Is crossdressing a hobby?

I read somewhere in a comment that crossdressing was their hobby. That got me thinking. Maybe it is for some people. Just enjoying the different look, the feel of the fabric, the temporary transformation into another role, a way to find pleasure, excitement, perhaps an escape, or the kick of doing something that isn't really allowed and shouldn't be discovered or found out about (sometimes for good reasons). There can be many reasons, and none of them are wrong. Considering it a hobby is ok.

I think many of us go through or have gone through such phases, but not because we considered it a hobby. Rather, it was a form of self-exploration, a long period of female adolescence that lasted for years to understand that persistent need, a hunger we could only satisfy by dressing up and becoming the woman we so often wanted to be. The circumstances under which that happened depended heavily on the environment and life circumstances. Sometimes the process was interrupted, a purge took place, the hunger was locked away in a vault to which we did not throw away the key. That is why, after a while, we started again, with a heavy door we had to open to gain access to that secret room and fill it once more with valuable clothing, shoes, and accessories.

It became clear to me that this was not a hobby, but a lifestyle of the person I am. All the time, I was working on becoming the person I want to be, the person I need to be—a personal development, a growth process that, even when locked up in the vault, continued to grow. I have come to the realization that becoming a woman isn't even a process. Perhaps I, we, are a more androgynous type? A group of people, call us women with bigger hands, bigger feet, and a lower voice. We exhibit so many feminine characteristics that we have to put a label on it, because we need labels to defy societal norms. That label became crossdressers.

Embracing that androgynous self suddenly places it in a very different light. A difficult light, with more colors than a rainbow. Try explaining a color to someone that does not appear in the spectrum, yet does exist. Only those who live beyond that rainbow and see the color will understand it. We can imagine ourselves above that rainbow, reaching a heaven we call paradise, joining a club of crossdressers, which is why the name of this website is well chosen. We feel like we are in a kind of safe, self-assured heaven when we crossdress, especially surrounded by like-minded people who speak the same body language and emotional language, gesturing with big hands and wiggling the hair of the wig we use to create that feminine, or may I say androgynous, look that we all love so much when we see ourselves in the mirror or move around in our heavenly space.

We do no harm to anyone by being who we are, but our radiant color can confuse many. Some may not find that color beautiful, or do not want to see it, but it is there. We cannot live with only the familiar colors of the rainbow as society defines them. Our color began to shine brightly after we had left our female adolescence behind us. For some of us, that period might well last forever. Some somehow manage to become fully mature crossdressers, unafraid of the outside world, regardless of skin color, reaction, or loss that their human nature might entail. They view every step as an achievement and feel good about themselves and their life situation. In my opinion, that is quite an achievement. It is not something you can call a hobby, but rather an intensive lifelong project if you choose to go all in and embrace that exceptional, minority color.

David Bowie is said to have once remarked: "Aging is an extraordinary process in which you become the person you were always meant to be. I hope that I will be there someday too." We all get there step by step, while encouraging each other, sharing experiences, and meeting through this site!

Thank you, ClubCrossdressing site, and all the members who are part of it, for making this possible.

xxx MoiLo