Has there been in depth studies

[dominique]

Hi all. I don't know if this has been asked before, if so sorry. Has there been any in depth studies that give us a reason for cding ? what I mean by this medical study. I know we've all got our ideas behind what causes us to cd. Is it nature or nurture, chemical or a million of other reasons. I want this to restricted to cding as other ladies within in this community have tangible reasons to progress into transition for example. I hope this explains what I want.

Thanks,

Dominiqe

[Marcelle]

Hi Dominque,

If you use "Google Scholar" and type in "Cross Dressing" you come with a list of literature on the subject. I did so and it references various texts but I am not sure what detail these go into.

Hugs

Isha

[Teresa]

Dominique,
Spend some time and go back through the archives on this forum, the subject continually comes up ! Somewhere along the line you'll relate your own circustances to another member and if you want to learn more just PM them ! We don't claim to be accademic experts but most have lived our lives CDing and living with it is what it's all about !

[kimdl93]

Two things, first...yes of course. Not entirely definitive, but sufficient enough to say that for some people, transgenderism may be the result of developmental factors in the womb. Second, this is a very diverse population. It's likely that several different circumstances and combinations thereof. may contribute towards what manifests as CDing.

Nature vs nurture is just too simplistic. It's in our genes, it's in our experiences, perhaps even in our stars;)

[Ann Smith]

See if this helps, Dominique. It's said by the spiritual traditions that to be human, with the soul we humans each get as our gift, is to contain, or maybe have access to, every little fragment of human potential for feeling, knowing, dreaming, understanding, expressing imaginable. We miss most of what we could experience, due to the fears and the feelings of inadequacy that hem us in. That's probably why half of all books and movies ever produced are about someone getting past their walls and achieving some new capacity or sensation or realization or understanding.

Now, being human and therefore part of a species that has to reproduce (or else we're goners), we have male and female reproductive equipment. Culturally it is possible to let that difference in repro equipment serve as an absolutely strict regulator of behaviors and expressions. So, a culture can keep making consensus decisions that males are this way, females are that way, each sex acts a certain way, talks a certain way, dresses a certain way. Western culture has done that, with some positive results (hyper-achievement in science, maybe?) but also negative results. But it's really fraying at the edges now. Western culture is rejecting that strict, strict division. That's because way deep inside, each human soul dislikes and rejects that strict division. Each soul wants the potential to be everything, feel everything, respond to all phenomena. That longing is largely unseen, or else we turn away from it. As I view it, Transgender Pride, like Gay Pride, isn't just a burst of positive feeling for that one person, where she or he finally realizes they are doing the true and right thing. It isn't even a burst of positive feeling extending to everybody in that particular Pride March, or dancing together at that fun nightclub. It's a positive feeling that the old, strict division of behaviors, modes of dress, ways of moving and ways of feeling or relating isn't good for our collective consciousness.

It's a brilliant little rebellion that is part of a massive, silent protest movement inside humanity. The reason one boy or man is called to crossdress is case by case, with certain particular triggers, which are interesting in their own way. But to me it's part of a huge galactic re-balancing effort.

[Jaylyn]

Just move back thru the older post and you'll find tons of information. Good thing is most are posted from experiences and not from the opinion of the scholars. I really don't know why we CD and really wonder why I do it sometimes but I've found just enjoy what you can with it as long as it does no harm to others in your life.

[NicoleScott]

What drives me to crossdress is different from what drives others, so there isn't just one "it" (reason for CDing). I have always had a curiosity, and I still do, but I no longer fret about why I CD. As Jaylyn said, I just enjoy it.
Many CDers here say that as long as they can remember, they had a desire to CD, so it must be genetic. I don't buy it, but if they find that gene I will be persuaded. I think it's more what Confucius says (and says it better that I could, so I won't try) that it's about early childhood brain connections and subsequent reinforcement.

[Stephanie47]

I've mulled this question over for decades. I have read some articles concerning the "cause." Frankly, too much time is spent trying to figure out the cause, rather than trying to attain self acceptance and dealing with it.

[Beverley Sims]

Everyone here has made an in depth study, looking for the Holy Grail.

Not one person has let on that they found it.

My advice......
Keep looking. :)

[Jorja]

I found the Holy Grail, I just wasn't going to say anything. :)

Transgenderism has had several studies done over the years but none have been definitive or in depth. It is normally small groups which are studied. One thing they can say for sure is that the subject is diverse. As already mentioned, what drives one to crossdress isn't necessarily what drive the next person to dress.

Besides, if you spend all day trying to figure out why, you won't have time to get your girl on and dress.

[Kate Simmons]

The only thing I've studied in depth has been myself. :)

[sometimes_miss]

Dominique, you've fallen for the routine scientific methods that scientists use to identify causes of disease states, assuming that there is only one cause, such as a specific bacteria or virus for infectious states, blocked arteries for heart attacks & strokes, or a particular chemical imbalance for various psychiatric disorders, etc., you get the idea. However, what you're looking at (crossdressing) could be called a symptom, not the disease/disorder state that causes both it and other related behaviors. And symptoms can have many 'initial' causes. Crossdressing, it can be nature, nurture, or some combination of both. It can be sexual desire driven, sexual identity driven, both, or neither. Looking for the one true cause of a symptom is going to have your head spinning in circles. But feel free to continue if you wish. OTOH, if you're looking to figure out your own case, that is easier, because you will examine only your own genetic predispositons and past history. But you have to be prepared to accept the answer you find, and not everyone can do that. As you'll find here, lots of people don't really want to know, and just prefer to believe that they're born that way, as there's no blame or responsibility to be had for the resulting behavior. Our societies imply a terrific deal of shame upon men who adopt female behaviors or attire; so much so, that many men cannot accept the feminine feelings within themselves, especially when it comes to having sexual desire for another man. This becomes such a problem that lots of crossdressers feel the need to refer to themselves by another, female name, and speak of that person as if it's a third party rather than what they, themselves feel. It's not true multiple personality disorder, but simply a desperate defense mechanism to assign the feminine feelings to someone, anyone, else rather than themselves, because we are made to feel so bad about it by both men and women. It took me decades to figure myself out, and I didn't like what I found: 1. That this is not reversible, whatever it is that makes us want to crossdress/behave or feel as women never goes away, and 2. There are simply not more than a few handfuls of women who will even accept it out of the billions out there. So for those of us who are entirely straight, sexually, there's not much of a chance of finding a woman who will even tolerate it, much less of one that will embrace it with open arms. Yes, they are out there, but not remotely in enough numbers for all of us to find one of our own.

Good luck in your search to find yourself in all this. It can be daunting.

Edit: Dominique, you have messages disabled. So I can only post here. Read my bio in the readers forum for some clues to help you along the way. If you want more info, you're going to have to message me.

[CynthiaD]

Most of what I've seen us hypothetical in nature. (Excuse me. I'm a scientist. In science talk, "Hypothetical" means "wild guess.") Some people talk as if CDing were a symptom, i.e. An indication of something wrong. In my experience it's a cure, i.e. A fix for something that is wrong. But of course, that's hypothetical too.

[Rachelakld]

The good old sub-personality defense syndrome, why is the brute on the football field such a different person when he is making a romantic dinner for 2?

I can't help with medical & scientific reasons until they open up more living brain tissue but what I can say is...

Some psychics (well 3 on stage at a show) reckoned they could write a book about my unusually spirituality, wouldn't have minded but I hadn't been seated for 30 seconds. So maybe its more than chemicals or upbringing.

But what I do know - I love it and hope there is never a cure

[DonnaT]

Sure there have, but the results are more opinion based that actual facts, even though the scholar would disagree with the idea of the result being an opinion.

Ray Blanchard is one such, and indicates that it is a paraphilia or autogynephilia, i.e., sex fueled fetish. His research was based on a small number of examples and he appeared to have had a conclusion before he had the theory, thus skewing his results.

Heck I was CDing before I knew what sex was.

[Minerva Morgan]

Hi, Dominique.

To answer your questions would require a very lengthy discussion.

“Has there been any in depth studies that give us a reason for cding?”

I have been looking for something of that sort for about seven-years now and have found nothing explicit, fully relevant or even sensible. Even the question as to how many persons, as a percentage, cross-dress has never really been studied. There is also the question as to what you mean by cross-dressing. This has never been clearly defined. One thing that is rarely, if ever, considered is that it is not simply a matter of some males wanting to appear feminine but that some females also wanting to be feminine. It is not so much a matter of ‘cross-dressing’ (making it pretty much a solely male activity) but of ‘dressing’ (making it a human activity regardless of one’s sex). It is not a desire of males to be female (an impossibility) but of people wanting to be women. That is pretty much what femininity is, being a woman. The trick is to distinguish between sex (male-female) and gender (masculine-feminine-androgynous); something very few people do.

“Is it nature or nurture?”

Yes, it is both. I feel that, for a variety of reasons, some people are born with a predisposition to gender(s). This does not mean, as some people assume, that they necessarily must be one gender or another. Because males tend to have a predisposition to masculinity, people assume that masculinity is or should be proper to being male and therefore assume that a male being feminine is improper. Again this is conflating sex and gender creating a false conclusion. What is rarely (if ever) noticed is that most people are gender invariant. A female generally tends to have a predisposition to be feminine and females follow that predisposition to greater or lesser degrees. Some males have a strong, invariant predisposition to being feminine and need to transition by feminizing (vary the gender of) their anatomy. They are gender variant, but only anatomical sense, in order to match their gender invariance psychologically they need to be feminine in body.

The nurture bit is defining what is gender. This is largely a matter of social convention. Why 'courage' should be masculine and not all three genders is never really clear. Defining which traits are clearly and inevitably androgynous, feminine or masculine is difficult and no clear agreement has been reached on such definitions. Also, gender is not a simple matter of one thing or another but a gestalt of collected characteristics including behaviour, personality, appearance, deportment, body language, diction, tonality, movement, dress, mode of interpersonal interaction and other factors. These are related to, but not the same as, sexuality, sexual identity, etc.

Some people, probably not a large percentage but certainly a large number, are gender variant. Usually they prefer to present one gender at a time. When they are feminine, they prefer to be wholly feminine.

“Chemical or a million of other reasons?”

Both really. There is a chemical element, particularly relating to hormones which are essentially mood and behaviour-altering drugs. There are probably other biochemical elements that factor in to creating a gender predisposition. One thing rarely noticed is that cross-dressing is an obvious manifestation of gender but perhaps there are others that might be considered. Haute cuisine, fashion, or other interests. In addition to biochemicals, there are likely other factors. Cross-dressing is actually a fairly common indication of masculinity. It represents a desire for feminine companionship that is so strong that one creates the feminine personality in themselves. Freedom from the responsibilities of ‘being a man’, is another motivation.

To me, the fundamental reason for cross-dressing is to be pretty. That is, it is a desire to be feminine, attractive and therefore a woman. It is not a desire restricted to either males or females. The question then becomes, “What is the motivation for wanting to be pretty? and that is a complex question. The basic motives for cross-dressing I believe are:

Major reasons for cross-dressing are:

• To be feminine and pretty.
• To create (or to be) a sex object for fantasy activities.
• To escape social pressures.
• To fulfill a sincere and overwhelming desire to be a woman (feminine, not female).
• To enjoy a sense of euphoria and wellbeing, possibly biochemically induced.
• To reflect personality changes brought about by maturation.

All, one or some of these may apply in any particular case. I suspect that all eventually apply but not necessarily at the same time.

The basic causes are a biological-psychological predisposition that is shaped in terms of expression by values, concepts and beliefs created within society.

Minerva.

[NicoleScott]

Interesting post, Minerva. I just can't agree that the idea of a female dressing to be pretty and feminine is crossdressing. Did you really mean that, or did I read it wrong?

[BLUE ORCHID]

Hi Dominique, If you ask 100 Crossdressers why they dress up, You will probably get 110 different answers.

[Kate T]

The evidence based medicine answer to your question is no. There have been some studies that have purported to provide explanations but they mostly have holes in them so big that they can be pulled apart and disproved fairly easily.

Your also not likely to get a study like you are suggesting either. The principal problem is that there is still no reasonable data on incidence, partly because CD's are reluctant to participate and out themselves but also partly because CD'ing is so poorly defined, it can mean anything from someone who gets their excitement from wearing pantyhose through to individuals who have entire lives based around their cross dressed identity. Without reliable and useful incidence data then it is impossible to hypothesise let alone test causation.

[Ivie]

There was an interesting survey by a Dr Vernon Coleman, I understand he placed a questionaire in a national news paper.
It is simply a reporting of the data, with a discussion of each section and a selection of the responses for each question.
It doesn't come up with any magic conclusions, because there aren't any, but it is fair and open minded and demonstrates well that we are a diverse group. It shows clear evidence (we know already of course, but it is good that it is out there in print too) that we don't match the negative stereotypes. Interestingly as a GP (he doesn't consider it a "condition" by the way) he comments on CDings tremendous health benefits for the people who do it for stress relief. Bringing down blood pressure without (and possibly btetter than) needing to resort to medication.
It's on amazon cheaply for the kindle, not sure on the form, can I post the title?
Best (looking over learned librarian glasses)
Ivie

[Tracii G]

Science is still trying to figure it out for the 50 years and still have no idea for sure.

[Bima]

Has there been any in depth studies that give us a reason for cding?

A very interesting question, and I wonder myself what studies exists out there.

Did you already check the literature by searching scientific databases? Every sensible university library should have such search engine available.

Just to suggest two such meta search-engines, that searches scientific papers, scientific books etc., see below. Found 690 and 354 peer-reviewed articles on transvestism and cross-dressing respectively for the second one. Abstracts are generally always available. However, seldom you find full-text articles for free, but subsequently searching with Google scholar on an interesting title can sometimes produce an online version. A repository of relevant articles would certainly be nice.

/Bima

Search engines

http://kib.ki.se/en/

http://www.kth.se/en/kthb

searches on transvestism and crossdressing

http://kib.summon.serialssolutions.com/?s.q=crossdressing#!/search?q=crossdressing

http://kib.summon.serialssolutions.com/?s.q=transvestism#!/search?q=transvestism

http://kth-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vl%28freeText0%29=transvestism&dum=true&indx=1&frbg=&scp.scps=scope%3A%28KTH%29%2Cprimo_central_multipl e_fe&tab=default_tab&srt=rank&vid=KTH&fn=search&ct=search&mode=Basic&sa=Search

http://kth-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vl%28freeText0%29=crossdressing&dum=true&indx=1&frbg=&scp.scps=scope%3A%28KTH%29%2Cprimo_central_multipl e_fe&tab=default_tab&srt=rank&vid=KTH&fn=search&ct=search&mode=Basic&sa=Search

Some paper(s) found
http://akikos-planet.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/files/transgender.pdf