Hello, everyone! I'm Ava, a 25-year-old MtF crossdresser currently living in Charlottesville, VA. I have had an interest in crossdressing as early as my teenage years, but it was only this past year that I was able to start exploring the full potential of crossdressing (I previously could not do so due to living with family or roommates). During my earliest stages of dressing (this past fall), I was mostly confined to taking pictures of myself while within the safety of my own apartment. Since January of this year, however, I have been steadily going out more and more due to my desire to have social interactions with others while dressed. I was able to find that outlet within my local BDSM community, though my crossdressing is definitely not limited to BDSM-related contexts. I hope to go out, be seen, and socialize more and more, with the hope that by doing so, I will show at least a small part of this world that crossdressers (and, by extension, everyone in the transgender umbrella) are people like everyone else.
In terms of labels, I fall somewhere in between "crossdresser" and "transvestite" in that there is a strong sexual component to my dressing, but I do not dress solely for sexual reasons. I generally refer to myself as a crossdresser and everyone understands what I mean. As a crossdresser I do fit under the transgender umbrella in the broad sense, though I do not consider myself a transsexual and do not have plans to take hormones or transition in any way. I currently am only a "part-time" crossdresser and while I have a decent network of local friends to whom I am "out", I am not yet out to my family or to the majority of friends that I knew before moving to the city I live in now. I sometimes think of myself as being dual-gender or bi-gender due to the fact that while my personality is more or less consistent, there are masculine and feminine "shades" to it and I can express those "shades" differently depending on what clothing, mannerisms, activities, and name I use, though I tend not to mix the two sides (for this reason I do not see myself as genderfluid).
I am looking forward to reading, sharing my experiences, and learning more about myself and others.
