The Politics of Crossdressing

[Svejk]

I've been thinking about this for a while and I guess I'm kind of seeking some opinions on the matter.

I've noticed that a lot of the people (but by no means all) who post pictures of themselves on this site cross-dressed talk about how slutty they think of themselves while dressed up, or even refer to being dressed up as being 'slutted up' or similar.

I guess what I'm wondering is what people, women in particular, think of this. I mean, most transvestites of any degree claim to be 'exploring their feminine side', and that feminine side seems more often than not to be a negative stereotypically objectified view of women as sex objects.

Obviously I don't mean this a a catch all statement, no doubt full time transsexuals have a more mature view of their femininity purely because they live that life. But for the majority of part timers the pervading ideal feminine seems to be that of a sex object, rather than a more rounded view of what a woman actually is.

Also this extends to the thread about 'what would you do if you woke up as a woman?' to which the overriding answer seems to be to go out and have as much anonymous sex as possible in as short a time as possible. This seems to say that even men who view themselves as being more in touch with their femininity in that they can see themselves waking up as a woman still view their ideal woman (that onto which they project themselves in the waking as a woman fantasy) as little more than a whore.

Now, I'm not entirely innocent of this myself, I regularly use pornography and am entirely in support of the legalisation of prostitution (both of which are debate for another time). Also I have engaged in some mild transvestitism myself, though I don't really feel I ever did it to 'explore my femininity' so much as get off by wearing knickers and I like to think if I did wake up as a woman my time would be spent in a through exploration of my body.

So what I seek are thoughts on the matter, preferably from cross-dressers, both part time and full as well as women of any persuasion.

 

[Etoile]

As you have noticed, there is a difference between transvestites and transgendered people. In virtually all cases, transvestites are doing it for the sexual thrill - they are quite happy being men, but they feel the need to express themselves as a woman sometimes, because it satisfies their psyche, or it gets them off, or whatever. And what is the most sexy thing you can do when dressing as a woman gets you off? Dress like a slut, of course. I think it's not that they are perceiving women as sex objects and dressing as a woman because of it...they are perceiving themselves as sex objects and they feel dressing as a woman makes them more of one.

Transgender people, on the other hand, ARE women. They're women all the time, not just when they're horny or feel the need. They're going to dress like women always dress. I don't think it's necessarily more mature - it's feeding a different need. The transvestite dresses for sex, the transgender dresses for being a person.

You've brought up some great points, to be sure. I hope I'm furthering the discussion.

 

[Svejk]

I hadn't looked at it that way. I guess I was just hung up on the language used, which as you've suggested is used in reference to themselves than to women in general.

I guess the most important thing to highlight here is that key difference between transvestites and transgender people. As you've suggested when crossdressing for sexual perposes it does make sense to dress in a prevocative manner and to view oneself as a sexual thing, but when living the transgender life it is just that, a life.

Thanks for the input. And I just noticed the glbt issues forum, where I probably should've put this thread.