Crossdressers

Look, there are many kinds of crossdressers.

Some CDs do it for purely sexual reasons because it’s arousing.

Some CDs are “sissies” who use their CDing to satisfy a sexual kink.

Some CDs do it to express their inner feminine selves – for them it’s not arousing at all and more of a way to be comfortable in their femininity. These CDs are almost like bigender or genderfluid and use CDing to express a “second self”.

Some CDs are crossdreamers who fantasize about transitioning.

Some CDs are mixtures of each category.

Some CDs can’t be pigeonholed into a category at all.

From each group of CDs it is possible for their feelings and desires to change as they get older such that they later end up on HRT and socially transition.People grow and change as they get older. Desires change. Opportunities change. Brains change. There is greater awareness now that medical transition is an option for trans women of any age. Sometimes it can take decades to figure all this gender stuff out. There is no one single trans narrative.

Don’t assume that just because someone has a history of CDing that they can’t later on transition and assume a binary trans female identity. Their journey of gender exploration is just a valid as Jazz Jennings or anyone else. Stop the judgment. Stop the holier-than-thou trans olympics of whose more transy than everyone else. Stop putting people into hierarchies. Don’t assume. Don’t judge. Accept. Empathize. Everyone is different.

Coming Out

Big news. I came out to my parents yesterday about being transgender. Since they are very conservative Christians I expected the worse but it wasn’t all that bad. I softened the blow by first just sending a text message and then later they called me on the phone. They were surprisingly calm. No yelling. No loud voices or getting upset or calling me names. They were mainly just confused. I was surprised I didn’t have to explain what the term “Transgender” mean – they were already familiar with the term and in fact already knew a transgender person. I told them they didn’t have to understand why I am transgender – they just have to support and love me.

Their main concerns were my mental health, safety, and whether this was just a phase or “How do I know I am trans”. The question of “how I know” is complex and not easily answered. I think self-knowledge of trans-ness comes in degrees. Some trans people know they are trans from a very young age. They know that something is wrong. That they don’t feel like they were born in the right body. Other people such as myself never experienced intense dysphoria as a young child and still doesn’t experience super-intense dysphoria. The dysphoria is more targeted towards particularly features like my muscles, shoulders, and my beard shadow. I’m still happy with my genitals for the most part. And I have slight dysphoria about my chest – I kind of wish I had breasts. But my dysphoria has been intensifying since I self-identified as transgender. I may not feel 100% like a woman but I intensely desire to be more like  a woman. I don’t know how far my transition will take me right now but I want to stay open minded and not make any big decisions right now.

Part of my knowing has come in stages. It’s been a gradual process of self-exploration. Two years ago I was married and my wife asked me if I wanted to transition or if I was just a crossdresser. At the time I tried to reflect and answer honestly. I said I didnt want to transition. That it wasn’t for me. Was I deluded? It’s possible I was just saying what she wanted to hear. But for years I just thought I was a crossdresser. But I entertained thoughts of dressing feminine more and more. These thoughts become more or less intense over time but starting a few months the intensity really ramped up as to where I was thinking about crossdressing and transitioning quite a bit. And then I watched the Bruce Jenner interview with Diane Sawyer. What an inspiration! That really got me soul-searching. I started asking myself. Am I trans like Jenner? Why did I never realize it until now? Am I a fraud? Am I less trans than other trans people? Does trans-ness come in degrees? Where do I fall along the spectrum? I started asking myself these questions and soon enough I started become comfortable thinking of myself as transgender. It’s actually way more liberating than just calling myself a crossdresser. Transgender is a better explanation for my behavior and my feelings. It makes me reexamine all my memories in a new light.

There is more to say but I will leave it for another post.