Originally Posted by
ClosetED
Sarah asked the largest body of crossdressers in the world what I consider a serious question. Confucius and ReineD gave some very good thoughts. I too have given this deep thought and research. I am sure there is a genetic component and research does support this, but no specific gene as of yet. I will stick to CDing compared to TS which might have another layer. But there is no known gene for homosexuality and yet the percent population that is that way has been probably constant for centuries. Why do we like crossdressing? Why do we like hearing children laugh? Birds sing? Sunshine? A favorite color? Etc ... Certainly the environment we live in before we set down permanent memory affects the brain development in ways we cannot remember. But other men also get exposed to similar environmental situations and do not crossdress as a habit/hobby/lifestyle, so I think genetics (or a much stronger stimuli ) are involved. Brains reinforce connections that give us pleasure, even if society disapproves. So each of us may have some part of the CDing experience that gives pleasure. For me, I think it is related to my viewpoint that I did not get enough attention as I desired as a child and saw that females got more with less effort. I did not consider myself good looking and saw good looking girls who had all this attention paid to them just based on looks and not hours of work and toil and social skills. I can imagine my mind desiring to look like that, to feel feminine, would get me the easy way to my attention I craved. So many boys might try on a mother's pantyhose, but only those like us whose brains had rewired to enjoy that kept at it and reinforced it. Adding sexual release with it would also strongly reinforce it. Over time, we may have changed what we need or how we see ourselves, but most started out young.
Either way, this is something we know no way to undo and it is not harmful to or bodies compared to other pleasure seeking behaviors like alcohol or drugs. Yet those have 12 steps programs to help those behaviors but not for CDing. So it is different in some way.
Just some thoughts
Hugs, Ellen