Leaderboard

I've just caught up with the recent posts - some interesting stuff there and much material for detailed academic debate - which I will not attempt. Suffice it to say that, as always with definitions, the devil lies in the detail. I agree with the categorisation that Freddy has suggested, i.e. that CD = wearing one or more items of clothing/footwear traditionally/conventionally not worn by one's own gender, but without any serious attempt to pass as the other gender; TV = a conscious effort (clothes, make-up, overall appearance/conduct) to pass as the other gender. I do think that the confusion between these distinct categories (especially in the US) clouds the issue significantly. As to 'androgeny', this seems to me a somewhat unnecessary further term, as it merely describes a CD who mixes and matches clothes for both (all?) genders - which is surely what most CDs do anyway? And we need not concern ourselves further with anything TS; that is concerned primarily with the physiological change of gender, independently of clothing etc. As Freddy says, I have seen (historic) photos of him dressed 'en femme' - and very attractive and passable he looked too! In essence, clear TV activity - but, by his own admission, he went out thus primarily because he wanted to wear heels and felt (then) that his only recourse was to go the whole hog and become, in overall appearance, a passable woman who could legitimately wear heels in public. So, in my book he was really an 'advanced CD' in that his agenda was really to wear female shoes and some other items because he liked the items, and not to masquerade as a woman, although of course he achieved that incidentally. No doubt he will correct me if I have misunderstood his motivation. I agree too with the general analysis of HHP and its clientele. Adopting my definitions above, I suggest that, although HHP isn't - and shouldn't be - a TV forum, it does of necessity embrace the activity of a significant number of male CDs - ranging from those who simply like to wear women's footwear, perhaps only in private and occasionally (the great majority of the members), to those who add selected stockings, skirts, make-up etc and thereby achieve a more uniformly female look without consciously attempting to 'pass' as female, i.e. they are not truly TVs. If I am right, then HHP cannot exclude CD discussion but can (and should) draw the line at anything overtly TV. The problem comes back to the CD/TV confusion, if only in terminology, and perhaps this should be addressed, given that HHP is based in the UK and ought to adopt UK rather than US conventions. I for one find interesting posts on HHP but have no personal interest or desire to go further down the CD road than some women's footwear might take me! And H4M caters well for that, or would do if it was better supported.

... and for much longer if you've been a bad boy, naturally!