His/Her-Story Part Three: The Lesson of High School

When I was a teenager there was a brief concern that I might be crazy, or dangerously depressed or otherwise in need of intervention. It was because of something I wrote in a school journal, which at the time I thought, how insightful, how well-written this is, surely they will be proud of me. I learned something about sharing your true feelings with adults that day. Never again would I let it slip that I had any odd quirks that might be mistaken for insanity. The lesson of high school: Distrust and withdraw from human contact, especially adults who think they're helping.

I didn't need help any more than every teenager needs help. In retrospect, it would've been wonderful if they'd sent me to a therapist, and the therapist had analyzed my psyche and said, "Good news! You're a transvestite. It's a really fun and interesting thing to be, and maybe a few people will be rude about it, but you didn't want to be their friend anyway."

I doubt that would have happened. But if someone had said that to me, maybe things could have been different. It's impossible to know. I can't blame society for all my problems. But not enjoying transvestitism in my youth is one of my very few regrets in this world.

Understanding The Transvestite

A transvestite belongs to one gender but likes to wear the opposite gender's clothes, as defined by cultural norms. This may also entail the use of makeup, scents, and adopting cross-gender behaviors.

The transvestite wishes to shift between gender identities on a surface level, unlike a transsexual or transgendered person who wishes to permanently change their physical form to match their identity, and unlike the intersexed, who belong simultaneously to both genders.

The transvestite's motives may have as much to do with fun, happiness and personal expression as with sex or romance, but this varies from person to person.

The transvestite may be young or old, male or female, black or white, rich or poor, etc...

Transvestites may look good or bad in their mismatched outfits, but you should be polite to them either way.

A transvestite is a man who keeps trying to put things in his pockets only to remember that there are no pockets in the dress he's wearing.

A transvestite, until recently, could have been a woman wearing pants and finding all kinds of uses for these things called pockets.

The female who adopts male behaviors is considered strong, capable, and cool, while males who adopt female behaviors are considered weak, foolish, and deceptive. This is because femininity itself is considered weak, foolish, and deceptive. Of course, this is not to say that female transvestites do not have their own hardships, just that there is a double standard, and for once it affects the men more than the women.

The psychiatric community officially believes that all transvestites are narcissistic perverts. The truth, of course, is that all humans are narcissistic perverts, but that doesn't mean we should assume that they aren't nice people.

A transvestite is a person who wants to be accepted and appreciated.