Very interesting thread.
In my case,i started crossdressing because i loved my girlfriend in boots, after we broke up, i did not find another girl for some months so i decided to buy myself some high heel boots. I tried them and i started to enjoy buying more boots and becoming like another person, not just a woman but a bit more kinky reasons.
Therefore i have never been influenced by my childhood or adolescence and never had therapy related to this.
I dress like a woman because I like women's clothes. I was influenced, at school, by young women in petticoats and stockings and I do not need therapy.
I was either born with a feminine side or developed the need to feel feminine as a young boy. I started with secretly wearing my mothers pantyhose and makeup in the bathroom at the age of 10. I am out to my wife and at one time I went to a therapist about my gender issues. I accept and love being feminine. I mostly underdress daily in pantyhose and panties. Also wear nightgowns and lipstick in private. I understand people may judge and not accept me and thats their right, I also have a right to be who I am.
I was born with a cleft palette and always felt unattractive. When I tried on my sister's pretty panties for the first time, it was arousing and I associated the panties with sex. Back in the 70's and 80's, the Sunday paper had all the adverts for all the stores and I would look at all the women and girls ads for panties and bras and satin things and I wanted to be pretty and feel they way i thought they felt in those things. I wanted to be attractive.
Some would say i have a satin fetish, but women's clothing is much prettier than men's .
I wasn't influenced by anyone. There were 5 of us at home and none of us interacted with each other. Isolated at school most of the time.