Why do I crossdress?

[Deliah]

This is a question I have often asked myself. There is no question that dressing is exhilarating and just feels right for me. But what attracted me to dressing in the first place? Is it something in my genetic make up? I started when I was 5 years old and there was no event in my life at that point that could have pushed me in that direction so again, why?

I've read lots of theories on the Internet about why people crossdress but none seemed to really fit me. One thing that many of us have a tendency to do is emulate the people we admire. Kids emulate super heros and sports figures for example. So, my current theory on why I dress is that I love and admire women so much that I want to emulate them through dressing.

Why do you crossdress?

[Alice Torn]

D, This question has likely been the most asked in CD history. I think you are onto something, in that we emulate what we find beautiful in some women. But, we many also have genetic brain proneness to this. Most of us just don't know why. But, the clothes, themselves do something for us.

[Katey888]

This question has likely been the most asked in CD history....

Never a truer word spoken there - at least as a question asked amongst ourselves...

Why do I do it?

Because my gender compass is as stable as a navigational compass in the Bermuda Triangle...

Because in doing this I am visually facilitating a broader expression of a feminine aspect of my persona that can't find another outlet via male mode...

Because it feels right for me to express this, however much society stupidly insists it must be 'wrong'...

And - dammit - because I look good blonde...

As if we need a reason...

Katey x

[Saikotsu]

I used to dress because I wanted to dress to match whatever gender I was at the given time, since it changes.
These days I don't see it as crossdressing. I'm not wearing women's clothes or men's clothes. In wearing my clothes. Bonus if those clothes match my internal gender. No big deal if they don't.

[Amy Fakley]

I started young as well ... too young to even remember properly, but my first clear memory of feeling this way was 5 or 6 ... and finally acting on it around 6 or 7.

Back then it was just reaching toward something without understanding. It took me a lifetime, but I still don't really know why in any sort of logically satisfying way. But over time, I have come to understand ... there is for all intents and purposes, a girl hiding behind a whole lot of man-fascade living inside this genetically male mind. I still don't know how that'll play out in the long run, but for now ...

I just try to peacefully accept that she is me and make room for that in my understanding of myself ... and I have to let that out into the real world every once and a while ... if I can maintain that balance, all is well and that really beats the alternative! :-)

[Julie Mehn]

i do it because it makes me happy

[Jenniferathome]

...Is it something in my genetic make up? I started when I was 5 years old and there was no event in my life at that point that could have pushed me in that direction so again, why?...

Yep. It's in your genes. Nothing else makes sense. Blue eyes, red hair, being gay... it's in the genes.

[CarlaWestin]

To emulate and experience being a woman that I want to be (with ).

[Meghan4now]

Yep. It's in your genes. Nothing else makes sense. Blue eyes, red hair, being gay... it's in the genes.

There is still no isolation to a specific gene or combination of genes that has been shown. This statement defies the scientific method, and therefore is invalid. I believe there COULD be genetic links for SOME crossdressers, or OTHER biological factors, which has more definite evidence. But a claim of GENETICS is still an opinion with little basis in science.

On the lighter side, some made the joke last night that CDS wear dresses, and TS wear jeans. So what does it mean if I'm wearing skorts or capries?

[Fiona123]

When I was young crossdressing was an intense sexual experience. Now I still want to crossdress but for for me it's as much spiritual as sexual, maybe more. It just feels right. I accept my self as transgender or crossdresser, knowing why is less important 🌺

[Ineke Vashon]

I am relaxing at home in a bra and a miniskirt. I feel normal. It's the rest of the world that is crazy

Ineke
As 'Geraldine' used to say: "The devil made me do it"

[Judy-Somthing]

Because it's fun!

[JessieA]

I think it is in my case due it is to the klinefelder's and my brain developing with traits of both genders.

[Dana44]

I think that I have both sides of my brain open and switch back and forth male/female. Been that way all my life and when fem I naturally crossdressed. Been doing that most of my life.

[NancySue]

I began dressing early, being initially attracted to the soft feelings of nylon stockings, which made me feel serene and feminine. Over the years, I've tried to find some understandable reasons for my love of nylons and dressing. I told my wife before we got married. After dispelling her fears, she's now very accepting and helpful. We continue our search for answers, but realize my compulsions will be with us. I now have everything I need. I'm very maticulous and detailed when getting ready. When I'm dressed, I still continue to feel serenity, comfort, and warm feminine feelings. We go out together for lunch, movies and, of course shopping. I'm frustrated with the many women who don't wear hose. I'm almost always wearing hose, both "underneath" and when dressed.

[Confucius]

While there is probably some sort of psychological trigger, I believe that our brains have been hardwired for crossdressing.

You understand that the vast majority of men can crossdress and not feel anything special (except embarrassment), however just the thought of crossdressing makes us experience wonderful sensations. Most likely these sensations are caused by feel-good neurotransmitters being released by the brain (dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and others).

During infancy our brains are making neural connections at a feverish pace and by the time we are three years old we have about 3X the amount of neural connections than an adult brain. This is called synaptogenesis and it occurs at infancy and puberty. Then largely through the learning process we undergo a neural pruning process where some neural connections are reinforced while others are broken. Then you are set up for synesthesia, a neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. In this way your brain can be hardwired to interpret crossdressing as actual contact with a female.

So that is the biological explanation, what is the psychological? It can take many forms, but it usually involves some sort of female envy or valuing female over males. In my case, my mother wanted a girl when I was born, and I was a disappointment. Then just 13 months later she gave birth to my sister. My mother was overjoyed. My sister was my mother's pampered little princess and she was praised for everything she did. I grew up thinking my mother would love me more if I was a girl and I was crossdressing by the time I was three years old. I also grew up believing that girls were naturally better than boys. I thought that all parents preferred girls. When I was a teenager I finally began to appreciate being a male, but before that I had no clue that there was anything good about being a male.

[Tracii G]

Why does there HAVE to be a trigger?
Why this, why that,if I do this I must be that !!
You just enjoy it and thats all the explanation I need anyway.
The more you dig into the reasons why the more confusing it can become.

[Brynna M]

in the end you crossdress because you want to.

Why do you wan to? That's a tough one.

For me I know I like the way I look, smell, feel when dressed in a way I have never experienced dressed as a man. I haven't figured out more than that yet.

[sometimes_miss]

Why does there HAVE to be a trigger?<snip>The more you dig into the reasons why the more confusing it can become.

As mentioned, there doesn't have to be a trigger. But it's pretty clear that what we're doing doesn't fit with who the normal male is, because it's obvious that most of the time, it interferes with our chances of finding a mate and passing along our dna (if you've already had kids, and a wife who loves your crossdressing, congratulations, you beat the odds). So something is different somewhere, or something changed. It can be genetic, it can be hormonal, it can be psychological, or any combination of the above. Some of us really needed to know why we do this, because it can really screw up our life....it certainly did mine. If you're one of the lucky ones for who everything about your crossdressing makes things better, great; then I understand why you don't care.
But for some of us, there's a conflict that we have to live with; that being a crossdresser interferes with the rest of what we want out of life. It especially comes into play, when we have sexual desires that don't quite fit with what we think we are. And that's why some of us have to keep digging until we figure it out. 30 years ago, the concept that there could be a physically male person, but who sexually identified as female, who was only sexually attracted to females was considered completely absurd. Now, we understand how that happens, and I'm sure it comes easier for the younger ones to understand and accept themselves. Me, I spent about 30 years figuratively banging my head against a wall because none of it made any sense at all.
Life is simply easier to go through when we have an understanding of why we feel the way we do. Millions of people are miserable because they're in relationships with people they're incompatible with, but they dont' know why; but they're so sexually attracted to them, they won't leave. So they spend thier life in misery, with very brief moments of sexual ecstasy.
Ever wonder why the person you have a crush on, doesn't fine you interesting at all? You can figure it out. Or go on, and keep barking up the wrong tree, while another person is right behind you who's dying to meet YOU.
I don't understand why so many people prefer to live messed up lives in supposed blissful ignorance; then go out every weekend and get drunk, because things don't work out the way they want them to.

[PattyT]

There seems to almost as may answers to this question as they are members on this list. I share the most common reasons of feeling better, more relaxed, more comfortable and pleased with the way I look.
However, I'll answer this from a slightly odd or negarive aspect. A few months ago I had an eye infection which cause me to miss several CD dressing occasions, meaning a weekend and then a national holiday a few days later. I wear contact lenses when I go out as a CD but could not wear them for a few days and don't have female glasses. I spent these days doing what I would normally do dressed up as a CD, but now inmale attire. I felt utterly horrible, literally devistated. It was wrong, somehow. I envied the people around me who were going about there business dressed mosstly innthe informal clothes people wear on the weekend. I felt I was in some kind of straight jacket. The infection cleared up after about a week and when I went out again as a CD the feeling was fantastic. I was me again.

This is why I am a CD and why I dress.

"in the end you crossdress because you want to." This seems to be the bottom line. Why we want to has hundreds of answers. In the end result, it feels right and natural. Not dressing is somehow wrong and unnatural.

[Stephanie58]

Because I enjoy doing it - and it makes my feel good.

And, after doing it for all these years, i feel it is part of my "core" or "being"

But i am still somewhat ashamed to admit I do it - probably because of a lifetime of fear that my secret would be discovered.

[Ellie Summer]

I wonder if it has to do with women usually being the object of beauty. What's the best way to sell something? Put a beautiful woman in front of it. Men can be handsome, but I've never been interested in looking handsome, to me it's boring. Women's clothing accentuates my body in a way that men's clothing simply doesn't, and that's why I dress. I look in the mirror and I finally feel beautiful. Male, female, somewhere in between, it's not important to me to pinpoint it anywhere, I'm just doing what makes me happy.

[Lauri K]

Why...........umm well

Possibly it makes it easier for you to shop at Walmart, maybe you just fit in better with the scene and they won't think you are gay or something.......

Seriously though.....Just enjoy the time you spend dressed and don't ask why because there is not a one size fit's all answer

[mickynylons]

Simply put, it's good feel girly sometimes and it's great stress relief!

[TakaraYu]

for me it's because I don't give clothing a gender(if it feel good I'll wear it), does this mean that my brain is wired to both sexes, don't know