Quote Originally Posted by MichelleDevon View Post
The answer to both is "I didn't"

Before the internet I thought it was just me, I genuinely had no idea that this was something with such a worldwide appeal. As a measure of my naivety I came across a forum at a stockings website which was entitled "CD/TV Issues" - as I have recalled elsewhere I couldn't for the life of me understand what stockings had to do with compact discs and television!!!!! The rest, as they say, is history.
I think of my generation as exactly 3 years right behind the tech boom. Internet started showing up everywhere right after I graduated high school.

The effect of tech on LGBT rights cannot be understated. A good chunk of people suddenly started realizing what they might be. Not only were the ideas out there, there were pictures, people clarifying what a huge variety of orientations actually existed (not just gay or "normal"), dogmas were questioned, etc.

The idea that I could be a crossdresser was inconceivable, even though I had being guiltily indulging in it since age 10. I wasn't attracted to men, after all. Plus if I was a crossdresser, OMG I might be on the path to becoming sex criminal. Or get AIDS from masturbating.

Seriously, living before and after internet is a trip.