[SIZE="3"]Crossdressing goes back centuries along all racial and social lines. I have Native-American and African-American ancestry. Transvestism and cross dressing was a normal part of many tribes.
Gennee[/SIZE]
[SIZE="3"]Crossdressing goes back centuries along all racial and social lines. I have Native-American and African-American ancestry. Transvestism and cross dressing was a normal part of many tribes.
Gennee[/SIZE]
I'm getting better with age. I may have started late, but better late than never!
"Don't let anyone define who you are".
TxCassie is probably the only person on this thread that I agree with.
Different groups (often divided on lines that are largely ethnic and/or religious) have different stereotypical gender roles which they expect people to conform to, and they have different degrees to which they accept those who do not conform.
That doesn't affect the number of people who identify with other gender traits (just like it doesn't affect the number of people who are gay), but it does affect how people deal with their feelings. It affects how deeply in the closet people are.
People in more tolerant groups have more fluidity to their lifestyle. If you're always around nice, sensible people, you'll come to terms with your feelings at your own rate. If you come from a hardcore fundamentalist Christian family, you're going to be deeply in the closet about your feelings, and you'll either carry that to your grave, or at some point you'll crack and go kinda overboard with it.
Again comparing to the gay community (only in as much as they don't conform to stereotypical roles -- I don't want to offend the hardcore hetero CDs out there), look at the average black gay guy vs. the average non-fundamentalist white gay guy. In the black community there appears to be much less middle ground. There aren't as many "average" gay guys. They're either totally in the closet, or they're way out and super flamboyant.
So there is some difference in different ethnic/religious groups as far as how people deal with their feelings. I don't think that predisposes people to have transgender feelings, though.
You don't think that perhaps it's just that those people have the most opportunity...Originally Posted by KarenCDFL
Nicki
[SIZE="1"]Moi?[/SIZE]
I'm SURE I don't know!
I used love watching Bjorn Bjork play tennis, back in the day. So, he's a CD now?LOLbut what is Bjork doing in there ?
U can't keep doing the same things over and over and expect to enjoy life to the max. When u try new things, even if they r out of your comfort zone, u may experience new excitement and growth that u never expected.
Challenge yourself and pursue your passions! When your life clock runs out, you'll have few or NO REGRETS!
Being involved in the "arts and sciences" is a pretty broad category.
And I'm sure there's a higher percentage of computer people in the online CD forums than in the CD population in general. I'm a software engineer myself, but that doesn't seem all that common. I don't go around asking people what they do very often, but of the CDs that I know their profession, I know a lawyer, a graphic designer, a dog breeder, a forklift driver, a band teacher, a restaurant manager, a factory worker, and a CD who works for an ISP doing mostly hardware stuff. The only other software engineer I know is a transexual prostitute, and we're not close. CDs are all over the place when it comes to occupation.
This is very true as I too am the same way in my heritage. he Native Americans call us two spirit.[SIZE="3"]Crossdressing goes back centuries along all racial and social lines. I have Native-American and African-American ancestry. Transvestism and cross dressing was a normal part of many tribes.
Gennee[/SIZE]
Hi Emily,
I've heard that (apparently??) there is more of it going on in the Anglo American ethnicity than in say perhaps Latino or African American cultures due to stereotypical beliefs of CDing and acceptance of being gay. However, from a personal standpoint, I can't concur. In my "real life world", yeah there are more Anglo American folks in our Sacramento TG group the River City Gems, but online, I have way more friends that come from almost every ethnicity.
From my perspective, I can't honestly say that it is or isn't one way or the other.:
.
The River City Gems - Northern California's largest and most active crossdressing & transgender support group!
In prison, Latinos have been known to kill their girly-men. To defend the race, so to speak.
I am a proud, Catholic, Black CD. There are very few of us though.
Isn't pride one of the seven deadly sins? I'm not proud of the color of my skin or my sexual orientation or my gender identity or my [lack of] religion. That's frightening.
You should be ashamed of your bad actions and take pride in your good actions (if you're not just reveling in past accomplishments), but pride in general is a bad thing. I'm always a little concerned about people who are proud of things which they were born into.
Not trying to accuse... I think some people say it without realizing what they're saying.
For sure, we cross all the lines, on all the maps.But---those here, are the honest ones---those that can see "2020"!
"And if you want some fun, sing Ob-Bla-Di-Bla-Da!"
There's more than one meaning to the word pride. Pride needn't be self indulgence or arrogance or overconfidance, it can also be just a lack of shame.
It's ok to be proud of ethnicity, gender identity, religious beliefs etc so long as you can be respectful of others being proud of their own. That kind of pride is just positive self-love. Especialy of things that are often looked down on unfairly like race or minority religions etc.
I'm proud of my mixed ethnic heritage even if they are all variaties of white but for the tiny bit of distant Carpathian Gypsies centuries back. I'm also proud of my Aboriginal/chinese cousins.
I'm proud of being an atheist when it comes to religion and of being open minded. I'm proud of being able to have friends from various religions and that we can all respect others views.
I'm proud of being a Goth and I'm proud of having friends who are very much mainstream. I'm working on being proud of being a crossdresser and I wish I knew where I picked up my mixed feelings issues on that one to more easilly unravel them.
Some of course lok down on those who are different but i don't think pride is the cause but hidden doubt. Someone firm in their conviction of their own faith for example wouldn't feel they need to condemn other faiths.
It's worth pointing out too that in the past in much of the world we were sacred!
From shamanic ritual crossdressing to transgender priests and priestesses and gender changing gods/goddesses many cultures have considered us blessed or special or sacred!
Gee! I must be doing it wrong! I thought you had to have access to womens clothing to be a crossdresser. How does one wear a computer? I bet it hurts when you sit down. Give me panties and bras instead of keyboards and cpus.
All in fun. Just couldn't resist, Robbie!
I long been interested in gender, gender roles, gender identity, the masculine-feminine dynamic.
As I mentioned that being Hispanic has given me a unique perspective or flavor to my gender role, both assigned and self-identified. If born male, you're masculine status is valued for societial dominance while the feminine is valued for supportive submission.
Anything less that being fully masculine for a hispanic male can be view in some circles the kiss of death in the social circle. While homosexuality is not openly discussed, the culture of machismo requires it to be thinly veiled underneath it's existence. The status of the man is much determined on much more on the gender role than the intrinsic reality of the man. As long as the man assumes the "top", "dominant", or "masculine" role in the sex act, he will be viewed as masculine or "a man". The male who assumes the "bottom", "submissive" or feminine role in the sex act will be viewed as non-manly, female like, and a host of other vanaculars I rather not mention in this forum.
How this transcends to us transgender, quiet logically. The fact we assume the feminine persona, thus rejecting not just the masculine responsibility given by it's own status, we destory our masculine status. In our culture, that's can be the ultimate betrayal of culture, values, and of the natural order, some would say. Accepting our nature and even more significant, enacting it, making it real slaps the "natural order" in the face while at the same time empowers us individually, excites us, and makes us real. The mere fact we, who as males are the natural embodiment of masculine power are in fact, feminine in nature and we dare to assume it by our dressing making our feminine persona real. In my culture, and I would imagine others, it is a major taboo. Yet, in it's culture lawlessness, it is our very rejection of the masucline status that creates the dynamic with the machismo male. Us transgender confirm the status of the masculine male, for we are that which they are not, feminine. One may say, it's the yen and yang of opposites on the gender spectrum.
I'm not an expert, this is just my own observations and thoughts from a life of conflict, surpression, assumptions, masculine privilage, break through, feminine acceptance, and everything in between.
Cassie
With respect to the original question:
I don't know -- but I'd say there is at least a perception of cultural differences.
e.g., one of our local club members is an international student from India. She has made very few meetings or events, but she was at the May meeting, looking very much like my Hindi neighbour -- simple clothing and makeup and wig, but quite effective. I know that more than one person at the meeting was thinking of how brave she was, to dress as she had in defiance of her culture.
But honestly, I don't know a lot about Hindi culture. She did say once that cross-dressing wasn't very accepted in her culture, but it is an old and complex culture that I know far too little about to be able to fairly evaluate.
Having watched these forums for a couple of years now, there appears to be a higher than chance concentration of crossdressers in the military and police. I could place speculations as to why, but not informed speculation. Zephod might ask, "Is it the rubber? The machismo?" but I would ponder instead whether there is a link to feelings of responsibility?
battybattybats:
Yeah, I agree with you. I know pride doesn't necessarily mean utter conceit, but... people who are proud of something in a positive way don't feel the need to advertize it. People who talk about their pride are usually pretty narrow-minded.
For example, in the US there are a lot of people with "Power of Pride" bumper stickers with big American flags, and that generally means that they're proud of their love of NASCAR, proud they voted for Bush, proud to be a fundamentalist, and less than tolerant of those who take pride in different things. There are also a lot of obnoxious people with bumper stickers that say "Proud Parent of an Honor Student." There are a lot of proud Ford owners with pictures of a Chevy emblem being peed on.
If I drove around the midwest with a "Proud Atheist Crossdresser" bumper sticker, I'd quickly find myself murdered by the other proud people.
Sorry to get OT... I'm sure that mentality doesn't apply to epsxyblkm.
As to race or religion I couldn't say. A psycology professer once told me that crossdressing is most prevelant in a family where the mother is a single parent. If this is true then the african-american community should not be counted out. I saw a documentary on PBS about african-american crossdressers and they say you don't see them because of the tough gangster image there. So as for wanting data I would talk to a shrink or maybe check the PBS web site.:2c:
Interesting if accurate, but because of a role-model thing or perhaps having more freedom to try on mothers clothes when she's out? Maybe it's less likely for a Cding child to be abused into repressing their femininity by the brutal conformist masculine parenting that many fathers especially of the last several generations often employed.
Years ago i had the opportunity to live in the Frankfurt area of Germany. I saw a lot of crossdressing going on and it seemed to be pretty much accepted. I couldn't join in with them at the time (sigh).
I don't think that there is any connection, I am LDS and I know there are more LDS CD out there but they are so far in the closet. The thing that bring closer to me is the fact there is such a diversity in the CD community.
Anna,
Pardon my ignorance... What is LDS?
The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints. Also known as the Mormons.
I don't want to insult anybody here about the religion. I am going to stick to the Old Testaiment and the New. In the Old Testiment, Deuteronomy is the main book for the Jewish laws. These laws were passed down for God to the Jews for a better living among themselves. If you read the laws as they are, they are against what was happening in the rest of the world at the time. Crossdressing, TS, and homosexuality. There laws are a code of conduct that everyone was supposed to follow. Jesus came along after many years of living. He states that if you try to follow all the laws of the Old Testiment, you are doomed to sin. His coming was to release us from the old laws and follow your heart to God through him. If we are to live as Christains, we have to take his word that we will not have to follow the old laws to the letter to get to heaven. As long as we beleive in him we will not have a problem.
As for the other religions, I am not sure of their beliefs. I know Asia seems not to have a problem wiiht it as much as the US does. Europe seems to have more outed persons than the US. I am sure the rate of CDs to non-CDs is the same thoughout th world or there would not be so many laws in the religious books writen.
I think that was the chemical we used to take when we were hippies, wasn't it?
hehehe
Or it was what Capt. Kirk said Spock had in one of the movies.
Not that I know of. However there are a whole lot of CD'ers who feel a lot of guilt and sin as result of their religion's views on crossdressing.
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