For Tolerance and Civility
Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 1:58 pm
Hi all,
This is not a rant or a rave. It is just a response from one who is not easily moved to write long letters and bare my soul to the world. I cannot help responding, however, to some personal gibes and complaints that I am seeing on this forum. I find such posts upsetting and unecessary, and I hope that they will not serve to drive away readers and contributors.
Let me summarize where I come from in the crossdressing phenomenon. As most of us, I started early and was roundly punished for it. My mother beat me with a rubber hose, when she found I had filched her bra or stockings. My beloved wife of almost 50 years, barely tolerated my curious compulsions. Guilt ruled my life, and I believed that I was an unique sort of freak. After my wife died (now almost 10 years ago), I decided that there was nothing to feel guilty about, and began to accumulate a wardrobe - strictly a closet CD. Then I met my current SO, and bared my secret to her. She is entirely understanding and supportive. You should see the frilly panties she bought me for Valentines Day ! Finding this forum has been of huge importance to understanding myself. I appreciate the rational editing here, and I don't find the same degree of comfort in other similar forums. Reading of the serious as well as the frivolous problems and opinions reveals as much about myself as about the contributors.
So far, my external expeditions en femme have been confined to visits to the ATM, the gas station, and drives to and from my SO's house (10 minutes of excitement). I am much too old and ugly to pass - perhaps at 100 paces on a dark and stormy night. The challenge is there, however.
Back to this forum. Certainly, within the bounds of good taste, any opinions and ideas should tolerated here. We are all, to some extent, victims of intolerance and bigotry, and we cannot permit ourselves to exhibit the kind of behavior we abhor.
I admire the decision of the administrators of this board to set aside an area for more acrid discussions. But if some of the acerbity spills over into other threads, so be it. One is not obliged to read it or respond to it. We get bombarded with unpleasant advertising and spam, but we shrug it off in the main. Even the Patriot Act has not created a secret police like the infamous GESTAPO.
This forum is an interesting, stimulating, educational, and emotionally satisfying experience. Certainly let's avoid personal criticisms.
Hugs to all,
Willy
This is not a rant or a rave. It is just a response from one who is not easily moved to write long letters and bare my soul to the world. I cannot help responding, however, to some personal gibes and complaints that I am seeing on this forum. I find such posts upsetting and unecessary, and I hope that they will not serve to drive away readers and contributors.
Let me summarize where I come from in the crossdressing phenomenon. As most of us, I started early and was roundly punished for it. My mother beat me with a rubber hose, when she found I had filched her bra or stockings. My beloved wife of almost 50 years, barely tolerated my curious compulsions. Guilt ruled my life, and I believed that I was an unique sort of freak. After my wife died (now almost 10 years ago), I decided that there was nothing to feel guilty about, and began to accumulate a wardrobe - strictly a closet CD. Then I met my current SO, and bared my secret to her. She is entirely understanding and supportive. You should see the frilly panties she bought me for Valentines Day ! Finding this forum has been of huge importance to understanding myself. I appreciate the rational editing here, and I don't find the same degree of comfort in other similar forums. Reading of the serious as well as the frivolous problems and opinions reveals as much about myself as about the contributors.
So far, my external expeditions en femme have been confined to visits to the ATM, the gas station, and drives to and from my SO's house (10 minutes of excitement). I am much too old and ugly to pass - perhaps at 100 paces on a dark and stormy night. The challenge is there, however.
Back to this forum. Certainly, within the bounds of good taste, any opinions and ideas should tolerated here. We are all, to some extent, victims of intolerance and bigotry, and we cannot permit ourselves to exhibit the kind of behavior we abhor.
I admire the decision of the administrators of this board to set aside an area for more acrid discussions. But if some of the acerbity spills over into other threads, so be it. One is not obliged to read it or respond to it. We get bombarded with unpleasant advertising and spam, but we shrug it off in the main. Even the Patriot Act has not created a secret police like the infamous GESTAPO.
This forum is an interesting, stimulating, educational, and emotionally satisfying experience. Certainly let's avoid personal criticisms.
Hugs to all,
Willy