how many of us are there?

[suzzi]

Does anyone know what percent of males crossdress?

[Tracii G]

No way to know really.

[Kate Simmons]

Billions and billions and billions. No wait, that was Cosmos. :heehee::)

[Jorja]

There is only one crossdresser in the world. The other 99.9% are just trying on the cloths out of scientific curiosity.

[PaulaQ]

There is no reliable statistical data on this. It is probably in the range of 1-3%, similar to the percentage of gay males. However, no one really knows. Current estimates for those of us who transition are 0.3% of the population, however, it is very likely this is low, and again, it is not studied with the rigor one would hope for - for example in the U.S. Census, or major health studies.

[KimBarely]

Let's count off.....one.

Just kidding ;-)

[Confucius]

In 2005 there was a large Swedish study that identified 2.8% of the male population as having what was called transvestic fetishism.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15859369

Most of the reports I've found are in the 1-3% range.

[chris63]

Wow! While that's a low percentage when you extrapolate the numbers over a large population, there are lots of us.

[Erica Marie]

How do we even know for sure if "We" are the crossdressers. Who is to say that everyone else is wearing the wrong cloths? How far back in history must we go before pants were invented and men were wearing skirt like clothing?
Im sticking to my guns on this and saying that 98% of males are the crossdressers and the 2% of us are the only ones who are correct.

[Meghan4now]

So the answer is no. Nobody knows.

Let's ask mister owl. One. Two. Three. Crunch. The answer is three.

[Victoria Demeanor]

Let's ask mister owl. One. Two. Three. Crunch. The answer is three.

LMAO..........Good one Megan..:heehee:

[Teresa]

Suzzi,
I had my figures disputed last time this came up but surveys have indicated that from casual to full time the figure is considered about 10% !
One of the reasons I've come to terms with it knowing I'm not the only one and if a situation arises where I may be confronted about my dressing in a group of people I know that one of the others is hoping someone doesn't notice the bra straps or the lace edge showing through on their panties !

[Amy Lynn3]

I'm not sure how many are like us, but I am glad to know I am not the only one. For many years that was my feeling, but now I have made friends with many like minded people.

I have often wondered who came up with that percent of three or any other number for that matter. I think one needs to define what makes a crossdresser first. Is it a man who wears a pair of pantyhose or one who goes 24/7 dressed as a female. I know we have several definitions of crossdressers out there, but who says they are correct. From the many different members I see post here, all don't fall under one roof.:2c:

[Dana44]

I have read over the years that many men have tried it. Some like it and repeat the process many times LOL. So they are the real crossdressers. The heterosexual group is the largest and I would say that about one out of fifty in any particular area may be one. On gay people, I've heard over time that ten percent or one out of ten has tried that. There are probably more crossdressers worldwide than gay people.

[LucyNewport]

Even 3% seems really high to me, but I can only go be my own experiences, not being a scientist and all. The internet makes it so easy to meet like-minded people that it just seems like there are so many of us. This is a very self-selected group here. Personally, I like being something of an odd duck. It makes life more interesting!

[Rhian]

I would imagine with the amount of men who dress in drag 'for a joke' there are far more of us than people may think. I know I've used fancy dress parties as an excuse to dress in public. I kind of live in the hop of catching a friends one day and being able to share my secret.

[PaulaQ]

Even 3% seems really high to me, but I can only go be my own experiences, not being a scientist and all. The internet makes it so easy to meet like-minded people that it just seems like there are so many of us. This is a very self-selected group here. Personally, I like being something of an odd duck. It makes life more interesting!

Well, let's look at it this way. The best stat we have for people who transition is 0.3%-0.5%. So if 1% of the population are crossdressers, a high percentage of CDs must be transitioning. If it's more like 3% of the population, then only maybe 10% of you transition. So since everyone here swears to me that it's rare, rare, rare, super-rare, OMG asteroid hits the earth rare for a CD to transition, there must be a whole bunch of you! ;) :devil:

Of course I'm just kidding the lack of statistics for all of this stuff is really awful. They likely kill a lot of trans people with inadequate health-care services because of this, at least here in the US. That part, unfortunately, isn't a joke.

[Roberta Lynn]

Definitely It's 100%, I surveyed everyone at my house and that's the number that I came up with

(Disclaimer)
Of course the statistical sample was somewhat small and may not hold true for all of society. :D

[audreyinalbany]

It's curious that, according to wikipedia, various studies have shown that maybe 1 to 1.5 % of the us population identifies as gay. I know a lot of gay folks, so, in my experience, 1 to 1.5 percent is a lot. So, if 1% or the population are cross dressers, I'm guessing I probably know way more cross dressers than i think i do.

[Sophie Hogletta]

I think it is low. I am in an even small group of unmarried leaning toward gay cross dressers, and that must be very small. The quoted figures of 1-3 % seem sort of right, but I suspect it is lower. Minority sport!

[kimdl93]

I've seen all sorts of estimates, none of which are particularly reliable because people will deny CDing, even on confidential surveys.

[Pumped]

I don't think there is any way to know because how many men will admit to dressing? I sure there are many that will not admit to it out of shame and the fear of ridicule. My bet it is higher that the 3% and closer to 10%, but of course no man in his right mind will admit to it! ;-)

[flatlander_48]

One thing to remember is that self-identification is needed for surveys. MANY folks in the LGBT spectrum do not want it recorded anywhere that they identify as LGBT. As remote as the possibility is, when employment, family situations, etc. can be impacted, people get very defensive. Any numbers that you see are going to be surrounded by a lot of fuzz...

DeeAnn

[Stephanie101]

I'm thinking the # of closet dressers is much higher than you would think.. Would think at least 40% have tried it and maybe 25%+ on occasion for gratification. But I would bet that 15% privately try on lingerie or underdress occasionally. The % that actually acknowledge dressing and dress with SO or publicly is much lower.

[MissTee]

42.6799287% do. I know 'cause I measured it with a stick.

[NancyJ]

Estimates I have heard/seen put it at about .5-1%, so if accurate that is 1 out of 100-200. Nancy

[Lauri K]

I have heard the same number Nancy, about 1 in 100 to 200 people are crossdressers.

I took a speech presentation class once and that was the number they used, they told that us when we were giving presentations to large audiences that there was 1 or 2 crossdressers in the audience and our job was to find them (not really) during the presentation.

The point they were trying make was to keep eye contact with as much or all of the audience as you could.
Not really sure if there is any acciracy to this, but the number has been thrown around a lot.

All I know is that when I go shopping the SA's never really bat an eye any more, so my take is that we are either gaining acceptance or the actual number of us out there is larger than we think and it just becoming more common place.

Probably not going to land on a firm number is my take on this subject, but a close / valid estimate would be nice to help represent the group of us that are crossdressers.

[Rhonda Darling]

I hope people have not moved on from this thread yet. I recommend for those who are really curious about the numbers a journey through Lynn Conway's exceptional pages. Start here: http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/TSprevalence.html. While she explores the very serious matter of under reporting of transsexualism by the medical/scientific community, you can easily extrapolate from her numbers that there must be many more of us than is estimated by the med/sci community.

Not your ordinary lady, Lynn is a computer logic pioneer with an amazing story of having to reinvent herself in the workplace after transitioning in the 60's. To have credibility in the computer engineering world as a woman, she had to write her books detailing her theoretical innovation as co-author to a male colleague.

Here's a sample of her work:

"Prof. Lynn Conway exposes long-standing error
in psychiatrists’ estimate of the prevalence of transsexualism:

November 7, 2005

Psychiatrists have long claimed that MtF transsexualism is extremely rare, occurring in only one in every 30,000 males. We’ve seen that figure oft-cited in the media. However, Professor Lynn Conway of the University of Michigan challenges that figure:

“It’s way too small, perhaps by a factor of 100”, she says.

Counting surgeries performed over the years, Conway estimates there are now at least 40,000 postoperative trans women in the U.S. These women have transitioned out of a population of roughly 100,000,000 adult males*. Simple division reveals that at least one in every 2500 people born as males here has undergone sex reassignment surgery (SRS): i.e., ~ 40,000/100,000,000 = 1/2500.

However, something on the order of 5 times as many people inherently experience transsexualism than those who have already undergone sex reassignment – leading Conway to conclude the inherent condition occurs in at least one in every 500 children born as males. Note that this figure of 1 in 500 is a lower bound on the prevalence of transsexualism (intense gender dysphoria), and the actual value could be higher.

“Those are still small numbers, but transsexualism is certainly not ‘extremely rare’”, Conway says.

After revealing that psychiatrists have vastly underestimated the prevalence of transsexualism for many decades, Conway asks:

“Can’t psychiatrists count?” " Source: http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/Prevalence/Short%20summary%20re%20Prevalence%20of%20Transsexu alism.html
If there are that many TS, the number of CDs must be far greater.

Rhonda

[UNDERDRESSER]

One thing to remember is that self-identification is needed for surveys. MANY folks in the LGBT spectrum do not want it recorded anywhere that they identify as LGBT.

DeeAnnIt's more than that I think, so many deny it to themselves.....

[Pat]

We have to be careful when estimating "by feel." We have a predisposition to over-count because that makes us feel more normal. It's comforting to say that 10% of males crossdress, but probably not accurate. We also have to be careful in our definitions -- does every guy who has ever pulled on a pair of his girlfriends panties count? Or only guys who repeatedly crossdress? How many times makes him a crossdresser? Do under-dressers count? Maybe only guys who make a concerted effort at a female presentation count? It all gets complex very fast.

All in all I'd guess there are probably more of us than there are Amateur Radio operators and fewer of us than Civil War reenactors. None of us are particularly common. ;) (But we have the best outfits.)

[weyburn]

Not enough

[Adriana Moretti]

I often wonder this question while standing in yankee stadium with 48,000 or so other people.....how many????

[flatlander_48]

It's more than that I think, so many deny it to themselves.....

Absolutly. However, what I said assumes that there is understanding of what one's identity actually is. But the fact remains that there is a lot of distrust regarding surveys (government, public and corporate) that many LGBT folks don't want get anywhere close...

DeeAnn

[PaulaQ]

Absolutly. However, what I said assumes that there is understanding of what one's identity actually is. But the fact remains that there is a lot of distrust regarding surveys (government, public and corporate) that many LGBT folks don't want get anywhere close...

What's worse, many surveys simply erase us from existence. For example, in health surveys, I am listed as "MSM" - a "Man who has Sex with Men." This makes no sense, and helps no one. My boyfriend is either categorized as being female, or, even more screwed up, also as "MSM" for the purposes of donating blood - we'd both be listed as such in that case. What kind of logical contortions could allow an MtF and and FtM in a relationship together to both be viewed as "men who have sex with men?"

[suzzi]

Thank you ladies for all the replies and input on the subject. ;)

[Beverley Sims]

How many stars are there in the sky?

Next question please. :)

[Rachel1225]

We are legion, call us one !!!!!

[Lacey New]

I think we have all asked the same question and have had the same array of answers. So I'm glad we are all in agreement and we all know the exact number.

[Tracii G]

Its a valid question but one you will never get an answer to.
Its better than another panty thread LOL.

[sometimes_miss]

We have to be careful when estimating "by feel." We have a predisposition to over-count because that makes us feel more normal.
^this. And I see it every time this subject appears, whether here, or in other forums online. I stopped looking for this type of thing about 10 years ago, but up through the 90's the generally found result was somewhere around 2.5% when the study was done by an objective researcher. MTF TS were less than 0.5% which comes close to Paula's result to that's probably on target as well. Consider, though, what that means: In the U.S., 7.5 million mtf CD, and between 900,000 and 1.5 million mtf TS. Together we'd be the largest city in the country.

[AnnieMac]

I have always thought the number is a lot higher than the stats indicate. I would put it at 10-20% of males, we have ever put an any type of "female" clothing, not crossdressers per se. And, I think almost every guy in private, as fooled around with something like that, even if it was once for five minutes.
Also I would put the number closer to 100% to anyone who has wondered what it would be like to be the opposite sex for a day or in a relationship.

[Danielle_cder]

6 exactly six in the world

[desertrider]

How many stars are there in the sky?

Thanks for making me feel like a star for a minute =) =) =)

[Meghan4now]

6 exactly six in the world

Well since I'm pretty sure that the 6 were already here, that either means I'm a poser or I've been magically cured!

Woohooo! Think I can get my money back for the forms? And the dresses, skirts and tops? And the makeup? I'm keeping the boots!

[JenniferR771]

Well there is a lot of us. Someone had to post over 1,100,000 posts on this, our amazing site. And judging by the avatars most of us look good doing it.

[Pat]

Well since I'm pretty sure that the 6 were already here, that either means I'm a poser or I've been magically cured!

There's something metaphysical about the idea of a CD poseur... ;)

[OCCarly]

I took a survey. I started with my wife's cousin (MTF transgender), then her best friend (gay male, occasionally crossdresses), then her middle brother (straight), then her youngest brother (gay male, presents as metrosexual), then me, and that is three out of five who crossdress, so, 60%.

Or did I just marry into a magical, wonderful family?

[Pat]

I was just reading an article on Gallup (http://www.gallup.com/poll/183383/americans-greatly-overestimate-percent-gay-lesbian.aspx) that talks about people over-estimating the number of LGBT folks (yes, they know that LGB is sexual orientation and T is gender identity, but they're looking at the "LGBT culture" numbers.) And they have the LGBT number pegged at 3.8% of the adult population. Even though there will certainly be crossdressers who don't self-identify as T, it seems likely that estimates of male crossdressing that are larger than the entire LGBT community may be optimistic. ;)

[flatlander_48]

That doesn't seem right. 3.8% with +/- 4% would mean that there could be no LGBT population or it could be as big as nearly 8% as a function of sampling error. Also, historically these kinds of surveys suffer from under reporting. As it says, you have to self-identify. If you don't, you won't be counted. This isn't the same as doing demographics based on ethnicity.

Anyway, I believe that 3.8% is low.

DeeAnn

[Pat]

The +/- 4% is the sampling error for the study showing that the general American public thinks the actual number of LGBT people is 23%. It's not associated with the 3.8% number which is rolled up from successive daily polls starting in June 2012. (The question is simply "Do you identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender?" The accepted answers are Yes, No, Don't Know/Refused to answer.) Back when they first reported in 2012 it was reported at 3.4% with a sampling error under +/-1%. Now they're saying 3.8% so although the number is trending up, it's not fluctuating wildly. It's considered a pretty solid number from a pretty solid polling organization.

[flatlander_48]

Still, they can only count the numbers that say Yes. You can't count Refused to Answer as you don't know why people refused. At least some of those who Refuse to Answer would be correct in actually saying Yes if they were not afraid of that information getting out. So, more than likely that the number is considerably higher than 3.8%. You can only consider 3.8% to be a minimum as there is no way to accurately factor in people who do not self-identify.

DeeAnn

[BLUE ORCHID]

Hi Suzzy, The only way we will know for sure is when the
Government makes us register and pay a CD tax.:devil:

[heatherdress]

For any accuracy, you would first have to define "crossdressing". If a man only likes to wear female underwear, are they a crossdresser? If they grow their hair long, pierce their ears and wear earrings, or wear nail polish or some make-up, are they crossdressing? Is frequency a factor? Or intent? If they wear female attire role-playing with their spouse or partner, are they crossdressers? If they would like to crossdress but don't because they can't, are they crossdressers? If they used to crossdress but have not crossdressed in many years because of marriage or family or health, are they still crossdressers? Does Halloween crossdressing count, especially if they enjoyed crossdressing?

Do you categorize what constitutes crossdressing differently in different cultures? There are probably different percentages of men crossdressing, regardless of definitions and criteria, in different parts of our world. I think cultures in which men and women wear very similar attire, or very simple attire, crossdressing may be significantly less or almost non-existent.

And how could you ever conduct a reliable poll, or survey, if most crossdressing is done in privacy and many, or most, crossdressers, will never acknowledge that they crossdress, or have crossdressed, or would crossdress, or try crossdressing if they could?

I do not put faith in the estimates that I see. I do suspect, however, that the number of men who crossdress to some degree, or who have crossdressed in the past to some degree, or who might try crossdressing to some degree if they have not already done so if they could, is higher than 1%-5% ranges commonly quoted.

I really don't care what the percentage is, or who else crossdresses. I am who I am and I enjoy crossdressing.