when did we start crossdressing

[jacques]

hello,
this is the data I collected and published on my website in 2009,
luv J

Men who cross-dress.

At what age did they start? -

[Mermaiden]

Love data, thanks.
My sense is we almost all experimented as a kid, but a sizable portion didn?t really get into until adulthood, even middle aged.

[alwayshave]

jacques, What is the number on the y-axis?

[Maid_Marion]

Middle aged here.
My wife was worried about job security and wanted me to dress better.
Guess what? There were no quality men's clothes in size XS!
I started learning how to dress myself and bought J Crew Women's size small tops at the beginning.

Marion

[Tiffany355]

Interesting data for sure. I did try on my moms undies as a you g child and still remembering how nice they felt but that was a one time thing. Didn?t start wearing the wife?s panties till my mid 30?s. Didn?t buy my 1st dress until I was 46.

[RoxieChristine]

As usual I fall into the category of skewing the data ;) my sister, 4 years older, wanted a sister when I was born and on my first day gave me a girl name and dressed me as a toddler to play with her even before I can remember. I just remember the pictures and have no idea how long it had been going on before that. You could say I've been on this path as long as I've been alive. It just didn't completely blossom until now at 62.

[Joanne108]

Somewhere between 5 and 6 My brother dared me to put on and stuff a bra. I did it. I liked the way i looked! So I kept doing it whenever I got the chance!

[kimdl93]

Putting a date on childhood memories is a bit challenging, but I would have to guess somewhere between 3-5 years of age.

[Shiny]

According to my research, CD'ing seems to start around age six to ten. I have no idea how some say they "started" dressing in their early 20's. Studies suggest that those that wait till their twenties have always thought about it since the "formation" years and have somehow, through guilt or shame put off the compulsion until this later time. But the foundation years are most assuredly 6 to 10 or 11. Crossdressing picks you, you don't pick it. If you are a cross dresser you will always be one. If you are not a cross dresser, you can never become one.

For most people, if you concentrate you can only identify your human-identity as a being from age 6 onward with your younger years only bits and pieces of thought a bit like "snap-shots." Scientists say every thought once revisited is another constructed thought, although from memory it's a "new" thought. Shows just how little scientists know about the human mind. They say your thoughts change over time to a greater extent than I believe. However, details and sharpness fade over time. The idea that the "dressing" notion pops up between the ages of 6 and 10ish is how the mind works. You start with a "tabula-rasa" or blank-slate and by the age of 6 you are finally, mentally, on your way through life. Going from birth to age 6 is a huge process we may never understand but must note the order and times in which things occur. All textbook-

[BLUE ORCHID]

For me it was around age 4 With heels & Hose,

[NancySue]

It was around 4 or 5 when I was invited to play dress up with next door sisters. It was no big deal until I slipped into nylon stockings and high heels. I was hooked. To this day, still my #1.

[AllieBellema]

I was kind of a late bloomer compared to others as I didn't start until I was in my teens. I was buying feminine halloween costumes and using that holiday to disguise the excuse to get things. Not to mention all the times I was allowed to stay home alone in my grandparents house and I would dig through my grandmas closet for things to wear. She had enough clothes to start her own K-Mart!

[Kris Burton]

Does this chart indicate first experience, experimentation or active CDing? If active, I'm not on the chart at all. First experience - 28. A little experimentation (hardly a start)- 42. Active CD ( what I consider a start)- 69.

[Sandi Beech]

I think I was around 31 when I really did any crossdressing to any extent, unless you want to count playing with some pantyhose around 18 briefly. So I guess I am not on the chart either.

Sandi

[Stephanie47]

I think there is a distinction between experimenting on occasion with a woman's garment and "cross dressing" with motivation. As a really young kid I found I liked the feel of my mother's nylon slips and on occasion I would take one off the clothes drying line and put it on. I had no thoughts of being a girl, no sexual turn on. Maybe I was predisposed to go further as I entered puberty, but, I could just as well stopped. I think a more valid analysis would be the circumstances around the times a male would don female clothing.

For example, if a boy's sister and female cousins would only allow the boy to play with them, if he was wearing girl clothing, may be the argument could be made he was being "groomed" by the girls that he could get more attention. Or, the instances reported on this forum of a mother dressing her son as a girl because she wanted a daughter. A one and done to me does not characterize a male child as a cross dresser. The act of wearing women's attire does not necessarily make a male a cross dresser.

[jacques]

please note - on the Chart:
21 means 21 to 45
45 means 45 and over
I recorded the first age that each person stated if they (like me) went through different "phases" of crossdressing
Luv J

[Karren H]

I started at 7.

[Jane G]

5 or 6. A while back anyway.

[Geena75]

I was about 12 or 13 the first time I tried pantyhose, then a dress a year later. Didn't get past that level until about 10 years ago and started dressing all out.

[cdinmd206]

Ever since I can remember I have had a love of sexy lingerie. When I was 7 or 8 I was staying with my aunt for a few weeks and accidentally walked in on her undressing. As long as I live I will never forget the sight of her standing there in a white garter belt, beige stockings, white frilly see thru panties and a bra that barely contained her big boobs. She asked if I liked what she was wearing and would I like to wear something like that? I told her she was beautiful and yes I would. Two days later she presented me with my own set of lingerie and two frilly dresses. She told me I was her new niece and it was going to be our secret. Needless to say I always wanted to spend time with my aunt.

[marieclaire]

Very interesting. I found that most started from the beginning of puberty - when the differences between boys and girls are most evident.
On another forum, I did a search on "At what age did you first wear a bra" (2020).

Here are the results:

6 years or younger: 2%

7 to 9 years: 8%

10 to 12: 29%

13 to 15: 24%

16 to 17: 4%

18 to 24: 11%

25 to 49: 5%

50 or elder: 8% (The majority of older men who adhered to the bra did so because of gynecomastia caused by medications and medical treatments)


The absolute majority (53%) did so between 10 and 15 years of age, during puberty. It's in this range that girls start wearing bras - and that boys discover they start wearing bras.

[Stephj]

I started about age 5 when I would go to the store with my mother and sister they would find me in the lingerie section looking at and feeling the bras and panties. At the age of ten I started wearing my sister bra and panties then my mother found out that I was wearing them we had a talk I told her I really liked and enjoyed wearing them she said if I wanted to wear them I had to buy my own so with allowance money I had saved you took me to the store where i bought my own now at 58 I still wear my panties and bra everyday

[marieclaire]

What a wonderful mother!

[ChubbyLeahCD]

LOL I’m in the 12 y/o data.
Came to the states with my mom to visit my uncle, she was asleep and in the bathroom we were sharing she had left her silk robe, sandals and a teddy she wore to sleep (looking back kind of inappropriate to wear that around your son).
But she was asleep and I went in the bathroom and put all that on. I felt sexually excited but also I felt so good feeling the silk, the lace…felt so right! When we went back home, every time I was home alone, I’d end up hitting her closet and dressing.

- - - Updated - - -


I started about age 5 when I would go to the store with my mother and sister they would find me in the lingerie section looking at and feeling the bras and panties. At the age of ten I started wearing my sister bra and panties then my mother found out that I was wearing them we had a talk I told her I really liked and enjoyed wearing them she said if I wanted to wear them I had to buy my own so with allowance money I had saved you took me to the store where i bought my own now at 58 I still wear my panties and bra everyday

This is so cool! Before my first time wearing everything, I grew up spending the night a lot at my grandparents. My grandma had her own bathroom and my grandpa had his.
I’d always shower in hers, and she had this weird thing that she would go into the shower in panties, kind of wash them with bath soap, let them hang dry and then wash them with the laundry. I’d always put her granny panties on when they were hanging.

[Barbara Jo]

Born in 1947, I am middle child with 4 year older sister and a 4 year younger one. I grew up in the 1950s with all those feminine clothes that era is noted for.

When i was about 8 years old and and m older sister was approaching puberty, she started to dress as a feminine adult, with plenty of lingerie, pencil skirts, etc.
So.... one day the curiosity got the best of me when I wondered what all the feminine finery felt like to wear. So, I started to very discretely try on her things in private.
I was then hooked... realizing that I loved the feeling wearing them.

I also had a dominant mother as she was the educated one....my father quit school after third grade to work on the family farm.
They were a bit of an odd couple. My mom was from Brooklyn and had an early show business career as a dancer.....and even had stage name
My dad grew up om a farm and was mostly uneducated . They say opposites often attract.

Anyway, I now love to dress as feminine woman woman when in public as Barbara. :)

[Debs]

age 10 , put on my mums stockings, never looked back, love it

[Rebecca96]

Started at 16 :-)

[SheriM]

My earliest memories are when I was about 3 yrs old. Looking at my mothers girdle, garters and nylons. It was open bottom girdles then. The panty girdle became popular later. I loved the open bottom girdle and at age 6 or 7 started trying it on. the panty girdles then also got my attention. Actually bought my own as a young teen and kept them in a locked chest that I had made. I still love a girdle and now of course panty hose but now a bra is also very exciting. Sometime later in life, I started buying/wearing skirts, blouses, etc. After getting caught, I no longer go out in public as a woman but still do dress in private. I will, however, stretch the boundaries of male vs female clothes when out and about.

[ShelbyDawn]

Very interesting.
I notice the trend surges and drops in prepubescent ages and then spikes again as puberty hits.
I'd be curious to see if there's any correlation between the puberty spike and fetish dressers.
I started at five or six and it has never been sexual for me, but quite a few of us have a serious sexual component to their dressing. I can't help but wonder...

And before you challenge me on that 'never' there may have been a correlation in my teen years, but that does not imply a causation. I never dressed just to get off.

[Fiona Lindum]

Tried on tights when I was about 13. Started wearing other clothes in my mid 20’s.

[1Ladyjade]

ShelbyDawn
I'd be curious to see if there's any correlation between the puberty spike and fetish dressers.

Shelby you are pushing into a whole different side of the subject. What is cross dressing? Cross dressing is simply the wearing of clothes designed for the opposite sex. What I notice is a lot of the girls here are wearing femme wear 365. My opinion is that is beyond the scope of the definition of cross dressing. If you are wearing femme daily you are more on the trans side of the spectrum. I am a straight man that just loves to be able to wear femme clothing. By your definition does that make me a fetish wearer? When I think of fetish cross dressers. I think more of the kinky side. You know the naughty nurse. The sexy nun. And the always present French maid. I wear none of those. When I cross dress I want to look as feminine and pretty as I can but not sleazy. That's where my mind goes when people talk about fetish wearers.
Don't take my words as a snap back. I see these conversations go round and round the bush. But with no concrete definitions. There is no answers.

[AnelineM]

Started trying Mom's makeup when I was about 8. Sisters clothes in junior high. Didn't get my first dress until I was in my 30's. Didn't get a complete outfit together until I was in my 50's. Always been a late bloomer.

[JohannaSophia]

I was an early reader including the catalogs we got, especially the ladies lingerie sections. I had to be old enough to stay home alone while my mom shopped to get into her cloths. By that time I was too big to wear anything but her girdles, all good, a wonderful summer of getting naked and tucking so I could look like her down south!