Crissy,
So true!
Davina
I think one is never totally alone but applied to us girls life can feel very lonely indeed, yes being able to know like minded sisters is a boon and takes away completely the feeling of "Am I the only one?"
Any body is welcome to pay a flying visit to my little haven of dressing tranquility here in the very depths of rural south west France.
I started life a lost man now I am a found woman
I remember when I was in college that I read an article about crossdressing in Playboy. The article had sarcastic overtones, but reading the needs to crossdress from the interviewees resonated loudly. I knew exactly what they were saying & feeling.
Like Crissy and others, I remember seeing small ads in the back pages of Penthouse and maybe Platboy for Michael Salem’s Boutique in NYC. The ad was a drawing of a very androgynous looking young person obviously dreaming of a nice looking female in lingerie. I was fascinated by it and I thought that, yes, there might be a few boys/ men like me but it must be such a very few and given the small size and subtle tone of the ad, it struck me as something that only a CD would be interested in. Not something that “real men” looking at the rest of the magazine would be interested in. In fact, I took particular care not to look too closely at that small ad when other guys were around. I never got to go there. Later, in the early days of the internet, I became aware of a publication called TV/TS Tapestry. It may still be around. Again, I still thought our population was quite small. It was not until the advent of high sped internet and google and even this forum that I began to realize that there are more than just a few of us and even some in our own state and town.
October 1988: Philadelphia Magazine published an article by Carol Saline called FUNNY GIRL about Renaissance Transgender Association and one of its founders. Game changer for me. Wish I could find an online copy of that article. Foolishly threw it away years ago in a purge.
I have to admit that getting into this forum became my 'other' person who crossdressed. Until then it was either a fad or a fetish, including for myself. Now I see how many people there are that crossdress, and how many of them aren't automatically gay. I also see that my concern for human rights has exploded due to the injustices done to many of our ilk in the LGBTQ community.
There was an article on transexuals or transvestites in Life magazine in the '60s that made me aware that there were Crossdressers out there. I had very little experience with it at that time but I tried on my first dress around 1966 for some reason (and found it very exciting).
Next there was an article in our local newspaper (or it might have been the Detroit Freepress) about guys that got together with other guys at special events where they all cross dressed completely for the weekend. I remember one of them say that they just had a different pastime than most guys.
It's not so much that I didn't feel alone anymore. It was more like I wanted to be one of them and felt that I would some day!
"You're the only one to see the changes you take yourself through", Stevie Wonder
In the mid 90’s I came across across a CD internet blog from a married crossdresser named Heather. I can’t remember the website name but it was something like “Heather Crossdressing Heaven” or something like that. She was from Colorado and would post stories about traveling to Greek islands (Mykonos?) as a female couple and have the best times, including bikini photos!
Then many, many years later I saw her (and her wife) at a club in Denver and very shyly approached them. The website was long gone but I wanted her to know that her stories of going out dressed up especially with her wife, really inspired me as a young crossdresser. They were both amazingly sweet and even gave me their phone number!
Last edited by Lux; 07-22-2019 at 09:11 PM.
In 1966, at age 9, I came across a review in Look magazine about Harry Benjamin's breakthrough book, "The Transsexual Phenomenon." That was the first thing I'd read about TG issues that suggested there were others like me. Even by then, though, I was already vaguely familiar with Christine Jorgenson's story because my mother had mentioned it to me at some point. And I had already been dabbling at crossdressing for a few years by then.
Oddly enough, within a few months, my grandfather actually bought a copy of Benjamin's book and left it out around their house while he was reading it. I sneaked glances at it a few minutes at a time until I had eventually read the whole thing. I've never been quite certain why my grandpa had that book but looking back, think he may have had some TG tendencies of his own. It was never discussed in the family, however, and he died when I was 14 so I never had the opportunity to bring it up with him.
- Diane
Diane, thanks for refreshing my memory that it was Look magazine rather than Life. I just found Harry Benjamin's book in a downloadable PDF.
"You're the only one to see the changes you take yourself through", Stevie Wonder
It may have been on one of the two or three occasions when my parents caught me crossdressing. My Dad brought out out several articles from our newspaper and Time magazine, all talking about criminals! disguising themselves as women!!
I didn't get the realization that there were more of me from that. But later on I found other magazine articles that (thankfully) were more supportive.
I started experimenting with my sister and moms stuff around age 13/ I though i was the only one on earth with this "perverse" problem. I thought i must be weird, and I think my sister and mom realized i was getting into their things, but they said nothing, except that i needed to see a shrink. My dad also must have known, because he also said i need to go. I heard that men who wear womens clothes were homos, queers, fruits, faqgots, etc. I knew black comedian Flip Wilson did his crossdressed comedy Geraldine skit on his show, and i heard about Renee Richards. But i finally got the internet in 2002, and finally did a search on CDing, in 2005 and found this site. I was scared to join for a while, though.
First time I saw anything about it was in a Penthouse forum mag my Uncle had. We went and visited them, I found it and was blown away by the story.
First time in person, dept store when I was buying some panties and looking at bras. Remember the SA telling me that it seemed like more and more men were wearing panties now. She's the one who told me to just be honest, let them know it was for me, better experience and fit that way. Ha
I'd have to really think about it but I do remember seeing crossdresser stories in both Penthouse publications FORUM and VARIATIONS. Along about that same time, I ran across an ad from Michael Salem. Hmmm... a set of gingham baby doll pajamas for boys who wanted to be girls? THAT really got my attention.
Lacy PJs
I think I've always realized that there were other people in the world who cross dressed, were girly or more manly than they "should" be. I'd like to think I was mature for my age, and this revelation came naturally. I'd never met anyone in real life who would confirm that other cross dressers existed though. It really hit home when I went to an all night Wal-Mart to shop around. It was prolly 3am and I approached the only line that was open. I had picked up some panties and who knows what else and the female cashier-someone sort of my age said "Those panties really feel good, don't they?" I was floored. I mumbled "Yes, they do" with the sudden realization that we both knew they weren't for my "girlfriend". She knew I was a cross dresser and I had admitted it.
I always knew I wasn't the only boy who wanted to dress girly. I am thankful for having a place I can talk about it.
I recall around the age of 13-14 being a bit confused about myself when I came across the term crossdresser. I don’t remember where and how I saw the name but once I did I knew it applied to me and knew I wasn’t alone. Fast forward a few years (later teenage years) and I started looking up the term on the internet, and came across dozens if not hundreds of cross dressers posting their pics and creating their own websites. And here I am today.
I have been dressing for as long as I can remember but I was so confused about who I was and I felt so alone. This was in the pre internet days and no one to talk to.
I was at the library one day and while nervous went through the card catalogue and found one book that mentioned transvestites. I read that section of the book. A clincal book did not help.
I still felt so alone about who I was, what I wanted or where I would end up. After puberty hit I was even more confused as how could I like girls but also want to dress and act as one.
Then one day after school Phil Donahue was on tv. My parents both worked second shift. He had married crossdressers on the show. That is when I figured out who I was and that I was not alone. This would have been during my high school years. That show was a blessing for me.
hello Stephanie,
I did not realy realise that crossdressing was normal until I found this marvelous community.
luv J
Back in the 60's when I was an early teenager I wondered why I was so different and liked to dress up in my mother's clothes and pretend I was a woman. Thought I was the only one in the world who liked to do this. At the time, and all of my life, I have been very boyish and did all the boy things, Athletics,outdoor games, didn't like anything girly other than the clothes and looking like a girl. Then I read an article in an Ann Landers column about boys who liked to dress in girls clothing and learned that transvestites were not uncommon. To this day it's about the same. Like doing man things and not girly things other than the clothing and how I feel when dressed.
I remember seeing crossdressers or maybe they were Drag Queens on day time talk shows like Phil Donahue back in the early 80s. I remember trying to watch but not look like I was watching what was on TV I would have been like 12 at the time. I had no clue.
Later I vaguely remember reading about crossdressing in the Playboy forum.
It was not until I joined this site that I really felt like there were others that were truly similar to me!
@Shayna
"I think it was seeing an episode of Donahue about cross dressing"
Was that the episode where a guy goes to a transformation salon? He walks in guy mode, we see the transformation, then he walks out in gurl mode. Very memorable episode for me in my early days of coming to grips with my CDing feelings.
For me, there were little tidbits that made me feel like I was not alone, but I also felt like a freak at the time too. This was the early days of the internet, so I'd find interesting sites.
I think it was when I finally found this site is when I realized I'm a crossdresser, I'm am who I am, and I'm not alone.
Last edited by tinak415; 08-14-2019 at 05:24 PM.