How big is our community?

[Michelle V]

Just a question that crossed my mind.

How many crossdressers are out there in the world?

Think about it; those of us who accept and embrace who we are plus the ones in denial. Our population could start its own continent. Wouldn't it be great if we could stop playing dumb and have all males in society be more open minded and accept us as an everyday occurrence? Be able to walk in the streets, dress however we like and just be ourselves, that's the dream.

[Amanda M]

Not just al males, Michelle!

[GirlieAmanda]

I think there are some 700,000 TG people in the US. Millions around the world.

[Shirley Anne]

Its almost immpossible to know because so many people are in hiding and never even join any of the forums to acknowledge in anyway they are CDs.i Going through various differerent forums I come across no more than 4 CDs in my own immediate area and yet I know that is only the tip of the iceberg.

[Cheryl123]

Yes Michelle, a CD utopia would be wonderful. Let me know when I can move in! And Amanda, I think your number might be a little low. This link (http://www.transgenderlaw.org/resources/transfactsheet.pdf) puts the TG population at 2%-5% of the general population -- that would put our numbers at about 10 million in the US alone. Amazing, yes? And Google knows (but they are not telling!) how many male CDers are out there -- because they know how many men go on-line to buy skirts, wigs and make-up...:)

[Michelle V]

I am really hoping the number is way bigger, the studies being published don't include all of those in hiding and/or denial.

[Beverley Sims]

How long is a piece of string? :)

[Kate Simmons]

How long is a piece of string? :)Exactly Bev. As long as you want to make it. Not all have a sense of community in any case.:)

[Vickie_CDTV]

I have heard anything from "10% of men regularly engage in transvestism in at least some form" to "1 in 200 men crossdress as women." 10% is a bit high, maybe if one really really has a broad definition of crossdressing. 1 in 200 dress completely is probably rather low. I guess it really depends on how one defines crossdressing.

Maybe... 1 in 50 men regularly wear women's clothing in terms of both outer and under wear, regardless if they identify as something other than male or not?

[linda allen]

If crossdressing in public was widely accepted would we still do it? Or would that take some of the fun out of it?

[AmyGaleRT]

I think the 10% figure is wishful thinking, but 2-5% may be about right. Of course, those of us that actually go out in full femme presentation are a bit more rare. But a city the size of Denver can easily support quite a few nonetheless. :)

- Amy

[S. Lisa Smith]

I'd still do it, it's part of who I am. If it were more accepted, I go to work dressed sometimes...

[stephNE]

I ponder this question also from time to time. But the answer will never be known because so many are in the closet.
If there are 400 million people in the U.S. (total) and half are men, and one in 100 engages in cross dressing, that means there are 2 million CDers.
40 years ago I couldn't even find info in the libraries, and now I regularly attend meetings and public gatherings! Maybe one day everyone can come out and be accepted - I hope.

[ArleneRaquel]

Billions & billions. So said the late Carl Sagan. Or was he talking about something else ? Likely IMO a great deal more than is generally thought.

[Jackie7]

Sorry Cheryl google doesn't know -- many men buy clothes for their wives and other women in their lives. When my mother was in the nursing home for eight years, just for example, I shopped for her and bought all of her clothes for her. And I know several men who enjoy buying lovely dresses for their wives, and at least one gent who buys all of his wife's clothes on line for her. She is slender and small and he is a huge bear, so there is no way those teeny dresses are for him. it is their thing, he dresses his little doll.

[Jaylyn]

I think as Jackie said there would not be any way to find out unless they had it on the census report that comes out every ten years or so, and then many would not lay claim to their covert habits... I have often wondered though about why such a difference in clothes in the genders. My only thought is there is more money in having two different types of gender clothing. I have seen some men wear things that are almost slinky fitting but still classed as male clothing then there are many women that dress in male attire. ( are they considered cross dressers also) There's a women in our small town that one would think she was a male by the clothes she wears. She has no outward appearance of a women. I always thought would we still dress if male attire was the female normal dress? I love makeup but if I had to go thru an hour every day applying it would it lose its appeal to me? Same as dressing every day in hose heels and to the max ( like I love doing every now and then ), if I had to dress that way daily would I still love it after a few months. I have found some men's socks that are close to female hose that I wear with some tall riding boots I have. They felt great at first and made me feel I was under dressed but after wearing them several times when working on my ranch/ farm they feel just natural to me and have become a norm. Many men's socks resemble a shorter version of women's hosiery now days. Cross dressing numbers would be hard to count unless we determine exactly what it includes.

[Lynn Marie]

If crossdressing in public was widely accepted would we still do it? Or would that take some of the fun out of it?

I think it would be weird. I love the adventure and the hint of naughtiness!

[Leslie Langford]

If crossdressing in public was widely accepted would we still do it? Or would that take some of the fun out of it?

Well, the way the world seems to be going these days, GG's are becoming more and more mannish in the way they dress ("boy shorts", "boy cut jeans", the "boyfriend jacket" etc., etc.), and are gravitating more and more towards pants and other articles of clothing formerly associated exclusively with men. Fewer and fewer still are opting to wear skirts, dresses, pantyhose, and make up in their day-to-day wear.

This leads me to start questioning the whole concept of "crossdressing" within the modern-day context, because if women now wear dresses and skirts mainly for special occasions only (pretty much what we "crossdressers do as well), then aren't they going against the mainstream and society's evolving conventions just as much as we are?

Or to put it another way - perhaps this has since become a particular and unexpected manifestation of male-female equality that the early feminists didn't quite envisage when they first went on their crusade against the established male patriarchy in the Western world back in the 1960's.

[Jodi]

We did a tally last year and came up with 1,090,422. After we finished this we found 2 more hidden deeply in the closet. So, it's tough to get a final accurate figure.(lol)

Jodi

[Eryn]

If crossdressing in public was widely accepted would we still do it? Or would that take some of the fun out of it?

I'd do it more and have more fun if I was more confident in being accepted for what I am! The pleasure I derive from being out and about is in expressing myself as I wish, not in violating societal norms. The former is fun, the latter stressful.

I think that the number of us depends upon the criteria used. If one defines a crossdresser as one who has at some time worn an article of clothing intended for the opposite gender then the number is close to 100%. If the definition is of someone who goes out in public regularly dressed as the opposite gender then the number is considerably smaller.

[GirlieAmanda]

Oh wait maybe its 700,000 TRANS people. I think that is it. Even less actually go through with the surgeries. For TG people, I believe the 2 to 5% number. That covers everything from occasional weekend warriors to TGs with trans leanings.

[ReineD]

Maybe... 1 in 50 men regularly wear women's clothing in terms of both outer and under wear, regardless if they identify as something other than male or not?

Maybe 1 in 50 men underdress, and maybe 1 in anywhere from 100 to 400 dress fully but are closeted, but I think that far fewer need to go out in public dressed as women. 1 in 500 maybe?

I can count on one hand the number of CDers other than my SO and other than the members that I have met here, that I have seen out since I became a member of this forum. And I've been to a lot of places, both in the US, Canada, and abroad. Even at safer LGBT events, it seems that my SO is most always the only T there other than the Drag Queens.

So if you take 1:500 as the ratio of CDs that go out in public, this means there would be 14 million world wide, which is equivalent to the population of Cambodia. It's a lot of people, but unfortunately I don't think it's enough to cause a revolution.

Most of the members here are from the UK, Canada, and the US and so using again an estimate of 1:500 for each of these countries, this would mean there are 128,000 in the UK, 70,000 in Canada, and 634,000 in the US.

It's enough to have a heck of a good party! :D