I simply want people to know that if they want out, that there are answers, and people who can help. And in spite of what everyone else says about the impossibility of changing, there is at least one person out there has done it.

After years of a powerfully consuming addiction to internet crossdressing sites (one of the few outlets for those with such a fantasy-based sexuality) and trying to meet a woman online who was understanding of my tendencies, I eventually met a girl who happened to be particularly well studied in the area of sexuality and psychology. I told her basically my whole life story, and she intuitively deduced the root of my problem. Over the next several months together, we worked on various aspects of my life and personality, ultimately culminating in what could only be called a highly traumatic confrontation with one of my parents. And though I didn’t know it at the time, when I got over this trauma, became apparent to both of us that, in that moment, after months of work, I had in fact been “cured.” The next time we attempted to explore this area sexually, my desire to crossdress was simply, shockingly, gone. Not a temporary purge of clothes, which like many of you, I had done several times. No, the urge to dress was simply, unbelievably, miraculously, not there.

I realize this story for most will be difficult to swallow. Some will suspect there is some crackpot conservative religious pitch coming, or “know” that sexuality is something genetically programmed into us at birth. In a society whose general knowledge of sexuality has faiied to keep up with technological developments that satisfy and even exploit it, most of us with “deviant” leanings will never change or accept the possibility of doing so. But as my girlfriend-now-fiancee says, nothing in this world or in our sexual makeup is set in stone. Straight people can become gay, gay people can become straight, people don’t like sex can become avidly sexual, people who think they can’t stop having it can lose the desire completely. If you want a hint, start diverting your searches for titillating websites to papers discussing the Oedipal drama and the works of Dr. Freud himself, whose theories and discoveries, while still the subject of much misunderstanding and mocking oversimplification (“Tell me about your mother…”), I believe from personal experience hold the keys to certain kinds of enlightenment both for individuals seeking relief from their own self-destructive patterns and tendencies, and for the advancement of a more functional society on a broad scale.

Sorry to get preachy, but that’s my story. After nearly 2 years, I am still free of those consuming desires that caused so much secrecy and self-condemnation in so many aspects of my life. Make of this all what you will, and good luck in your search.