does anyone else feel this way?

[Joan Renee]

i feel like im crossdressing when i wear male clothes. i would wear female clothes all the time if i could. i say i do at least 75% of the time. i underdress 100%

[Emily]

I underdress occasionally, and while I do love the feeling, I don't consider it "true" crossdressing. This is just my opinion, but I personally feel that the two terms are very separate. Other girls may disagree, but that's ok... we each have our own definitions, our own opinions and our own style. That's what makes each of us all so unique!

I do agree with you though, that if I could get away with dressing en femme all the time, then I definitely would! I'd say I dress about 40-50 percent of the time - sure wish it was more, LOL!

[Jina James]

Interesting.

Lexi's first paragraph matches my thinking. Her second does not. I have no interest in full time, and I probably dress < 5% of the time and that only at home.

Very nice that we can be different here and get along.

Welcome aboard.

[Heather W]

It is our differences that bring us together under the umbrella of "transgendered" Jina. We all have our own paths in life to follow and the fact we can pursue the path meant for each of us shows how far as a society we have come.

[Ralitsa]

Well I don't feel as though I'm crossdressing when I'm wearing men's styles any more than I feel like I'm crossdressing when I wear women's styles. The women's styles of clothes that I have usually fit better and look nicer, and I feel happier wearing them. That is in my own opinion, of course, maybe other people think I look ridiculous.
At this point I'm equally comfortable either way and what I want to wear depends mostly on what I'm doing at the time. If I'm going out to dinner I'd really prefer to wear a dress, nylons, and heels. If it's a cool fall day and I'm on a wine tasting tour, then I'd prefer a woolen skirt, sweater, and boots. If I'm working in a power plant or refinery then I'd prefer a boiler suit, and of course steel toes are required there. Cutting firewood calls for jeans and flannel shirt. Jeans and a flannel shirt doesn't interest me and doesn't inspire any sort of enjoyment, but that wouldn't be the point.
So I guess the common thread here is that when I'm doing something enjoyable then I wear women's styles. When I'm doing something tedious I wear men's styles.

[Michelle Diane]

i feel like im crossdressing when i wear male clothes.

Same here. I've felt that way pretty much since puberty. I'm always 'uncomfortable' when in guy mode, as you said it feels like crossdressing to me. I'm only comfortable with myself when I'm en-femme.

Hugs,
Michelle.

[KimberlyS]

Joan, I am just a guy who has a mix of masculine and feminine traits and feeling and I match that wearing a mix of masculine and feminine clothes. Most days I am presenting a male image to the world, but what I am wearing is usually a mix. Enjoy and be who you are.

kimberlys cd
joe in a skirt

[Hanna]

80% of the time I am DRAB. I have no intentions of going fully transitioned. At least not yet, and if I do do I'd be hurry-time is running out.
When I do dress I feel like I'm on vacation. Away from the boring me. I have always had low self esteem, so I guess for me dressing is an escape.
I'm ready for a two week vacation-- :-)

[Noeleena]

Hi,

being a female does not mean I have to be in womens clothes all the time our Garission Brass band Uniform was based on the army dress code we have so our women do wear the same as the men
I don't allways do , I wear my skirt that is suitable for concerts and the like .

On building sites I wear shorts and or overalls sun hat and so on so I wear a mix of clothes most of the time im in skirts and blouse or tee tops clothes are not the issue I had years ago so really matters not .

...noeleena...

[Stephanie M]

I have always had low self esteem, so I guess for me dressing is an escape.
I'm ready for a two week vacation-- :-)

That makes me wonder, how many of us have self-esteem issues? I always have and I don't believe it's caused by my dressing.
Could the dressing be partially to blame for our desires to CD, and when we are in femme mode we shed our male self that we don't think much of?

[Ralitsa]

I don't know if I'd call it low self-esteem; I feel more like I'm insecure about my place in the world. People generally find me to be arrogant, and something of a know-it-all. Pretty much nobody would say I have low self-esteem. Yet that isn't the way I feel at all; I feel like in a way I'm faking it and trying to act confident when I'm not really. Perhaps it is a form of over-compensating. But at the same time I really do know that I'm exceptionally good at some things, and I do know more and understand more about most subjects than the average person. So maybe I really am an arrogant jerk - but them why am I so uncomfortable with people. It's like I'm thinking "yeah I'm smart and know a lot, but that doesn't really matter because I'm not a very nice person and people wouldn't like me if they actually knew anything about me."

How does that relate to CDing? Maybe in a way it made me wait longer to come out originally because I was trying to "prove myself" in my career and didn't want to risk anything. On the other hand, when I did come out it made it easier because I felt like hardly anyone accepted me in the first place so I really had nothing to lose. What CDing taught me though is that I was wrong in that attitude. Actually several of my friends proved to be quite accepting, even encouraging. So I underestimated some people, they turned out to be more generous and supportive than I gave them credit for. Which makes me feel a bit guilty that I didn't appreciate that earlier, and proves that they are better people than I am, and I kind of am a selfish bum.

And that takes me back to where I started, I can't decide what my problem is.