The crossdresser forum should be named Trannies with Training Wheels.
...Okay, actually, that's horribly insensitive, but I keep a black sense of humor about the whole thing. To be honest, though, a lot of us start at some 'beginner' level before advancing all the way to transition. I pretended to be androgynous here when I was coming to terms with needing to transition. I was trying hard to avoid it and even had myself a little convinced. A lot of people start as crossdressers and advance. I mean, technically, the first person I came out to and the things we talked about were extreme crossdressing and highly sexualized, but when you are ignorant of the nature of gender and sexuality, it's hard not to confuse the two. Plus, we all understand how certain scenarios nurture the feminine feeling inside - and when you aren't ready, or able, or don't know how to nurture your external femininity, nurturing it internally is better than nothing.
Your intersexed condition definitely made transition easier for you - I am happy to hear it. Though, it just made me consider the plight of people who are intersexed MTF but identify male and curse their feminine features. It's funny how the grail for some of us is a cup of poison for others.
Of course, everything I say MTF applies FTM as well.
