Social media continues to be the way a great many people interact these days but I think Tribal Crossdressers would prefer it were different. In person meetings are the preference of most of us seasoned gurlz and naturally we think they are better. I did a post called Tribal Crossdressing which still ranks high even though I did it last February so interest continues. Face to face gatherings require more effort so I think there are problems impacting them. Over time both events and clubs have declined due to lack of interest.
Tribal Crossdressers still see value in both while others do not but we are fading with age so time is taking its toll. Younger crossdressers who grew up during the popular social media era evolved in a different direction. While they had far more information at a much earlier age they had little or no money at their disposal and the internet was basically free so big TG events were not on their radar. The older Tribal Crossdressers did not have the internet to distract us so we had to invest time and money on travel in order to meet other crossdressers. In the 1990’s there was a minimum of one convention each month around the USA and now there are about 4 per year. Obviously interest waned resulting in fewer attendees eventually making it cost prohibitive for the promoters so they stopped doing them.
Crossdressing events were a priority for a lot of us and long term friendships evolved out of them. In fact the Vanity Club which formed in 1995 was originally a photo exchange activity among a certain group of Southern Comfort attendees. They did not want to wait a full year to see each other again so once e-mail arrived they formed a group and exchanged pictures of their personal adventures throughout the year. That led to great anticipation for getting together again in Atlanta face to face to party like the previous years.
I think the takeaway for Tribal Crossdressers is that they are going to have to work harder to make connections any way that they can to expand their circle of friends. For those promoting events reaching younger crossdressers is going to the challenge because they don’t seem to meet the Tribal Crossdresser pattern preferring no commitment independent activities. In their defense, if they have never experienced something like a convention or tight knit group you can’t blame them for showing no interest.
Looking back on my first time going to TG Rocktober 3 years ago I ate dinner by myself most nights and met very few people which was a disappointment. I thought the event had potential so the next year I got a Facebook account and joined the private TG Rocktober Facebook page. A couple of weeks before TGR I made dinner reservations for 6 people at some very nice local restaurants. On the TGR Facebook page I invited newcomers who were going to be at TGR alone to join me. On the first night 3 responded for 4 including myself. We had one no show but the three of us had a great evening and stayed for 3 hours. The second night I reached out to Vanity Club sisters and got two responses and again had a great evening. It just took some extra effort an my behalf creating an opportunity for people to see and take advantage of.
That solved my solo dinner issue but, clubs and event promoters will have to go further to attract people. Both will need to sell the prospect on the idea of joining them for the activity such as how much fun they will have. Then delivering on that promise by assigning someone on their team to be a big sister of sorts to the new person. Its easier with a club full of Tribal Crossdressers that meet regularly as a group to accomplish. An event like TGR with 100 plus attendees and scheduled activities is more difficult but still doable. It starts by analyzing the problem ahead of time and coming up with a plan to fix it. I use TGR as an example for this discussion and not to single them out. I have experienced the same issues at other events in the past.
I think social media presents some problems also because online relationships are created over time then people link up at events. Cliques are formed well in advance and plans made so single unattached attendees don’t even know that they exist. In addition the focus of the clique is to have fun not promote new membersips.
So those are my thoughts on Tribal Crossdressing both problems and possible solutions.
Thanks for reading.
Chic California, nice group picture!