Reply To: Purging: Something Every Girl Does Along the Way?

[Rachel McFadden]

I don’t know that purging is ‘necessary’ – it is common though and I know I’ve done it on several occasions.

The odd thing is, I don’t really know why? I mean, I told myself it was to avoid any possibility of getting ‘outed’ when I really had to have people in my flat while in ‘male mode’. But, in reality, I could have easily sequestered my stuff where folks wouldn’t have seen them and it wasn’t as if they were going to conduct a forensic search of my home!

All I do know is that I usually only lasted a day or so before I started building up my collection of lingerie once more and after that a steady stream of clothes and make-up would find their way to me.

I guess Shawna’s last point might be true – in the end, the cost of replacing the items and the sadness it brought me in those periods when they were gone really stopped the purging and made me accept living as woman wasn’t something I had any real control over. I guess, many years later and in a slightly different stage of life, I’m learning that lesson all over again.

Thank you for a thought provoking question.

Rachel x