Ah 24/7 Walmart, that's how I bought my first stuff for experimenting with femininity, waiting until 2am and going a town over to ensure nobody I knew saw me…

And to answer your question the wild west internet. There was freedom and rebellion there. A whole new world with every weirdo, freak, and nerd at your fingertips. A place where you weren't alone until you found a person who could recommend a place, but instead you could just look it up and find out where your kind of freaks were chatting and they'd even tell you if there was a place irl. Ironically I'm noticing a shift back to needing to know a person to find a place, but that place is a discord server more often these days.