Mz_Jennys Threads, all in one!!!!

[Khriss]

or "in" the scheme ..the history of female mimicry or drag queens , has been around a long long time , Flip Wilson as Geraldene or "Uncle Miltie" and many great British "Dames" may have softened the image of a man in a dress, but the humor was generally at some gender's expense and not very complimentary.. and issues of a man actualy desiring to dress that way was and still seems catagorized as a sort of sexual perversion so far, by too many (misinformed) people . Some might see Ru Paul and form opinions, while a film like Trans America could open more eyes to some truths ...
I'm not sure..but in my life as a "crossdresser" , I know the internet and this site, have helped me find more peace ...with "who I am " denying perhaps all the times of feeling alone and alienated ..during most of my ( "TV" ? ) life.
...and I'm beyond my youth now .. but greatfull in many ways ! xx"K"

[Tina Dixon]

20 or 30 years ago you were a freak with a fetish, things are bit different now.

[Amelie]

I came out when I was in my teens, and this was back in the seventies. I didn't wait for Al Gore to invent the internet in order to come out.

[Han]

I am 26. I feel that it is a lot easier today for many reasons.
The internet helps. CD's tend to be a secretive bunch, and unlike other out or fringe identity scenes we have never made any load sounds about the discrimination. Well, especially in the UK.

I am speaking as a young'un here. So I could be wrong

[Jannette H]

It's much much easier now than in the 60s. You could be beat up or worse. They thought we were sick or had a medical proublem I'll talk about that later

Jannette

[Katiegirl]

As all the others have said we didn't have the internet when I was in my 20's and many of us had families and then we didn't dress in front of them.

When you reach 40 + you have in many cases less to lose and more confident to dress.

0.02

[Deidra Cowen]

I honestly had no freaking clue that this stuff went on. Ok this is gross but true. The first time I ever really knew that transgendered stuff went on is when I was in my late 20s and saw a ******* Porn magazine in the locker room at work believe it or not. That was the 80s and guys had porn around before sexual harrashment laws and stuff. I knew I had femmy urges but just thought I was bi or gay...and I surpressed all that. Was scared I was a gay guy. Did not realize I really should have been a chick and somehow my brain is wired up wrong for the plumbing I got!!!

I still kinda just thought it was like 1 in a million deal and then it was a sleazy porn thing. But the internet came along and 5 or 6 years ago I started seeing stuff on the net then took a big interest of course. I saw there were cool girls like Renee Reyes, Brenda Glass in Atl, Briania Bryant and yes Eva from this forum that were not perverts and were accomplished people with successful lives.

I first dated some Tgirls with me being the guy then last year said heck with it I am going to dress up. The rest is history. But out at the clubs in Atlanta I see lots of young Tgirls. They are exposed a lot earlier than I was and I envy that they are lining up their lives to be Tgirls a lot earlier than I am.

Not complaining however, the past year has been a very happy one for me. Right now due to needing to make a living I'm a guy during the day. But I'm a chick at night and on the weekends. Its a good balance and enough for now. Might go Fulltime when the kids go to college but who knows.

Sorry you hit my button with this thread and I went way too long on it. :p

[tekla west]

I went to my first drag bar in 1980, joined ETVC support group in 1981. Long before anyone heard of the Net. SF/NYC have had such bars since WWII at least. It was a lot more trouble to find them. And needless to say they weren't in the best sections of town. (I remember my first trip to the Black Rose, I wasn't worried about being caught, I was worried about being killed, robbed, whatever.)

Like so many things, being black, being a woman with a job, being a Cubs fan, minorities are no longer on the outside looking in. Also, behavior deals like being gay, Rainbow Nation counterculture stuff, or voting Republican, marginal social behavior is tolerated in a much greater degree now than it was pre-WWII. The reasons for that are book length, so I will skip them. Just suffice it to say its been a gradual breaking of the damn over the past half century (At least in the industrial West).

From what I see a lot of the girls here don't go out, and this becomes their outlet, and no doubt the internet has allowed all sorts of people who thought they were alone to reach out and touch each other. (Google "FURRY" and see what I mean, yeesh, people think we are nuts.) This is a good thing. And by the time we hit these tender years its become obvious that its not going to go away, you didn't outgrow it, therapy didn't help, drugs didn't destroy it, you couldn't give it up for love - So... What the hell? Might as well sit back and enjoy it. These pages and posts are a way of doing that for a lot of people here.

I work with a lot of groups that have a lot of younger members, like LYRIC, and girls, these boys DON'T NEED the internet. They have grown up in a much different climate and are much more open - and out an about. Also - they are here (on the net) its just different sites where they are in touch with people who are more like them in a generational sense. I can quote the Rolling Stones in here and most of the girls know where it came from, but if I quoted Bright Eyes???? Besides do you really want to listen to crossdresser rap and hip-hop? Didn't think so.

[Trisha]

im 21 just had a hard life lol no realy i was thinking i was the only one like this when i was young i am so glad im not and now my wife knows we do things together moor and even meet people too there are a lot of nice people out there and i think now life is good

[Sally24]

It's alot easier if you start early. Years ago, with little info and not much help it was very difficult to even decide what the problem was. Now there is so much more medical help (hormones, plastic surgury, and of course SRS) and even just retail help (just google crossdressing and see how many devices, pads, clothes, etc.. that you can buy) that you're not alone.

If you talked to most older CDs here I think you'd find that the majority had not talked to another person about this until a few years ago (maybe an exception for their SO). These message boards are making a very big difference for all of us, but especially I suspect for the closeted CD. Just knowing that there are many others out there makes a big difference on your outlook.

Good luck. Most of us would love to be able to have started in our 20's with CDing. If you think you might be TS, this is the time to explore that, not after you have established a male life and family. You might want to read "She's Not There" by Jennifer Boylan.
http://www.colby.edu/personal/j/jfboylan/

[Adrienne Heels]

I'm 52 and just recently started dressing. I always had urges, but it wasn't until this year that I decided to give in totally. Sally24 is right in that this site in particular was a big reason for my deciding to dress. I really thought I was alone in my desires, and when I met all these wonderful ladies and read about the fun they had, I felt so good. And make no mistake, I do feel VERY good about myself and my desires to be a crossdresser. But I do wish I had started much earlier. It is so much fun!

[kristytv]

kathy id love to have a girlfriend who would get into this with me, my search has been in vain as well, i am 29 btw ,this issue tends to scare most girls off

[stef4955]

It seems like most everyone is in agreement......the internet has done wonders for the cd. I am 57 years young, and all I can say is thank God and the people that had the guts to come out and say "This is who I am....If you don't like it, its your problem, not mine" I try to be as beautiful a woman as I can when I am dressed,because thats how I feel inside, like the woman that I have been for so many years. May God bless all cd's for just being who they are. Stef4955

[Melinda G]

When I was in my 20s and 30s, it was still illegal for a man to dress as a woman, in a lot of places. It was also considered queer, or gay.

[michelle19845]

i have been here for around a year.dressed since 12.good times you bet.