This is an interesting slant on a recurrent theme. I am a cross-dresser, and get no sexual kick out of it. I do get a 'buzz' from it, and going out and ACTING as a woman and getting feedback, though the buzz declines with familiarity. Lots of people get a buzz from acting, it is just that my stage is different. Though I love being praised for my womanly walk or my outfit or being called "she" that is feedback on my acting skills and my taste in clothing - at no point do I imagine I am a woman.

My clothes are womanly, elegant, and sometimes expensive. I have had my colours and style done, so that I do this as well as I possibly can. Everyone who likes clothes wants to look as good as possible in them. I don't like pink or frills, or Kath Kitson prints.

Some women almost lust after certain clothes. Are they sexually motivated? Perhaps the wide choice of styles and fabric in womenswear has an attraction that is gender independent. At home I don't wear a wig (ever) and my only make up is a very rare application of lipstick - because I quite like th feel of it on my lips. I always wear a bra and forms with the clothes (and the clothes are never trousers) which is more difficult to explain to myself. Yes, it makes the clothes look better because they were made for this shape, but I admit I like the feel of a bra and boobs.

If I could wear all the clothes (without the bra and forms) as a man, get feedback on how I look,and have my skirt blow in the wind and hear my heels clicking on the pavement, that would go at least 95% of the way to meeting my needs. I would not have to walk like a woman or wear a wig, but neither would I swagger like I do in a kilt - clothes alter the way you move - women often walk more elegantly in a skirt than trousers.

It is not about being feminine. It is about the clothes and looking good in them. Women tell me I look better in skirts and dresses (even as a man) than I do in menswear - maybe some people are a better shape for skirts and dresses, irrespective of gender? Again, this is about clothes more than gender.

When I go out (more and more rarely now) I wear make up and a wig, and behave (and speak) in a womanly way that seems to work. It is interesting to be in this place, but I am just a gender tourist. I love dressing like the locals, smelling like them, acting like them, and love to be taken for one. But I never want to move there permanently or become a citizen.

Women's clothes are FUN. Fun to put together an outfit, and fun to wear. Maybe it is as simple as that.