This first photo is me on the back stoop, dressed up by my older sisters, Donna and Debbie. It has "Sept 1960 - Willow Rd" written in pen on the back, so I'm two and a half years old (Donna 7, Debbie 5) and a younger sister, Dee Dee, was seven months. Along with our single mother, we lived with our twice divorced Aunt Catherine at her house where four kids shared bedroom.
Our very quirky mother, raised during the Depression, saved everything! So all the girls' old clothes were in two large steamer trunks in the basement. It was those dresses, lacy socks, panties, camis, slips, tights, jumpers and sweaters that introduced me to love all things girly and feminine.
It started as a private dress-up game, but then our mother saw me and passively allowed it, while our Aunt actively encouraged it and participated with my sisters in my femulations. What began as once or twice a week for maybe an hour each time, turned into four, five and six days a week and for an entire morning or all afternoon, even all day and into the evening when they switched me into baby doll PJs or a red plaid flannel granny nightgown with pink fuzzy slippers.
In this photo, they tried a barrette in my short hair, but over time our mother allowed my hair to grow longer, which made looking like a girl even easier.
More to come.
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| Wearing Express (Source: Express) |
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| Actor Dylan Sprouse femulates in an 2005 episode of television's The Suite Life of Zach and Cody. |
Dear Stana and Cathy,
ReplyDeleteWhat I find most interesting is that while many transvestites have difficulty with an unaccepting spouse, here young girls have (in this case) an intuitive understanding of the beauty and power of feminizing a boy. Note how the mother accepts and the Aunt encourages. I wonder is this a feminine desire to make a symbolic push back against male privilege and patriarchy?
Love you Stana and Cathy
è sempre un gran piacere leggerti con tanto entusiasmo e voglia di scoprire cose che non conosco...ammiro il tuo modo di esprimere femminilità!! bacio
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, you where such a cute little girl...
ReplyDeleteNo wonder you grow up into the lovely lady you are today.
Dear Cathy,
ReplyDeleteThank You for sharing your lovely story. How lucky you were to be dressed and treated as a girl (at least part-time) from an early age. You look so sweet in the adorable little girl ensemble.
Like so many crossdressers, from the age I discovered the joy of wearing girls' clothing and acting like a girl while dressed as such until much later in life, I hid my secret desires and even went through at least 2 purges of women's clothing that I acquired as an adult. Fortunately, as is somewhat common as we pass age 50 or 60 (I'm now 72), I became much less concerned with what anyone else would think of me dressing and presenting completely as a woman. I am very happy to be a crossdresser, and I wouldn't want to be "cured" of it. I think we crossdressers are very fortunate to have this extra "gender gift". It is so lovely to be completely ensconced in pretty lingerie, ladies outerwear, shoes, jewelry, makeup, and feminine hair (or wig), and act as a lady.
Love,
Sheila.
I loved this posting because it brought back so many pleasant memories of my early childhood. I too have a mother that lived through the depression and hand me downs were a fact of life. Between my older sister and several female cousins I had so many clothes to wear. It wasn't until I started school that we more or less were forced into me wearing male clothes.
ReplyDeleteOh this is a wonderful post! Is there any way to get in touch with Cathy? I would love to chat with her about her childhood.
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