This is a question I ponder when I hear from men who are trapped in relationships with women. (No, I'm not singling out women as the bad gals here, it's just that most men who wear panties tend to be straight, and a great proportion of them tend to be married as well.) Oftentimes it seems that some women have a particularly snarky reaction to men wearing panties. They think it means that the man in question is less of a man, they think it looks strange, they think men shouldn't do that sort of thing. Ironically, these are often the same women who will put on their boyfriend's shirt and walk around the house expecting him to think they look adorable. Imagine their horror and dismay if their boyfriend responded to the traditional donning of their shirt with "That's disgusting, take that off, you look like a man!"

Imagine if these women were told not that they only couldn't wear their boyfriend's or husband's shirt, but they also would no longer be allowed to wear trousers in public. Imagine the furore that would cause. Feminists would be up in arms, there would be marches on local and national governing bodies. Women would never accept a social dictum that said they had to swap their jeans, pantsuits, shorts and all other manners of manly dress, and instead don skirts and dresses for the rest of their days. Yet men are supposed to simply accept the fact that they are not allowed even to wear the underclothes that are typically associated with women. Have we gone mad? Seriously. Are we, as a society, utterly insane? It's one thing not to like the aesthetics of a man in lingerie. That is a personal preference and nobody can argue that. We're all entitled to our likes and dislikes. But the feeling that pervades our society tends to go far beyond simple likes and dislikes. It goes so far as to oftentimes place value judgments on men who wear women's panties. They're effeminate. They're probably gay. They're not real men.

For all our social advancement, for all our equality, for all our encouraging women to be all that they can be, for some reason we seem to have left men out of the picture entirely. Not only out of the picture, but back in the dark ages. There is this concept that women can do anything, be anything, wear anything. But a man, a man has to be some blend between a Neanderthal and Keats. He must be soulful, yet rugged. He must dress well, in one of the four main modes of dress we allow him (Business, Business Casual, Casual, and Sports.) He must be a strong provider, (though we are thankfully moving towards more reasonable equality where some men stay at home and look after children whilst their female partner's work.), and he must know how to mount shelves. (I think that's actually in the wedding vows for men.) Not only must he live up to all these expectations, but prejudices still exist against males when it comes to child custody. Just look at what Britney Spears had to do in order for Kevin Federline to gain custody of the children. Simply flashing her genitals all over the world and shaving off all her hair wasn't enough. It wasn't until she skipped several drug tests, refused to show up to court several times, and finally barricaded herself in the bathroom with her children and a firearm that full custody went to Kevin Federline. (Who, incidentally, had kept his winky out of public view the entire time.)

I know I've strayed from the point, but in a sense, this is the point. The fact is, a proportion of men enjoy wearing lingerie. There's certainly no harm in it, yet there is a huge stigma associated with it, a stigma that I propose comes from the fact that men are being forcibly kept in roles that are outmoded, outdated, and make them frustrated with their partners and with themselves. Enough. Surely we have advanced to the point where what a man wears under his jeans doesn't matter any more than what a woman wears over her panties? Sadly, we haven't. And I think that's something worth thinking about the next time we start congratulating ourselves for being so advanced and egalitarian.

Click here to shop lingerie today

Just some of the questions asked when this topic comes up:

Morally wrong? No, obviously not! Just as in any other sentence of the pattern "Is it bad to be a _____ who wears makeup?" Whether you put man, woman, stockbroker, housecleaner, opera singer, welder, or catsitter in that gap, it's still not wrong.

Inappropriate in an office situation? Possibly, depending on your workplace and the exact nature of the makeup you like to wear.

Unsafe, because bigots will object violently in public? Possibly. This is also true for cis men who like makeup. And, for that matter, some cis women, because there are bigots who assume anyone with certain kinds of makeup on is a prostitute and therefore subhuman trash to be abused.

Likely to make it harder for you to pass? Depends on your underlying facial structure and a million other things. For this one, start with asking yourself if passing (being reflexively taken for a cisgender man) is particularly important to you. If people, instead of saying "sir" and "he" as a matter of course, eye you sidelong and look confused, or say ".... ma'am?", does that bother you? If so, how much? More or less than the lift and happiness you get from the eyeliner? Just something to consider in your pros/cons analysis.

Does it mean you're not "really" a man? Binary gender-policing is a big snarling bitch. There are even trans women who react angrily towards other trans women who feel most comfortable wearing, say, jeans with a girl-cut t-shirt and a hoodie with no makeup and ballet flats. I have heard "If you weren't going to make an effort, why did you even want to be a woman?" said with a straight face from one trans woman to another. It made me want to punch her, though I know it comes from a place of pain, and a lifetime of habits learned from transitioning back when doctors wouldn't let you transition unless you were girly enough and said all the right things.

Likely to cause pushback from your nearest and dearest about your transition? Possibly. I know there are members of my family that have a real problem with even the concept that "I am a man now" doesn't mean I'm going to give up on wearing sparkly purple when I feel like it, or stop knitting, or think that now I'll magically develop a deep and abiding interest in football, cars, spitting on the floor, and acting like a pig to women. I'm the same person now than I was then, only with fewer self-destructive coping strategies.

But thankfully we live in a more enlightened time, and as long as you keep an eye on your own personal levels of safety and comfort, and whether the makeup is doing more to make you feel good than it is causing people to misgender you and make you feel bad, then by all means -- have fun. Just don't get fired over it, if you can help it.

“Good morning, Transformation, Beverley speaking, how can I help you” this is how we start our day Monday to Friday. There will always be a friendly voice on the other end of the phone, someone to advise and listen to you without judging you. Having worked for Transformation for the last 16 years, I know how nerve-racking that first phone call can be. You are speaking to a complete stranger regarding your gender and confiding in a person you have never met. Take a deep breath and tell us all about yourselves, how you feel, what changes you are hoping for and we will help and advise you all we can. Not only do I take orders over the phone, but I also pack them giving you the customer that personal touch. New customers will receive a £25.00 voucher with their first order which can be spent with their next order and we will always make you aware of all our special offers by post and/or email. If you don’t want to receive postal mail we won’t send you any promotions as we respect your privacy. Every day is different at Transformation HQ, we thrive on challenges and making all our customers happy with the information we give them and the products we send them. We have a great Facebook page which has lots of information and offers and will answer any emails within 30 minutes of you sending them. I also check the Facebook page over the weekend and will answer any email as fast as I can.

How often have you seen newspaper reports which place drug addicts, prostitutes and transvestites together in a group as though they were all common criminals? How many TVs do you think cross dress secretly in constant fear of discovery, as though they were committing some sort of sin?

Those of us who have this compulsion to put on make-up, frilly undies, and dresses know that it is not a criminal act, a sin, the result of thinking bad thoughts, reading pornography or sheer perversity. It is something in our brains and, for most of us, has been there for almost as long as we can remember.

To us transvestites it is as natural as being left or right handed and is the result of something that happened before it was even possible for us to be aware of our sexuality.

Of course you may think that I, like many transvestites, would claim that it was not our fault simply to assuage my guilt. But the view of transvestism and transsexualism I wish to put forward is based on considerable research done by many doctors.

Differences

I think that it is now common knowledge that all of us start by being female. Our mothers can only produce female eggs and it is the father's sperm that decides whether the baby will be a boy or a girl.

If the baby is to be a boy then at six weeks a massive dose of male hormones will be produced. This will cause the baby to form male organs rather than female ones. All the basic differences betweenmen and women are laid down at this time, many of which do not fully develop until a further surge of hormones is produced at puberty.

Most important of all is the brain. All babies have a female brain and the amount of hormone required to turn the brain into a male one is critical. SHould this fail then the child's brain will naturally develop as female, even though the body may be male, and once developed nothing will alter it.

There are considerable differences between the male and female brain. For instance, when considering a problem a woman will tend to use both sides of her brain while a man will tend to use only one. So what to a man looks simple, a woman will see further complications and different solutions.

The German doctor, Gunter Dorner, discovered that there were a higher than normal number of homosexual men born to women who were in East Germany and pregnant at the end of the last war. It is known that tension in pregnant women reduces the amount of testosterone, the main male hormone, and the knowledge that the Russian army was advancing towards you would create considerable tension.

Behaviour

From these studies and other research Dr Gunter, with others, developed a theory about the development of a baby's brain while it is in the womb. He decided that the sexual characteristics of the brain develop in stages.

First, the sex centre. This controls the development of the physical sexual characteristics.

The second stage he called the mating centre. This controls the sexual behaviour of the person and is located in a part of the brain that we all have, but which is more highly developed in women and homosexuals.

The third stage he called the gender centre, which controls our general sexual behaviour.

A failure in the supply of the male hormone or an extra dose of the female hormone, oestrogen, at any one of these stages will cause the brain to develop in a feminine way for that particular stage.

Since the female does not rely on male hormones to develop, the chances of anything going wrong are far less. This accounts for the lower incidence of transvestism and transsexualism in women. Dorner's theory will explain how you can get feminine men who are rampant heterosexuals or masculine men who are passive homosexuals.

The true transvestite who finds dressing in female clothes a relaxing and satisfying experience would have normal development in the first two parts of the brain's sexual centres, the sex centre and the mating centre, but a hormonal imbalance during the development of the third part, the gender identity centre.

Two things must be made clear at this stage. One is that this is not the only theory. There are others, but most modern ones follow the same general theme. Secondly, we are not talking about fetish transvestism, which like all other fetishes has its roots in the early development of sexuality after birth.

Fetish transvestites can get immediate sexual satisfaction from wearing female clothes. They do not necessarily feel feminine although they may imagine they are women during the actual moment of sexual activity. This is no different to other fetishes such as rubber, shoes, silk, fur, or more commonly, the female breast.

What complicates the situation is that the person who is born as a transvestite, homosexual or transsexual can also be subjected to fetish influences during their sexual development. Particularly in the case of boys who may be dressed or treated as girls just because they exhibit feminine behaviour.

In the 1960s and 70s there was a lot of attention given to the effects of social anvironment on gender identity. It was, and still is, claimed by some practitioners that that girls are feminine in their behaviour because that is how they were brought up, and similarly for boys.

A famous case was reported in Time magazine in 1973. An American couple had twin boys. While circumcision was taking place one of the babies was castrated in error. It was decided that he should be brought up as a girl and given an artificial vagina and female hormones.

Feminists

The treatment had a significant measure of success and although subsequent evidence is that the subject has some psychological problems, it does have something to tell us about the post-natal development of gender identification. Many feminists hailed this case as proof that women were forced into their roles by training rather than genetic influences.

This was before the Babilonia case came to light. This family from the Dominican Republic inherited a gene along with 23 related families from an ancestor some 130 years ago. The effect of this gene was to suppress the male genitalia and give the baby the appearance of a girl, including a vagina.

The eldest of the ten children to be born to the Babilonias was Prudencio. Being the eldest and clearly a girl she helped her mother with the housework and child rearing, did not mix with the village boys or indulge in any typical male behaviour.

At the age of twelve the clitoris developed into a penis, the testicles descended into what had been the lips of the vagina, and Prudencio changed into a male. Like his younger sister Matilda he is now a brawny, muscular man. He is sexually potent and lives with his wife in the United States.

Puberty

Technically, what happened was that in the womb, while Prudencio's brain developed normally his body was unable to make the particular hormone that shapes the male genitalia and body shape. So in it's absence, although he was in all other respects male, his body developed as a female until puberty when the surge of testosterone completed the job.

The importance of the Bablionia family for the study of gender identity is that although Prudencio was totally subjected to a female upbringing his male brain was unaffected and he has adjusted to being a man without any problems. His father's evidence was that as soon as he reached puberty he found himself a girlfriend.

We have in England a similar significant case. Mrs Went is a housewife with adopted children. When she failed to menstruate or grow pubic hair she went for a medical examination. It was discovered that she was male and her abdoman contained testes rather than ovaries, but that she was totally insensitive to the male hormone testosterone. Not only did her body develop as a female, but also her brain.

There was also the case of Mr Blackwell, a Malawian. He is one of the hundred or so recorded hermaphrodites but with a male brain. He had both penis and vagina.

When at puberty he developed two large breasts he had them removed and his vagina surgically sewn up so that he could continue his life as a man.

Imbalances of hormones in pregnancy can occur in all sorts of ways, and very often they have no noticeable effect. In the 1950s and 60s injections of hormones were used to alleviate some of the problems of pregnant women. While the treatments were successful in that regard, other complications started to appear.

Pregnant

Some American doctors followed up these cases when the children were teenagers. Jim was typical of the group. His mother was treated with a female hormone while she was pregnant with him. He has no interest in sport and considers himself to be unpopular. His mother says the other boys called him a sissy. He had no heterosexual experiences but says he has had some homosexual ones.

His elder brother, Larry, was brought up in the same environment. He is interested in all sorts of sports and is very assertive. No hormone treatment was used while the mother was pregnant with Larry. The investigation indicated that the hormones had been given at a critical stage in Jim's prenatal development.

The inescable conclusion from this research is that while it may or may not be possible to control or cure the abnormality of a fetish condition, there can be no 'cure' for the true transvestite as his condition is totally normal for him.

Attempts have been made in the past, but not only were they doomed to failure, they could and did do considerable psychological damage.

In 2019, NYC Pride welcomes WorldPride as we mark the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising and a half-century of LGBTQIA+ liberation.  

The first NYC Pride Rally occurred one month after the Stonewall Riots in June 1969, when 500 people gathered for a “Gay Power” demonstration in Washington Square Park, followed by a candlelight vigil in Sheridan Square. NYC Pride has continued this proud tradition by hosting the event in various locations throughout the city.

Timeline of LGBTQIA Rights in the US

• 1969 - Tired of being persecuted the LGBTQIA community fought back in what became known as the Stonewall riots.
• 1970 - First Gay March in New York.
• 2000 - First bills were being passed to allow civil unions for the LGBTQIA community but still a long way to go for complete equality.
• 2004 - First same-sex marriage law passed in Massachusetts. But it was still banned in a lot of other states.
• 2010 - More progress made for same-sex marriage equality.
• 2011 - New York legalises Same-Sex Marriage
• 2015 - 46 years after the Stonewall riots The Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couple can marry nationwide.

2019 - this year we celebrate 50 years of the LGBTQIA equality fight.

Today we celebrate LGBTQIA rights all over the world and in the UK London Pride takes place this weekend. With celebrations to continue throughout the country all through the summer months. The fight for equality continues and we at Transformation support that and will continue to fight for the right to be who you are.  

Offical shop site 

John Williams has an exclusive interview and photo session with the divine Davina, winner of the UK's top cross-dressing competition... Looking as pretty as a picture, 18 years old Davina Willis stole the judges' eye to become the UK's first-ever 'Tranny of the Year' in a contest shown on Channel 5.

A total of eighty tranny hopefuls had originally entered the competition, half coming from London and half from the North West of England. But by the time it came to the grand final, the budding beauty queens had been narrowed down to just six.

The final was a star-studded occasion, with Ruby Wax as compare and actress Patsy Palmer among the judges. For the three rounds, Davina wore a long lacy halter-top and hot pants; then changed into a schoolgirl outfit, and finally into a glittery long dress.

She proved to be a sensation. As one of the judges remarked during her televised interview, “You’re just so lovely and dainty and feminine!”.

Reaction

Back at home in Romford, Essex, Davina is David Willis -the typical boy next door. His family knows all about his feminine side, and their reaction is mixed. His brother wont hide his open disapproval, but mum and dad are far more relaxed.

“Dad used to work in Soho, so he’s seen it all before,” said David. “They watched me in the contest and they really thought it was great.”

With her blond hair, long legs and and a body that slips into a size 12 dress and size 7 shoes, the 5’9″ tall Davina has a natural-born femininity. It’s hard to believe she has only been out in public for just over a year.

David had first started dressing in his mum’s clothes when he was about eight, in a domestic scenario behind locked doors that must be familiar to many of us. Later, he progressed to chancing putting on make-up when he got home from school and had the house to himself.

When he was 17, he took his first step outside, and has never looked back…

Magnus Hirschfeld was interested in the study of a wide variety of sexual and erotic urges, at a time when the early taxonomy of sexual identity labels was still being formed. His scientific work extended that of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs and influenced Havelock Ellis and Edward Carpenter. He often visited bars in Berlin catering to gays and transvestites as he researched the first-ever book on transgenderism, Die Transvestiten (1910).

In 1921 Hirshfeld organised the First Congress for Sexual Reform, which led to the formation of the World League for Sexual Reform. Congresses were held in Copenhagen (1928), London (1929), Vienna (1930), and Brno (1932). Hirschfeld was both quoted and caricatured in the press as a vociferous expert on sexual manners, receiving the epithet "the Einstein of Sex". He saw himself as a campaigner and a scientist, investigating and cataloguing many varieties of sexuality, not just homosexuality. He coined the word "transvestism," for example. Although he preferred to project himself as an objective researcher and scientist, Hirschfeld himself was gay and a transvestite, and participated in the gay subculture of Germany.

For these activities, he gained the epithet "Tante Magnesia" - "Auntie Magnesia." In 1919, under the more liberal atmosphere of the newly founded Weimar Republic, Hirschfeld opened the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute for Sexual Research) in Berlin. His Institut housed his immense library on sex and provided educational services and medical consultations. People from around Europe visited the Institut to gain a clearer understanding of their sexuality.

Christopher Isherwood writes about his and Auden's visit to the Institut in his book Christopher and His Kind. The Institut also housed the Museum of Sex, an educational resource for the public which is reported to have been visited by school classes. The Institut and Hirschfeld's work there is depicted in the documentary film The Einstein of Sex. When the Nazis took power, one of their first actions, on May 6, 1933, was to destroy the Institut and burn the library. The press-library pictures & archival newsreel film of Nazi book-burnings seen today are usually pictures of Hirschfeld's library ablaze. Fortuitously, at that time Hirschfeld was away from Germany on a world speaking tour. He never returned to Germany, dying in exile in Nice in 1935.

Sylvia was the co-founder of S.T.A.R (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) along with Marsha P. Johnson and was the first president of the organization.

Sylvia was born on July 2, 1951, in New York City. Orphaned at the age of 3, she was raised by her grandmother. Sylvia ran away from home at the age of 10 because of non-acceptance of her gender orientation, and over the next 10 years survived as a hustling street queen. Sylvia has always been an activist at the street level, ready to demonstrate and ready to go to jail to make the point she is trying to represent.

Her most recent incarceration came as a result of the police riot which occurred following the Matthew Shepard "Political Funeral" in New York City. One of her earlier exploits was scaling the walls of New York's City Hall in a tight skirt and 4-inch heels in order to open the doors to admitting the gay and lesbian demonstrators attempting to gain admittance. (They removed her with a fire ladder before she got the doors open).

Sylvia was active in queer politics in the 1970s and was a direct witness of the shameful deletion of transgendered people from the proposed Gay Rights ordinance in New York City by gay and lesbian leaders who were willing to sacrifice trans people in order to get their own rights protected. In spite of "giving up" transgendered people, gays and lesbians still did not get their ordinance passed until 18 years later.

Sylvia Rivera took a hiatus from active political work from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, when she worked as a food service technician with the Marriott Corporation in Tarrytown, New York. Nevertheless, during this period she never missed the Christopher Street Liberation Parade (now known as the New York City Heritage of Pride Parade). She also organized periodic drag shows in Tarrytown. In the early 1990's Sylvia returned to New York City after losing her job, and went through several years of homelessness, living on the same piers where Marsha P. Johnson was found dead.

Sylvia resumed her political activities as an advocate for homeless people, queer people, and the transgender community. In 1997 she came to live at Transy House. She continues to be active on the Stonewall Riot Veterans, the Metropolitan Gender Network. the MCC of New York, the Anti Violence Project, The Fed Up Queers, and many other organizations. Sylvia Rivera has been featured in many books and articles dealing with Stonewall and queer activism.

One of the best sources is "STONEWALL" by Martin Duberman. She has also received many honours and awards in the United States and overseas for her lifetime of political activism for the queer community, including recognition by the Washington DC Transgender Alliance, the AmBoyz, and the New York Puerto Rican Gay and Lesbian Organization.

Today many fashionable clothes are designed for wear by either sex. Slacks and jeans, sweaters, frilly shirts, bow ties, jaunty hats and stylish boots often "look even better on a woman", as the advertising slogan used to say. But, while a woman might happily dress in a man's suit and tie, the poor fellow who tries to step out in a cocktail dress or evening gown is risking his reputation, if not his personal safety. Despite this, thousands of men get a harmless kick out of dressing in women's clothes. Contrary to popular belief, transvestites are not necessarily homosexual, although they all willingly confess that they pursue their compulsion to gratify the softer, more feminine part of their natures. In a world torn apart by violence surely this is no bad thing. Transvestites are particularly attracted by the glamorous aspects of femininity. They spend hours grooming themselves for special occasions, shaving their legs and bodies, spending a fortune on luxurious skin creams and other cosmetics. The excitement comes as much from the anticipation of wearing them as the fulfilment. Some transvestites identify with a specific feminine type - the saucy french maid, the femme fatale or the music hall star. Others contrive to look and behave as much like normal women as possible. Still, more will want to dress in a stimulating material, such as satin, silk, rubber or leather. Others will seek female domination, bondage or humiliation in conjunction with their crossdressing. Psychologists say that a fetish is an association between some object and pleasant sexual experience or the desire for it. Certain materials are considered sexually provocative and today there are clubs, publications and clothing shops which specially cater to those with a predilection for rubber, leather, silk, satin and lace.  

Rubber of course, has long been associated with hygiene, being widely used in hospitals and the nursery. Those who delight in wearing rubber underwear, dresses or shirts, or regularly sleep and make love on rubber sheets, are recreating some childish paradise in which the smell or touch of rubber played a delightful part. Rubber particularly appeals to those adults who enjoy baby games. Leather is associated with hunting and gives a chance to identify with our primitive forebears to whom the wearing of skins was a symbol of sexual and social status. Leather is also identified with belts, straps and instruments of restraint as well as with whips and Flagellation. Silk, satin and lace represent softness, elegance and femininity. The growing fashion for transvestism may imply that men are beginning to show a softer side to their nature. Foot fetishists are among the most common. They will literally grovel before an attractive woman, sometimes in public, and beg to be allowed to worship her feet. If she is wearing boots or high-heels and stockings then so much the better. To be allowed to admire, touch and kiss her foot is paradise indeed, and the more haughty and contemptuous the woman the better the foot fetishist likes it. If she graciously allows him to remove her footwear and kiss her bare toes he is likely to curl up and swoon with delight.  

The psychology of Bondage is obvious. If a transvestite is restrained he has no way of escaping from the feminine attire which he has been compelled to wear, thus assuaging his conscience. It would be a matter for outrage if there was the slightest element of coercion in bondage games. In fact, not only do many women enjoy being the "victim" but so do many men. How reassuring it must be in our repressed society to know that, in the face of overwhelming passion and temptation, we are totally incapable of resistance! It permits us to enjoy the delights of sex in total innocence. Such ideas have long lurked in the folklore of sex. In the Greek legend, Prometheus was chained to a rock as punishment for stealing fire, and his name had become a symbol of an organisation promoting bondage. The story of Samson and Delilah, the binding of Gulliver by the Lilliputians, Joan of Arc at the stake, the exploits of Houdini and the pictures of Christian martyrs have similar sexual undertones. The relationship between the prisoner and the captor is a recurring and popular theme in literature and films. The prisoner is naked, chained and buried in the deepest dungeon or behind the highest prison wall, apparently totally helpless. The captor, intelligent, cruelly attractive, is dressed in sexually-provocative clothes. Just as there are many different types of transvestites, so their sexual interests vary and although we have briefly touched on some, there are many more: corsetry, depilation, voyeurism, enemas, the list is endless and reflects the sexual practices of the population at large.