On crossdressing

Discussion of fashion elements and looks that are traditionally considered somewhat "femme" but are presented in a masculine context. This is NOT about transvestism or crossdressing.
weeladdie18
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Re: On crossdressing

Post by weeladdie18 »

I feel there is a shortage of vocabulary in the English language to describe the garment the male wears when he visits the Skirt Café.
When I visit the local supermarket café I wear the same garment..... No one ever asks me what I am wearing.

It is my opinion , from my experience ,that it is unwise to refer to a dictionary of the Vocabulary of the English Language to obtain
medical information regarding the medical issues related to men who visit the Skirt Cafe

There are Specialist Subject medical reference books available for reference or public purchase under I.S.B.N. Numbers.

If any Male has any doubts regarding skirt wearing or his relationship with his female partner I would advise him to
ask his General Practice Medical Doctor for a Referal.....There are specialist Medical Clinics in the U.K. which are able to offer
free confidential medical advice to British Residents ......weeladdie
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Sinned
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Re: On crossdressing

Post by Sinned »

When visiting the GP/Practice Nurse/Hospital Specialist I've not had a problem at all. In fact the general agreement is that I do suit a skirt and there's no reason why a man can't wear a skirt. I've certainly not been asked for a referral to a specialist for wearing a skit. The psychiatrists are all nuts anyway! I don't think that MOH [0] thinks that there's anything medically our mentally wrong with me, just weird. In any case care needs to be taken to ask for a referral as you may actually be diagnosed as deviant or suffering depression or some such and that can affect medical/travel insurance. Anyway, there ain't a doctor on this earth qualified to tell me I'm not normal - I already know it.

[0] My main detractor.
I believe in offering every assistance short of actual help but then mainly just want to be left to be myself in all my difference and uniqueness.
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denimini
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Re: On crossdressing

Post by denimini »

When I buy a skirt I get the dish mop and wave it around in certain gestures over the skirt, flicking a bit of water on it and consecrate it as a man's garment ........ therefore I am not crossdressing.
Anthony, a denim miniskirt wearer in Outback Australia
partlyscot
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Re: On crossdressing

Post by partlyscot »

Sinned wrote:Can I just clarify? In my previous posts I was giving the definitions of cross dressing and according to those then I am a cross dresser. But as Carl pointed out dictionary definitions lag behind colloquial uses and colloquially, as Carl again pointed out, I am NOT a cross dresser and I don't in my heart of hearts consider me to be one, simply a man that wears certain female marketed garments on occasion ( frequently? ).
I use labels where appropriate, but I try to define my understanding of those labels if they are subject to changing usage or extensive misinformation.

What matters to me is how I think of myself. If I'm happy with that, then I don't, for the most part, care what the general public thinks.
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Sinned
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Re: On crossdressing

Post by Sinned »

WL, there isn't a shortage in the dictionary for the garment we wear when visiting the cafe here - it's a skirt. Pure and simple. No need to invent any new words. The skirt doesn't have any gender - it's the interpretations that are put upon it that cause the problems.
I believe in offering every assistance short of actual help but then mainly just want to be left to be myself in all my difference and uniqueness.
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denimini
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Re: On crossdressing

Post by denimini »

Sinned wrote:WL, there isn't a shortage in the dictionary for the garment we wear when visiting the cafe here - it's a skirt. Pure and simple. No need to invent any new words. The skirt doesn't have any gender - it's the interpretations that are put upon it that cause the problems.
Yes, I also call a skirt a skirt, even to the point of correcting people who good naturedly refer to it as a kilt, toga or whatever. "No, it is just a mini skirt."
A skirt has no gender, except in the French language.
Anthony, a denim miniskirt wearer in Outback Australia
Happy-N-Skirts
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Re: On crossdressing

Post by Happy-N-Skirts »

I refer to my skirt collection as "hiking kilts" as no one I know could differentiate between a skirt and a kilt. My hiking kilts were all purchased from women's departments and have been shortened to just above the knees so they will closely look like shorts. Most people don't notice. I have gone for days while wearing skirts without stares, giggles, questions, or comments. They can't be women's clothes while they are on me. I am no where near a cross dresser. I prefer light weight fabric, enough leg room to allow unlimited stride for stepping over logs and rocks, and the length to resemble shorts. It is a little tricky getting in and out of a car without flashing someone. Just use the door for cover and look around before you get in or out. It is also tricky sitting in a chair or booth in a restaurant. Be careful which direction your crotch is aimed. I sometimes bring a tee shirt with me to place on my lap like a napkin. Since many of my skirts don't have pockets, I carry a military style shoulder bag with my wallet, keys, other essentials.
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Re: On crossdressing

Post by skirtyscot »

I have no idea if anyone has referred to me as a crossdresser. Or a transvestite, for that matter. But I have overheard people saying "Did you see that guy is wearing a skirt" or "Mummy, why is that man wearing a skirt" etc. People can tell the difference, we all know that. My understanding of the word "crossdresser" and (to my mind) its exact synonym "transvestite" is that it means a man who wears women's clothes so as to look like a woman. He tries to pass. Someone here with a better turn of words than me wrote: "a crossdresser wears skirts because they are seen as women's clothing; I wear skirts even though they are seen as women's clothing".
Keep on skirting,

Alastair
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Re: On crossdressing

Post by Caultron »

Sinned wrote:Can I just clarify? In my previous posts I was giving the definitions of cross dressing and according to those then I am a cross dresser. But as Carl pointed out dictionary definitions lag behind colloquial uses and colloquially, as Carl again pointed out, I am NOT a cross dresser and I don't in my heart of hearts consider me to be one, simply a man that wears certain female marketed garments on occasion ( frequently? ).
In my observation, if any of us grew up with negative impressions of crossdressing, transvestism, or transsexualism, then we insist on definitions that exclude ourselves.

Even though we like wearing skirts and maybe dresses.

But I believe in being myself and not worrying too much about what stereotypes other people drop me into.
Courage, conviction, nerve, verve, dash, panache, guts, nuts, balls, gall, élan, stones, whatever. Get some and get skirted.

caultron
Derek Plattis
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Re: On crossdressing

Post by Derek Plattis »

weeladdie18 wrote: Many years ago I attended several local meetings of the local Branch of the Beaumont Society purely out of curiosity and I can assure
the Skirt Café that the Aims and objectives of the T.V.s in the B.S. are not quite my cup of tea.........
Same here exactly -(except it was not just out of curiosity but to find a much needed (at the time) outlet for skirt wearing). It seemed that the aim of the TVs there were firstly to look like women (they nearly all failed dismally) and then to adopt "female" names and to talk and act like some grossly, overplayed stereotypical women.......... not my thing at all but each to their own I guess.

Derek
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SkirtsDad
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Re: On crossdressing

Post by SkirtsDad »

It does not take much research to find that women have an do crossdress.... Here's one article, for instance http://bluestockingblue.blogspot.com/20 ... dress.html however, I cannot say that I have ever seen groups of crossdressing women on a night out in the way that many men turn their pastime into a tool for socialising. You might perhaps distinguish a crossdressing women from one simply wearing male marketted apparel by the opposite equipment to false breasts and that is taping theirs down.

In the purest sense of the word we probably should consider ourselves as crossdressers since we wear clothing that the majority of people in this culture at the present time consider to be the reserve of women, however, by society's understanding I think it is fair to say that crossdressing is also taken as implying dressing to emulate someone of the opposite sex.... In which case we are not.

One thing for sure, there's a mixed bag of people out there and many will view you differently from how you want to be perceived therefore as cauldron was saying, the less you worry about what others think the better. I gave up worrying a long time ago.
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Re: On crossdressing

Post by Freedomforall »

The opening sentence of the article says it all, "Here is an interesting topic: women who crossdress into the male role." The key to crossdressing in my opinion is one sex taking on the role of the other sex. I believe "taking on the role" includes actions and intentions that make one's self feel and appear to others as if they are the oppsoite gender.
weeladdie18
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Re: On crossdressing

Post by weeladdie18 »

Derek Plattis wrote:
weeladdie18 wrote: Many years ago I attended several local meetings of the local Branch of the Beaumont Society purely out of curiosity and I can assure
the Skirt Café that the Aims and objectives of the T.V.s in the B.S. are not quite my cup of tea.........
Same here exactly -(except it was not just out of curiosity but to find a much needed (at the time) outlet for skirt wearing). It seemed that the aim of the TVs there were firstly to look like women (they nearly all failed dismally) and then to adopt "female" names and to talk and act like some grossly, overplayed stereotypical women.......... not my thing at all but each to their own I guess.

Derek
From my personal experience I would agree with Derek. ...Out of Curiosity I went to a Local TV Xmas Party....In my nievety I proudly introduced
myself as a newbie and a man in Skirts.....I clearly dressed as a man wearing a smart skirt instead of trousers.
Many of the members took their female partners to the event. ,,.....These ladies are termed " Real Girls "
We all danced on the disco dance floor ....Eventually I was the only male left on the dance floor....I was dressed as a "man in as skirt " and
was dancing with two "real girls " ....who were both wearing trousers....... weeladdie
Derek Plattis
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Re: On crossdressing

Post by Derek Plattis »

So the logical extension of that is - if the people at the BS meetings were transvestites, I am certainly not one of them. However, I do wear women's clothing - skirts and tops/blouses so I do cross-dress. Can I call myself a cross-dresser but not a transvestite even though linguistically the two terms mean precisely the same thing?

Derek
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Re: On crossdressing

Post by crfriend »

Derek Plattis wrote:Can I call myself a cross-dresser but not a transvestite even though linguistically the two terms mean precisely the same thing?
Yes -- if you want to self-classify yourself into the BS (wonderful acronym there! [0]) bucket.

My issue with the term is that it's a one-way term -- applied to men only, and in a pejorative manner -- and never to women. That's the basis for my utter refusal to use it. In practise, it's a hateful, derogatory slur used against men who are merely sick and tired of the dross that gets marketed at them in the way of clothing.


[0] I'm willing to bet they didn't think of that!
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