Number of CD's

[GBNatarii]

Well, since coming out in some what full force, I've gotten into a whole hell of a lot of discussions with friends, straight people, gay people, etc. Always got a billion questions for me and CD'ing in general, and I always try to answer as informative and accurately as I possibly can.

But, one thing does keep popping up. People always wonder off to the thought of how many people (especially males) are actually crossdressers. Virtually every one has said to me, and I quote, "I bet a lot of people are crossdressers, but are still in the closet completely." Of course, I can only respond in one way to that; That means at the same time, there are both more and less CD's than you think."

Meaning, that yes, probably a very small percentage of people will even tell their most loved/accepting ones that they crossdress. But at the same time, they are assuming that there's literally millions of people who do it, which is unlikely.

What are your thoughts? I'm just wondering, because, so far that's the best answer I can give every one.

[PaulaJaneThomas]

Non-one knows for sure but between 5 and 10 percent of the male population seems to be the right order of magnitude.

[stefanie]

okay, here is some dummy math

.... the interesting thing is if we take Thailand where there is growing population of transexuals and not just crossdressers One professor i think suggested it could be as high as 5% transexual. I actually think this seems high even in an accepting society....so say 1%.

Let's say it takes 100 transgendered/CD for one to be a full transexual so to speak.

Let's assume due to the societal pressures it is supressed at a ratio of 5 to 1.

That would suggest almost 500 transgendered per 1 transexual.

If there are 300M people in our country and 1% transexual then thee are 30000 transexuals or desire to be transexuals. Given the 500:1 transgendered, this is about 15,000,000 of us or about 5% of our population.

Okay, now add all the folks who have interest in our transgendered world (eg admirers). This by the way is seemingly a huge group. I am guessing 3 to each transgendered. that means another 15% of our population is interested in a tg person......

adding up the %'s, this is 20% of our population which is tied to our world whether they know it yet. :)

Okay, maybe a little dummy math as i said in the beginning but thought it was fun to do.

[Sarah Doepner]

I wish we had an answer. Before I peeked around the closet door and started looking for others I used to think there was only 1 crossdresser in the world and I'm very glad that isn't the case.

As far as the totals go, I don't know that there has been a study that has ever gotten to the heart of the matter and asked consistent questions and used consistent definitions. Until that happens and we know that everyone who answered the survey was totally truthful, we will have some wonderful guesses and experimental math to use.

[battybattybats]

.... the interesting thing is if we take Thailand where there is growing population of transexuals and not just crossdressers One professor i think suggested it could be as high as 5% transexual. I actually think this seems high even in an accepting society....so say 1%.


There is also the Tiwi islands of Australia where 4% of the population belongs to their 'sistergirl' MtF tradition.

[NathalieX66]

Crossdressers?

The U.S.Pupulation is around 300,000,000.

Divide that in half ..beacuse the other half already dresses in the other gender. The female population is slghtly larger than the male population, but for argument's sake, let's say 50/50, which s by no means accurate.

150,000,000 males in the United States. Lets say, theoretically 5% crossdresses =7.5 million males within the age spectrum...loosely. Then discard children , and those who are in some sort of denial. What does crossedressing mean? Wearing your wife's panties to enhance male performance because you were bored one night? ....or someone who is what I call a 'practicing crossdresser' that actually has a wardrobe to boot?
Where exactly is the line of where one qualifies as a CDer, and who would come up with such a criteria?

[pattyv]

It is my (humble) opinion that almost every male on this earth gets some kind of a stir when he sees lingerie off, but especially on a GG. This is the beginning for most of us, and some of us with our curiosity, imagination and courage pursue our desires to wear female clothing..We are the true CDs,but the rest of the male population (lower breed of course) is relagated to the lower echelons of our species , but they are still CDs. We were all female in the womb to begin with so we should all, like archaeologists,dig into our past. This logic concludes that all males are Cds.LOL Remember a lot of truth is spoken in jest!! I have no degrees in any of the above.LOL

[TSchapes]

I don't think we'll know. There are more than what are on this board, but less than what the people on this board think.

It's funny, I'm out to a number of people at work and I keep waiting for someone to say in confidence that they CD too, but as of yet no one has, and we have thousands that work where I do. There is one other TS at work that is more or less out. But that's it, the two of us.

I do find it interesting the number of gamers that have female gender characters that they use on MMO's. They estimate that 60% of the female characters on MMO's are being played by males. The guys that do use female characters for gaming say they rather be looking at a female while playing games. I know what they mean, I rather see a female in the mirror myself! :brolleyes:

-Tracy

[Melora]

THIS Is a Great post..
I AM SURE..
That just about EVERY Weastern Male has AT LEAST a Fantasy about this!! Like the fact that when growing up I saw most of my male cohrts sometimes taking on the fem roe in play and roles in class studies, assignements and roles, as well as on Haloween!! Even now as a College student.. Me and the other few MALE Students kinda sit by the females to help and befriend them to learn the OTHER point of view In a way.. If you know what I mean..
To get to KNOW them!!
GOD I "LOVE" GIRLS!! And Everything ABOUT THEM TOO!!
I wish I was one sometimes..
"Sigh"..

[Kristen-Gaye]

I'm not sure if there is a definitive percentage because there is such a spectrum to CDing. I have read though that amongst regular CDers ie. those who dress occassionally through to full time TGs, it is about 2% of the population. If you add those who may of dressed once or twice in their lives that figure would rise.

Please don't quote me on these figures though! :battingeyelashes:

[Carol A]

Well all I can say is there are more of us then the public knows.
I believe you can only count the girls who will admit they CD.

Now what is the number of sisters who will not say a word because of family?. I would go as far as to say that better then 15% of men cross dress.

[SweetCaroline]

I like to look at it the other way around...

Everyone one I know; everyone I'm related to; everyone I've meet in my entire life...knows at least one man who crossdresses, weather they realize it or not. That's a lot of people.

Think about it...

[Marcy_in_hose]

In the day and age we live in today, there are a hell of a lot of c'ds/t'gs and like someone earlier said, there are also the admirers (I have a friend who loves traps and trannys So I kind of don't want to tell him that I crossdress) that just love us.

Perhaps in a few years we won't have to be worried about what 'society' thinks. I have NEVER been a fan of the rule that the majority makes up the 'norm'. That's how we had situations like European colonization of the world and Nazi Germany to name a few...

[docrobbysherry]

--- would fit on the head of a pin?:devil:

[Jaclyn NM]

I have no idea what the number or percentage is, but I really do believe that there are quite a number of us. I know that I kept it hidden for a lot of years, and still have not come out fully, and I know that a lot of girls on this site continue to keep it hidden. And I firmly believe that if more males tried it, it would result in a number of converts. But this is just my opinion.

[Frédérique]

People always wonder off to the thought of how many people (especially males) are actually crossdressers. Virtually every one has said to me, and I quote, "I bet a lot of people are crossdressers, but are still in the closet completely."


I’m starting to get the feeling that a lot of males are angry they never crossdressed (percentage unknown). Their pent-up aggression comes out against us, especially in a “pack” mentality, perhaps fueled by jealousy? I don’t understand this desire to fit in and be like everybody else. Isn’t free thought supposed to be a good thing? I think a lot of interesting ideas cross the minds of males who are comfortable with themselves. Actual crossdressing takes courage and imagination, but a lot of men don’t have any imagination, do they? Doing something that typical males don’t do is highly attractive to me…

[Davinnia]

I have no idea how many of us there are in the world, though the number must be enough to make it worth while starting a business catering for our needs. Just look at all the speciality stores, both retail stores & online, that sell stuff for crossdressers. Not simply clothes but breastforms, padding, beardcover makeup, wigs, magazines etc. These are businesses targeting CDers, not women's stores that we purchase from in addition to GG customers. As there are so many in US, UK, Australia etc, they must consider there are enough customers out there for each to be profitable & as I know only too well, we do spend plenty of money on our fem. selves.
There's probably no way of knowing how many people follow any interest & I'm sure on a league table I bet we're nowhere near the bottom of minority "hobbies"

[Cheshire Gummi]

In a world filled with damn near seven billion people, it's safe to say at least a million of us are cross dressers. As to whether the majority cross dress, well...

Cross dressing is, I feel, a part of the sexual development of a lot of people. It's normal, like thinking sexually about someone close to you. During puberty we are curious and even desire things we are told are wrong or unnatural. It's just a weird, developmental quirk.

We feel as we do for a variety of reasons. Some of us just like the clothing, some want to be seen as women or men themselves, some don't want gender definition at all and feel they are being more honest when they act without definition. There is no one underlying source for all of this, but here's my thought; it's as good as any other from anyone who's never been to med school or taking a psychiatry course.

During our developmental stages, we are more drawn to certain objects and ideas, styles of thinking and mannerisms, that we feel better suit us. There are numbers of people who would rather be honest with themselves and their desires than live up to a clique or social standard, and we are a member of that group. While we drawn by social stigma sometimes to conceal what we are, we are not so swayed by it as to have it destroy our subconscious wants and needs.

In other words, we are what we are and we are not swayed enough by outside forces to attempt altering our psyche. Some people do. Some people think that being a cross-dresser is destructive and polluted behavior, no different than killing or stealing. Those who share our interests and feel they are doing wrong are swayed by outside forces. We are not.

However, we are swayed enough to want to hide it for fear of being thrown out of the tribe, so to speak.

Hmm... I'm too exhausted to continue down this avenue of thought. Ultimately, I'll just sum it up with a sentence:

Normal people are just people you don't know very well.

[AlannahNorth]

How many males are crossdressers? Lots. More than anyone is going to get to admit to it, even in an anonymous survey (most people fear 'BIG BROTHER' or a similar bogeyman). Like some have already pointed out, it also depends on "where" you are talking about.

My response of 'lots' is a matter of perspective - the reality of it is that we're not enough of the population to shift public opinion the way we would like (easily) and in most areas by far, not enough to give us local CDing friends without a search (like on this forum).

So 'Lots' but also qualified by 'not enough' - at least not likely enough for our interests.

[Gayle]

Just looked up the total registered membership here. As of now 35,321. There are not that many Sites such as this in Europe and America. I get the idea that CD.com is mainly U.S.A. and Canada membership. Largest one I can think of is TVChix in U.K. with an astonishing 65,000 odd. Obviously there are non U.K. members and some male admirers. A lot of other Sites only boast about 5,000 and of course members can be registered with more than one Site. I don't know about URnotalone, that might be a big Site.

Web Sites and registered memberships would be a good starting point for statistical study. The Net has been all important in bringing the whole matter into the open.

Gayle:brolleyes:

[Ras]

I am sure there are a lot more CD's then will ever admit primarily due to societies view of us and there perceptions.

The "masculine" side may love the feminine side but only if it is accepted by those close to him.

[sterling12]

Since they are asking you, why not personalize it? Something like this: "Do you know twenty other males? OK, I'm the one in The First Twenty." "Now, do you know twenty more males, (and of course most people know hundreds of persons.) "Well, out of that twenty, someone else you know is transgendered....you just have to figure out whom it is!"

If you care to freak them out even further, ask them if they know twenty women. One of those twenty women is also transgendered.

Do you all see the point? If we just throw out "guesstimates" or raw percentages, that won't have an effect on anyone, it's easy to dismiss us as probably inflating our numbers. If you get them thinking and guessing about who that one in twenty is.....now you have made your point, and they won't forget it!

Peace and Love, Joanie