First, I agree with Michelle (post #107) that it's sad that there is so much hostility on the forum. I have had both good and bad experiences in my five years here, and I'm still here, taking the good with the bad. I used to think we are a community with much in common, but then saw that perhaps we have only one thing in common, that we were born male and now wear women's clothing. There is one more, as others have said: the reasons we dress as we do don't much matter to the ignorant (not stupid, just uninformed) general public which includes friends, family, employers etc., that our behavior is deviant and all that goes with that. The reasons we dress are wildly varied, and some people can't see that. PaulaQ gets it, and her acknowledgement of it got her blasted.Originally Posted by stefan37
The OP is a GG/SO of a CDer. Melissa and April are TS, and their POV is different than that of a CDer. Authenticity is good but may be defined differently for TS than for CDers. I have read posts from more than one TS (on the CD forum) "go ahead, if you want to live your life cowering in the back of your closet, but until you admit to yourself and the world who you are, you will never find happiness". Probably good advice for a TS from a TS, but the CDer POV is different. Yet, because most TS people misidentified themselves at some point to be a CDer, they think they know the POV of the CDer. I don't think so.
I am a CDer who likes to dress for my own pleasure. I am authentic, but other than my wife knowing, I live in the closet, as there is no compelling reason for the rest of the world to know, and I have no reason to be a front-line soldier for the cause of acceptance and for the benefit of others at my expense. Happy to live my CDing life in the closet, so please stop trying to draw me and others like me out for your perception that I need to free my inner soul to the world. It ain't so.
