Are there more Latent CDers, than us 2.5%?

[LelaK]

A recent post mentioned someone who was often dressed like a girl by his/her sister at an early age and she passed on her old clothes to him/her and that's how he/she got started CDing.

I think Reine said once that about 2.5% of men are CDers. So I'm wondering if the percentage would go up much if more guys had a similar early exposure to CDing.

I'm not hoping that's true. I don't care either way. But I'm curious about it. Did anyone else get started by being dressed by someone else, like your Mom or sister etc?

I first wore girl's clothes at age 9 or 10, I think, when I volunteered or agreed to play a girl in a play. But I had known since I was at least 4 that I wanted to be a girl. So, in my case, I didn't agree reluctantly to dress. I was glad to, although I didn't let on that I was.

There are probably a lot of guys who'd be willing to try crossdressing, if there were enough other guys doing it, like the way it was with growing long hair. A lot of guys in the 70s and even the 80s grew their hair long, but after that it was only the hard core who maintained their long hair.

[Rachael Leigh]

For me I always wanted to be forced dressed or made to. Never happened but it sure would help my desire to dress make more sense. That's my take

[Jaymees22]

Like you I first dressed for a play and probably did so willingly. It was fun just like now. I think if it were more common the chosen few of us might not find it as interesting. It's nice to be part of an elite group isn't it? I had a strange idea that we are a Secret Internet Society "S.I.S", like a brotherhood of sisters! Jaymee

[NicoleScott]

We'll probably never know the true percentage of men who crossdress, but the number of crossdressers must be very large. We'll also never know if those boys who were "influenced" when young would have been CDers anyway. Nor how many that were "influenced" never took up CDing on their own.
Regardless of anything else, the deck was shuffled and dealt, and I got the crossdressing card.

[Desirae]

I agree that its, most likely, a fairly large group, probably more than 2.5%. I don't have any empirical data to support that, but just a gut feeling. There are a lot of different "types" of CDs under the umbrella term "transgender". The ratings for TV shows like Maury, when he has on the "Girl or Boy" shows is huge. There are a lot of men who watch that show. There's definitely some kind of latent or benign interest in it. I just think the true number is greater than 2.5% of the population.

[kimdl93]

I don't know. Surveys, speculation and armchair empiricism aside, there's no way to reliably ascribe cause to childhood exposure. If we only ask current CDrs, it's a selection bias, because we have little or no data on people with childhood exposure but did not CD later in life.

We may some day have convincingly strong evidence of genetic factors or physiology that lends toward transgenderism and CDing...but experience can't be reliably documented, memories are notoriously unreliable and one life experience can not be replicated experimentally.

[Wildaboutheels]

The % of men who CD is probably the same as the # of gay people?

Or the percentage of women who are [ever] raped? [Only a small percentage of women actually report it, because more often than not, it's someone they know]

Unproductive to even attempt to speculate such a thing, isn't it?

CDing for most men IS on a need to know basis. "Googling" Crossdressing [with any search engine at all] will often provide dozens of pages of links.

And I could be wrong, but I am guessing all these sites selling high heels in 13, 14, 15 etc. don't sell many to women?

CDing for most all men IS a visual thing and almost all men are visual. MOST of the "full" dressers here DO want to "pass" as a female so they do everything within their power in their VISUAL presentation.

2.5 % might be close for "real" CDers but the vast majority of men [easily confirmed with all the "other" CD sites] make no attempt/have any desire to "pass". It's not hard to imagine there is 10 if not twenty times as many of them.

Regardless of the #s or percentages of who is doing what, MOST men are using/have used women's clothing items to get to the promised land. Of course CDing is addictive. What could be more addictive than O's?

IF GG's could "utilize" MEN'S clothing items to get to the promised land, men would become even "more expendable" and there would not be such a lopsided ratio of MtF/FtM.

It's simply EVOLUTION at work and nothing more complicated than that.

[Nicole Erin]

Being a CD is not just what you wear, it is what is in your heart, much like any gender status.
I would say depending on the level of technical "crossdressing" then the figure could be double digit. Like say you took every man who has willingly put on a female garment at some point. I mean there are guys who put on female undies for personal fun but do not identify as TG.

I think though that the 2.5% figure is high if you consider how many (or few) full blown hardcore CD's exist. As far as taking any man who has or does wear even one female garment for the sake of wearing it, probably over 1/2 of all men.

[Dianne S]

2.5% sounds high. I don't think one in 40 men crossdresses, certainly not on a regular basis. I think the number is probably closer to 0.5% or 1%.

Anyway... I started CDing on my own. Never forced.

[Kate Simmons]

It will never be known for sure as many will never volunteer that information. Just enjoy what we do I say. :battingeyelashes::)