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Q&A
Q. Is there any real reason that most of us crossdressers like short skirts and dresses and high heels? And most of us were brought up Catholic?
Response by Krystle Glass
A. I think there are many reason why some crossdressers like short skirts and dresses and high heels. But I don't know if it's most crossdressers. I will admit though that it is a significant portion of the population though. One reason is it's appeal in a fetishistic way. I realize many people have a negative image of anything to do with the word fetish. And in it's strictly clinical definition, it may indicate some sort of psychological condition. But in this case, other than the rare exception, it simply indicates some styles or articles of clothing that are preferred because they excite and stimulate a particular area of the person's psyche. It dose not necessarily mean that the person requires or needs it to function or find excitement, just that it is preferred.
Another reason has to do with conditioning and our own stereotypes. Many of us have been raised to identify short skirts and high heels with women, especially attractive women. That is a stereotype we carry inside of us. It goes back through childhood and has been re-enforced through years of television, movies, advertising, Playboy, Frederick's of Hollywood etc. Also many of us grew up in an era when women wore dresses and high heels as an everyday matter of course and not as the exception it is today. Subconsciously we are emulating those women we grew up admiring.
Yet another factor is simple vanity. We believe we have great legs (and many of us do) so why not show them off? Even if this means wearing styles that are fairly inappropriate to our age. We want to look at ourselves and see attractive, sexy, desirable women. Short hemlines and high heels to our minds fills the bill. We know what our males sides finds attractive and that's what our females sides gravitates to. And there is a segment of the community that refuses to look at itself in any realistic or objective way. Even when they make us look silly, even when we can no longer pull it off, even when it sets us up to read instantly, we persist in wearing what we have been imprinted with. We foster society's stereotypes of us, by our own actions.
I also believe that there is a segment among those who are just starting out (at whatever age) that has to go through a grow pattern in it's fashion sense. We have trouble when first exploring our feminine image, of jumping right from full time male mode, to a part time female mode that matches our age development. And I think this parallels our female mental development. Having not had the chance to go through girlhood, teen years, young womanhood as females, we go through an accelerated period of development that coincides with what we missed. Hence we have a period of time when we don't dress our chronological age, but instead we dress our femme development age.
As to the question of most of us having been raised Catholic, I can't really answer that. I don't know the numbers or percentages of how many crossdressers are Catholic. Having been raised Catholic, and knowing the past history of repression in regards to sexuality etc. that the Catholic Church has been linked to, I tend to think that what happens is you only hear of a person's religious upbringing in relation to their crossdressing when they are Catholic. I think a good many other religions simply do not make such an issue of sex, therefore fewer crossdressers tend to tie their religious upbringing with their transgenderism. Or maybe Catholics are just more vocal about it. But as I stated before, I really don't know the numbers, but I doubt Catholics have any real hold on being a majority.