I wasn’t raised in the feminist philosophy, I see my husband have to play chess in his brain about how he’ll keep us all in proper standing. It’s a headache to say the least, it’s attached to the cell phone all day existance, when not racing to and from being Superman about town.

I know, I got lucky.

While I’m glad that Freud and his diagnoses seem to be a thing of the past, I’m comfortable with the gender roles that are thrust upon us. Women may not be celebrated for being in tune with cycles, or being able to experience childbirth and raise children…but we’re quietly our own forces to be reckoned with.

I suppose in some ways women are luckier because they are “allowed to” opt out of some of the responsibilities forced upon males.

A good point. One of the great (though usually unacknowledged) weaknesses of being in any class of people considered “superior” is that society affords one less freedom to indulge in the interests, pastimes and whatnot of the “inferior” classes. It’s the old thing about people understanding why a member of an “inferior” class would try to “better” themselves by adopting the dress, habits, manners, psychological traits and whatever of the “superior” class, but being completely at a loss as to understand why a member of the “superior” class would seek to “denigrate” themselves by aping members of any of the “inferior” classes. Of course, it’s all rubbish, and a way of thinking I’ve long sought to expunge from my own life. I’ve also heard it often said that men are under incredible pressure to be masculine (a point you sort of alluded to yourself with your comment that women are fortunate to be freed of the responsibilities that come with masculinity), although, thankfully, things haven’t been too bad for me there in my own life. I’ve always been fortunate to have family and friends that don’t expect me to be some macho idiot; in the case of the latter people, I hope it’s because I attract them with my willingness to be myself, and the comfort I feel at being the person that I am.

Also, I wonder, through this discussion of crossdressing, whether any of these males feel like they’ve been gyped out of experiencing some things that women are “privileged” to have as part of their lives. Is it an envy of a sort, or is it a rebellion against stifled creativity and free-spiritedness that is limited by the mores society, or is it really about something so superficial as clothes and make up?

Feel free to correct me.

Some more good points. While not one of those annoying self-loathing males who swallows all the more extreme feminist propaganda about men being inferior, and the source of all the evil, corruption and general rottenness in the world, there have been times when I’ve felt “gypped” at having missed out on some of the experiences members of the opposite sex have been able to enjoy. This is particularly the case with those experiences biology, rather than society, has denied me, since I know there’s no way I’ll ever been able to enjoy them, no matter how hard I try. When growing up, for example, I was sometimes depressed by the realization I’d never be able to have babies (I’m sure I was by no means the only boy who felt that way, though am equally sure many others would never admit it), and even by the realization I’d never menstruate, which, I have to admit, was just plain crazy. (While menstruation may be a wonderful affirmation of womanhood in theory, all the women I’ve discussed the subject with over the years have said that it’s nothing but a bloody (pardon the pun) nuisance in reality.)

As for your comment about cross-dressing being an exercise in creativity, self-expression and even rebellion, that’s certainly been the case with my own (which, to clarify, generally involves me presenting as a man in assorted pieces of either women’s clothing, or feminine-looking clothing I’ve had made specially for myself). One of the upsides of this is that I’ve never felt remotely ashamed of my own dressing, and have no desire whatsoever to be “cured” of it. (Indeed, if there’s one thing that never fails to irritate me, it’s that all-too-common bleat of crossdressers that “no-one would ever choose to be a CDer”.) When you’re wearing beautiful clothes that compliment your naturally comely looks (I’m very fortunate in that I’ve often been told women’s clothing looks really good on me), and which make you stand out in the sea of gray suits you almost invariably find yourself drowning in whenever you go out in public, how can you see your dressing as anything but a positive thing?

On the subject of crossdressing and creativity, another way in which I’ve been very lucky is that I’m an aspiring artist (a writer to be exact), and therefore a member of a group that seems to have been given a lot more leeway by society in how they can behave. If you’re an artist, it seems, you have a lot more freedom to be poor (if not downright broke), androgynous (if not downright effeminate), eccentric (if not downright mad), childish, lazy, and completely devoid of morals! You can also spend a lot of your free time at home without having everyone else think you’re an utter bore, because they’ll just assume you’re working on your latest masterpiece! Interestingly, my style of dress often clues people into the fact that I have creative aspirations, since most of the times people have asked me if I’m an artist of some kind, I’ve been wearing something “girly”.

I suppose in some ways women are luckier because they are “allowed to” opt out of some of the responsibilities forced upon males.

Also, I wonder, through this discussion of crossdressing, whether any of these males feel like they’ve been gyped out of experiencing some things that women are “privileged” to have as part of their lives. Is it an envy of a sort, or is it a rebellion against stifled creativity and free-spiritedness that is limited by the mores society, or is it really about something so superficial as clothes and make up?

Are clothes and make up artistic tools that aren’t given enough credit for their versatility in making a statement? That’s how I tend to see it, probably wrongly so. That crossdressers refuse to be limited in what they create and how they express themselves in their lifetimes. Sounds like a reasonable rebellion to me.

Feel free to correct me.