Source: http://www.transformation.co.uk/features/crossdressingdesires/

This is one of life's more pleasurable things. So soft, so delicate, clinging like a second skin. There is something wonderful about slowly rolling a new stocking up your leg. It must be done slowly. Like all pleasures, it's a moment to be savoured.

Transvestism thrives on the differences between men's and women's clothing - that's obvious. The difference between a man's sock and a woman's stocking is especially satisfying. The sock is coarse, the stocking sheer. The sock doesn't advance beyond the shin, the stocking clings intimately to our thighs.

A sock is something you use - with a stocking it's closer to a relationship. You have to treat her gently (I make no apology for calling a stocking 'her' - she's too much like a lover to be an 'it'). You need to smooth any raggedness from your nails. She should be caressed, not tugged.

There is something sensuous, too, in fastening the suspenders. Position them carefully. They must grip the welt, not the sheer fabric beneath. Slide the suspender gently into place, feel it take the tension. I love that moment.

The contrast between the female suspender belt and the nearest male equivalent is at least as striking as that between stocking and sock. If I were making a film, and wished to make a male character look entirely ridiculous, I would deprive him of trousers and put him in sock suspenders. They must be the least flattering garment ever devised - it's no wonder that so few men wear them.

If, making that film, I wanted to make my leading lady look as sexy as possible (in a bedroom sort of way) I can't think of anything better than suspernders. Let her lose her skirt - or trousers - to reveal stocking tops and suspenders. It can't fail.

Thirty years after stockings and suspenders were 'replaced' by tights, a lot of women still have them in their lingerie drawers - and on their legs. The appeal of the stocking continues, and not just for transvestites. Indeed, very few transvestites could squeeze themselves into the tiny suspender belts made for teenage girls long after their mothers - or grandmothers - swapped stockings for tights.

Possibly the most sexy pictures I've ever seen were in a glossy women's magazine. It showed the model hitching up her skirt with one hand to adjust a suspender with the other. It wasn't the look at her sexiness of what one of my friends describes as 'one handed magazines' - it was an I want to be that girl sexiness. Inevitably so as glossy women's magazines exist to sell clothes, make-up, perfume, all things femme. They're in business to make the reader want to be that girl.

The point is that stockings and suspenders can ooze sex appeal to women as well as to men. All the same, the sex appeal for the two genders seems to be rather different. For men it has to do with stocking tops and suspenders being displayed. For women - and for at least some transvestites - it has more to do with them being hidden.

I have an illustrated history of girlie magazines. It includes a fair number of pictures of girls in stockings and suspenders - as we'd all expect. In every case, stocking tops and suspenders are fully exposed. If there is any other clothing, it's pushed back well away from the thighs. The girls are presented as ready for sex. There is always the sense of their being observed, all of the girls seemed aware of the camera.

In women's magazines, it seems a much more private thing. The image of the girl adjusting her suspender, which I found so sexy, seemed to capture a fleeting moment in which stocking top and suspender were revealed. Only a moment later, one has the impression, the glimpse of underwear will pass into history. The suspender will be adjusted, and the girl will drop the hem of her skirt. Then there will be no way for anyone but her to know that she's wearing stockings rather than tights.

There is something similar in the magic moment of seeing a woman in stockings and suspenders climb inexpertly into or out of a car. It's very sexy. In that sexiness there is a strong element of sharing a secret with the woman.

Another difference between the women's magazine image and the one for men is that the girl adjusting the suspender is self-absorbed. The act of adjustment is for her alone, it does not have the look of a display for another person. In spite of the camera, it remains private. The person who looks at that picture and thinks I want to be that girl - whether woman or transvestite - does not see herself as displaying the suspender for the benefit of an onlooker.

In all of this, the transvestite is in a rather privileged position. We can place ourself in the private world of the woman. This is an especial satisfaction when stepping out with suspenders and stocking tops hidden under our skirts. We know, but no one else does.

Alternatively, we can take the part of the male observer. Many of us do this while standing before a full length mirror in our favourite undies. We are both the man who looks, and the girl at whom he looks. It's no wonder that we love mirrors so much!

It isn't just a matter of looking good though - stockings and suspenders feel exquisite. It's hard to think of more enjoyment to be had from simply wearing clothes than the sensation of sheer hosiery clinging to our legs. The stockings feel great as we roll them on, but even better as the suspenders take up the tension. The suspender belt, too, feels a whole lot nicer once it's engaged with the stockings.

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