My beginning and the END of the beginning...
Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2004 3:09 am
It started for me in the early 1960's when I was 12. I had no sisters but for some reason had a curiosity about female attire and when my stay-at-home mom would leave to go shopping or to her bridge club or whatever, I would go into my parent's bedroom and start putting on her clothes. Panties, bras, slips, girdle & nylons (this was pre-pantyhose days), high heels, etc. Even her one piece bathing suit was not safe from my "explorations"! Of course, nothing even came close to fitting me, but that didn't seem to matter to me then. It was the thrill and the feel of the clothes on my pre-pubescent body that brought me back time and time again. I was always very careful to put things back where I found it and as neatly folded or arranged as it had been, yet there was always that fear of discovery because you get paranoid that she'll realize that her clothes had been "tampered" with. By unknown alien beings? Uh...not very likely Sherlock...so the next time you take even more care to refold, straighten, and do whatever you have to do to make everything as pristeen as you originally found them.
My mother never did know and thankfully, for me, never caught me "in the act". I would have been mortified beyond all reason if she had....yet I know it wouldn't have been the end of it, but rather the beginning of an awareness that all "men" are NOT created equal, but that some of us are maybe a little, or a lot, more in touch with our feminine side. We truly are "special" people who have a gift. Yes, that's right...a gift. Unfortunately, society, in all it's rigid, gender specific uniformity, cannot accept a man displaying publicly his feminine side. But, "they" are the normal ones, in their minds, and "we" are the abnormal ones, so majority rules and we are the ones who are ostracized and forced to live a lie and keep our "little secret" to ourselves and out of the public eye. Oh...and I almost forgot this, gg's are allowed to be whoever they want to be, dress however they want to in whatever they want to, depending on how they are feeling or their mood, feminine or masculine. And THEY are the ones who continue to complain of the "double standard" of men having their cake and eating it too. Oh really? Well, not when it comes to gender identity conflict. The bottom line for society seems to have always been, women can act or be like men but men cannot, under any circumstances, act or be like women.
Change, however slow it has been and may still be, is definitely on the horizon however. That old standard "men are men and women are women" and "viva la differance" is gradually being overshadowed by the new generations of men and women who refuse to live anymore in denial and in the closet. The gender lines are blurring, ladies. The women's movement that started in the late 60's and early 70's, that was created to elevate women from the perpetual 2nd class citizenship that male-dominated society had kept them in bondage to, has turned out to not only have liberated the women of today, but also enlightened males as well. The gay community, while still not totally accepted by society, continues to make great strides forward, and the acceptance of their growing numbers can only serve to aid the transgendered and the CD's in our struggle to gain not just tolerance from society, but acceptance as well, even if not total acceptance.
Our day is fast approaching ladies because no lie can continue to live forever. And ignorance and prejudice can no longer rise up and dominate a society that continues to evolve and and reject the rigid labels and classifications that they have been perpetrated on us. We are here, we are not going away, and we will not stop until we have lighted the path to new understanding, through increased communication and education of the masses, and bring this world, finally and forever, out of the darkness of ignorance, bigotry, and prejudice, and into the bright and shining light of a new freedom and liberation for all humankind!
Well...I seem to have gone from my beginnings to the sermon on the mount here. But after 40 years "in the wilderness", it feels pretty good to finally understand who and what you are, and to not let an ignorant society make you feel inferior or sub-human anymore.
Our day WILL come ladies. Count on it...and thanks for listening.
Christine
My mother never did know and thankfully, for me, never caught me "in the act". I would have been mortified beyond all reason if she had....yet I know it wouldn't have been the end of it, but rather the beginning of an awareness that all "men" are NOT created equal, but that some of us are maybe a little, or a lot, more in touch with our feminine side. We truly are "special" people who have a gift. Yes, that's right...a gift. Unfortunately, society, in all it's rigid, gender specific uniformity, cannot accept a man displaying publicly his feminine side. But, "they" are the normal ones, in their minds, and "we" are the abnormal ones, so majority rules and we are the ones who are ostracized and forced to live a lie and keep our "little secret" to ourselves and out of the public eye. Oh...and I almost forgot this, gg's are allowed to be whoever they want to be, dress however they want to in whatever they want to, depending on how they are feeling or their mood, feminine or masculine. And THEY are the ones who continue to complain of the "double standard" of men having their cake and eating it too. Oh really? Well, not when it comes to gender identity conflict. The bottom line for society seems to have always been, women can act or be like men but men cannot, under any circumstances, act or be like women.
Change, however slow it has been and may still be, is definitely on the horizon however. That old standard "men are men and women are women" and "viva la differance" is gradually being overshadowed by the new generations of men and women who refuse to live anymore in denial and in the closet. The gender lines are blurring, ladies. The women's movement that started in the late 60's and early 70's, that was created to elevate women from the perpetual 2nd class citizenship that male-dominated society had kept them in bondage to, has turned out to not only have liberated the women of today, but also enlightened males as well. The gay community, while still not totally accepted by society, continues to make great strides forward, and the acceptance of their growing numbers can only serve to aid the transgendered and the CD's in our struggle to gain not just tolerance from society, but acceptance as well, even if not total acceptance.
Our day is fast approaching ladies because no lie can continue to live forever. And ignorance and prejudice can no longer rise up and dominate a society that continues to evolve and and reject the rigid labels and classifications that they have been perpetrated on us. We are here, we are not going away, and we will not stop until we have lighted the path to new understanding, through increased communication and education of the masses, and bring this world, finally and forever, out of the darkness of ignorance, bigotry, and prejudice, and into the bright and shining light of a new freedom and liberation for all humankind!
Well...I seem to have gone from my beginnings to the sermon on the mount here. But after 40 years "in the wilderness", it feels pretty good to finally understand who and what you are, and to not let an ignorant society make you feel inferior or sub-human anymore.
Our day WILL come ladies. Count on it...and thanks for listening.
Christine
)! I agree with much of what you (and others, here) say; however, I can't seem to shake the feeling--and it's a feeling very much reinforced by the input of GGs such as Kay--that there is, indeed, a difference between a woman dressing in a masculine fashion and a woman trying to pass herself off as a man. It's a common objection. And I still don't know how to address it, other than to fall back on the widespread opinion that each and every one of us--man or woman--is unique.