The tip of the iceberg. A "sister" thread of Katey 888's thread

[cassandra54]

Katey 888 brought up an interesting subject this morning. "So how about this for a fun thought… We have a lot of silent or ‘lurker’ members here – and statistically, we believe that there are a lot of folk in the real world who share what we do but never reveal. Some of those ‘sisters’ will likely be quite high-profile figures – perhaps in industry, politics, the arts, media, public service…". This brings up a question I've thought about every now and then for some time now. I've even started a thread a few years ago.

The question is: Just what real percentage of the male population could be considered cross dressers? That would include anyone, male or female who dresses in clothes of the opposite gender, wishes to express their gender identity different from what they were born with and perhaps even those who want to transition. My uneducated guess is that it could be as much as 25% or even more. Here's what I base this on.

1. There's a number of websites that sell clothing directed for men who want to cross dress. They appear to be doing a great business, so therefore demand must be good. There's only been a few times where anyone on this site has referred to these sites. One of these sites sells breast forms to cross dressers and has another site where they sell some of them to women who've had mastectomies.
2. GG's for the most part don't wear slips, garter belts, thigh highs or hose, except maybe in the bedroom. I've never met one who did. But there are many places that sell these items and not just styles that you would wear in the bedroom. There's more than a few places that sell garter belts that you could wear all day long and be comfortable in them. I have about 5. Moreover, when you see most of the GGs out there, (at least where I live), wearing shorts or jeans, you have to wonder who's buying dresses and skirts. And I have no problem at all buying almost any woman's shoe in a size 10.

The reality is that your neighbor, co-worker, friends,relatives or even the police officer that pulls you over could be on this site or another one. We as members of this site, and other sites and people that come out in public are just the tip of the iceberg.

What say you?

[Tami Joy]

You hit it alright.Once saw a article where they say about 1/3 of men wear woman panties so figure it out all men have some female in them.

[Jenniferathome]

25%?!?! Not a chance! 1) Don't confuse the existence of a few websites with significant demand. Limited sites PROVE that there is very little demand. 2) 50% of the population are women. Garters and hose are not typical wear for women today but they do buy them (usually for their husbands' benefit). 50% of the population is a VERY large market. And WOMEN are the ones buying dresses and skirts. Again, 50% of the population.

Do simple math: 1% of the population in the USA would be about 3 MILLION. Even 1% would be a huge number of cross dressers. Certainly a large enough market to keep a few cross dressing sites in business. 1% across the 7 BILLION people on earth and you would have 70 MILLION. Compare that to reasonable and verifiable estimates that 10% of the population is gay. You think there are more cross dressers than gay people ? No, we cross dressers are a very small percent.

[Amy Fakley]

I agree that CD supply sites like the breast form store and janet's closet ... and the nearly innumerable no-names on amazon and ebay ... well I don't know how well they're doing, but they exist and have done for some considerable time now ... someone must be keeping them in business.

That being said, I think you're probably underestimating just how immense the world is. When you sell your wares on the internet, you sell them to anyone, anywhere in the world. China alone has more than a billion people. Even if 1% of the people in China were crossdressers, that's still a MILLION potential customers, and that's not even taking into account Europe, North America, etc.

I see plenty of ladies wearing dresses to work in my office every single day. I recon some of them have fancy underwear, because holy hell, if you could wear a pretty dress to work, wouldn't you?? ... shiiiiiiiiii ... there's no question I would :-)

So ... I still suspect we are way less than 1% of the global population.
I think if we really were more common than that, then society would be different about it.
For instance, TG people wouldn't have such a high probability of being the victims of fatal violence, nor would we have such a high rate of suicide.

[cassandra54]

25%?!?! Not a chance! 1) Don't confuse the existence of a few websites with significant demand. Limited sites PROVE that there is very little demand. 2) 50% of the population are women. Garters and hose are not typical wear for women today but they do buy them (usually for their husbands' benefit). 50% of the population is a VERY large market. And WOMEN are the ones buying dresses and skirts. Again, 50% of the population.

Do simple math: 1% of the population in the USA would be about 3 MILLION. Even 1% would be a huge number of cross dressers. Certainly a large enough market to keep a few cross dressing sites in business. 1% across the 7 BILLION people on earth and you would have 70 MILLION. Compare that to reasonable and verifiable estimates that 10% of the population is gay. You think there are more cross dressers than gay people ? No, we cross dressers are a very small percent.

Sorry. My bad. I edited my thread. What I meant was what percentage of the MALE population.

[Wildaboutheels]

There IS a reason for the extremely lopsided ratio of CDers in general and even more telling... [MtF/FtM]

It's also easy to verify for any OPEN minded person that is capable of an internet search.

It's not complicated.

And denial of any type only makes life more challenging than it has to be.

The crux of the matter and the important thing to remember is that the True ratio or number of CDers is completely IRRELEVANT and meaningless.

[Kate Simmons]

There is another possibility to consider. Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe there are some women out there who like to buy lingerie and dresses designed for men for whatever reason? That could be generating a lot of sales on those sites. Why should we think that we may have the exclusive on "kinky" ?

[Talisker]

A mainstream chain of shoe stores ( Deichmann) here has a limited range of shoes in all styles upto size 44. I bought 2 pairs but I do wonder who is buying the rest...

To the OP. Thigh high and garters may tend to be 'bedroom' and not 'street' wear for GGs, so you may not b lucky enough to see it

[Badwolf]

Special lines in stores are well advertised because they don't sell easily. There are people who need those shoes though, and special lines with VERY limited production is almost the only way to handle it, especially when it's pretty far off from the norm.

[BLUE ORCHID]

Hi Cassandra, Only when the Government makes us register and taxes us will we be able to get an accurate count of Crossdressers .

[Jenniferathome]

A mainstream chain of shoe stores ( Deichmann) here has a limited range of shoes in all styles upto size 44. I bought 2 pairs but I do wonder who is buying the rest...

Women with larger than average feet.

[SO1Adam12]

25%!!!! Wishful thinking at the very least... My guess is, at best .5% - 1%, and that includes female to male which is much more open and acceptable. I do buy for my SO, from plus size lingerie shops. There are plenty of BB women out there who love pretty things.

[Katy120]

I'm with Jennifer on this one. The percentage of the world population that crossdresses is statistically minute.

[Beverley Sims]

I tend to put a figure on this subject ever time I see it.
I say somewhat less than two percent.
Can anyone put a figure on the gay population or those that actively use sex shops to buy marital aids.?

Another guess pulled out of a hat.

[Robin777]

Women with larger than average feet.

My wife wears shoes bigger than me and I wear a men's size 10

[sometimes_miss]

China alone has more than a billion people. Even if 1% of the people in China were crossdressers, that's still a MILLION potential customers, and that's not even taking into account Europe, North America, etc.

Well, 1% of a billion is ten million. Not one million.

I don't think the percentages have changed much. I haven't followed much scientific literature about us regarding percentages in the past 10 years or so, but as of around 1998, several random studies done up to that time put us at somewhere between 2 and 2.5% of the male population that regularly crossdresses, with about 80% of us claiming to be heterosexual. Male homosexuals were routinely considered about 5% of the population. I don't remember the percentages for females, but it was significantly less. There were, at that time, no studies done regarding female crossdressers, most likely because by that time women were routinely wearing men's clothing whenever they felt like it, so no one ever really paid any attention when say, a girl was found wearing a men's flannel shirt, baseball cap, and overalls.
The most significant statistics I remember were grim ones indeed, and curiously, each was about half the first one: Only about 6 percent of women felt it o.k. if a man crossdressed, but she would not personally want to be involved with him. About 3 percent would feel comfortable with a crossdresser as a friend, but would not consider him for a mate. 1.5% would consider dating a crossdresser. That's where the official stats ended, and that was back in the 1990's. At that time, I was involved in therapy with a gender therapist, and was also active on alt.transgendered and several associated newsgroups that catered to us. And in discussions, both therapists and other crossdressers confirmed that about half of the women who initially felt o.k. with having a crossdresser as a partner, later changed her mind and couldn't accept it. Leaving us with approximately 0.75% of all women as potential partners. As those women often would not like their friends and family to know that their BF/husband is a crossdresser, there is no way to find those women, other than random dating and hoping for the best. So you would have to date at least 100 women to have even a remote chance of finding such a woman, and of course, then you have to deal with all the other compatibility problems.

Which is why I'm still in the closet.

[Simone's Lil' Sis]

.........Can anyone put a figure on the gay population.........

Let's Play Jeopardy. "And the answer is......."What is half of ONE (flesh), Alex?"