I really wonder, if the desire to crossdress, with ALL gg's wearing long dresses to their feet, would have been as strong, as it is in the past 60 years, with short skirts, shorter dresses, tighter, also, and so much more skin shown, as normal. Interesting. It was a different culture, vastly different, than modern society.
...CDs have been around since the beginning of recorded history.
I have an 1860s newspaper account of three men be arrested in a store after they were found dressed in women's clothing. It occurred on Providence, Rhode Island.
The corsets and stockings (even though they were mostly cotton) would have still been a factor. The shoes were sexy in their own way back then.
Every once in a while you happen to see an old photo of some T-Gurl in The 19th Century. I have also read quite a bit of gay history, and CD's were "in the mix" and hangin' out even back then.
I will guess that it took some real guts to express your femme-self in times of yore! I think The World was probably more antagonistic, and probably more violent. We all understand "The Compulsion." I guess it was just as strong for those ladies, maybe even stronger.
By the way, since this forum has a lot of people of different ages, you certainly see different preferences for different styles depending upon a person's age. How could it have been any different in earlier times? I'll bet their were a lot of Victorian CD's, who got turned on by the feel of whale bone corsets and ostrich feather hats....go figure!
Peace and Love, Joanie
there is record of catamites in ancient times they were either intersexed people or castrated males they were quite popular in brothels in the ancient Greco Roman world.
Also it is known that during the US civil war in Washington D.C. certian brothels had "Delicate young men dressed as Girls for those customers with certin tastes .
So we were around in all times and mostly as deeo in the closet /cloister as many of are are now.
HugsAnnette
"It takes more courage for a man to appear in public wearing a dress than to charge into battle"
Me July 2005
Seeing that there were CD's back then, I'm sure that I would have definitely been amongst them. After all, desiring to be a woman , wear the clothes, walk the walk is essentially unoversal wqith us. Actually dressing back then, as long as you could get the clothes and such, was probably easier in some ways. Covering up your entire body with clothes, particularly your legs and arms would tend to make it much easier to pass. I do have to admit that I am glad to be a CD in the modern era though. Love nylons, toe nails polished, strappy sandals, love make-up and short skirts.
Dawn
An early govenor of New York, can't remember his name, was a known crossdresser, and even had his picture painted in female attire, and that was pre-revolution, and even earlier than that, England had a spy in the Russian court that passed as a woman, and after he returned to England and retired, lived out the rest of his days as a woman.
So yes we have always been a part of society. And Victorians where very kinky behind closed doors, so I would bet there was a lot of crossdressers among them
Tina B.
Crossdressing goes way back into recorded history. There was even a Roman emperor who was a crossdresser(can't remember his name!), so the answer must be "yes". An old word for cd'ing was Eonism, taken from a famous spy who lived a couple of hundred years ago. I think he was French, & used to do his spying while dressed as a woman(look it up on Google!). So I suppose the desire has always been there since the 1st loin cloth was ever sewn together.
I would love to have been there in the 40's. That was one of the best times for womens fashion in my opinion, in clothing and hair styles.
Remember: You are unique. Just like veryone else
I am reasonably sure the govenor in question was Peter Stuyvesant the Last dutch Gov of New Amsterdam which was later renamed by the English New York. he is reputed to have been seen in public dressed this was around 1674
Hugs Annette
"It takes more courage for a man to appear in public wearing a dress than to charge into battle"
Me July 2005
I think crossressers have been around since the dawn of civilization. Back in the days of cavemen/cavewomen the cd's must have had a hard time differenciating between a male animal skin and a female one but I think there was a difference even way back then. We have been around forever and will be around forever. We are a part of human nature, always have been and always will be.
Research says that we have always been around and probably always will be.
The problem is that most of us fear (myself included) public ridicule, and the possibility of being ostricised, so we remain largely in the closet!
The one thing that has intrigued me the most about transgendered history is the Native American concept of the Two-Spirit. When a boy showed traits of wanting to play with female things or to do what was associated with the work of a female, he was given a test to determine his future. If he had shown to be "female", he was raised as such. Many Two-Spirits became healers in Native society and were looked upon as important members of the community. Fascinating.
Last edited by valenstein; 09-10-2008 at 09:07 AM. Reason: typo
Anyone remember a book called "The Alienist" by Caleb Carr?
It was a mystery set in Victorian period New York. It revolved around the murders of cross-dressed boy prostitutes.
Originally Posted by Tina B.
I've never heard that about Stuyvesant - and I've heard quite a bit about NY history. I think the governor mentioned is the one I spoke of here:
http://www.crossdressers.com/forums/...or#post1379472
But why is the rum gone?! - Capt. Jack Sparrow[SIZE="1"]Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl[/SIZE]
Why is the rum always gone? - Capt. Jack Sparrow[SIZE="1"]Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest[/SIZE]
Why is all but the rum gone? No, the rum's gone too . . .- [SIZE="1"]Pirates of the Caribbean: At World End[/SIZE]
[SIZE="3"]Lex on the Beach[/SIZE]. . . [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
See if you can find in a big library somewhere a three volume set called The Psychology of Sex by Havelock Ellis. He was a late 19th century psychologist, and one section is called Eonism, where he provides many detailed case histories with testimonials of men enamored of crinolines, corsets, and silk stockings. My mother had that set, and I got a lot of pornography-like pleasure from it when I was in junior high school. The late Victorian era was perhaps crossdressing's finest hour with the greatest available variety of feminine frillery.
Story of my coming out:
http://www.bliss-fire.com/ComingOut.htm
All societies since the beginning of recorded history have had crossdressers and they are in all countries and tribal cultures. The Romans,The Greeks and The Egyptians had groups of them among the wealthy and the aristocracy. The very first business which catered to crossdressers was in Paris in The 1860's. I think it was kind of a meeting place or makeover salon. There was a CD congressman about 20 years before the civil war and one of Teddy Roosevelt's roughriders was a crossdresser.
I'm certain I would have still crossdressed even back then. Probably might have even been a spy for the Confederacy, doing my best to stop them yankees from getting to Richmond(It would have worked, too. They would have seen me and went running in the opposite direction
But, just from seeing different period clothes from that era, I can say if I was the same as I am now, just alive back then, I definitely would have still been a crossdresser, and loving it.
I would have!!!
I,m sure i,ve lived before and i,m sure i dressed in female clothing. So if i wasn,t a woman, i must have been a crossdresser
Yes but you probably would wear a gun also.
Angie
You must be thinking of Lord Cornbury... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_...l_of_Clarendon
Glenda
Yikes! Imagine shaving your whole body with a straight razor!
'Course before we got all interested in clothes that revealed bare arms and legs, women didn't necessarily bother with depilation...
I just love the Victorian and Edwardian attire.
By the way, some may find this an interesting read. Sort of relates to this post.
zagria.blogspot.com...a gender variant biography
No closet is big enough!
I think 150 years ago was when Virginia Prince was born.
I don't know, back then can you imagine shopping for female clothes and such? Gyod our sisters from back then must have had it really rough. Support groups were probably unheard of. Buying over the web had not come along yet, religious convictions were much stronger, people stayed home a lot more [meaning the ol lady would be home all the time]
I don't think I would have. I don't know how they did it. Our sisters from years ago must have had guts that we could not even imagine today.
It takes a true Erin to be a pain in the assatar.
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