About myCDlife.com
My Cool Diverse Life (aka my CD life) was founded by yours truly (Gabrielle Hermosa) in March 2009. Its main purpose is dispelling the negative clichés and misunderstandings many people have about transgender people. Up to mid-2013, most of the content was crossdressing-related. It was in 2013 that I consciously acknowledged that I’m a trans woman, started taking measures to transition and work toward living full time as my true self. As such, content from mid-2013 and after reflect general trans issues, rather than just crossdressing (for the record, crossdressers do fall within the “transgender” umbrella term).
What’s the difference between a crossdresser and a trans woman?
In a nutshell, crossdressers are men, who identify as men (male gender) who sometimes explore their feminine side through crossdressing, but do not typically live full-time in female form. Trans women are people who were born with a penis but identify as female, regardless of body configuration at birth. While crossdressers are content being feminine only some of the time, trans women have a need to live as a woman. We are women despite some physical differences. Some trans women will go on hormone therapy and undergo a full physical transformation process (which typically involves a series of separate surgeries) whereas others may not permanently alter their bodies (often, but not always, due to the enormous expense involved, which is not typically covered by insurance).
When I started this site in 2009, I thought of myself as a crossdresser. In 2013, after much soul-searching, I consciously acknowledged what I somehow always knew deep down. I’m not a crossdressing man, but rather a trans woman who had been putting on a “man act” to conceal my true gender identity. It was a survival tactic, carefully practiced and executed over the years. I’m working to correct that by taking steps toward living my life on the outside as the woman I’ve always been on the inside. More on that to come…
This site is undergoing changes, as am I
Most of the content on this site currently reflects crossdressing, including some of the info pages. I plan to leave the crossdressing content as is, although I do need to update the info and “about” pages to reflect a more accurate representation of where I am and where my journey is taking me. As of now (November, 2013), I’m not certain when I’ll have the time to properly update everything, so please bear with me!