 Crossdressing is common to several distinctive behavior patterns. Crossdressers, drag queens, transsexuals, fetishists, female impersonators and others approach it with different motivations, and derive different satisfactions from it. While individual crossdressers may not always fit exactly into any one of these personality types, we can gain greater self-understanding and self-acceptance by considering how our motivations and satisfactions compare with each of these personality types.
Drag queens and female impersonators are the most visible types of crossdressers. Drag queens are usually gay or bisexual males who don women's clothing, either to mock femininity or society's stereotype of gays, to attract a sex partner or to entertain.
Female impersonators are men who develop their crossdressing and femme-manner into a performing art, usually for the purpose of making a living. They often perform impressions of classic performers such as Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland and Mae West.
An offshoot of gay crossdressing is drag prostitution. Like their female counterparts, they typically prefer to deal with heterosexual males.
Most of our society forms its impressions of crossdressing via female impersonators in night clubs, movie theaters or on television, or through professional comedians -- Flip Wilson and Milton Berle come to mind -- who occasionally crossdress for laughs. To a lesser extent, the general public also has casual contact with drag queens or prostitutes on city streets. Thus, most people expect crossdressers to be outrageous, gay or hustling for sex!
Transsexuals are people who feel trapped in the body of the opposite sex. Male-to-female transsexuals believe deeply that they are actually females, and seek sex-reassignment surgery to correct what they consider to be nature's mistake. They typically go through a preoperative period in which they live full-time as women. Though the transsexual doesn't consider it so, most people see this pre-operative behavior as crossdressing.
Fetishists are crossdressers who have an erotic attachment to some article of women's clothing. For them, holding or feeling or smelling or wearing such items is a powerful erotic stimulant. In some cases, these men are impotent without their fetish.
The line between fetishism and crossdressing is sometimes unclear. Some crossdressers start with one or two articles of women's clothing and find their interest growing. On the other hand, the fetishist seems to be "arrested" in his development, and appears never to get beyond the erotic attachment to certain garments.
So, how does "our type" of crossdressing differ from these other types?
In contrast with the fetishist, we cultivate a complete feminine image, with undergarments, makeup, wig, padding for hips and breasts, and even a femme name. And while it's a sexually-arousing experience for some crossdressers early on, crossdressing does not take the place of sex with their wives or partners.
Unlike transsexuals, we know we are men and we like it. While we might occasionally fantasize what it would be like to be female, we have no desire to change our sex, although a small number of crossdressers (known as "transgenderists") do opt to live full- time en femme.
Though gay and bisexual crossdressers do exist, the vast majority of crossdressers are heterosexual. Indeed, many people are surprised to find that we're not interested in finding sex like the drag queen, or making a living like the drag prostitute or female impersonator. Many gay people are surprised to learn that heterosexual crossdressers exist at all!
For most of us, being free to act and move in a more feminine way, being treated as women, being free to adorn ourselves and feel the caressing touch of the many soft fabrics available to women -- these feelings are satisfying in and of themselves.
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By: Svečias (Guest) on 21-11-2005 22:04