From: mitchell@seas.smu.edu (Utopium Enterprizes)
Subject: Re: origins of our real names?
Organization: Utopium Enterprizes
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 14:55:12 GMT

Thus wrote anonymus+3274@godiva.nectar.cs.cmu.edu (Angela):
>	Just wondering how y'all picked your real names.  Is it a
>masculinization/feminization of your legal name?  

Not in my case... though I found something interesting shortly after I chose
Dora as my name. If I take my male first and middle names (Gary Don) and sub-
tract from it the letters in Dora, I am left with "gyn". :) So my "handle",
Dora Gyn, is an acrostic of my male names. I thought it was kind of neat,
myself. :)

>Did you spend a lot of
>time thinking about it?  Did you already have a name before you CD'd the
>first time?  

No to both of those questions. :) I just have an affinity for Germanic names,
and Dora sounded pretty. Plus, it does stand out, being an uncommon name in
the US. But there is an interesting anecdote involving my name. One day, my
GF was in my room, looking at my bookcase, when she came across a book I had
read for my freshman rhetoric class. It was called, *Dora: A Case History of
A Hysteric*, by Freud. It makes one wonder, doesn't it? After all, as my GF
will testify, I am neurotic... :)

>Have you gone through a series of names/alter egos, or do you
>dress yourself as different people with different personality traits? 

Well, I also go by the name of Rev. Sheldon der Wehr, of the Church of the
SubGenius. :) And I do see both Sheldon and Dora as having some personality
traits distinct from Gary's. But I cannot say that they are alter egos,
either. They're more like... um... goals. :) I imbue them with qualities that
I want for myself, and over time, I slowly gain the qualities. Make sense? :)

>(I'm not sure that last question really applies in this group, but I was
>thinking of the post a while back from someone who said he always wanted a
>horny, masochistic woman, and that's what he became when he dressed.)

Oooooh, where is she? *gets out her flogger* :)

>	When I first got an alias and nickname (just a few days ago), my
>name just popped into my head and immediately felt right.  No choosing
>involved.

Congrats. :) I guess you have a female self that's already decided what she
wants. ;)
 
>	Also, I want to say that this group is having a most profound
>effect on me.  I'm planning to do things I would have never dreamed of
>just a few weeks ago.  All of you have given me the courage to experiment
>and try to find out who I really am.  What have been vague repressed
>feelings are now constant, defined thoughts.  I feel like a huge weight of
>guilt and repression have disappeared.  I'm starting down a road I
>wouldn't have dreamed of before, and it's because I've finally found a
>place where I can talk to people who understand.  Thank you, thank you,
>thank you!

Having friends and sympathizers can help you a LOT. It was only earlier this
year that I discovered the IRC channel #Crossdress. At the time, I hadn't put
on more than the occasional pair of pantyhose, in secret. Since then, not only
have I gone out in public, but I am now buying things for myself, by myself,
and without any nervousness at all. It's a nice feeling. And I have several
friends, from #Crossdress, TRANSGEN, CDforum, and other places, to thank. :)

Angela, now that the anonymous service is going down, I hope you'll continue
to post. If you need anonymity, I am willing to post for you if you will email
me your articles. My address is below.

*hugs*,
Dora Gyn 
-- 
Utopium Enterprizes - mitchell@seas.smu.edu
"Do not mistake my sympathy for understanding; do not accept my understanding
 as sympathy." -- St. Thomas Laine the Abbreviated