Coming to Terms With Transvestism
By Terri Conroy
So, having spent about fifty years seeing doctors and psychiatrists, taking tablets, considering suicide and doing other daft things, I offer the following as a possible aid to understanding transvestism, facing up to it and removing some of the shame and guilt you may feel in succumbing to your sexual fantasies: I hope it is of some help...
Why do we want to cross dress?
What determines our personality?
Our genes, our upbringing, our experiences, our environment: all play a part in determining the kind of person we are. A traumatic experience can change our outlook on life but it is our basic personality or character, call it what you will, that determines our reaction to these things.
Some people are aggressive, not necessarily in the physical sense, but in terms of their approach to life in general. Others are more submissive, and given the same environment and upbringing will react differently to the same set of circumstances.
The point is: there are a number of inborn basic characteristics that do not change irrespective of any other outside influences, they merely change our reaction to them.
Our sex is determined by our genes, so why should our sexuality not also be determined by some other factor in our genes, making us either heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual? I do not believe that one becomes homosexual or bisexual as a result of some outside experience.
Carry this theory a little further and consider the cartoon character who believes he is Napolean, or the Elvis fan who dresses as, and mimics, his idol. These are fanatics who so worship their idol that they want to be that person. It is an inborn need to become the object of their desire, let's say the 'wannabe factor'.
So now, let us first take the genes that have determined our sex, add the factor that has determined our sexuality and increase it's influence in our lives, and finally add the 'wannabe factor'.
Bingo! You have the perfect recipe for a transvestite.
Learning to live with it
Are we abnormal?
In terms of what is socailly acceptable, yes, we are abnormal, although the size of the mail order and personal shopping market indicates that we are a fairly large percentage of the population.
We were born different (yes, I do believe the problem is genetic), as others are born with physical or mental disabilities.
Whilst they are partially accepted into society, depending on the degree of their disability, we don't fit into a convenient slot, and society, on the whole, doesn't know how to deal with us.
We are an embarrassment and therefore become the subject of snide jokes, ignored in the hope we go away, or in extreme cases hounded out of town.
[ Back to Gender Resource Links ]
Copyright © Transformation 2006
0.256963968277
