Misconceptions

I've come across this forum article in Dutch women's weekly Viva. A girl is told by her friend after being 2 months in relationship that he wears women's clothing on occasions. She feels worried, thinks he is gay (but the sex is great), don't know what to do and because she has children she fears that they might be sexually abused in the future.

Luckily, most people react in a fashion that she should read more about cross dressing before making her judgement, and that it is not linked to homosexuality and certainly not pedophilia. But they also have their reservations in such that it is her life, and she needs to decide whether she can accept a relationship with a cross dresser.

Thing I spot in her post are a couple of misconceptions which where already corrected by the other people in the message thread, but clearly illustrates that there is still a lot of work to be done.

As one of the other people in the thread responded, the poster should read a bit more on this subject. But she might fear things in there she is not going to like ? What is it about ? Why is he doing this ? Where will it end ? She probably only knows about the extremes she has seen on television

I pondered on signing up there and reply to the thread. Then I realized this is not going to work. I'm not objective as I am one myself, would thus only speak for myself (which is easy) and not be taken seriously.

What we need is more coverage by outsiders, who are willing to hear our stories, and convey them to the public at large in articles, books, interviews, you name it so it not only the extremities that are known, but also all the other aspects in a objective way. And then everyone will realize they are just very ordinary people in a special way.