Just curious

Short answer - I didn't, there probably were codes and places to meet but naive fellow that I was I just blundered on probably thinking that I was the only one with these desires  - boy how things have changed.

Diana.

Cynthia,

I am 76 and I have been dressing  since I was eight. I have been a closeted CD since I was a eight years old I never told anyone until I was 40 yo and came out to my wife which didn't  go very well for the first 15 years then she finally accepted  my crossdressing.

Kathleen

Does anyone remember Transformation magazine? I could buy it at the magazine and book shop. For a while, that was where I got all my information. I didn't have any friends or relatives to talk to about my female feelings. Every month I looked forward to buying the new magazine and reading it cover to cover.

[postquote quote=458482]
you never got your decoder ring hehe just joking. As for learning about the community and the lifestyle internet brought me to the fine community of CDH

Hi Cynthia the short answer is the same as everyone else i didn't leave the closet, i thought i was the only one who took pleasure in dressing up so hid it away, even now I'm in my 60s and I'm still in the closet to my wife and family x

Hugs Rozalyne x

Hi Cynthia,

In the mid 70’s International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE) published a magazine “Tapestry.”  Advertisers were CD and TS friendly and there were member listings/personal ads by state one could send written letters to.  As you said this predates most having a computer on the desk.

Or one could stop in a local store to pick up gift per se of lingerie or women’s attire.

Alice

Hi Cynthia, I'm 66 and like many of the others who've responded so far, I thought I was the only one who did this.  Well I did hear about Renee Richards, the tennis playing MTF trans, and was a bit jealous that she managed to do it.  Oh and also Christine Jorgensen.  But this was not common at all and there was a lot of negativity towards it.  I then started to learn about drag queens as there were a few TV shows about them.  And a few movies (Some Like It Hot, Rocky Horror Picture Show), and the TV show Bosum Buddies.  The internet, thankfully, had really opened my eyes.  Not sure if and how my life would have been different if I had the internet when I was much younger.  In terms of a code or anything like that, nope, I had no idea.  Thanks for posting this topic.  All the Best, Hugs, Krista.

[postquote quote=458516]
was that like the magazine transliving

Although I had been cross dressing since early childhood in the 1950s, I was not aware of an actual national organization until the 1970s, when I came across an advertisement in Penthouse magazine for Tri-ESS (Society For The Second Self).

In the early 80s, I made contact with Tri-Ess via U.S. Mail, and they in turn put me in contact with a local chapter close to me in Norfolk, Virginia.  My wife and I were invited to attend their meetings and activities, but I backed out, because I was an active duty U.S. Navy cryptologist at that time and believed I would be placing my security clearance in jeopardy.

By the 1990s, I had retired from the Navy, and the internet was coming into use, and I contacted Tri-ESS.  This time without fear of losing a security clearance.

I had zero resources before the Internet.  No friends.  No allies.  Everyone I knew would've been repulsed....or worse.  I was too scared to do anything that might out me.  Even though I knew I wasn't alone, I really was.

I have been dressing since I was 5.  It was totally secret until right around my 15th Bday.  I met the man I had my first ever crush on, and became his girlfriend.  Vincent had moved to Texas from California, where he had been involved with CD's out there.

Long story short, he introduced me to several of his gay and CD friends.  Of course in '75, there was no local group that outwardly supported any of us here.  Our circles were small and very tight knit, even in the same towns.  Of course there were always rumors about us, most of it negative and almost all of it false.  Information was traded by word of mouth until we had our first couple of adult movie places that allowed more than just str8's inside.

The magazines and personals papers followed, until eventually the internet became widespread.  Then we had the gay bars.  Those became the meeting place of choice for a sit down, face to face meeting with a new person.

It wasn't always easy to meet new people and you really had to be careful.  For every positive story of success, there was also usually a negative one.  Even some unscrupulous people who would use the ads and papers to draw some of us out, for public humiliation at the least, up to physical assaults at the other end.  Thank goodness those have mostly gone away.  But just like before the net, you need to keep your eyes open for all the online scams, which can be just as dangerous as they used to be.

Don't let the bad outweigh the good you will also find in this life.  There  is a huge world to discover and explore as your second self.  Many new friends and supporters, and truth be told, they are out there looking for you, too.

PaulaF

Wow.  Thanks for all the replies.  I really am in awe of all of you ladies who ventured out into the world back then, even knowing the risks involved.  I think those of us who have always had the internet there forget the danger that was involved in simply just getting to know others back in the analog age.

I also can't imagine being so cut off from others.  I'm thankful that we know have the internet to meet others and explore our lifestyle with a lot less risks involved than having to go to go to a store and physically buy a magazine or go to a bar or having to answer an ad in the newspaper.  It's horrible that so many of you felt so alone, but now we have each other!

So far this has been the only place for me.

In what I've searched for everything seems to be geared towards much younger people, and I'm glad they have those resources available to them.

Where older gals are concerned things seem to take a more sexual and pornographic turn. I may be wrong about that.

Gives some thought to creating more resources however.

was that like the magazine transliving

It was (and still is) more of an adult theme magazine. Every month there was a centerfold, if you know what I mean. It did have interviews and articles. It was my only source of information at the time.