Is Cross Dressing a Gateway Drug?

Quite the subject.  many would suggest and have-that the mere act of putting on women's clothes leads people like me to where I am today.  Not unlike saying smoking weed leads to heroin.

I only suggest cross dressing doesn't take over a life, it takes you to where you can make a educated gender choice. My real point is - in my case at least, I found- I knew without a doubt I was doing the right thing.  On the other hand a comment I received recently through Google+ from J Spurling brought me back to my paranoia of accepting myself as transgender could indeed come from my cross dressing:

"I suppose that looking back, each phase built on the last.  Yet, it was always there under the surface, waiting for me to come to terms with it.  Now that I'm self accepting of this aspect, I'd like to say I'm not only a cross dresser, but fully transgender, yet I'm hesitant to self-diagnose.

As for how my wife has responded each time I broach the topic.  Initially, it was very vitriolic, she'd seen a professional psychologist on the TV state it was a man's way to ultimately dominate a woman. Wow, where did that come from, I searched and couldn't find anything like that short of Janis Raymond.  Last time she told me point blank to stop, and how would I like to be married to someone male...

For me that's a lot of pressure, because I'm all she has.  In a  sense Cyrsti, I'm going through what you went through.  So rather than self-diagnose and also to seek some coping skills, I'm going to start seeing a councilor who's experienced with our issues. "


Indeed "J" we are walking a similar path.  For the longest time, I equated any so called "cross dressing" success I had as another possible step towards going full time.  Looking back, I desperately needed someone to tell me would living 24/7 in a feminine world be "what the doctor ordered?" Yes-No? Also, at some point, I considered I was addicted to the thrill of cross dressing.  Ironically, this idea was instilled in my noggin by a firefighter friend who equated the experience with the "rush" of fighting a fire.  She turned out to be really addicted because she ended up going through SRS.


So, no, being a cross dresser will not lead you down the path to being a transgender woman or man. The process just gives you an idea if you truly want to.  Keep in mind being gender dysphoric is a huge difference than just wanting to look like a woman.

2015 The Trans Central Year?

2014 brought many positive changes to the transgender community, fortunately too numerous to mention. For the first time we saw trans women (Laverne Cox and Jazz) making it into most influential woman categories.  All of a sudden, the mere act of being born female with a vagina does not equate with the essence of becoming a woman. At the least, a very scary thought for many traditional binary thinkers.  Making the process even more difficult for those folks is it's looking like even more are in store for the future!


Here is one from the "Hollywood Reporter" : 
"ABC Family is continuing its push into the unscripted arena with a big swing.

The Disney-owned cable network has handed out a straight-to-series pickup for My Transparent Life, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The docuseries, from Ryan Seacrest Productions, centers on a teen named Ben who learns his parents are not only getting a divorce, but also that his father is becoming a woman.

The series will intimately follow Ben, his family and friends as they support each other through the unexpected journey and watch Charlie slowly become Carly, as she experiences the many stages of her transition from male to female. The show is described as a generational story of a loving family and circle of friends, supporting each other through the unfamiliar and unexpected situation."

Of course all of this is following the success of the Amazon series Transparent with Jeffrey Tambor (left).  For a start, I love the fact Tambor loves the part and is in many ways a truer portrayal of how most of us are able to visually transition. After all, we all can't look like Carmen Carerra, Janet Mock or Andreja Pejic. The best is yet to come!

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Woman of the Day"

Our feature cover transgender woman today is Efe Bal the MtF Italian model.