To what degree?

[Pantyfan]

Evening All!

My question for you is what degree do you dress? How often, and what level of being in public do you dress? How has your dressing changed or progressed over the years?

I certainly have dressed fully before, but thats growing up or in privacy of home. One past GF dressed me up and was really ok with letting me explore. Even this year I?ve gone shopping in leggings and short skirts, but not dressing to pass or be overly fem.

I do have a close female friend I?d like to mention CD with, but dont want to come across in a sexual way at all. She?s seen me in leggings so she knows at least a little bit!

I think CD is a broad term, and wherever you are on the spectrum is great and own it! I consider myself a CD, even though I dont have fake boobs, makeup, or a wig.

It was fun reflecting on my experiences, looking forward to hearing your thoughts, experiences, and wisdom!

[docrobbysherry]

I live alone. But, I still dress all the way or not at all. Whether at home or going out to party with other T's at LGBT friendly venues or at vanilla clubs and bars.


If u even just wear girl undies under your jeans? Your a CD!

[Heather76]

I dress to some degree virtually every day.....at home. I wear panties 24/7. I always wear a bra, forms, stockings, and a nightie to bed. Most evenings after supper I will change from drab into a dress, stockings, bra, and forms. A lot of days I will wear a bralette with A/B inserts. I've only been outside fully dressed on 6 occasions now. I'm fortunate that I have a very understanding wife so I can dress at will at home. I don't use makeup and a wig in front of her except on very rare occasions.

[kimdl93]

I would never go part way. When I go out I aim to present as a woman, even if the likelihood is that I will be read.

[GretchenM]

I am pretty much the same all the time. I include some items that indicate a mild female-like expression. These are mostly shirts and tops and mostly emphasize the stereotypical female colors and somtimes include a flowery motif. The flower motif is mostly driven by me being a botanist, but gender also plays into it and perhaps I am a botanist because of my gender identity. If I wear a mask it is a flower pattern mask (I sometimes wear a mask again as airborne diseases are afoot again). I have never been able to understand exactly why all of that is there, but it is real as it is with most of us in one way or another.

I rarely dress all the way and only when I am home alone and do not go out that way. In the neighborhood I am too well known and my wife and I have an agreement on that.

I would also like to point out that even though most of us associate with CD most of us also show signs of gender identity reversal even though they may be mild. If that was not there to some degree it would be difficult to explain the CD aspect. The fact is that if the form of expression communicates some degree of femininity, even though faint, then there is a touch of the transgender mode to the sense of self. That is almost always the motivator in any degree of crossdressing. However, it is wrong to think that there is no female-like gender traits and characteristics present. That is a part of the old gender binary thinking that modern science has shown does not exist and never did exist - in its purest form it is nothing more than an interpretation that results in a distortion of the truth.

In modern thinking everyone has some behavioral traits that are fundamentally characteristic of the opposite sex and gender. That is normal and also necessary for a person to navigate the world. However, the point at which that lapses over into the transgender world is nothing more than a vague transitional zone. If it was possible to assess this clearly one could define a percentage that is needed, but being that accurate is impossible because our identities are constantly shifting around in response to our experiences in our environment. Thus if a person does not want to include that transgender element in their identity it is perfectly fine to do that. But that does not mean it is not there and is affecting some of your behaviors. Thus those gender reversed elements being present is quite normal; what is not normal is for a person to be missing those elements. Studies have shown that is true of, at most, about 2% of the population and even they are not that way 100% of the time.

So, in a practical sense being able to apply the transgender label is really a perception issue. If you are able to sense an identity shift of some kind then you have a goodly number of mixed gender neural networks. If you feel you can't sense it then those mixed gender networks are fewer, but still there. If you feel it strongly and it dominates your sense of who you are at least sometimes then you are probably a bit transgender. If it is constant then you are definitely transgender. But what you do with it is all your own choice and that is a completely different matter.

[Jillcder]

At age 55 I decided it was now or never so I put on dress and went shopping at a mall 7 years later and many trips out in public I feel pretty confident in my female presentation.

[Kris Burton]

I have just begun to go out publicly, and so far I always present completely as one gender or the other. I enjoy the duplicity immensely!

[sara66]

99.9% of the time I am all or nothing at home. Only 100% when I go out.
Sara

[Stephanie Michelle]

I am retired and will dress most days. I do not do makeup everyday. Too much of a pain! lol Have gone out just a few times, mostly Halloween. But have driven at night in the winter.

[Helen_Highwater]

I go what i call PF in my diary, partially femme, pretty much every day. It can range from skirt and top or to include bra, forms and sometimes with wig, heels and accessories. Always sans makeup. Duration can be an hour or sometimes 4. Going out is normally restricted to one entire week every year and then it's a case of 24/7, out and about all day for me.

[Geena75]

Mine is a varied tale. For many years I had dreamed of being able to present as a woman and go out and about. My facial hair kept that at bay for a long time, but I still enjoyed the clothes and might find the opportunity every few weeks when I had the place to myself for a few hours. Then I discovered covid masks, eyelashes and makeup and began venturing out, but avoiding close contact. As I developed on those lines I ventured out more, several times a year and lost most of my fears of interaction. In the last 8 weeks I have shed the facial hair, learned full makeup application, and have really enjoyed going out with little concern of interacting with sales staff. Since my initial plunge 8 weeks ago, I have gone out 7 times, but am gradually slowing things down.

It is a mixed bag, though. It used to take me 10 minutes to dress, then 20+ minutes to do a little makeup, to now when I want an hour to really transform. Really limits when I have time to really enjoy being Geena.

[NancySue]

My being retired with a supportive wife, I enjoy beginning each day dressing. 24/7, panties, bra, (sometimes with forms), and hose. After, it depends. Usually a skirt, pants, a top, etc. I apply moisturizer to my face daily and at night and usually dab on a little makeup, eye shadow, eyebrows and light lipstick along with a flit or two of one of my favorite perfumes. Our small town limits going out and walking around, but when going out for a drive, grocery shop or getting gas, I?m dressed. A couple nights ago, we were out looking at Christmas lights and decided to stop and get something to eat. I did remove my b cup forms and went in. All went well.

[Stephanie47]

With my wife and I both retired, she not accepting, there is little opportunity to "go all the way." I can thank Covid for stopping her from overnight babysitting our grandson at our daughter's home. When I had the opportunity to be en femme, whether in-home or outside the home, it was and still would be all the way or forget it. My wife and I sleep apart due to back pains which allows me to sleep in bra and panty under either a nightgown or full slip. Most days I also wear a full coverage nylon panty under my jeans. I forego makeup and nail polish with the exception of light makeup, if I go out for an evening drive and stroll. Makeup takes too long to apply, and to long to remove. Most women do not apply makeup unless attending some societal function. I figure if I do not look in a mirror I am not going to see my aged face anyway.

[alwayshave]

I wear panties everyday. Other than that when I dress, I dress completely. I dress about 8 times a year. I'd dress more often if I did not have adult children in my house. I go out to hotels, bars and restaurants.

[April Rose]

I live alone and dress at home most days. Over the past few years I have evolved an approach to my gender issues that lets me live with myself, and minimizes my stress. I have recently been diagnosed as having ADHD and this figures into the equation, and really, has explained a lot to me.

I now keep an appointment calendar (I look for the prettiest, most feminine looking one that I can find; to encourage me to use it.) Each day , in addition to Dr. appointments, etc. I write down 5 things that I want to accomplish the next day. Even the most routine things like"practice guitar" or "clean Cat box" or "go to post office". ADHD folk will know why I have to do this; for example; I sat down at this computer to bring up a song to practice but now I am writing this instead.

That being explained my routine goes like this: I wake up, take off my nightgown, put on bra forms and wig, put my nightgown back on and have breakfast. Before getting changed for the day I look at my calendar to see what I need to do. If I need to go out I will wear something easy to change out of. For example today I am in a denim skirt, tights and a turtleneck. When I go out I can just swap the skirt for pants, take off forms, wig and jewelry and off I go. It takes like two minutes, and two minutes to change back when I come home. If I know I am staying home all day I will probably wear a nicer dress, But I still don't bother with makeup unless I'm doing something special. The wig takes care of my dysphoria when passing mirrors.

When I go out to certain venues, like my electrologist, I will dress androgynously, otherwise it's as a "normal" male, except with earrings.

I don't try to escalate or de-escalate my self expression, but rather to accept it as it comes. I see my gender as neither a gift nor a fault , nor an addiction , but instead as something akin to a religious calling. I didn't ask for it, and yet I can't run from it. I sum up my attitude toward it in my signature line.

[jessica33]

I am with sherry on this , all or nothing either at home or in the public .

[Fiona_44]

I am out in public fully dressed 5 days out of 7 on average. At home I am almost always dressed at least partially.

[Cheryl T]

My degree is fully nearly all the time. Sometimes I go sans makeup or wig around the house but usually not.
We go out all the time and I?m very comfortable with it.
It?s changed over time in terms of my style. I?ve become more average and less flashy mostly do to the area we are in and the effect that Covid had on outings for that extended time.

[Andrea Renea]

I dress most mornings. Being retired I have time to do so.

I go to Target Kohls TJ Maxx Ross Burlington Walmart and
the grocery store dressed like my avatar and profile pics.

I also run other errands.

Lots of contact with people. One lady in the deli at Foodlion
loves to chat me up. She says she got concerned when she
didn't see me for a few weeks. She saw me but I was dressed
differently she didn't make the connection lol.

If you dress appropriately you'll have no issues.

[Krisi]

Like many others who have responded so far, I am either dressed "all the way" or not at all (well, dressed as the male that I am). I do wear panties every day and my jeans are from the women's side of the store, but I am not trying to fool anyone or appear to be anything other than male.

Even at home, I am dressed either male of female, not half and half.

[Genifer Teal]

Pretty much all the time I'm being social or even just out and about. My fun way to put it I'm not a working girl. But most people have it figured out at work. The fun thing is it's never really mattered they know about. And things are good at work so it doesn't seem to change much.

I think we all can look back over the years and can't believe some of what we wore and how we look when we went out. I'd be mortified to wear some of those outfits now but I love the smile on my face back then. So much younger such fewer concern s I wore what I wore and didn't give a crap I was happy.

What else has changed? I used to be clubbing on the weekends all the time. Eventually the clubbing that I like moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn and public Transportation at night got worse. It shuts down too early and no easy way to get to many places. Then I moved my fun out to the island to a more appropriately aged straight crowd. This is good still gives me the same outlet close to home. Make new friends. Had a place for a while which felt like my version of Cheers. Covid shut that down and said a lot of places down. So at the moment I'm floundering for a new Outlets. I started running errands and shopping Etc like I said pretty much most of the time now.

[BrendaPDX]

When I dress, I go all out. It may be a dress, skirt, or jeans, but If I am going to do it it's all the way. If I could ever figure out just how to post a picture here I would. LOL

[Genifer Teal]

100? is pretty much my hard limit. I'd say 95 and I might second guess going out. Depending on the humidity I can deal with 90? and very few clothes. Too much humidity in my hair just goes poof!

[Alexandrea]

Im pretty new to the scene but i try to wear panties most days. Im currently at my moms for the holidays so cannot get dressed up but i still wear leggings under my jeans. When im back at home i try to dress up as often as i can and apply makeup at the weekends still need a lot of practice. I did buy some jeggings the other week and went to the store with them, unlucky for me i bumped into my friends but nobody said anything.

I really want to go out dressed up but i need to master my makeup skills and then figure how to talk to people without sounding like a man, i did get dressed up a few weeks ago and walked through my apartment parking lot and back at 3am, that was scary!

[BLUE ORCHID]

I now dress a Couple times a week, and it is all the way,