name on here is just my femme name that I use. It is me when in female mood, and dressed. Jethro just doesn't sound femmine so I use Jaylyn. It's not an alter ego but just me.

[GracieRose]

Not necessarily an alter ego.
It's just me trying to find myself buried under 60 years of suppression.

[TolerantCD]

Hope you have succeeded and your real self has surfaced and is alive and well

[Steph_CD_62]

I do not have an alter ego either, I don't even have a female name I call myself.
I just love the feel of women's clothing and I am much more relaxed when I am dressed.

[MarinaTwelve200]

I don't either----I call my alter form "Marina" but only for purposes of communication and convenience. My MALE self is my "REAL SELF"-----Being an ESCAPIST CD I use CD simply to "get away from or "take a vacation from my real self", every so often to relax and unwind
Its interesting how us CDers are generally in TWO camps. "Escapists" who CD to get away from their "real Selves" and The OTHERS (Don't know what to call them)who CD to BECOME their "Real Selves" (Like "TS Lite", so to speak)

[Valentina_Rossi]

Hi!!!!

@Marina: I think i actually belong to a third category: I dress to express my female side, but it is neither an escape from self, or my "real" self. It is more like another part of me - but myself in the end - with different qualities heightened.

I actually think that names have quite some power: they can be used to define or describe precisely something that was nebulous, and by that, give it a concise quality.

In my case, my feminine personality cristalized - from a hazy set of feminine qualities - once I found my name. One could argue that it might have been the other way around. But I am a romantic, at heart❤❤❤

Love love
Val💋

[dana digs sweaters]

Alter ego? Why not? Go for it!
Presenting in public as a woman? Kind of need a name to go with your looks.
Hiding behind a keyboard? Endless possibilities as one desires.

[docrobbysherry]

Tolerant, after stumbling onto this site after 10 years of dressing in a complete vacuum? I waited 3 years expecting my "female side" to appear!

As it happens, I don't have one! Then, I thot I was simply a CD who gets off on dressing! Until I began going out with other T girls to events around the country. Where I discovered a commonality with almost all of them and no interest in sex at all!

Turns out I seem to have a female spirit. Or, so I've been told.

My point is; if u dress for a long period of time, and your desire and presentation keep increasing in intensity? U have some sort of female identity! Whether u r aware of it or not!

[Solange]

TolerantCD: I doubt there's a single answer to your question. I actually have several alter-egos. I suspect it comes from writing erotica and creating characters. Dressing up is a creative expression for me and I luv to explore. But being femme is simply part of me.

[Yukihime]

After many years of playing as female characters on online games, a certain amount of persona development was to be expected...

That said, characterization of my female side is, as another sister mentioned, a convenient way to compartmentalize the entire thing, so that it doesn't overlap into one's male life too much as to cause problems. I've already accepted both sides of me as the same person.

[Felicia M]

Honestly I didn't really think of a name for my alter ego or feminine side until I found this site and started lurking here over a year ago. And then it really hit me how awesome of an idea that was "to name the
feminine side of me". I toyed with several names but Felicia really stuck and I find now that the name and the feelings she engenders continue to grow and surprise me. I would recommend to begin searching
for a name that you feel fits the essence of 'her' soul and see what captures you. Truly a lovely experience.

[Sami Brown]

According to Marina, I am "TS Lite". I feel that the name Sami personifies my real self. For the record, Sami looks and sounds nothing like my given name.

My path to the name came after discovering my real self, rather than needing the name in order to to feel real. It's like icing on a cake. I needed the cake before I wanted to choose the right icing, the one perfect for my cake.

Sami

[biancabellelover]

Hi TolerantCD,

For me, Michelle is not so much an alter ego, but a female version of myself. When I’m dressed I’m still the same person with the same values, morals, tastes, etc, but expressed in a more feminine way. So my female name is an adaptation of my male name.

For some it can be an alter ego or an escape from themselves. Everyone is different, as you’ve seen from some of the responses already.

But names can be powerful. If your female side IS an alter ego, think about who you want to create.

Michelle.

[Ceera]

Quite a few guys like cross dressing, without feeling they are in any way female themselves. They may simply like the clothes, with no sexual connection. They may have a fetish for wearing women's clothes, and get turned on by it. But either way, they still identify firmly as male. They probably don't feel any need for breast forms, wigs or makeup either. For them, there is no need for a feminine persona. (Or vice versa, gender wise, for women who prefer male clothes but still identify firmly as female.)

Others, like me, feel they have a partial or completely feminine mind, despite having a male body. In addition to wearing the clothes, they try, as best they can, to look and act reasonably well like a cisgender woman, when they are seen in public while dressed. Maybe, when they dress up fully, they can pass in general public situations as a cisgender female, and maybe not. Maybe they want to transition fully so their body matches their mind in gender, or maybe not. But they feel better talking about that side of themselves, or introducing themselves to others, when they use a name that matches their gender identity or presentation. If you are approaching passability in your female presentation, it kind of blows it when you say your name is something clearly male, like Robert or George. Being Roberta, or Georgette, or Amelia (something completely unrelated to our male name) makes the transformation to female more complete. (Or vice versa, gender wise, for women who prefer male clothes and presenting fully as a male.)

I go out in public a lot, and pass or at least am fully accepted as being female. I do my best to look, act and sound like a cisgender woman, and I believe I succeed. I hope now to eventually fully transition to female, legally and surgically. Even though I have a unisex given name as a male, I chose a very different feminine name to differentiate my life as a woman from my former life as a male.

[Beverley Sims]

Maybe you are not far enough down the track yet.

The requirements for cross dressing is to obtain a stash of womens clothes you might like to wear.

Forget all this alter ego stuff.

That's for theorists.

Get dressed and get on with it. :-)

[Becky Blue]

I dont have an Alter Ego so to speak... I am one person who has duality of gender, I am mostly male on the outside and more female on the inside. Becky is me, I just have to hide her away quite often.

TolerantCD, for almost 30 years I was like you, but then very suddenly everything changed and since 2005 I have been like me, you may well stay where you are or your Female side may well emerge one day.

[Queen Bridget]

I don't either. My name here was just randomly picked so I didn't have to use my real one.

I don't change my personality or voice when dressed either. It's still just me, only in a dress and wig.

[Micki_Finn]

The name is just part of the presentation. Kinda jarring to get all pretty then having to introduce yourself as “Bob” or whatever. Being a CD does not require a split personality. Honestly, I feel like the girls who refer to their fem selves in the third person are often “playing it safe” by keeping things at an arms distance. When I dress it’s not to become someone else but to express a part of myself.

[StephanieH]

I suppose I'm two sides of the same coin. I'm never fully separated in either mode, but when I'm dressed I do feel very much different than when I'm not. When in guy mode, however, I find myself all the time critiquing other ladies for wearing the wrong shoes or clothes or doing all sorts of crazy things, and my wife thinks that's terribly amusing. I do too for that matter, I've always done it and it wasn't something I was aware of until she pointed it out, and now it's just kinda' funny.

When I am in full-bore Stephanie mode, however, I definitely see the world through a different set of lenses. Unfortunately, "full bore" mode is very rare indeed.

[Stephanie47]

Interesting comment by Marina (#10) and Sami (#17)...."TS Lite." A counselor I see for combat related PTSD holds to the concept that each man or woman has component of the opposite sex within his or her dna. In some it is greater than others. For me that may explain many aspects of my life through seven decades. Sometimes I am more comfortable with beliefs and actions more represented by females in our society than males. Sometimes the male dna dominates. I see wearing women's clothing as a way to aid in expressing that female element inside me. It's not a fetish. It may explain why sometimes I am totally comfortable wearing my favorite retiree attire of cut off shorts, tee shirt and no socks, and, other times a pretty dress, hosiery and heels.

It would be logical for purposes of self expression to adopt a feminine name. Stephanie is the feminine of my male birth name. If I was born a girl I would have been named after my grandmother, Stefi. Since I dearly loved my grandmother I am honored to adopt that name.

Although I may look like a "man in a dress," I feel like a woman in dress.