Is the Pink Fog Really Transsexuality?

[Hope]

There's more to transgendered identity than wanting to dress as a woman 24/7. I can't speak for everyone, but for me dressing isn't even a really big issue. With the exception of a few occasions, what I wear isn't a big factor on exploring my identity (I worry about my hair more than clothes, but that's a different matter all together...) Understanding is the big factor. I understand and accept my female side, and it's a lot bigger than a desire to dress like a woman. The understanding of your female side is going to be there whether you're in a t-shirt and boys jeans or a fancy gown. Trying to keep life and your dreams into the new world you're exploring is the real challenge with transsexuality, not how often you desire to dress like a woman.

You are not offensive at all, and you do not need to apologize for who you are.

I will whole heartedly agree with you that dressing does not need to be a significant part of a TS life, and that there is no excitement in it; that the TS life is about self understanding and to be understood and related to as female by others, to move socially in the world as female. For me that is really the heart of the thing, or at least that is a big part of the diagnostic criteria I use with myself.

Which is essentially what the OP is talking about. The OP asks about folks who "CD" 24/7. These are people who obviously wish to engage the world and be understood by others as female. They may or may not lack the self understanding, but seriously, who do they suppose they are fooling? Being TS is not some sort of exclusive club, and it dose not require surgery to join.

While I would never tell a girl she was TS, if I knew someone who undergoing their own little RLE w/o hormones I might wonder to myself.

[Starling]

For me, the Pink Fog is a state I've been in where my desire to dress overrides almost everything else in my life...and what I'm talking about almost represents an addicted state...

Olivia, you may feel different in a few years. Once dressing no longer gave me erotic excitement but rather, profound comfort, it became clear to me that something more radical was going on in my life. But everyone's different!

Lallie

...I will whole heartedly agree with you [Terraforming]...that the TS life is about self understanding and to be understood and related to as female... The OP asks about folks who "CD" 24/7. These are people who obviously wish to engage the world and be understood by others as female...

Hope, thank you for contributing your expertise and clarifying the point I was making rather clumsily.

Lallie

[Starling]

Charlie, I see myself as a lesbian as well. Although, as I have said on another thread, if I were to undergo HRT and GRS, I might learn to understand why men appeal to most women.

Beyond that, there is nothing exclusively manly about any of the activities you mentioned, although men currently outnumber women in doing them. I see myself as essentially female, but I like to tinker and build things, and I like cars and airplanes and motorcycles. And so does my Aunt Flossie. (Well, that's a lie, I admit.)

What it boils down to is your root identity, Charlie, and if holding onto the male is in there, then I agree you are not TS.

Lallie