When you are a kid and playing cowboys and indians you never actually believe that you become a cowboy or indian, however much attention to detail. If you get into the role play then what you achieve is a simulation of an imagined experience. You don't really ambush and kill or be killed you get to pretend. It's just a game. Fun.
Sometimes I think cross-dressing is similar, it's a kind of aspiration to have the fun associated with 'the other'. Problematically it's also transgressive in that there is still a strongly held taboo against that kind of dressing-up, regardless of age - parents feel concerned if a boy wants to cross-dress, perhaps less so if their girl is a tom-boy (as male attributes are somehow more acceptable). They are aware of the social implications that would arise very quickly and could be harmful. Repressing their child's impulse may be more harmful, of course.
Something I never expected - and I've only rarely been lucky enough to experience - are a few instances of being dressed up and crossing over psycho-emotionally. That the physical preparation (shaving legs, wearing make up, bra and lingerie, fake boobs, heels, nail polish, some pieces of jewellery and feminine clothes etc etc) which can create an illusion through appearance where you can actually be regarded differently by others, to a certain extent as a woman, and then that precipitates a change in one's perception of oneself. For a rare moment the lifetime of nominal male psychology is shrugged off and you enter into something quite different and 'new' - a womanliness feeling. Forget the implied limitation of 'Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus' - you've made it to Venus.and yes, it's different there. It's as if you have achieved the miraculous, a transcendence. It's revelatory and quite wonderful.
Sometimes I think cross-dressing is similar, it's a kind of aspiration to have the fun associated with 'the other'. Problematically it's also transgressive in that there is still a strongly held taboo against that kind of dressing-up, regardless of age - parents feel concerned if a boy wants to cross-dress, perhaps less so if their girl is a tom-boy (as male attributes are somehow more acceptable). They are aware of the social implications that would arise very quickly and could be harmful. Repressing their child's impulse may be more harmful, of course.
Something I never expected - and I've only rarely been lucky enough to experience - are a few instances of being dressed up and crossing over psycho-emotionally. That the physical preparation (shaving legs, wearing make up, bra and lingerie, fake boobs, heels, nail polish, some pieces of jewellery and feminine clothes etc etc) which can create an illusion through appearance where you can actually be regarded differently by others, to a certain extent as a woman, and then that precipitates a change in one's perception of oneself. For a rare moment the lifetime of nominal male psychology is shrugged off and you enter into something quite different and 'new' - a womanliness feeling. Forget the implied limitation of 'Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus' - you've made it to Venus.and yes, it's different there. It's as if you have achieved the miraculous, a transcendence. It's revelatory and quite wonderful.