A little survey

[biannne]

As you know I have felt the urge to CD since I was kid.

It this urge genetic or product of the lifestyle.

For example. I was raped at the 10 by 2 older girls, I was shy growing up, I am also bi polar. I have very fem voice and act fem.

What experience do you think lead you to CD.

Anna

[Sophia de la luz]

Some natural outgrowth of making room for the feminine, giving it a turn.

[DeeInGeorgia]

For the most part, I believe it happens in the womb. But there are two genetic parts, one for the mind and one for the body. I remember now growing up thinking, and keep getting reminded of it lately, that my body was part male and part female.

I believe I have the arms of a woman. One summer building a 6 ft high X 75 ft long cinderblock retaining wall for my mother and two summers working concrete construction and I never got muscular arms. In college, I knew women that had hairer arms and legs than I did, and I didn't need to shave until I hit 20+. At about the age of 14, I thought I might be growing breasts, but my 2 yr younger sister set me straight. What made remember was when I had a kidney stone, the CT scan showed a growth on my kidneys. Analysis said the growths were fat deposits. Of the men that are found with growths on their kidneys, on 2 percent of those growths on men are fat deposits like mine whereas it is in the high 80s percent for women. I have a very small adams apple and a full head of hair.

So besides not thinking like most boys, personality traits that were feminine,
being interested in sewing at the age of 3, cooking at the age of 6, it is not that far fetched that I tried on a pettycoat at age 7 and today consider myself half man/ half woman physically and mentally.

Deanna

[Jilmac]

Anna, I was never raped, I don't have a femme voice, but I've been dressing and loving it since I was 15, (wore my first panties and dress at 7). I have four sisters and only one brother so I've always felt very comfortable around females in almost any situation. Dressing is part of my life.:)

[Debutante]

I first tried on clothes at age 12... there was a lot of shame and guilt, and I
am trying to liberate myself from all that...
I agree: perhaps it comes from in the womb, though I do have an overbearing, masc. father, and feel close to my mother...

[Karren H]

Well, my mother constantly telling me I was supposed to have been a girl probably didn't help.....

[trannie T]

Just as each one of us is different in needs and desires we may have different causes for our behavior. There could be many different causes for transgender behavior, just as there are many types of transgender behavior.

[Angie G]

Trying on some things I found in the attic when I was a kid lead to my dressing I just fell in love with it.:hugs:
Angie

[erika_cain]

As a youngster, I was fascinated by the lingerie my mother had...pantyhose, and nylons especially. And pin-up photos in magazines such as Playboy had a lot to do with my early desires to dress, which I would do in private when home alone.

As a married adult, I would assault the wifes panty drawer a lot, and prance around with stockings, garterbelt and panties.

But the catalyst that propelled me to go even further was seeing the wonderful female impersonator revues in Las Vegas...ie: LaCage at the Riviera which I believe is still a top draw there. Then there was Kenny Kerr who had another great show in Vegas also. Seeing these performers and the illusions they projected night after night made me want to go further, and although I'm NOT a performer, I love being able to dress fully and let my "inner woman" come out from hiding.

[susancheerleader]

I think what started me was not having a father, or man figure in my life before or during puberty. Thus, I had my sisters and my mother only whom I looked up to.
Neither ever tried to dress me, but I did keep taking my sisters clothes. My mother, never happy about this, kept busting me, and I gave the clothes back. Only to keep doing this.
Finally at age 15 my mother sent me off to a boarding school. Obviously I wasn't going to get a hold of girls clothes here so I ended up not dressing........
Until age 40 when I suddenly got the urge to get a leotard (item I kept getting from my sister) and then all of a sudden the doors opened. Now I have skirts, bras, sweaters, etc.
I live by myself, so who is going to give me hell?

[Elise.Matei]

I'm just screwing around I guess. Tried to convince myself I was TG but... I just like the wig I guess. Even tho I have some decent lil titties.

I'm sure the biomedical research is out there. I'm not motivated enuf to look it up tho. But thats where u should start. I think alot of guys really arent TG - just getting off on it.

[RWillow]

I started at 6 or 7 years old when I found my mother's disgarded panties in the rag bag. Over the years I have had a couple of gg's help me along with other clothes, as young kids they thought it was neat to help me dress. I would say that I was born with the desire to dress, I have liked anything femme as long as I can remember.

Renyta

[Tasha McIntyre]

Hi Anna, I think it must be something I was born with as there is nothing in my early upbringing which I can attribute to my CDing. One day long ago I was just hit with this urge to dress. I was 11 or 12 at the time, and knew that this was not "normal' behaviour. I also had no doubts that I was the oly person in the history of the universe to feel this way.

Have been firmly entrenched in the back of the closet for years without another soul knowing until about 6 months ago when I found this site and fessup to the wife.

Cheers

Tash :)

[suchacutie]

I'm almost 59. Just short of 4 years ago it just all fell together in a bizarre set of circumstances between my wife and me.

All I can say is that I'm a guy, and I'm attracted to women (and for the last 33 years, one woman). Suddenly, 4 years ago, becoming one of their ranks seemed just so natural to do. Hard, crazy, a lot of work, a lot of time spent, much discussion and much practice, but I'm realizing that there is no way anyone would do this who wasn't driven to do it. I had a normal upbringing, no catastrophic sexual event, and no clue it would ever happen!

but suddenly, here I sit in heels, stockings, a lovely green dress and sash, wig, some makeup, and a big smile.

tina

[nvlady]

For me, I am 100% convinced that it is genetic.

[docrobbysherry]

Someone explained it to me this way:

Think of a scale with super fem women all the way to the left. And super masculine males all the way to the right.
That leaves about 90% of us, +or-, in the middle somewhere.:eek:

If you're REALLY interested in where u r along that scale, there's tests online u can take to find out!:)

[Lorileah]

Inborn, supported by life experiences.

[Sarahwithanh11]

Totally genetic, at least as far as I can tell.

I never had any siblings, my parents were always married and my dad and I got along well, my mom never told me I should have been a girl and I never knew of anyone else who crossdressed until I was pretty into it. I don't know of any early-life experiences that could have had any impact on this.

On the other hand, I can recall going into the coat closet and enjoying putting my arms through my mom's coat. This was when I was 4 or 5 years old. And yet I can remember the feeling, and it's the same feeling I get now when I dress completely as Jessica.

[Joanne f]

For some it may very well be genetic( and most probably is) so the female side of things will be very strong in those, and for some it will be just a life style in that they have found something they like to do and have progressed with it as time go`s on , and for others it may be just a fetish , something to do on and off when you feel like it , and i am sure that there are a many more of other reasons why we do it .
I think that most would agree on one thing and that is that there is not just one answer to this question but an accumulation of many things.
As for me i believe it is genetic , an in built desire to be feminine even thou i may not know what that is exactly but then being feminine might be exactly what i am (who knows) just a sodding pity i do not look like it lol

[sometimes_miss]

But when I tried the search engine to help give a list of threads about it, it doesn't seem to work; I get zero hits. Sooooo,

It can be either, or both. You'll find people who knew from the moment they were self aware that they felt they should have been the opposite sex, and others that didn't get the feeling until middle age or later. Crossdressing is for some a purely sexual thing, for others it has no sexual side at all. I tend to believe people who say that for them, it's purely genetic. They have found that hormonal influences in the womb may influence sexual identity and preference. But you have the other side of the coin as well. I can't say that no one else in my family is transgendered, or even gay, with any certainty. They may have been, but there's no one 'out' or even suspected of it as far as I know; so if there is a genetic influence, I don't know where it came from. For me, it appears to be mostly conditioning through out childhood that influenced me the most, and once I believed it, it became a positive feedback loop. Let that go on for a couple of decades, and it can't NOT have a serious influence. Read my bio in the links below to learn what went on; but if you are triggered by matters mentioning childhood sexual abuse, perhaps you might not want to go there.

[Gabrielle Hermosa]

I believe wholeheartedly that it is genetic.

It's as genetic as being right-handed or left. Some people are genetically prone to be artistic or like sports. It is when they first get introduced to the concept of art or sports that they may realize this, so in that respect, part of it comes from exposure to our surroundings.

From a young age, I also had feminine behaviors and mannerisms. I learned to hide them as I got older, because society punishes this kind of behavior in men, but all the while, I was still a crossdresser.

I really don't believe that one can just decide to be a crossdresser because of whatever. It's either in you and was from birth, or it's not. Some people may get started later in life for a variety of reasons, but I believe the brain is just wired like that. We only have problems with it because society embeds in our heads that this kind of thing is unacceptable behavior. Aside from that, it's perfectly normal - society just hasn't gotten out of the 1950's in this respect yet.

[Highland Anne]

I think it is genetic I have always had a strong feminine side right from being a kid.

[DonnaT]

Genetic predisposition.

Lies dormant until triggered by something environmental.

Regardless of age.

[Samantha43]

I really have no idea why I do it. I had a normal childhood with great parents. I have felt the desire to crossdress ever since I can remember.

I guess a genetic predisposition is as good an answer as any.

[jenniferj]

I think the more smart folks look into it, the more complicated it will turn out to be. Certainly the male/female x/y chromosome switch is a large part of who we are, but I am beginning to read more and more about subtler aspects such as gene activation.

For the most part our physical sex is switched by the x/y chromosome from Dear old Dad, but there are also rare cases of XX males, XXY males, XXXY males and so on. The XX males are very interesting - apparantly the process of formiing the X and Y "half cells" in Dad misfires and part of the protein string that should go to the Y (potential boy-child) remains attached to the X side. And the XX child that results (should be a girl) ends up with a boy's equipment. I bring this up not as an explanation for CD/TV/TS, but rather as an example of something malfunctioning in a massive way that still seems to work to some degree. It is very possible - likely in fact - that similar things may happen on a much smaller (undetectable in the general case) scale that affect sexual and gender identity and behavior.

A second complicating factor is "gene activation". Geneticists are now working with the idea that effectively permanent changes in a child's genetic makeup are affected by genes switching on or off based on the mother's physical circumstances. There is some really cool work going on here.

And to make things even more confusing, it is pretty clear that the development of the human brain and personality takes place over time, while still in the womb. Experiments have shown that flooding the fetus with hormones or toxins at different stages of development can have profound effects on the final product. I have often wondered if my "girl side" was a result of my Mom taking DES - A lot of women did in the fifties in order to improve the chances of carrying a baby full term. My Mom passed before I could ask her (without explaining why, of course) but I do know that she lost two pregnancies between my older sister and myself. But then again, my Dad dressed up also and his twin sister is gay.

Someday we will probably be able to identify root causes for this (and a lot of other) special behavior now, I think it's pretty safe to say that most of us were formed this way before we saw the light of day.

-jj

[SherriePall]

Must be genetic because I remember always being this way. I always wanted to be a girl or to dress as one. As I got older, I did so in varying degrees. About 11 years ago, I really became serious about dressing.

[Joanne Curl]

It must be genetic, at least partially. I grew up in a macho family and played sports and all the rest. I don't know why I was compelled to put on my mom's clothes when I was 10 or 11 but I did. Once I did I couldn't stop and 40 years later I still enjoy dressing as a woman occasionally.
Joanne

[Kate Lynn]

From age 3 thru 7 I was forced to wear girls clothes by my mother and my stepfather,when at 7 years old I was dumped on my father and step mother,who had no idea what I was put through.
When I tried to explain the things that my mother and stepfather did to me,I was called a liar.
When I was 9 years old,that was 1958, my father and step mother took me to see a shrink,who advised them to have me admitted to a state mental hospital for electro shock therapy,he advised my parents it would cure me of my perversion.