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A Short History of Genderised Clothing

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(@Larissa Evans)
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Larissa's Short History of Genderised Clothing and Other Things

 

I rarely write things or post things on forums, but, well, I thought I would try to write something that another human being might actually read, for a change. Or an AI bot. I'm not prejudiced. If you're an AI bot, I'm happy for you to be included within my overall readership. 'Til all are one. Please look after the planet once all of the humans are gone.

Anyway...

I have written this for publication on Crossdresser Heaven. Obviously. As I cross-dress sometimes. I have mixed feelings about it, but yeah, it's something I do. Presumably you do too, right? If not, no worries. But yeah, as I say, I do. As a cross-dresser, I tend to lean towards goth looks and alternative styles, so this often includes quite a lot of black clothing primarily, spiky accessories, PVC skirts; that kind of thing. This is what I tend to go for usually, but not exclusively. I like to experiment.

I've met some lovely people on this site and made some very understanding friends. However, in terms of the site structure, I struggle with the idea of my writing being contextualised as an article to be published. I don't really consider this to be an article as such and 'moderately edited general stream of consciousness' would be a better description. I am waiting for the site administrators to create a function for submitting moderately edited general streams of consciousnesses! Somebody please notify me once this option becomes available.

Anyway...

So why do I cross-dress? Why do you cross-dress, if you do? I've studied a bit of psychology here and there (just to mention, I'm not a big fan of Freud, generally speaking), so I often consider that there must be a reason for why I cross-dress. Why? Why do I cross-dress? Why do you cross-dress, if you do? Why does anybody?

Well, let's see what the big man himself (who I don't really like) had to say about it. According to Freud, cross-dressing, in men in particular, is categorised under fetishism. On this subject he wrote:

“A fetish is a substitute for the mother’s phallus which the little boy once believed in and—for reasons familiar to us—does not want to give up.”
(Sigmund Freud, Fetishism, 1927)

So there we go, answer found. Thanks Freud. Does this ring true for you? It doesn't for me especially!

Anyway...

The thing about cross-dressing in particular, is that it largely relates to clothing, somewhat needless to say. Fetishism aside, I wonder by extension, why do any of us dress at all? Why do we wear what we wear? I'm guessing that this question is possibly also suitable for an entirely different forum too though, right? www.inthebuff.co.uk or something similar!

But in all seriousness, when and where did this whole genderised clothing thing start? Prehistoric man would have worn animal skins and such, so by the current stage of human evolution, humans would have been wearing clothing of a sort for a long time already. At what point did clothing gain any additional meaning, beyond the physical benefits?

In my usual day-to-day life as not-Larissa, I have to buy things like trainers, shirts, hats, and so on. I live in the UK and there are a lot of sports shops here that sell genderised clothing and footwear. It has often become apparent to me that a pair of white trainers for men in a size 8, will be remarkably similar to a pair of women's trainers in the same size. However, the women's pair will have a stylish pink or pastel strip of coloured plastic material boldly attached to the backs and sides, or something akin to this. This will often be the only notable difference. At what point in the past did we develop a societal norm that now creates a significance between these two pairs of shoes, even though the literal physical differences are minimal?

Well, once upon a time I would have looked up on Google for the answers, but, as we now live in even more modern times, I asked an AI bot to look up the answers and write something for me instead!

According to my bot:

********

The earliest evidence of humans wearing gender-specific clothing emerges in the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt around 3000 BCE, when distinct styles and adornments began to signify roles, status, and gender. Before this, during the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras, clothing primarily served practical purposes, such as protection from the environment, and was made of similar materials like animal skins, fur, and plant fibres for all genders.

Key points in the history of gendered clothing:

*Ancient Mesopotamia (c. 3000–1500 BCE)
Men typically wore knee-length tunics or skirts (kaunakes), while women wore longer dresses that covered more of the body. These differences were influenced by social and cultural roles rather than strict biological divisions.
Both genders wore shawls and cloaks, but patterns, colours, and embellishments often differed by gender.

*Ancient Egypt (c. 3000–332 BCE)
Men commonly wore simple kilts (shendyt), while women wore longer sheath dresses (kalasiris). The distinction reflected differences in societal expectations and modesty standards.
Clothing also marked status, with wealthier individuals of both genders wearing finer materials like linen and more elaborate adornments.

*Indo-European Cultures and the Classical Period
In ancient Greece (c. 800–31 BCE) and Rome (c. 753 BCE–476 CE), men wore tunics and cloaks (like the chiton and himation), often shorter for men and longer for women. Women wore dresses like the peplos or stola.
These distinctions further developed with the use of drapery and accessories to signify femininity or masculinity.

The differentiation in clothing between genders became more pronounced as societies grew more complex, with gender roles becoming codified in law, religion, and culture. Distinctions in clothing were often tied to labour divisions, social hierarchy, and modesty norms, which evolved alongside cultural identities.

********

I must praise our future robotic overlords for writing this up for me so definitely and succinctly! So, there you have it. Answers obtained!

There is still an issue for me here though. Factually, the above text is fairly interesting, and I am very grateful to my bot for having written it for me, however I feel that there is still a personal disconnect here. For cross-dressers, the origins of genderised clothing obviously are important, without them, cross-dressing kind of couldn't be. However, they don't reveal much to me about myself as an individual. They still don't really tell me why I do it; not in any personal way, anyway.

I think the real answer is that there is no one answer, not for cross-dressers collectively, at least. I believe that there are probably as many reasons for cross-dressing as there are cross-dressers, so for the real answers, we all need to learn more about ourselves and how we feel first, before looking to external providers of knowledge.

Thanks to everyone that made it to the end of my 'moderately edited general stream of consciousness'. You're all stars!

Larissa✨

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7 Replies
Lady
(@harriette)
Joined: 2 years ago

Illustrious Member     Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 4016

Good, old, reliable Wikipedia:

Fashion started when humans began wearing clothes, which were typically made from plants, people and your bones.

Say what? 🤪

Looking around a bit, it seems there isn't a lot of definitive answers about the earliest fashion and what they were. There is a little bit of speculation, though, but it doesn't seem to be a high priority for research.

Using logic, we know that there were coverings made in prehistoric eras because Man lived in some pretty extreme temperatures early on, the earliest known villages were about 25,000 years ago, so clothes would be based on the environment and need. Also using logic, clothes would have become more important when larger communities started to be formed, about 10,000 years ago. The major development centres would be the Middle East, India, and China. 

As communal knowledge grew, they would start to specialize using certain plant fibers, such as flax to make linen, and dyes would allow individual expression more. Most clothes would be hand-made or custom-made until the industrial revolution came about with the first major use of it in making military uniforms.

After that, the next great leaps came after using engravings, the printing press & photography and movies to spread fashion ideas. The first fashion label was by Charles Fredrick Worth, in 1858. Then fashion magazines started to spread ideas around 1900 and they were in high demand. Men reading women's fashion magazines could have easily said, "Hey, I would like to wear that, too!", don't you think? Getting the opportunity to do that would have been even more difficult than today.

So male / female fashion differences probably were pre-historic based on our bodily differences. Gender influences, such as homosexuality; and strife, such as wars, would kick in at some point. Women crossdressed to enter male-only institutions, such as universities. Joan of Arc crossdressed to hide in her army, for example. Lots of women did that, including the American Civil War (somewhere between 500-1000 women). Even in The Lord Of The Rings, in the Ages of Wizards, Elves and Dwarves. Excess money would also allow a crossdresser the freedom to experiment.

All of this led up to the first transvestite communities formed in the 1920's Weimar Republic, and here we are.

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Lady
(@larissaevans)
Joined: 2 years ago

Trusted Member     London, United Kingdom
Posts: 47

Ha ha, I hope nobody makes anything out of my bones! 🤣 Interesting points, I think that there must have been a definite point in time when human beings transitioned from purely physically functional clothing, to styled clothing that carried additional created social meanings. But, when exactly that was will probably always remain a mystery.

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Lady
(@harriette)
Joined: 2 years ago

Illustrious Member     Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 4016

@larissaevans I doubt that there would have been a specific day, of course. Intuition tells me that clothing would have morphed over quite a bit of time out of need related to genders, as I mentioned above. Then when society and status started to influence things and new materials were used, gender would have played much bigger parts. Real gendered fashion probably started then, but that would have started before recorded history.

For example, the Greek and Egyptian hierarchies would have had the wealth to want to show it off. There were high heels for men in Egypt back then, too.

Beauty wants to be unleashed and adored, so adding beautiful clothes would be one way of doing that and, since women were the ones put on the beauty pedestal by then, women, not men, got the more and more attractive clothes. I know more about the western civilization than I do the Indo-Sino ones, but history tells us that the same thing happened there, too. Women everywhere ended up being the showy peacocks. Sure, wealthy men could spend gobs of money on nice clothes, but do we seriously think that they were nicer than what was possible in women's fashion? This is the exact opposite of most of nature, though, so maybe crossdressers are reverting back to nature or evening that score a bit, eh?

Before the French Revolution, the royals went nuts with what they could do with their extreme wealth. This was also a time when (some) men could afford adorned high heels, too. I have been to the Bata Shoe Museum a few times. It is truly amazing what extreme money can do to fashion, whether for males or females.

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Baroness
(@chrisfp99)
Joined: 2 years ago

Famed Member     London , Kent, United Kingdom
Posts: 1728

Hey Larissa, thanks for an interesting article. Of course the subject of why comes up here regularly. Heck I'm no expert but it think things are clearer if you're trans. If you feel like a woman inside then it makes a lot of sense to dress like a woman. For those of us who are mere crossdressers the question is much harder, maybe impossible to answer. I don't believe I've ever seen a definitive answer here. For me personally it remains a complete and utter mystery why I get such a thrill from slipping into a nice dress, underwear and heels, and making myself up. I really would love to know and I've searched Google endlessly with absolutely nothing to show for it xx. 

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Lady
(@larissaevans)
Joined: 2 years ago

Trusted Member     London, United Kingdom
Posts: 47

@chrisfp99 Hi Chrissie, glad you liked the article 👍 I think for me personally, I've often wondered why I cross-dress, when other males from a similar background to me don't seem to feel even remotely drawn to it. As I said in the article, theories from people like Freud and such never seem to answer this question for me. I decided for myself to give up on trying to find an answer actually! I think it's probably best to just enjoy what you enjoy, without attempting too much analysis 😊 xxx

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Baroness
(@chrisfp99)
Joined: 2 years ago

Famed Member     London , Kent, United Kingdom
Posts: 1728

@larissaevans You are absolutely right Larissa. Let's just go with the flow and enjoy it honey xx.

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Lady
(@candycross)
Joined: 9 months ago

Honorable Member     Queensland, Australia
Posts: 314

An interesting article however l not sure l could agree with it. I am not sure why l choose to crossdress but it has nothing to do with the points made in that article,  however an expert tries to put all of us into one basket by giving a reason why all of us crossdress and l think it's different for everyone of us. So l can only say why l think l crossdress and not why anyone else does. However  l don't care why l crossdress,  all l care about is that l do and l enjoy doing it. To me the reason l do it has little to no importance at all and to be honest l have never really cared to ask the question because if l did the answer would most likely be because l want to and l can. But l am always interested in why others feel they crossdress...xxx jane 

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Lady
(@harriette)
Illustrious Member     Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Joined: 2 years ago

I agree, Larissa. There probably are as many reasons that we crossdress, if you want to call them that, as there are crossdressers. Some may be similar to others, triggered similarly to others, but are they the same?

A few months ago, I am pretty sure that I saw a male dress in goth wearing a below-the-knee skirt. Is that a goth thing or was he possibly  crossdressing? By the way, it was a really nice pleated skirt.

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Lady
(@larissaevans)
Joined: 2 years ago

Trusted Member     London, United Kingdom
Posts: 47

Well, I think there has always been quite a lot of overlap between masculine and feminine styles within alternative/goth social groups, so the example you gave could be cross-dressing, but then again possibly not! Only the person themselves could tell us ultimately. I have a pleated skirt too actually! They seem quite popular at the moment! 😁 I wear mine as someone that cross-dresses though, most definitely.

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Hostess
(@ab123)
Illustrious Member     Surrey, United Kingdom
Joined: 5 years ago
FETISH.
a form of sexual desire in which gratification is strongly linked to a particular object or activity or a part of the body other than the sexual organs.
 
an inanimate object worshipped for its supposed magical powers or because it is considered to be inhabited by a spirit.
Similar: talisman, charm, amulet, totem, icon, idol, image.
 
The above is a meaning of Fetish. Within the sub interpretations can be many words that will be the reason why we dress. The only part that may not ring true with the majority is that is has a sexual reason, but not always the case.
 
Freud seems to link in with only a small area which is probably how those outside of crossdressing will see it as something unsavoury, hence the bigotry and single mindedness. In your text societies have separated the gender clothes and entrenched it into the norms within, these are the norms we are given to live within such a society and each one will not take too kindly to those within or other societies that have differing rules.
 
Sometimes the egyptians, for example, are used to say that men wore dresses. Yes looking back it would appear they are but they are only similar as womens were longer, so go back in time and say the wearer is a crossdresser would lead to some incredulity or pelted with rocks.
 
So for whatever reason you dress is an individual thing and using references, articles and social media will only tell you so much. It is so complex and in todays society we love labels and attach a label but in a short space of time these become fluid and trying to pin one is an impossible task.
 
In my lifetime fashion has seen men wearing unisex clothes, who would have believed that back in the day men of the future would wear flowery shirts and even PINK! Punk saw a change in fashion style and there was the odd short tartan skirt on men, New wave with men wearing makeup and frilly shirts and now this gender spectrum and so it will go on. But are any of these crossdressers and how would they react if you opined they were so? Incredulity and cancellation for you.
 
For me it is a compulsion, a need based on the fact that I want be female and live as such. If Freud was alive and we met we would have an interesting discussion.
 
Crossdressing is a broad church but has weathered the course of time because it has been in almost every culture and the reasoning is much the same although different, if you know what I mean.... 
 

 

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Lady
(@larissaevans)
Joined: 2 years ago

Trusted Member     London, United Kingdom
Posts: 47

@ab123 I think that the categorisation of cross-dressing by Freud under the umbrella of fetishism doesn't surprise me, considering the fact that he wrote the brief on it in 1927. Marx also theorised on commodity fetishism, so the word fetishism in itself historically has often been attributed to negative and disingenuous pursuits within academic literature, seemingly. As I said in my article, I think the things that drive cross-dressers to cross-dress are extremely personal and variable. The very variable personal drives that exist within every different cross-dresser should be celebrated, exactly for that variation.

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Lady
(@harriette)
Joined: 2 years ago

Illustrious Member     Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 4016

Posted by: @ab123

 
But are any of these crossdressers and how would they react if you opined they were so?
 
For me it is a compulsion, a need... 

After reading comments on CDH for a few years, it seems that there are different enough reasons for crossdressers to start that there isn't just one cause or driver.

For me, it isn't a compulsion, not even a need the way it is for many CDs. I didn't start when I was a child, I started very late in life by finding something that triggered a desire to just dress better than I ever had before. Even though I have built up a fair investment in new clothes, I could just as easily make a U-turn, so there is no compulsion. This probably affects me in that, for more than one reason, I haven't put any real effort into developing my en femme techniques yet.

However, because I wear 100% women's clothes more than many CDs who dress en femme, I certainly still consider myself to be a crossdresser.

I would gladly like a chance at blowing Freud's mind. 🍿

 

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Posts: 77
Duchess
(@rebeccaoh)
Estimable Member     Oxford, Ohio, United States of America
Joined: 7 months ago

It’s odd, isnt it, that so many cds can be so different. But to me, it really is logical and I get it. When I think about crossdressing in general, what is it? It’s simply AMAB wearing clothing initially marketed towards AWAB. That could mean literally anything depending on what they wear, where they wear it, gender identity, literally anything. My version of dressing is very different than many of the ladies on this forum and we are people speaking the same language, similar lives compared to other parts of the world, etc. trying to find a reason just isn’t possible overall. Me personally, still have no clue why I really do it. Been dressing since I was very young and never have I had a eureka moment even in therapy. All I do know is, I put on cute clothes, then like the way I feel. When that happens, I like to make the look complete and then start on things like makeup hair and accessories. Nobody is hurt by what I do and frankly it’s nobodies business ya know. Fun thought exercise, but to me it’s like asking why someone likes eating sushi. They just like it.

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3 Replies
Lady
(@larissaevans)
Joined: 2 years ago

Trusted Member     London, United Kingdom
Posts: 47

I agree with you regarding a lot of what you've said for certain. I think if you question why someone likes cross-dressing, you then have to question why anyone likes anything! Which is a difficult prospect. I think this is why I don't like Freud especially, as that's kind of what he attempted to do in a lot of ways. I personally love sushi 😁

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Duchess
(@rebeccaoh)
Joined: 7 months ago

Estimable Member     Oxford, Ohio, United States of America
Posts: 77

I tend to avoid Freudian anything if I can help it lol. Psych 101 was enough for my lifetime haha

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Lady
(@harriette)
Joined: 2 years ago

Illustrious Member     Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 4016

@rebeccaoh Why we like to crossdress is easier to answer than why we need to crossdress, though. At least it is for me.

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Posts: 67
Duchess Annual
(@rayna)
Estimable Member     Leominster, Massachusetts, United States of America
Joined: 5 months ago

 Fascinating topic, and worth a deep look. 

I'm pretty much convinced that gender specific clothing came about much, much MUCH earlier than the bot would have us believe. The reason is that the bot has to rely on known written records and clothing has been around since well before writing itself. Not only that, but I'm not certain that writing didn't come into use well before the earliest known written records. 

 It's true enough that primitive humans wore animal skins and furs, bit it couldn't have been long before they were being cut and sewn into items of clothing with which we would be familiar today. And it couldn't have taken long before people started to realize that men and women have bodies shaped differently from each other. So clothes for women and girls had to be made differently from those for men and boys.

 Somewhere along the line, it couldn't have escaped notice that certain types or styles of clothes helped to enhance a person's appearance. And that certain clothes made women appear more womanly, other types made men appear more manly. And so from there I imagine the customs and taboos about clothing began to emerge. 

 As far as when crossdressing began, who can possibly say? But since crossdressing has been part of every culture throughout history dating back to what is known, I imagine it's been going on since shortly after clothing itself was invented. 

 It must have been hell for any young boy with crossdressing tendencies back then. I shudder to think what primitive tribesmen might have done to them. And yet there have been times and places where boys could and did dress as women. Such as during Shakespeare's time, when it was illegal for women to participate in theater and young boys were recruited to play the female roles in those plays. Now flash forward to modern times where we have "womanless" beauty pageants where boys about the same age as Shakespeare's male actresses dress up in formal gowns with full feminine makeup and hairstyles. 

 It's been around a long time. And it's not going anywhere soon. 

Rayna 

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Lady
(@larissaevans)
Joined: 2 years ago

Trusted Member     London, United Kingdom
Posts: 47

I agree, it would be very interesting if more historical evidence could be found to say more definitely how things went step by step. In the bot's defence, it did start off by saying that it was referring to the earliest evidence that we currently have. More evidence would be intriguing, but it is possible that, like many things, it may be lost to time unfortunately.

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Posts: 2075
Duchess
(@rozalyne)
Famed Member     Shrewsbury, Shropshire, United Kingdom
Joined: 3 years ago

Hi Larissa,
You know what they say there are more questions than answers, me personally i dress because i enjoy it, if there was another reason I've not found it yet and since i had my first makeover I'm enjoying it more it seems to have opened up a whole new world for me and I'm not sure where it will take me, I've enjoyed your article immensely and we are all entitled to our own opinion even Freud but in the end they are only opinions, i think that is the same in every aspect of life everyone has different options and no one is right and no one is wrong we all live our lives the best that we can,
Hugs Roz X

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Lady
(@larissaevans)
Joined: 2 years ago

Trusted Member     London, United Kingdom
Posts: 47

Hi Roz,
Thank you so much for your lovely comment! 😊 I'm really happy to hear that you liked the article. I completely agree with you, there are so many different reasons for dressing up, and in the end, it's about what makes us feel good, right? I saw your photos, and I was genuinely amazed at how fantastic you look in them! It really got me thinking that maybe I should treat myself to a makeover too at some point 😁 You looked really happy and confident!
Larissa✨

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Posts: 2075
Duchess
(@rozalyne)
Famed Member     Shrewsbury, Shropshire, United Kingdom
Joined: 3 years ago

Thanks very much Larissa, I'm glad you like my pictures, I had a great time having my makeover, yes you should treat yourself to a makeover yourself I'm sure you will love it, 

It is all about what makes us happy that's why you do it, 

Hugs Roz X 

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Posts: 1742
Duchess
(@alison-anderson)
Noble Member     Middlesex county, New Jersey, United States of America
Joined: 6 years ago

Interesting article, Larissa. If animated TV can be trusted, we know that it must have started after the time of the Flintstones, since both men and women were (effectively) wearing a dress.

Regarding difference of fashions, I have a red velour pullover shirt. The neckline has a small V point in it. My ex had an almost identical shirt, labeled as women's, while mine was labeled as men's. I looked for years to figure out the difference (besides the label inside). Then one day I accidentally found it. The shirt has an edging around the neckline, starting and ending at the V. On the men's shirt, the left end of the edging is sewn on top of the right end. On the women's shirt, the right end of the edging is sewn on top of the left. I mean, really!? I don't think anyone but the manufacturer could tell the difference.

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Lady
(@larissaevans)
Joined: 2 years ago

Trusted Member     London, United Kingdom
Posts: 47

Yes, even though Fred and Barney would engage in typical male pursuits like bowling, driving and general mischief, there was no escaping the fact that they were both wearing what looked like flapper dresses 🤣 I think for me what's also slightly maddening is that from my observation, the women's clothing tends to be more expensive than the men's version, even though they're virtually identical.

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Duchess
(@alison-anderson)
Noble Member     Middlesex county, New Jersey, United States of America
Joined: 6 years ago

Posted by: @larissaevans

the women's clothing tends to be more expensive than the men's version, even though they're virtually identical.

Also known as "the pink tax."

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Posts: 52
Lady
(@lionel)
Estimable Member     Avon, United Kingdom
Joined: 9 months ago

Over the past 50 years, in western cultures at least, gender differences between male and female clothing have diminished largely as a result of women increasingly adopting what were previously thought of as male garments - notably trousers, jeans, tee-shirts, etc - while ceasing to wear almost all uniquely feminine items such as skirts/dresses, slips, corsetry (except bras), stockings/tights and even, most of the time, high-heeled shoes.  All these Items are still seen but less and less often.  I understand that women's panties are different (but often not very different) from men's and that bras remain uniquely female attire but, for normal, every-day wear, the difference between male and female cloting is largely down to colour, trim and some degree of shape.  I can't imagine that, if I were a teenage boy in the 2020s I would be fascinated by modern girls' clothing in the same way that it intrigued me as a boy in the late 1950s and 60s.

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Lady
(@larissaevans)
Joined: 2 years ago

Trusted Member     London, United Kingdom
Posts: 47

Yes, although it is frustrating that clothing is now very similar between the sexes, in some ways that development also represents the loss of a femininity that probably once seemed much more culturally significant. A prediction on my part is that clothing may well start to appear on sale more widely as non-gendered in the future, which might be a bit of a shame in some ways!

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Lady
(@harriette)
Joined: 2 years ago

Illustrious Member     Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 4016

Posted by: @lionel

I can't imagine that, if I were a teenage boy in the 2020s I would be fascinated by modern girls' clothing in the same way that it intrigued me as a boy in the late 1950s and 60s.

"I don't know if the culprit was a man or a woman, Officer. At least not by the way s/he was dressed." 😉

 

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Posts: 18
Guest
(@Larissa Evans)
Active Member
Joined: 2 years ago

Enjoyed the piece Larissa.  Freud had a lot going for him - the modern version is Az Hakim (or something - he’s written a book recently).  I’d rather be a transvestite than AGP.

It amuses one to see the number of men who share this passion using the excuse: Clothes have no gender … Except for lab coats, they often do.

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Posts: 97
Lady
(@polly)
Estimable Member     Brighton, East Sussex, United Kingdom
Joined: 5 years ago

For me it has always been the decorative allure of those lovely girls' clothes, which I would have happily worn as a boy - though whether that would have resulted in a different personality and interests is a conundrum. Have my other interests developed (such as art, writing) as I was unable to express a sense of prettiness?

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(@caroline2k)
Joined: 2 years ago

Noble Member     Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom
Posts: 618

@polly I'm always struck by how many of us girls are of a creative bent. There are many musicians and artists amongst our ranks.

I have also wondered about the correlation. And yes - would I have spent all that time I devoted to learning to play musical instruments and painting and so forth if I could have spent hours on doing my makeup and shopping for ra-ra skirts? 🤔😉

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Lady
(@harriette)
Joined: 2 years ago

Illustrious Member     Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 4016

Posted by: @caroline2k

shopping for ra-ra skirts? 🤔😉

Had to look that one up. 😉

 

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Lady
(@polly)
Joined: 5 years ago

Estimable Member     Brighton, East Sussex, United Kingdom
Posts: 97

@caroline2k I have sometimes blended the two - I painted my own legs in a picture a couple of times, with pretty shoes on - one was even printed in a calendar and the original sold for £100! I also sang in a pub dolled up a year or so ago, it would be nice to blend things more.

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(@caroline2k)
Joined: 2 years ago

Noble Member     Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom
Posts: 618

That's fabulous Polly! The painted legs sounds interesting 🙂
Performing whilst dressed has always been something I'd like to do - the notion of an all-gurl band is one I've always loved 🙂 - but have never managed to do it. I think I'd probably be too scared to do it for real, lol

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Baroness
(@chrisfp99)
Joined: 2 years ago

Famed Member     London , Kent, United Kingdom
Posts: 1728

@caroline2k Caroline, I've thought about this a lot, but like you I'm not sure I'd have the balls. There do seem to be a lot of musical gifts here xx.

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Lady
(@polly)
Joined: 5 years ago

Estimable Member     Brighton, East Sussex, United Kingdom
Posts: 97

I sat there for a while, thought of a song & then did it! Will tell the tale in a future article.

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Posts: 48
(@catharineec)
Trusted Member     Alberta, Canada
Joined: 3 years ago

I cross dress because I love it and it makes me feel good. I love looking in the mirror and seeing my female half looking back at me.

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Posts: 1620
Baroness Annual
(@secretpassions)
Noble Member     Wisconsin, United States of America
Joined: 3 years ago

I very much like the idea of stream of consciousness writing. Put another vote in for that!

As for my cross dressing, I feel more inline with who I feel I am when I'm dressed. although I discovered this later in life, so much more of my past makes more sense since I have. When I look at myself dressed I feel like the real me is looking back.

It will be a sad day if clothing ever becomes gender neutral! 

Great article, or rather stream of conciseness!

Wink  

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Posts: 1019
Duchess
(@gracepal)
Noble Member     South Carolina, United States of America
Joined: 5 months ago

Why do you cross-dress, if you do?

Because I want to. I really think it’s that simple.🥰

That aside, I like your writing style Larissa, at least the parts that you wrote. The AI stuff…boring as always. AI…I’m trying to keep an open mind but it’s really hard so far. I much prefer HI, (Human Intelligence), with all it’s errors and screw-ups.

On the subject of boys vs girls clothing, didn’t it start with the “blue is for boys, pink is for girls” thinking? Seems simple and makes sense.

Which reminds me that I bought some women’s glasses frames in blue recently. One of my bro-friends noticed them and said: “Nice specs, do they come in a men’s version?” WTF? What a dic*! (probably a closet crosser🤪)

As one of the more  “chattier girls” on CDH IMO, I do love discussing the CD topic. So many nuances. But I do think that after all the blather about why, and what motivates it, and all the deep discourse about it, it’s really just because we want to. And even that’s hard to say at times. 

GP

 

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3 Replies
Lady
(@polly)
Joined: 5 years ago

Estimable Member     Brighton, East Sussex, United Kingdom
Posts: 97

Pink was originally the boys' color, the more restrained blue for girls - see Alice in Wonderland's dress. It swapped at some point. Boys used to wear dresses a lot in the 1800s, incredibly!

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Duchess
(@gracepal)
Joined: 5 months ago

Noble Member     South Carolina, United States of America
Posts: 1019

@polly Well Polly, we are definitely taking pink back in a major way here on CDH;)!

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Duchess
(@gracepal)
Joined: 5 months ago

Noble Member     South Carolina, United States of America
Posts: 1019

Not to mention the girls stealing it in the first place. My God, where does it end???🤪

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