Nature or Nurture

[Keely]

I think nature since I've been doing this since such an early age I don't know how I could have learned it.

[Steveo]

i have to say nature, for these reasons. nature imply's that this part of our being, is a natural occourance, i do enjoy my dressing' but i have to say that from a historical view point (mine anyway) i would rather it not have happened. nurture, imply's an outside involment, and on this forum there have been posts of the kind were a perant or sibling have occationed the disire to dress, from my perspective there never was any outside influence,i did not start to dress untill late into my teens and by then both my perants were gone, one more thing, i don't beleave that a person could learn and then like to dress, unless his or her natural instinks were not there in the background somewere, however hidden they were.

[Bobsie]

When I was a child, and alone in the family home, I rummaged through some places where I was not supposed to go. I was looking for things to try on, of course, but one day I found an old letter from an aunt to my mother, dated just after my birth, commiserating with her that the much awaited and desired "Susan" had failed to arrive, and that I had shown up instead!
I remember that my bedroom decor, clothing and other accoutrements were in pink, so for sure my parents wanted and expected a girl. Strangely, Susan had then for long been my favorite female name!

I wonder if there is any way that the desire of a persons' parents before birth could influence gender identification?

Anyway, I answered 'nature', because I know I was born this way.

[jamie55]

There's a third theory about a "nurture/propensity." The idea is that you are born with the "propensity" to CD but it takes some type of learned activity to bring it out.

I like this for my answer. It's not like one morning over a bowl of Cheerios I decided to start wearing girls clothes but something inside me sure liked it. I had a normal male childhood, played sports, boy scouts, hunting/fishing, etc. and as a matter of fact still do those things. I work in a male dominated profession, in fact have never seen a female rig up driver and in 30+ yrs I've seen a bunch. I am the first born of 4 boys and so have no real positive female influences in my life that I'm aware of.

[jackie_p]

I have been a CD since I was 8 years old (49 now), and I have always wished it wasn't the case. Until recently I've suppressed it, purged, the whole nine yards. I think that if it was nurture it would be a whole lot easier to deal with. I wouldn't change it now, but I certainly wouldn't have chosen it when I was 8 years old.

Jackie

[trannie T]

It seems that about once a week there is a thread asking what causes us to be crossdressers. They all wind up with the same solution, 'We have absolutely no idea.'

[Nadia-Maria]

I voted both.

. Nurture seems to be clearly involved in my CDing since my mother crossdressed me as a baby (most probably wanting a girl instead of a boy) before I became later a CDer as a child.

. But, many crossdressers do have had an ordinary childhood.
Hence Nature has to be considered too.

Love

Nadia

[KimberlyS]

My personally reflections and belief is I am who I am from birth. My up bringing and society have had an affect on who I am, but the core of me is nature. As for my CDing, it is my up bringing and society that tells me what clothes a feminine person should wear and which clothes a masculine person wears. I guess my brain figured if it was ok for women to dress more masculine it was ok for me to dress my feminine self in more feminine clothes.

For me I am not trying to be a woman, just aligning my femininity with the clothes I have been taught to wear from day one of being born.

[tricia_uktv]

My first recollection of life was ridicously dressing in a show outfit of my Mothers when I was four. Was told not to be so silly!

[MWCMDarlene]

I voted Nurture. I remember as a 5 or 6 year old going ove to my friends house. His grandmother lived with them and she had several boxes of clothes (dresses, shoes, shawls, hats, gloves, etc.) that his mother and grandmother would allow us to play "dress up". We would both "dress up" and without even bit of hesitation or apprehension, go outside and walk up and down the street in front of his house. (Man, to be able to do that now!) However, I didn't see or view it as crossdressing. When I first began to truely experiment with CDing, I was 12 and was visiting my grandparents. In the newspaper was a column by either Ann Landers or Dear Abby about a man who wore his wife's clothes. I was intrigued. Within a week, I was over at my aunt's house (had a key and snuck in while no one was home), and in the laundry room was one of her bras out in plain view. That's when it first began with me.

[TGMarla]

I think blaming the whole thing on nature is a bit narrow. It shunts the blame onto an uncontrollable source, and thus allows the TG person to hold himself (or herself) blameless. I think that's very convenient and a bit of a cop-out. I admit that I may have had a tendency to be drawn towards feminine interests and items from a young age, but I didn't start crossdressing until I was 12. And I can attest that I helped it along a whole lot after that. I nurtured it myself. I continued to dress more and more because I liked it, and I wanted it. So while there may have been some at-birth predisposition towards my transgendered nature, I know I am to blame for it myself as well.

[noeleena]

hi...oh easy being born this way... nature ....it was not learned yet for me was just right . wow . the posts here are neat . where do i see my self . am i male or female ....or more to the point both. what made that change. at about 10 it was why am i not like the girls . 40 years later opooos i came out to jos my s o . hey i am a women from then on it was up & down .....oh dear ...... now i know i am both at 60 . & just slowly growing as a women & accepted as one ...& its so neat. he he . i love it ..... . ...noeleena....

[rustynail]

I can remember being fascintaed by my Mum's silky slips from a very early age (3 or 4), but i slept in their bedroom then so there may be a nurture element. However i know that my Dad was always buying Mum silky nighties and things, and had catalogues, so i guess he would have been into it as well if he had felt more free to indulge - so I guess that is nature and genes. Is there a "nylon gene"?

[yms]

Why does it have be a "childhood trauma?" Isn't trauma the opposite of nurture?

During recent therapy sessions the concept of 'Nature' vs 'Nurture' came up. That is, are my TG/CD tendencies a learned behaviour in response to childhood trauma (Nurture) or a genetic or hereditary trait (Nature).

I thought a quick straw poll here would be enlightening.

For more details on "Nature vs. Nurture" see Wikipedia.

Have fun!

Nikki.

[Rachaelb64]

I haven't got a clue were mine come from, I'm just enjoying it

[DonnaT]

Mostly nature, as I believe for many, those who are trans in some way or another, the way our brain was wired contributed to being trans.

A little nurture is thrown in there as a result of 1) seeing a neighbor dress her brother, which triggered the desire in me to want to change places with her brother, and 2) the feeling that this is right resulting from trying on some clothes a few years later. Without those two triggers to close some trans switch already wired in the brain, I'd probably be one of those unwary trans individuals. Like someone who may be predisposed to alcoholism, but they aren't an alcoholic until it is triggered by their first drink.

[Byllie]

Now, this was a tricky question. You asked about "behavior" which, as we all know, for things is a bit of nature and a bit f nurture.

Now, if you had asked a question regarding the "need to" CD, Id have said nature right away.

[Steveo]

all i will say is could any of you give it up for good and not care,
that is the real reason as i see it, for being nature that instills in us the need to cross dress no matter when the trigger happens could be 5 or 55 the trigger is there in our brains just sitting there ready for the day we just think i'll just put that on and see how it feels, now so called staight males never have that, just moment' and one more thing apparently transsexual men have the same part of the brain that triggers emotion as women, or so i'm told.

[KandisTX]

I had to say both on this poll. One does not exist without the other. Each of us has certain things that are engrained in us at birth, but how we handle/respond to those criteria are aided by how we are raised. So, in my case I can safely say that it was a case of nurture and nature, even though there was not much support of my CDing early on in life.

Kandis

[Nikki K]

I just reread my question and spotted the dreadful grammar!
Although a little late I've edited the original which hopefully makes more sense.

Nikki