What is a Transvestite?                by: Anne O’Nonymous

 

This is not a story! It is an attempt to define what we are, who we are, and maybe, but I doubt it, why we are what we are. This is not based on any scientific study, just readings here and there. This does not include Female Impersonators, Gay Drag Queens (Please, no flak, I know!) and other males who get paid to put on a dress (gee, what a concept--imagine getting paid to wear a dress!). Corrections, comments are expected.

OK, that said, let’s start! All together now--well, those of you who are--I’m a Transvestite (Yes, I know there are Transsexuals out there too). Feel better? Transvestites probably comprise 3 to 6% of the US male population. Figuring a rough (no pun intended) male population of 60 million (60,000,000), that would mean there are 1.8 to 3.6 million of us.

Wow! OK, now where are all of you--out shopping? I would guess the main group lives in BIG cities, a slightly smaller group lives in the suburbs, rest in small towns. Why? One word: anonymity. Less likely to be seen (and scene) in large urban settings. Also, more places to shop! No shop girls saying, "your sister has another birthday--that’s the third this month!"

For the most part (90% or more, no scientific study), Transvestites are Heterosexual, I repeat for the ladies (GGs, you know who you are!) H-e-t-e-r-o-s-e-x-u-a-l! Transvestism is not inherited, not contagious (too bad) and THERE IS NO CURE (Excuse caps, but I think this is important to say.) because it is not a sickness. (Some Psychologists may call transvestism an obsessive-compulsive behavior, and by giving it a title they think they can cure it.) There are females who dress as males, but that seems to be the norm any more (I am omitting Butch Lesbians and Bull Dykes--correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t they the same?). As an aside, if a man dresses en femme 24/7/365 and marries a woman, would he be correctly called a male Lesbian? (For those of you who do not know, the poetess Sappho lived on the Greek island of Lesbos, and she was believed to be a female lover, hence "Lesbian.")

So far, I believe you (and I) are a Heterosexual male, living in or close to a large urban area (US city, 1 to 20 in population rank). Now, at what age did you start? Well, most of us started around 7 or 8 in an older sister’s dress, panties or slip. Some in a girl’s school uniform. Some in mother’s panties, shoes, or dress. Why did we try it on? Mostly it was from curiosity as it was different. A different feel, smell, and look. You put on training bra, frilly rumba panties, a slip or petticoat, a girl’s school uniform and Mary Janes with those frilly anklets, a little of mommy’s perfume and then look in the mirror--there you are, and the thrill of doing something illicit shoots through your body, there is excitement there, your heart begins racing with the idea of getting caught like this (probably explains why getting caught crossdressed is a big turn on), you get a rush of adrenaline, and, for some (most?), you have your first erection! Better and safer than drugs or alcohol if you ask me.

Again, I’m guessing, many of you who were caught got disapproval from your mother, and a severe talking to (or the use of something worse, now classed as child abuse) by your father. Maybe it was at a relative’s house, a cousin’s home--but, you still did it because it felt so nice. Imagine, a boy who liked to wear his sister’s clothes--what a sissy. You probably heard that and words like Faggot, Queer, Homo, too. Now, really, what harm did it do. The boy would have forgotten it in later years, grown up to be a horny football player maybe.

Next, most likely you are single. Single and hiding the fact that you are a Transvestite from everyone. In the closet. Those of you who are married, it is likely that she doesn’t know! That lodge meeting you go to each month, the social club, the weekend overtime you put in, do the initials SSS mean anything to you? Tell me, did she marry you or the clothes!? Ever make love to her wearing Virginal white bra, panties, garter belt and white patterned nylons? I mean that mutual satisfying love, not the me-want, me-get kind of thing a man wants when he is thumping a woman--the one-way street kind! No sireee, the mutual orgasmic kind that satisfies both and has her running back for more. To those wives out there, you KNOW what I mean (wink, wink, giggle).

Did I get off track? YES! OK, for the most part, Transvestites are slightly more intelligent than the general population, read more, and we are everywhere. Judges, police officers, computer programmers, software and hardware designers, printers, and veterans of three or four wars. Just a sample!

How about girls and wives? That voice in the back speaks up. Transvestites are gentle, for the most part, and they are both mothering and fatherly. A Transvestite would rather go shopping for pretty lingerie that watch the Stupor Bowl, watch and learn from a cooking show than watch the World Series (If they call it the world series, why aren’t Japan, Mexico and Cuba fielding teams?). Just watch out that he doesn’t start looking better than she does. (Yes, a woman did have that complaint. Her transvestite husband dressed and looked more feminine than she did!)

Are we crazy? God, men running around in panties and bras--if God intended man to wear bras, he would have given them boobs! Look lately? You’ve got them too! A fact: Men can and do get Breast Cancer! Sane--define sanity. Look, we know what we do when we do it. We are no more nuts than the general population--except, we are probably less stressed, less likely to be an alcoholic (at least most of us), and, if allowed to dress, more happier in our daily life. Drugs? Why! If we have a lover that lets, supports and encourages us to bring out that soft, gentle, loving feminine side of our personality. When we can get a high from our senses with the aroma of perfume, the feel of a pair of nylons on shaven legs, lipstick touching lipstick, why would we need drugs, alcohol or any other stimulant.

My favorite question: Are we real men? Well, what is a REAL man. If you say a kind, mannerly, loving person with good manners. If you say a good husband who taught his children not to be prejudiced, raised them to judge facts, made them understand that all the decisions they make have consequences, and they are responsible for what they do, no one else. To me, this is a real man, and I, for one, don’t care if he wears a dress, as long as it isn’t the same as I’m wearing.

Time to sum up: We, for the most part, love to wear soft, lacey things--lingerie, panties, and so on. It does not make us less "manly." A question: If a beautiful woman wears a business suit, does it make her less of a woman? Mostly, we are unmarried, work in an office (Professional) or in many other areas, are fairly intelligent, read a lot, and are as sane as the next person (more so, maybe). And we have a great appreciation (I do, at least) for a perfectly made-up, beautiful, shapely woman, well coifed, wearing beautiful clothes because we can understand how long it took her to achieve the results, among other things.

We do have our dislikes. The biggest: misunderstandings. We are, mostly, not homosexual, crazy, or submissive. We absolutely hate (I am very positive on this) rapists, child molesters, Pedophiles and wife beaters--anyone who takes advantage of anyone smaller or vulnerable.

In movies, Robin Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire, Patrick Swayze in To Wong Foo, and Charlie Chaplin in A Woman all crossed the line in dress. In TV (Television), too many to mention appeared in drag. Some more famous names in transvestism are: Francois de Choisy, Julian Eltinge, Chevalier d’Eon (Transvestism is also called Eonism) and Virginia Prince.

We are different, but in that difference is our normality. When we put on a dress, we are trying to express what we are, that we have a side that is gentle, soft like the clothes we wear. Now, isn’t it normal for a person wanting to bring out their individuality. Normal the bring out the whole person, not just one side?

OK, this little essay is at its end. 1400 words that I hope will, those of you who are non-TV readers, allow you to understand us a little better--despite the labels, we are almost like the rest of the male population, only we put nylons on one leggs at a time with nair-ly a complaint!

Annie O

 

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