There's a lot to be said for the happy place. For me, I'm unaccustomed to dealing with anything but the most pleasurable things in life when I'm dressed. Unhealthy? Maybe. It is quite an escape that I find in no other activity. It certainly gives me an unrealistic association with all things female.
In all my years of cding, I can only remember one similar situation, and it wasn't with my wife, which would have made it worse. When it happened, I became hyper-aware of all my feminine affectations. I could practically feel the lipstick on my lips. I could feel my earrings stabbing my ears. I could go on and on about every little thing. Moments before I had been happily strolling throught the mall, feeling ever so pleased about my very feminine presentation, and reveling in the same things that now seemed foreign, yet still an inescapable part of me. My posture, my gestures, my voice. It all seemed very incongruent, and I wished it wasn't there.
When I'm dressed, I enjoy being softer, a little more vulnerable, friendlier, nicer. I'm not used to dealing with negative emotions while dresses, and don't want to.
I remember that during this incident I got flashes of myself, as if I were on the outside looking in. A few moment before I would have seen myself in a very feminine and flattering light. At that moment, I saw myself a an angry man in a dress.
If there's really such a thing as pettitcoat discipline, I imagine that this is one reason it works. Speaking from experience, one can pretty quickly begin to feel pretty ridiculous exhibiting this type of male behavior when femininely attired.
