There is nothing unusual about transsexuals dressing less or stopping entirely. I never had the wonderful clothes experience some describe. Dressing was always intensely conflicted for me. Yet I too briefly identified as a cross-dresser. It didn't matter what came out or how I felt during dressing episodes (and that is the word I use). After-the-fact, and away from that state, if I thought about it at all – which was rare – the only concept I had was cross-dressing. And even that only came at the point when the identity crisis was starting to balloon. Prior to that, I didn't name it at all.
Then, briefly, I tried treating the issue as if it were cross-dressing need. Injecting false enthusiasm didn't ease the conflict, however. In fact, it became worse … far worse. My identification as a cross-dresser lasted only until I met cross-dressers and transsexuals. That I had little in common with the former and an incredible amount of commonality and resonance with the latter was an instant realization. It is like seeing yourself in a mirror and recognizing yourself for the first time.
