OK, sometimes you like to wear a frock! Big deal. So what!

Many women love dressing up in beautiful feminine clothes. It is perfectly natural that some men should have a similar desire to dress up. But male clothes are so boring! No wonder these men turn to women's clothes! Why should women have all the fun?

The secret of happiness of being a TV, is not to agonise about it – just enjoy it. Treat it as a positive, rather than a negative side of your personality. That‘s what Rose’s is all about.

The visible cross-dressers are just the tip of an iceberg!
For every TV (transvestite) who feels OK about cross-dressing, there must be hundreds ‘in the closet’ who, because of their own feelings of guilt and shame, are too afraid to admit to anyone their secret obsession. If you are such a transvestite / cross-dresser who has never dared approach anyone else about it before, don't worry – at Rose’s, we do understand these problems (Martine Rose was once a guilt-ridden closet TV too!). It is our main raison d’etre to try to help and provide support for those who need it.

Getting help and support
The best help and support you can get is through meeting others and in the notes about Rose’s Club we indicate how we can help to make this as easy as possible.

If you can’t face meeting anyone but really need to talk to another TV, you can phone one of the many helplines throughout the country. These are listed in the guidelines section of Repartee.

Even if you do not wish to do any of these things, just joining Rose’s and receiving Repartee regularly will bring you the views of others who cross-dress. Reading how they have come to terms with, and enjoy, TVism, can only help you too.

Transvestism is not at all uncommon
Just the realisation that you are not alone can be very reassuring. Transvestism is really much more common than most people realise. Of course, no-one really knows how many transvestites there are, as most are so secretive about it, but estimates range from there being about 1 in 100 to as many as 1 in 20 in the male population.

After all – it’s only clothes
The act of wearing clothes of the opposite sex is actually quite harmless. After all, women frequently wear men's apparel and no one thinks anything of it. But it should be remembered that not so many years ago, a woman in trousers would have met the same sort of ridicule as a man in a skirt does today.

Transvestites are merely defying convention. It is not normal to see men in women's attire (other than for entertainment – usually as a parody), so it is perceived as abnormal behaviour and therefore to the unthinking minds of many, a perversion. This illogical reasoning has no foundation, but is born out of lack of understanding and often a misplaced belief that transvestism is a form of sexual deviation.

Being TV doesn’t necessarily mean you are homosexual
Transvestites themselves are often very confused about their own sexuality. Contrary to popular belief, there is no link between homosexuality and transvestism. Some transvestites are gay, but the incidence is no greater than for gays in the population at large. Most are heterosexual, and indeed, a strong attraction towards women often lies at the root of their desire to emulate them.

It may not be the end of the world if you are found out
The fear of rejection from others is often greatly exaggerated in the minds of many transvestites. Those of us with no hang-ups about our own transvestism, who no longer feel the need to be so secretive about it, find that public hostility is by no means as widespread as many imagine. With a casual attitude to cross dressing, treating it as nothing more than a harmless pastime that gives you a great deal of pleasure, you may be surprised how many react with no more than amused tolerance.

Don’t take it too seriously
It is when you treat cross dressing too seriously, as a great big shameful taboo, which you must keep secret at all costs, even from your wife, that transvestism is a problem. But when you come round to thinking that it is nothing of which to be ashamed, you begin to realise it is not such a problem at all.

Martine Rose

These helpful notes on transvestism have been brought to you by Rose’s