Percentage of Male Population as CDs

[linda allen]

I'm wondering if there are any published scientific studies on what percentage of males (in developed countries) are CD ers?

Anyone know?

[AKAMichelle]

All of the estimates are just that. Wild fabrications of facts. Some CD'ers won't admit it on a confidential survey for fear of being outed. So you can never count or scientifically estimate the # of cd'ers in society. There are a lot of cd'ers on here and everyday we have a new member join us who tells of dressing for 30-40 years without telling a sole.

[Jean Marie]

o HAVE ALWAYS HEARD THE NUMBER IS ABOUT 10% OF MALES CROSSDRESS TO SOME DEGREE

[rachellenicole]

10% is the number I have seen also, but some suspect that number to be higher.

[juliecdfl]

I have recently read an article that stated on 1% of the male population but that figure is def. too low.

[Oilpainter35]

I know the number for gay men is 10%, but I would add another 10%+ to that for dressers. So you are lookin at least 10% that like to dress, and then there are a good percentage of Gay' that like to dress. Oh, and lets not forget the gg's that love to dress as men. That increases the normal population down to probobly around 50 %....so think about it....about half of the people you see are really just plain straight...no bonuses added....I am so happy I have my bonuses...You may have a different outlook, when you walk out in public and think about the fact that half of the people that you see are in the closet somewhat if not standing in there all the time................Drew

[sandra-leigh]

There are studies and papers, yes, but they tend to contradict one another, or tend to be focused on different things.

For example, one UK study reportedly found on the order of 60% of males had put on women's clothes at some point in their lives -- but we recognize that in order to be a "cross-dresser" that the person has to do so or have the desire to do so over a prolonged period, not just an incident of "Everything we brought for you is dirty; can you wear your sister's T-shirt for a couple of hours until we get home?"

I have seen figures for cross-dressers as low as 0.01%; I have seen figures for cross-dressers that were more than 20%. The figure I see most often as anything more than a bald estimate is 6%.

Even "resource" sites seldom report anything more than very rough estimates, or report estimates for transsexuals rather than cross-dressers.


I know the number for gay men is 10%, but I would add another 10%+ to that for dressers. So you are lookin at least 10% that like to dress, and then there are a good percentage of Gay' that like to dress.

"10%" homosexual is a very rough approximation from the original Kinsey studies, and the more modern studies tend to use lower figures.

The papers and books I look at tend to assert that homosexual men do not, on the whole, like to cross-dress. But that will of course remain just as an assertion until someone manages to find some real figures.

[Tina B.]

I'm sorry but it's all just a big guessing game. How many of us on here have ever been asked on a survey if you are Trans, or even if you are Gay, I do polls all the time, I've never been asked. Doctors may do estimates based on Patience they see, but who counts all of us in the closet, and have never sought out treatment for it. Until all the negative connotations are removed there will never be away to know just how many of us there really are. Unless "THEY" are watching my credit card bills!
Tina B.

[CharlotteW]

Here are my thoughts on it. Being gay or lesbian is almost impossible to hide for the whole of your life, even if one tries to cover it up it is likely to surface at some time. Plenty of gay men live in denial only to fail in their heterosexual marriages at some time.
Crossdressing is very different insofar as one can be a crossdresser and be happily married for many years and there's no real need to go public, even to the natural end of the marriage. Oh, and I'm refering to continual crossdressers, not the type that tried on their sisters bra when they were 5 years old and never revisited the pleasure due to guilt.

If we take into account everyone from fetishist CD'ers to transitioning TG\TS's (whatever your prefered tag) I think there are quite a few of us around.
So, if the official (albeit approximate) percentage of gay males is about 2% of the population, there is a fair chance of the percentage of MtoF crossdressers being higher, just because they're not 'out' doesn't nean they don't exist.

[kimmy p]

As was said in a club I used to belong to, when asked how many of us their were, the answer is "Enough".

[Jason+]

:D I've always heard the 10% and added 5% to it for those who wanna but don't yet. The biggest rule of statistics to learn is that 33.3% of them are made up on the spot!

[cdjenny20]

I have a question for the ladies here who work in emergency rooms. How many men who come into the emergency room(for real emergencies, not just a cold) have things like panties on or painted toe nails?

[Mikaela]

I have a question for the ladies here who work in emergency rooms. How many men who come into the emergency room(for real emergencies, not just a cold) have things like panties on or painted toe nails?

Not going to give you an accurate number. I heard a couple (presumed) normal guys talk about how their daughters have painted their toe nails. And then a lot of us strip off the makeup and polish the minute we're done.
A significant portion of the population shaves now.
And aside from trauma victims, many people that go to the er would have time to change clothes, although I know you tried to constrain that population.

When it's all said and done, your study's sample group would be fairly limited and not representative. Nice try though with your line of thought of getting them in a situation where they don't have control.

[María José]

I think it is impossible to know.

But the percentage of male population in this forum that crossdress is very high! LOL

[sandra-leigh]

I have a question for the ladies here who work in emergency rooms. How many men who come into the emergency room(for real emergencies, not just a cold) have things like panties on or painted toe nails?

I don't have anything close to an answer for that -- but it may interest you to know that a couple of weeks ago there was a news item about a hotel chain's lost-and-found department, in which one of the people at the large chains estimated that one in four men travel with a stuffed animal.

[Annie D]

Who cares? I know that I am a crossdresser and you are a crossdresser and whether the percentage is 1% or 10% is simply a way of telling the general public that I am not a freak/deviant/or any label you wish to use that we are not alone and that there are many of us in the world. It is a statistic that can't be validated and is probably not important to anyone who not a crossdresser or married or related to one.

[faltenrock]

my wife doesn't care about that percentage number, whether it's 1 % or 10% out of men. She would give a lot to heal me from CD, knowing that she can't.

[Danni Bear]

Linda,

It is hard to put CD as a percentage of male population.

It depends on how you define it.

Is it only the wearing of womens clothing?

Is it the fantasy about wearing womens clothes?

Is it wanting to be a woman?

No, it is actually all of these and more.

No measure can ever be made that could be accurate.

Percentages as a whole don't tell the story, they are someones guess.

Danni

[eluuzion]

The thing about statistics is that you can twist them to support whatever cause or theory you happen to be "selling" on any given day.

Another thing to keep in mind is that 6 out of every 3 statisticians have problems with math. :D

I have created one formula that calculates the number of males, then the number of closets in an average household, then combines the totals and uses a percentage of high heels over 5" with a size 10 or larger as a refractatory imalgatrant to compensate for the legariance factors, eliminating the multicity complex of regression agents in gene inhibitors, which leaves a median population spread over a variance of +/- 12. But it is not very applicable to the total population of undecided malfeasant variables. I am still working on the formula. I will get back to you later...

:D

[Satrana]

We will never know the real answer but most of the unofficial surveys I have read over the years indicates it is probably around the 5% mark. I don't think higher estimates are likely because if it was very prevalent then it would be commonplace for SOs to find out and the behavior would be more known in society.

[Gerrijerry]

Actually I think all males are CD's. simple because all males have female hormones and also all woman are CD's also because they all have male hormones. The problem is fear of what others will say.

[Janet Bern]

If we are talking about just putting on the clothes and not necessarily into dressing up all the way. And. if you add in those who have a fetish for wearing certain articles the number is more like 20%

[linda allen]

I have a question for the ladies here who work in emergency rooms. How many men who come into the emergency room(for real emergencies, not just a cold) have things like panties on or painted toe nails?
Not from me personally, but we have a friend who is an emergency room nurse and she commented about a male patient one night that once they got his shoes and socks off they found his toenails painted pink.

He told them he was babysitting his three year old niece and she painted them and that he didn't know he would be in an accident later.

Truth or fiction - ? I don't know.

[linda allen]

Thanks. I guess it's never been studied and as some have pointed out, it needs to be defined before it can be studied.

In my mind, a CDer wears one or more article of female clothes for more than a few minutes at a time on a regular basis and has bee doing so for, let's say. a year or more.

Obviously, some take it a lot further. :heehee:

[LaurenB]

This is a very interesting and tantalizing question. I think about this from time to time in search of some validation, I guess. Mathematically or statistically speaking, you probably could make some guesses based on the number of hits to this site (remember there are more than a few "guests" at any given time) vs. the number of users online and th enumber of hits to other non-CD sites of various kinds. I'll bet some PhD has done a dissertation on some obscure but pretty accurate algorithm for just this sort of application (they either work for the NSA or Google ;).

Seriously though - it sure would be nice to have an answer as to how rare or common we really are. And how many guy's would admit it if they knew that say 20-30% of men enjoy it but don't do it regularly and 10-15% are hardcore lipstick and lace luvin, high heeled, tight skirted, perfumed, sensitive, sensuous men.

Lauren

[Megan Thomas]

The official figure is 1 - me! :) Everyone else is a figment of my imagination or the electronic world we call the internet. :D

Oh wait. I've realised I'm actually TG so that makes the official figure a big fat zero :tongueout

[RobynP]

Realistically, one way to guess at the percentage would be to look at the number of photos posted by crossdressers on Flickr and the total number of photos posted by everyone... Even though we do take and post a LOT of photos, the total amount is probably pretty small compared to the total population. The same kind of estimating could be done using Yahoo Groups, Facebook, or MySpace.

Robyn

[RachelPortugal]

What ever figure you come up with, it is just statistica, more statstics and even more lies.

[Sarah Doepner]

I think we usually ask this question as we begin to understand we are not alone, but fear that we are not all that common either. I wouldn't worry about it, it's just a number. What is important is there are enough crossdressers out there in the world to create sites like this, scores of blogs and web pages, a entire specialized sectors of the economy and lots of misconceptions and misunderstandings. Regardless of what the percentage may be, 1%, 10%, 100%, we have a community that is open and supportive. We also have something about us that we can share and much we can learn from others. One of these days there will be a study that puts a number on it, but that number will be insignificant in comparison to the impact crossdressing has on our lives and the lives of those who we love and love us in return.

[AlanaBCD]

50% of statistics are incorrect.

[tricia_uktv]

Hi hon. Why should that bother me? Or you come to that.

Nobody will ever know except that its a darn sight more than we think.

[Loni]

a statistic is a fact, but when it says something different than what you believe in, then it is just a statistic.

you can tailor any poll numbers just in how the question is asked, and were it is asked.

[suchacutie]

I just started some searches about guys wearing women's jeans. OMG it is everywhere...check this out:

http://hubpages.com/hub/Men-who-wear-womans-levi-Jeans

So now we have another problem with the statistics: Guys are buying women's jeans, wives are buying women's jeans for their husbands, etc etc... Clearly, the UK study that showed 60% of men had worn women's clothes is getting more and more skewed all the time. As an aside, after reading that reference, I'm pretty sure that none of us have anything to worry about by wearing femme jeans! We have now become mainstream, ladies!!!

Lastly, I do think it would be pretty difficult to generate a survey that would cover everything carefully enough to get a reliable number of transgendered men and women. There are just too many concerns. But, going back to the jeans issue, the last number I saw was that it was estimated by the manufacturers that over 10% of women's jeans are worn by men. At least that would likely put a top end on the number.

tina

[Ukiah]

Ask the Chinese, they are the ones that make 99% of the size 10w + high heels shipped to America. Either they have already figured it out, or just believe that American women have gigantic clodhoppers.

[ReineD]

There are undoubtedly many men who have tried on articles of women's clothing during their lifetimes, but I should think that members here would be more interested in knowing how many crossdress on a regular basis.

The best estimates of transsexual and crossdresser prevalence I have seen were developed by Lynn Conway (http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/conway.html) using statistics from reliable sources and applying a formula that she developed to test for accuracy.

Here are the results (http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/TSprevalence.html). Her calculations are somewhat involved and you need to scroll down to the middle of the page for her estimates of CDers. But here are her results. The first number is a conservative estimate based on current findings and the second number is her estimate of the likely prevalence. Note that percentages reduce to less than 1% beginning with the second category.

Part time intense CDers: 1:50 (2%) to 1:20 (5%)
CDers with strong TG feelings: 1:200 (.5%) to 1:50 (2%)
CDers with intense TS feelings: 1:500 (.2%) to 1:150 (.667%)
TG transitioners (w/o SRS): 1:1,000 (.1%) to 1:200 (.5%)
TS transitioners (w SRS): 1:2,500 (.04%) to 1:500 (.2%)

Hope you'll all find this useful! :)

Oh, and the rest of the article is worth reading, as well as her website. I believe that she transitioned during the 1960's.

[KathyC]

Complete CDing in many Asian countries is less 5% (exclude Thailand), but I have seen many young boys wear unisex clothing, girly hairdo, and a little makeups, and many times they dress identical with their GFs.
I found out recently, people basically just give you a funny look or stay away if having fem clothes on in many Asian countries. In the Western, especailly US, some people will actually attack or verbal offence the CDer, even a normal guy with a pink backpack ( I have seen it when I was in the US).
Sad right?

[KathyC]

Ask the Chinese, they are the ones that make 99% of the size 10w + high heels shipped to America. Either they have already figured it out, or just believe that American women have gigantic clodhoppers.
The 10+ size not only ship to the US, but also Africa, because many women there always walk bare feet, so their feet are usually larger than usual..but if they do need the shoes on some occassion, those imported 10+ size will be the answer.
My father used to operate a bra factory, we made size bigger than 44, many of them shipped to Africa because women only wear bras in hot weather like that.

[ReineD]

Oh, I just want to add that Lynn Conway's likely estimate of CDers (5%) surely must include the closeted CDs. I know that everywhere I've been, in large cities and small towns, in Canada and the US, I don't see 1 in 20 GMs who CD.

[Nadia-Maria]

Oh, I just want to add that Lynn Conway's likely estimate of CDers (5%) surely must include the closeted CDs.

You are right, Reine, as long as you consider crossdressing on a regular basis and for the sake of it.
Most people who disagree with this figure may have other definitions in mind.
Moreover the case of closet crossdressers is taken in account in any proper study aimed at estimating the CDers ratio in the general population.
For instance, and among other parameters, by taking in account the evolution of the annual rate of CDers who are leaving the closet.

[ReineD]

Realistically, one way to guess at the percentage would be to look at the number of photos posted by crossdressers on Flickr and the total number of photos posted by everyone... Even though we do take and post a LOT of photos, the total amount is probably pretty small compared to the total population.

And the percentage is even smaller, since it's likely the majority of CDs do post pics, but the majority of cis people do not ... just the folks who are into photography. :)

[Ukiah]

When I bought a pair of size 9.5 mens sneakers, and 11w heels at payless, the SA commented "11w" outloud. It seemed as if she had figured out my secret. I know women that wear the same size as me, but the fact that payless stocks a very limited amount of styles and inventory in these sizes seems to confirm that store sales are sparce.

[busker]

on ABGENDER.com there is a call for advertisers who would like advertise to an audience of 250000 registered transgendered members . Assuming a 159 million males in usa, that would be .016%. Everything else would be just guessing.-- and this may also be suspect. maybe on the next census? if they decide to ask for anything useful information-wise

[PretzelGirl]

That would be guessing too. Your number assumes all CD males know about ABGender.com (I didn't) and went there to register.

This is one of those things that the numbers will just solidfy more as time goes on and we are accepted more. That will take the closet factor out of the equation more as a percentage of error. In the meantime, I would give more credence to "studies" as they take into account as many variables as possible although the error rate is probably still a bit high.

[NicoleScott]

There are a lot of us, no doubt. My guess (hunch) is 5% to 10%, but could be more depending on who is included (is a guy who has a fetish for and occasionally puts on pantyhose for sexual excitement included? Or just complete dressers?)

There must be a lot of cd's because of all the shops (brick & mortar and online) that sell things for cd's. They don't stay in business if they don't make sales. And, not all cd's buy from them. Many (perhaps most) buy women's things in regular women's shopping outlets.

As others have said, some cd's will go to their grave with their secret, so we'll never be able to count them.

There are three kinds of people: those who can count and those who can't.

[sometimes_miss]

Wow.. The sheer variance in all the numbers reported, and the odd way people come up with them. I don't think there's any way to get an accurate number; so many of us are in the closet that without having ESP, no one can really tell. Still, you can always ask the CD attire vendors to give you at least some idea of how vast the number of us is. Pierre Silber has been in business for a long time selling to us.

I read every piece of information on CD'ing that I could find from about 1973 until 1996; every survey up until that time estimated our numbers at around 2 to 2.5 percent of the total male population, and that's those that crossdress on a regular basis, not counting those who have tried on female clothing once or twice for whatever reason, nor those who do it strictly on a professional basis like female impersonators and actors.

The emergency room info is useless; most of us who go still have enough time to change what we have on. If you really want to use that as your baseline, well, in >20 years I've only seen two men arrive either dressed or underdressed. That would make our percentages somewhere around 0.001%, which I'm pretty sure is inaccurate.

The percentage that have posted CD pics on any website will not be representitive either.

One weird researcher decided that simply seeing how many males to females were on the mailing lists of Lane Bryant, and came up with a really high number, forgetting that lots of women still order things on their husband's credit cards, and that it would also only count the number of heavy or obese females. You can also discard the mailing lists for Victoria's Secret, lots of guys either just like to look at the pictures or buy stuff for their girlfriends.

Add to this, the sheer number of people that engage in 'wishful thinking' that there are a lot more people like themselves, and you can get very high incorrect estimates.

All the brick and mortar shops for CD'ers? Where? I'm sure they exist, but I live around NYC; I tend to walk around the village a lot, and I've never seen even one.

[Taylor186]

Wouldn't surprise me that a number under 1% would be realistic. I shop a lot in drab and no matter what store I enter I'm the only male shopping in the woman's department (other than those being dragged around by their wife or mother).

[Danni Bear]

Are you really sure about that Taylor?
There are a lot of us that get mistaken for GG's when out.

Danni

[Taylor186]

lol, right. Not counting those who pass 100%.

But, I know 40 - 50 CDs through group and GNO activities and really only 2 or 3 would pass as 100% GG in broad daylight (2 of the 3 - one pre-op and one now post-op have lived as a women 24/7 for several years).

[Nadia-Maria]

(...) an audience of 250000 registered transgendered members . Assuming a 159 million males in usa, that would be .016%.

Your division is off by a factor of 10. The correct result is .16% not 0.016%.
Anyway such an approach is useless. 250000 is not a validated figure, and neither is 159 million. For instance do you expect that a 1 year old male will register ?

[LaurenB]

The interesting point though, is not the percentage of active CD'ers but rather the percentage of males who would have the intent or desire to CD if they could (ie all societal, cultural and religious inhibitions were removed). Obviously, we can only speculate on that one but I would guess the number to be significantly higher. I buy 1-2% maximum as the ratio for regular CD'ers in the population. I'll bet there's a whole lot more men that would love to try it but are way too inhibited could never bring themselves to actually do it.

[MarcieBflo]

Are you really sure about that Taylor?
There are a lot of us that get mistaken for GG's when out.

Danni

I wish I was one of them . . .

[ReineD]

Are you really sure about that Taylor?
There are a lot of us that get mistaken for GG's when out.

Danni

But sadly, Danni, most don't, at least not up close, and not to everyone. There's a thread going on about SCC right now where there are 100's of CD/TSs, and you can read the OP's impressions.

It's also my observation that after a certain age the lines do blur between gender looks. Men & women both lose hormones as wrinkles set in (generally), and later in life it might be easier for M2F TG's appearance to not scream out "male" in comparison to aging females.

[vetobob9]

The current number is about 5% but this is not a valid figure, scientifically because it does not include the closet crossdressers. It includes only those who have been outed whether by themselves or another.

[Taylor186]

One thing everyone should take away from this discussion (and I sense most have) is that there is no "current number" that is statistically valid whether you include or don't include people in the closet. As much as I too would like an answer, it just doesn't exist. But gut opinions, including my own, are plentiful.

[Debutante]

I've heard many estimates... all I know is that close to 200 people are online to this site whenever I sign in...
so there are MANY males who do mtf CDing, etc.

[sometimes_miss]

Always curious, where did the 5% statistic come from?

[Desiree8]

I have seen 10% as well, but think it is extremely low. Based upon observations at my fitness club, a hetero, male/female club, i see approximately 30-40% of the guys wearing panties, camisoles, over the knee socks, thigh-highs, etc.
Be interesting to evaluate is CDers are more apt to keep fit, or if this % is accurate. I live in Northern Ohio, solid Blue Collar America.

[Inna]

Even taking under consideration 1% of population the number is rather large 3million cdrs in states, if that number would be in vicinity of 2% still being somewhat conservative the number of cdrs would be larger than population of Denmark. We joke often about a nation of Transtopia, but these numbers make it somewhat real. I wonder which county would let us change the flag into rainbow and lace?

[Taylor186]

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." [wiki] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies,_damned_lies,_and_statistics)

So here is my contribution. There are approximately 150 million males in the USA [2009 census] (http://www.census.gov/popest/national/asrh/NC-EST2009-sa.html). If you drop the under 5 year old category as they are most likely not CDing yet, then there are approximately 140 million males as potential CDers. So every 1% is approximately 1.4 million CDers.

[Trystan]

tho statistics are just a form of making some % or number to fit the package one is trying to "sell".......... the true stats are that 30% of males ( American) have a " dressing fetish" of some sort....... so that means that 3 of 10 men you know may be wearing some article of female clothing , either now or later . This 30% number however does include female impersonators and drag queens and gay dressers as well as cd tg tv ts............ still in all what a number. I wonder what the converse is with women, surly not as large a percentage. But one never knows.

[Laura Jane]

The recent Office of National Statistic survey (in the UK) nailed the old 10% figure for Gay/Lesbians as wrong, the figure being nearer 1.5%. So I would assume all similar estimates about CDers would be wildly overstated!

But saying that, I know there is at least one in the next street!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/just-15-per-cent-of-britons-are-gay-says-pioneering-survey-2088191.html

[KarenEdwards]

Interesting....I live in a tiny little town in South Carolina. It has a total population of 4,500 people. Assuming that around 30% are males above the age at which crossdressing would normally occur and that even 2% of those are, in fact, cd'ers, we should have 27 people here who crossdress. Where are the other 26??[/I]

[darla_g]

I don't see how you would ever get an accurate number since any survey really asks the respondent to self-identify. For some people they might embrace it, but assuming the survey is online or something there is a great fear that one would be found out. Some people CD and then don't particularly like the fact that they do since society tends to make fun of men who do. Let's face it look at the depictions of CDs in movies.

[Carly D]

I think cross dress males around ten percent might be close but then you have to think to what degree as cross dressing goes.. There is my thinking of "what constitutes cross dressing?" and by that I mean where does it start.. Do pierced ears qualify for cross dressing? Probably not or else there would be a huge jump in the percentage.. And then there are those who may only wear a single article of clothing such as panties or whatever.. Full on cross dressing, such as what I eventually did but don't so much anymore.. There is the rarity of wearing a skirt and hose but not everything that feels great, but the lack of wanting to dress this way that makes me wonder what all the fuss was about.. I do know.. I do remember, but the further away from dressing fully I get the less I miss it.. STRANGE I know...

[Elsa Larson]

Anecdote: ALL men are crossdressers
I did a newspaper interview in the late 1980's.
I suggested to the reporter that 10% of the population is primarily homosexual and 5% fall under the wide umbrella of "transgendered".

The reporter corrected my statistics because she had proof that ALL men are crossdressers !!!!
She had recenty attended a party where the entertainment was a photographer with a lot of old costumes.
By the end of the evening, ALL of the men had been photographed wearing a lady's hat.