For me, women are the center of my universe - period. I have a number of platonic female friends whose company I greatly enjoy, and they seem to enjoy mine equally. Maybe it is because they don't see me as a "threat" who is likely to try to start an affair with them the way a "normal" man is apt to. They don't know that "Leslie" exists, but I am sure that despite this, they sense that there is something "different" about me compared with other men that puts them at ease in my presence, and lets them open up to me in ways they wouldn't otherwise. Like having a gay male friend and fashion adviser, I suppose.

To be honest, my wife is not overly thrilled by the fact that at I am a cross-dresser and would prefer that it just went away. I did not reveal this side of me before we got married as I was convinced at the time that it was just a phase I was going through and that marriage would "cure" me (NOT!). Still, I can't help but think that it was some of this undefinable, je-ne-sais-quoi about me that made me stand out among her previous boyfriends and attracted her to me. I've often tried to explain to her that rather than resisting me on the cross-dressing part, she should look at the positive aspects and recognize that it also gives her the opportunity to have a husband and best girlfriend all rolled up into one if she could just wrap her mind around that concept (think of the shopping possibilities!). No doubt that level of acceptance would potentially eliminate much of the friction my cross-dressing has led to, but my wife had a very traditional and conservative up-bringing with a strong religious component thrown in, and I don't see this happening in my lifetime. She tells me that as a heterosexual woman with no lesbian tendencies, this would be impossible for her to contemplate, and I respect that. After all, this is my "problem", and not one she knowingly signed up for when we got married

And yet..., the younger generation nowadays is much more open-minded about these things and does not see them in such a black and white manner...