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  1. #1
    Member adrienner99's Avatar
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    What causes the urge to crossdress?

    I know this question is old and tired for some, but after many years of dressing it still fascinates and eludes me....Is anyone aware of any credible studies or articles on what causes the urge to dress, or of any theories that actually make sense?

    Mainly, I know I just love it and would find it miserable to live without my feminine things...and yes, the reasons may vary by individual...still I wonder if there is not some common element....

  2. #2
    AKA Jenni Aly Jenni Yumiko's Avatar
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    I think if they knew for sure, they would try to cut it out of us. So we can be fixed to conform to the norm.

  3. #3
    love being a girly girl! Girl's Avatar
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    It just feels right. I totally feel like a girl and so I just have to dress as a girl. I can't imagine myself any other way.
    I'm always a woman!

  4. #4
    Member CD Kelley's Avatar
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    I read a paper written by a CD who is a professor at a major collage. It was a well written analisys of his development as a CD. At the end of the paper he addressed the question "why do we dress en femme". After writing a very detailed description of CDing his answer was very short "I don't know". I don't think anyone knows why so I just leave it as it just is.
    The minute you think of giving up think of the reason you held on for so long

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    Only ONE thing is a given for CDers. Every single one is unique.

    And certainly some, are simply born in the wrong body.

    Others might have been raised with a bunch of sisters who got all or most of mom or dad's attention. Or raised solely by their moms with never a male or father figure around. And undoubtedly, FEMALES of any age do get more attention and are far more likely to receive compliments than are Males.

    Also I don't think any SANE person could fail to recognise that females in general and "attractive" females in particular have a certain POWER over most men, simply because of a man's prime directive. And even "average" looking women can be sharp enough to choose the "RIGHT" clothes, and choose a good hairstyle and color for her face, become skillful enough with makeup etc. to transform themselves into "attractive". Women don't spend all this time and effort because they enjoy it. They do it because they have to. Certainly there are men that are envious of this "power" that women have and would like to have it themselves???

    Way too many other [possibly] contributing factors to type out.

    "...still I wonder if there is not some common element...."?

    I think if you simply read the answers to the most popular threads, that come up over and over and pay attention to the photo gallery, there is no mystery to it at all, and the common element is undeniable.

    The glue that binds most all CDers [MtF] is our vision and HOW the male brain operates because of his vision. Evolution has done a great job as usual. Our vision is what enables us men to fulfill our "prime directive" at a moment's notice.

    Just ask yourself one Q. How do you stop [most] male CDers? Take away his camera or his mirrors. The big O is all powerful and what keeps the Human race going. It does not matter HOW one gets to the promised land so I find it sad that so many at this Forum feel such shame and guilt about it for so many years.
    Last edited by Wildaboutheels; 01-27-2013 at 12:35 AM. Reason: line added

  6. #6
    Member katlee's Avatar
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    When I am depressed or want the rush of something that I can control.
    I think I feel more like Natalie than I do Kat. I think from this point I will go by Natalie.

    Part of a recently ended relationship where a reason why it ended was my crossdressing.

  7. #7
    AKA Lexi sometimes_miss's Avatar
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    There's no one simple answer to this, because we do it for an assortment of reasons, many of which aren't acceptable to the affected individual so that they refuse to admit even to themselves why they do it.. Sure, people have tried to study it, but it really defies any one answer; the most obvious reason, is that most crossdressers simply won't come out of the closet to become part of any study. The only ones of us who ever get noticed by the psychiatric societies that might be interested, are those who go to therapists; not a really good sample to study, as there's no way to know exactly how representative that sample is of the whole group. If you want a theory for one person that figured it out for himself, well that would be me (and it took decades for me to do it, probably because the therapists I went to knew less about the subject than I did). But you'll have to read my bio to learn the whole story. Link is in my signature at the bottom of my posts.
    Last edited by sometimes_miss; 01-26-2013 at 09:55 AM.
    Some causes of crossdressing you've probably never even considered: My TG biography at:http://www.crossdressers.com/forums/...=1#post1490560
    There's an addendum at post # 82 on that thread, too. It's about a ten minute read.
    Why don't we understand our desire to dress, behave and feel like a girl? Because from childhood, boys are told that the worst possible thing we can be, is a sissy. This feeling is so ingrained into our psyche, that we will suppress any thoughts that connect us to being or wanting to be feminine, even to the point of creating separate personalities to assign those female feelings into.

  8. #8
    Member GroovyChristy's Avatar
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    As some of you have suggested, I imagine it is a fetish for many of us. Some men may not currently be able to find a woman to be with, so they do the next best thing and create that woman for themselves, or they may enjoy it for other sexual reasons.

    But I can only really speak for my own experience. While I do get some arousal out of wearing women's clothing, I also get great peace and comfort that I am unable to find elsewhere. I believe this is because women's clothing expresses who I am better than men's clothing. When I put my panties, leggings, etc. on, it feels like coming home. I think there are aspects of femininity and masculinity in the spirit of each person, but one usually is more prominent and for me that is the feminine. When I put on female clothing, it can be a spiritual experience which is as powerful and affirming as many church events I've been to. I feel right with myself and with the higher power that I believe in.

    There are probably many more reasons that people do this, and I don't necessarily think that any is more valid than another. We are all brave for exploring the sides of ourselves which are not widely accepted by society.
    Peace and love, - Christy

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    There are not studies that can show why, only some common themes reported by cross dressers like stress relief, calming, inner peace, that kind of cross. It is obvious to me that it is genetic because no one would choose to be a cross dresser.
    Last edited by Jenniferathome; 01-26-2013 at 11:22 AM.

  10. #10
    AKA Lexi sometimes_miss's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jenniferathome View Post
    There are not studies that can show why only some common themes reported by cross dressers like stress relief, calming, inner Pete, that kind of cross. It is obvious to me that it is genetic because no one would choose to be a cross dresser.
    No one would choose to be a bigot, seriel killer, or mass murderer if they had the choice, either. The simple explanation of course is, 'sh!t happens'. Various life experiences influence our thoughts, and believe it or not, our own thoughts can change us; for good or bad, and for 'male or female'.
    I had no desire to dress as a, or be a girl, until after I was molested (other than the occasional notice that my older sister seemed to be treated better than I was, to which I attributed to her being female) and until that occurance, I felt in every way that I was a boy, behaving as such as well as self identifying as one. But, thereafter, various influences in my life continued to move me towards crossdressing, as well as distort my gender identity to the point where I began to believe that I 'felt' like a girl by the time I was a teen. Our minds aren't 'finished' when we're born, they continue to develop throughout our lives, and external events can make either temporary or permanent changes in us as our lives progress. A simple example is, that if we constantly do an activity, we get better at it, up to the extent of our physical capacity and our knowledge of it. This is not to say we are entirely consciously aware of what's going on, or that it's a 'choice'; it goes on whether we are aware of it or not, and or if we want it to happen or not. My abuser planted the seeds of gender identity disorder into my head; as years went on, assuming that he was right and that god had made a mistake, I read into past happenings in my life that I thought indicated that he was correct, which reinforced the idea that I was really female. Too young to have the knowledge to discredit his suggestion, I went along with it, gradually reinforcing it until I was teaching myself to be a girl. By the time I learned enough to dispute the idea, the feelings of being female all the time had become part of me. Knowing that it is false, does not stop the feelings. My own theory, which has been supported by a few therapists that I have spoken to, is that at some point in our lives, our gender identity becomes permanent: It is not at 'one second, one minute, one day in time', but gradually as something in our minds 'sets', much in the same way that our speech pattern sets during puberty, as at about that point it is set into us whether we will develop an accent when we learn new languages. None of this is written in stone; there are no studies being done, basically because it would require lifetime controlled studies, which we do not do on humans. And as no other creatures are advanced enough to speak to us, there is no way to do experiments with them, either.

    Or, you can simply go with the Popeye theory: 'I yam what I yam'.

    Edit; an even better example is military training, where they 'break you down' and then build you into the soldier they want you to be. For the lack of a better term, 'brainwashing' is nothing new. And when done for a long time, whether inflicted by an outside source or by our own behavior and beliefs, it becomes more and more likely to be permanent. Whether you want to believe that certain pathways in our brains become 'stronger' or whatever, continuous reinforcement of repeated behavior makes it more likely to feel 'normal' to the individual.
    The huge problem we have with crossdressing is the ingrained homophobia throughout the world; virtually every male is told from the moment we are self aware that being feminine is a horrendous thing, we're even taught that god feels it's wrong. So you have a huge population of crossdressers who can't even admit to themselves that they have any connection to wanting to do, act or be female. It goes so far as to cause some of us to split our personalities into 'our male self' and 'our fem self'. You'll often see written on these forums men talking about their other 'female personality' as a distinct different person(a). It's a way of avoiding any connection with that behavior, which their male mind simply cannot accept as part of himself.
    Last edited by sometimes_miss; 01-26-2013 at 11:10 AM. Reason: additional information
    Some causes of crossdressing you've probably never even considered: My TG biography at:http://www.crossdressers.com/forums/...=1#post1490560
    There's an addendum at post # 82 on that thread, too. It's about a ten minute read.
    Why don't we understand our desire to dress, behave and feel like a girl? Because from childhood, boys are told that the worst possible thing we can be, is a sissy. This feeling is so ingrained into our psyche, that we will suppress any thoughts that connect us to being or wanting to be feminine, even to the point of creating separate personalities to assign those female feelings into.

  11. #11
    Aspiring Member TeresaL's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jenniferathome View Post
    There are not studies that can show why only some common themes reported by cross dressers like stress relief, calming, inner Pete, that kind of cross. It is obvious to me that it is genetic because no one would choose to be a cross dresser.
    There are studies from medical and psychological professions, however we may with some due, respect, reason, and our own logic refute and refuse these studies.

    Genetics is an underlying theme and/or ingredient throughout the professions. Another ingredient needed is a trigger. The long or short fuse which ignites the inborn disposition and proclivity to crossdress. Multitudes of events, persons, and physiological events can trigger our genetic behavior, no matter how long the dormancy. So we are indeed varied when tasked to come up with a valid reason.

    Latter day triggers may even occur by the influence of testosterone. Not all of us, though.

    IMO and personal experience, normal serum testosterone and lowered DHT levels increase the urge. For me, my DHT was decreased due to a popular prostrate medication. However, tests revealed that my serum levels remained normal, while DHT was reduced. My cross dressing did increase. Later, my serum level was reduced and now my cross dressing is gone. See Anne Vitale for a more professional explanation. She has patients who completely lost their desire to crossdress upon starting an HRT regimen.

    Not all of us fit that profile of course, but the need to know is available for those who wish to do the research or have the experience. HRT also is not something that would be considered for our population as a whole, and leans to the transexual side of TG umbrella. There exists a multitude of factors that need to be carefully weighed and assessed, and it is not a recommendation of mine without all the steps necessary to go down that path.

    There are more than a handful of theories, and yet there is still not a one-fits-all solution. This is simply my take, however erroneous it may be. Yet after living through my personal experiences of this, I'm not that anxious to turn in my female role for a strictly cis gender life.

    Our nature to cross the gender line is small, and not completely understood by either professionals or society in general. Society is probably our biggest stumbling block and stone casters.
    Last edited by TeresaL; 01-26-2013 at 12:13 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by TeresaL View Post
    Genetics is an underlying theme and/or ingredient throughout the professions. Another ingredient needed is a trigger. The long or short fuse which ignites the inborn disposition and proclivity to crossdress. Multitudes of events, persons, and physiological events can trigger our genetic behavior, no matter how long the dormancy. So we are indeed varied when tasked to come up with a valid reason.
    This is how I feel Teresa, I do think it could it could be genetics & there was certainly a trigger point for me at a very early age.

  13. #13
    Silver Member CynthiaD's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jenniferathome View Post
    ... no one would choose to be a cross dresser.
    Why not? I love being a Crossdresser! Why would I choose to be anything else?

  14. #14
    Part Time Lesbian Diva CassandraSmith's Avatar
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    For me, the potential for CDing was passed through our family as a valuation of things that were feminine. It manifested itself in several family members who are in the healing professions. For me, I was exposed to a grandmother and mother who were very strong willed and together women. My dad checked out before I was born. Mom basically wore the pants and she was very beautiful too. I think that clothing was something like armor for her and she would put on her makeup every day as if she were putting on war paint. I think I strongly identified with her power and also her self worth issues. So clothing became tied to feelings of safety and the expression of feminine energy. No wonder I was fascinated by it!!!


    Cassy

  15. #15
    "A glass of wine anytime" rachaelsloane's Avatar
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    What causes the urge to crossdress?
    I might be in the minority here, but I why does it really matter? How many wonder why they like the arts or sports?
    I enjoy it and don't plan on stopping anytime soon. Where did I leave my glass of wine?

  16. #16
    Aspiring Member TeresaL's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rachaelsloane View Post
    I might be in the minority here, but I why does it really matter??
    It probably matters to others though, for various reasons. Firstly, the OP asked.

    As for me, my wife has asked many times. Telling her that I like panties, and it feels "oh so good," will do nothing for her but fuel a nasty feud. Those aren't answers, they are the results. (We feel good because we crossed dressed, but why did we cross dress)?

    Then, those who study behavioral fields sometimes make it to our sector of the woods to study our "oddity." They look for answers and will make their own up in white papers, thesis, and DSM type manuals.

    Not least of all is society, who without (or with(?) an answer hounds us as perverts at the very least. We aren't publicly free, yet we are public domain and moving targets when out and about. Bigots are still around,and some really do See us as fair game for prey. They will take a MtF to an alley and do anything anything. Those folks don't need answers, but knowledge might prevent just one beating or death. If only one of them that counts had an answer.

    We really should be free to be us.

    Those who don't need answers to anything are not necessarily the minority. But those that do, and are explorative in nature, or in trouble with dressing would like a fair shake, a fair deal, and an explanation.
    Last edited by TeresaL; 01-26-2013 at 01:19 PM.

  17. #17
    Junior Member AltairaMorbius's Avatar
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    It has always been there. I believe my earliest expression of it came when I was around 6 and told my mother I’d rather be a girl. Biologically my Mother had severe food poisoning in the last trimester of her pregnancy with me. I have read studies of mothers who were under stress during pregnancy that have lead to higher rates of gay male children, i tculd extend this to crossdressing.

    Cheers,
    Amy

  18. #18
    Junior Member Ariel111's Avatar
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    For me it's two-fold, sticking it to society and rejecting the norms and being able to feel and let out the feminine side. My wife loves the fem side because I'm more open and emotional. It's a balance that is much needed.

  19. #19
    Part Time Lesbian Diva CassandraSmith's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rachaelsloane View Post
    I might be in the minority here, but I why does it really matter? How many wonder why they like the arts or sports?
    I enjoy it and don't plan on stopping anytime soon. Where did I leave my glass of wine?
    For me, it was just an excuse to talk about myself ;-)

  20. #20
    Chickie Chickhe's Avatar
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    I believe there are a lot of variables that trigger it. I think many people who CD are so repressed that eventually they become compulsive over time. I think though, there is something built in to more or lesser degrees and social conditioning has a huge influence on whether you feel like you fit the mold or not. One thing I struggled with most of my life was having different thoughts and pleasures than many people...I often hate joining groups because I just don't get the same enjoyment they are getting off repeated simple slapstick, but at the same time I still like being part of a team and what I noticed is in my own child, she recognizes that she also had huge different interests that most of her classmates...so I try to encourage her to try their ways too...just to experience life...so I wonder if some of it is just related to finding someplace you can call your own vs. feeling like a conformist... ...I am also genuiely fascinated by the transformation so...maybe we just know what's fun when we see it.
    Chickie

  21. #21
    Gold Member Sometimes Steffi's Avatar
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    The biological answer is a dopamine defficiency. The cultural answer is what does it take to boost dopamine.
    Hi, I'm Steffi and I'm a crossdresser... And I accept and celebrate both sides of me. Or, maybe I'm gender fluid.

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    hormones may be the key to much of this activity, but not all

    There have been many more, to my recollection, who have started cding just as puberty hits. I did, at about 13, and it stayed a while and then it more or less went dormant for many years. It appeared on and off but returned just about the time I turned 60. Hormones?? Very likely. Andropause is the male version of menopause. After my cancer surgery, I started to develop gynecomastia and when I got blood tests, my T was in the ballpark, but my estrogen was higher that a females count and higher had she been in menopause.
    I also think there is some psychological stimulus as well and that probably varies with the individual. Hormones would certainly explain the "older beginning CD" . There is likely some hormonal causes when the fetal brain gets masculinized as it may NOT get enough testosterone and retain some characteristics of the female brain. Female fetuses need no hormonal changes to become female. It doesn't have to be genetic necessarily. There are lots of switches that turn on and off the genes and they can get fouled up--blue eyes is a good example.
    I read a recent paper that suggests being gay IS NOT genetic as it would eventually die out since there would be no reproduction among gays but history does show us that some gays to marry, have families and thus may pass along some predisposition. Another study with quite a bit of proof shows that women who bear a lot of children a more likely than not to produce gay sons in that or other generations , so great great grandma who had 10 kids is likely to have produced some gay children. So, we could also be within that spectrum--not necessarily gay but feminine in some part of out psyche. Gay may represent the ultimate feminization of the male fetal brain, and lesbian may represent the ultimate masculinization of the female fetal brain..
    JUST a crossdresser

  23. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by busker View Post
    I also think there is some psychological stimulus as well and that probably varies with the individual. Hormones would certainly explain the "older beginning CD" . There is likely some hormonal causes when the fetal brain gets masculinized as it may NOT get enough testosterone and retain some characteristics of the female brain. Female fetuses need no hormonal changes to become female. It doesn't have to be genetic necessarily. There are lots of switches that turn on and off the genes and they can get fouled up--blue eyes is a good example.
    Sometimes Miss, above, describes a good example of a psychological stimulus, in the form of childhood trauma, but such stories are the exception to what is otherwise quite mysterious. The rest of this paragraph hits closer to the mark.

    A lot of people don't understand that all fertilized eggs are female by default, other than the presence of XX or XY chromosome configurations (or rare variants), and that XY males have to undergo a complex process of differentiation during gestation. Given the complexity of the human organism, obviously a lot can go slightly or greatly amiss in the process. The best theorizing I've seen (best because it answers the most questions without inherent contradictions) is that what we call sexual orientation and gender identity are formed at distinct, relatively early phases of development and rely on precisely timed and dosed infusions of hormones from the mother to program the developing brain. Get the timing or dosage off a bit, and the brain gets "miswired" in some way or another. The abundance of possible combinations of such mistakes would explain the wide variety of gender-variant behaviors we know, from hyper-masculine gay men to lipstick lesbians to straight crossdressers to full-blown TS surgical candidates.

    Of course, empirical proof is elusive, because it would require experimenting with fetal development and seeing if the results supported the theories case by case, and the "brain sex" argument was and is controversial. But if one is looking for a tight theory that answers the basic questions well, this is it.

    Quote Originally Posted by busker View Post
    I read a recent paper that suggests being gay IS NOT genetic as it would eventually die out since there would be no reproduction among gays but history does show us that some gays to marry, have families and thus may pass along some predisposition. Another study with quite a bit of proof shows that women who bear a lot of children a more likely than not to produce gay sons in that or other generations , so great great grandma who had 10 kids is likely to have produced some gay children. So, we could also be within that spectrum--not necessarily gay but feminine in some part of out psyche. Gay may represent the ultimate feminization of the male fetal brain, and lesbian may represent the ultimate masculinization of the female fetal brain..
    It's not so much a question of being "genetic", as the fetal-development theory outlined above could include such non-genetic factors as an expectant mother's illness, injury, medications, nutrition, and other things that could cause endrocrinological abnormalities during pregnancy. The theory that gays would die off over time is really pretty simple-minded, since, as you point out, plenty of children have been fathered by gay men living in denial.

    The second-and-later-sons study is intriguing, and it tends to support the fetal-hormone theory, since the strain of multiple pregnancies could easily affect the endocrine systems of some mothers and cause those timing/dosage issues in subsequent pregnancies.

  24. #24
    Junior Member Ambrosia's Avatar
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    My urge is to feel feminine wit h a great make up session, my favorite wig and a great dress.
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    Member Meg East's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rachaelsloane View Post
    I might be in the minority here, but I why does it really matter? How many wonder why they like the arts or sports?
    I enjoy it and don't plan on stopping anytime soon. Where did I leave my glass of wine?
    I agree. Why waste time finding the why. Every "professional" or "expert" has his or her training based bias which shows up in their opinions.

    Both my crossdressing and my wine make me happy.

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