You aren't providing enough context about the article. Some women find it exciting to be treated in a degrading manner, or fantasize about such treatment.
Regarding your hypothesis, like many of our friends here, I started dressing long before I was into girls. Later, when I was into girl, I was very successful at it as a child, as a teen, and later as an adult. None of that changed my desire to look like a woman, to be a woman, even if only for short periods of time.
