There has been an excellent thread discussing in great detail possible genetic and environmental causes for our crosssdressing. I do not want to rehash everything that has been said before. There is an underlying reason why we are searching for our roots as crossdressers. Having the "nature vs. nurture" question unresolved causes some anxiety for some of us. (I wish I could say, "I am what I am..." and go have fun. This certainly is the quickest and easiest answer to the "nature vs. nurture" question.)

Here is the dilemma as see it:

If crossdressing is genetic, that is, there is some gene, some chromosone, something given to us by our parents then:
  • It would relieve a tremendous amount of guilt some of us have. ("I was born that way and there is nothing I can do about it!") No more need for therapy...
  • It would be easy to determine who really is a crossdresser and who isn't ("by using our simple home t-test at only $39.95").
  • It would be easier (possibly) to obtain civil rights specifically for crossdressers.
  • It would be easier to explain crossdressing to our spouses and families.

If crossdressing is a result of our upbringing then either:
  • Crossdressing is a lifestyle choice. I am deciding to live my life in a certain manner. I am in complete control and I can choose to stop crossdressing whenever I want.
  • Crossdressing really isn't a choice because when I try to stop, I get <depressed, stressed, anxious, stressed, angry, stressed, moody, stressed, frustrated, all of the above, etc.>. This is not good because then crossdressing starts to sound like an obsession, compulsion, or addiction.

We keep ping-pong-ing the "nature vs. nuture" question around because we know that we really don't like some of the potential answers.

Maybe the question is wrong when we focus on "nature vs. nuture". Maybe the real source for crossdressing is something I will call the "R-factor" to describe the unknown, common thing linking us together. The "R-factor" isn't one specific characteristc but a huge set of characteristics blended together some of which were given to us by our parents and some were part of our upbringing. The number of characteristics and their timing when they happened make them almost impossible to identify. However, we all have this "R-factor"...

Disclaimer: I am not a scientist, therapist, or doctor (although I was a nurse one Halloween...).

Robyn