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what % of men actually do cross dress ?
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I feel quite comfortable with the ‘guesstimate’ Pip illustrates above.
Using my own local SA web group as an example, we have around 80 members and growing all the time. A week would not go by when I don’t make contact with a ‘new’ local girl who has stumbled on us by accident cruising around the internet. A lot of them for a long time do not do anything more than send the odd email looking for a bit of advice on where to get clothes/wigs etc or have a quick chat on one of the messenger programs. Given that there are at least 4 groups like mine around plus the local Carousel Club plus the fact that many live deep in the closet and do not access the internet plus South Australia’s population factored in and then extrapolated across the nation I think 100,000 is probably around the mark.There will always be a significant number that will stay hidden. The decriminalisation of homosexuality was passed into law here in 1970’s by the Dunstan Government yet in 2007 many many practising homosexuals still do not wish their social and sexual preference to be common knowledge for exactly the same reasons the hidden majority of crossdressers stay hidden: fear of persecution – both in employment and socially, fear of rebuke, public shaming, isolation of friends and family.
Those of us active either in the community or on the internet probably constitute 5% (maybe, possibly slightly lower) of that 100,000. That figure is a lot more than was the case pre-internet which has not only given a lot of closetted cd’s a real voice and persona but encouraged a lot of girls to venture outside for the first time in their lives because they’ve been encouraged to do so by the actions and experiences of others with whom they have been interacting with on-line.
Noone is ever going to snap a switch and say: ok, it is now socially cool to crossdress. There have been many periods throughout history when androgynous styles have come into fashion but none of them were ever sustainable. But with lively discussion, safe places to chat, and the encouragement of others we can look after our own and maybe whittle away at those statistics.
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Hi Pip,
I’d have to say I’m a bit surprised that the figure is as high as 3% – though I’d probably accept that those of us who are ‘out’ in one way or another are in the minority, even extreme minority. But I’m not so sure that argument that the vast majority of cds are totally off the radar holds water any more. The new internet world has allowed folks to join forums and groups etc. and remain quite anonymous in the background and the biggest US forum, crossdressers.com, has under 15,000 members, including international members, out of US population of say 300 million. I just find it hard to believe that the cd.com penetration of the US cd market would be so very low as only 15K out of a potential 9 million or 4.5 million. And I would also think you’d get similar numbers for Roses Forum in the UK.
Fiona xx
Quote:In the research for my book, “The Gender Trap”, the nearest I could get to a vaguely accurate figure for genuine cross-dressers – these days T-girls – regardless of motivation, is about 3% in the western world and in SE asia, the only places for which their are estimates. It is most significant, I think, when we extrapolate those estimates into numbers. It means for North America, for example, there are about four million of us. In Oz, about 100,000. Where are we all? Well still in hiding of course. And unless we can change things, likely to remain so. -
While I do not have any statistics at hand, I am constantly surprised by the number of enquiries / new members attracted by the Chameleons in WA. I monitor the enquiry phone line for the Chameleons (badly I must confess, my busy schedule measn I sometimes don’t turn the phone on). While I am not overworked answering phone calls, a number of males do make enquiries and most go on to say that they regularly cross dress when they can generally in the privacy of their own homes. A proportion of those callers attend a Chameleons meeting to check it out – some stay with the club, some don’t. Given that there are other groups and meeting places in Perth for cross dressers and considering those who enjoy their privacy, I consider 3% a realistic estimate. For those who are interested ins finding out about the chameleons check http://www.chameleonswa.com
Regards, Terri
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hi all i agree with janet :The number of men who crossdress or would like to will never be known as few will admit the truth in a questionaire unless they are like us and have acepted themselves. but the way i see it the % would have to higher than most people expect …. in a 5km radius of my home i know of 5 cd’s & 1 ts & there the ones that are open with there tg’ism & in that same 5km radius there would at least be the same number or more that are very closeted or don’t have a computer or the means to contact others…. so think about where you live & do you know any cd’s living near you that know of…
ps i hope i made sence …
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Oh I wish it was much, much higher ! Then perhaps crossdressing would gain even more acceptance in the community- it seems to have progressed a lot since I was a (guilty) teenager in public acceptance but still could go a lot further.
what I would like to see is some sort of publicity directed at younger males to reassure them that there is nothing to feel bad about if they dress .. Perhaps this would help to reduce the numbers of men experiencing guilt and anxiety whilst growning up.I know that such feelings really affected my childhood and teenage yrs
Hugs
Suzz -
hi suzzanne i don’t think it needs to be higher but for more cd’s to be open & not closeted but that won’t happen cause of fears & curcumstances of each indiviual that dresses & as for the younger generation & acceptance i think most are acceptable of us its a small minority that like to make fun of people to be tough in front of there friends… but ur right we need more publicity up untill 3 years ago i still thought i was a freak, a weirdo cause i like to dress & it wasn’t natural if it wasn’t for the internet & me searching the net i wouldn’t be were i am today i’d still be deep in the closet thinking i was a weirdo still….
hugz
tressa xoxox -
I agree with what you say ! I still think it would be good if the % was higher, but I guess that would mean more young men would suffer guilt shame etc over the practice. As Denton used to say “society uis to blame …” .On the topic of x dressers I would say this applies 150 % as society seems to wnat to enforce a strict difference between male and female roles and behaviour and one of the most important differentiations enforced is that of dress … Ironic that in our society where boys are now encourage to learn to cook and men can be house husbands,walk with a stroller, any similarity between male and female clothes is sort of taboo
Actually i feel that the unisex look of the 60 s and 70s seemed to be the start of some thing good ..perhaps they had it (a bit ) right way back then.One of my female friends expressed the view that tolerance of x dressing by society would lead to effeminate men being produced an d hence the collapse of society . Ugh what a thought !
Suzz -
We can talk until the cows come home, years from now. We are guessing, wondering but no answers. When you search on the net it is all over the place as well. Can we as a group take the bull by the horns and in someway conduct a survey of our own. I do not have the resources and connections but a suggestion in the right direction may have momentum.
AsK Denton if he is willing to conduct a survey or,
Advertise in the paper a web address about a crossdresser/transgender survey and using the voter’s computer IP address as a one vote guarantee.
Jane
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Very Good idea Jane !
Why not also approach some of our esteemed universities to see if any research projects have been done on this topic latlely ? Or ask if any students would have this as a thesis topic ?
The idea of an ad in a newspaper sounds really good !
I remember many years ago the Seahorse Society seemed to be approaching publications to get ‘exposure’ (no pun intended ).
Now with Priscilla showing here in Sydney to rave reviews it might be the
right time to get some publicity …
Suzz -
The actual statistics can be difficult to scource on this topic although I can say with some clarity that……. (All Figures are approximate and based upon studies done through out the world)
95% of men asked have admitted to wearing clothing of the oppisite sex.
of that 95%, a further 64% said they were physically turned on by wearing clothing of the oppisite sex.
37% of men say that they continue to wear women’s clothing.
65% said that their crossdressing was the leading downfall of their relationship and or marriage.
a staggering 69% of men asked who do cross dress have all contemplated suicide at some point
and of those that were asked 88% of men who say they crossdress say they believe they will continue to do so their entire life.
I hope that I have been able to shed some light on the subject
Warmest Regards
Samantha-Lee
Australian Transsexual Network -
Quote:The actual statistics can be difficult to scource on this topic although I can say with some clarity that……. (All Figures are approximate and based upon studies done through out the world)
95% of men asked have admitted to wearing clothing of the oppisite sex.
of that 95%, a further 64% said they were physically turned on by wearing clothing of the oppisite sex.
37% of men say that they continue to wear women’s clothing.
65% said that their crossdressing was the leading downfall of their relationship and or marriage.
a staggering 69% of men asked who do cross dress have all contemplated suicide at some point
and of those that were asked 88% of men who say they crossdress say they believe they will continue to do so their entire life.
I hope that I have been able to shed some light on the subject
Warmest Regards
Samantha-Lee
Australian Transsexual NetworkDo you have any sources for these stats?
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The stats seem to be encouraging and sad at the same time – like the % who say they will continue to dress is encouraging to us that do so but the % ‘s who have contemplated suicide and attribute their marriage breakdown to Xdressing are very disturbing figures.As I see it xdressing is like an addiction that cant be “fixed “/stopped no matter how strong the desire to do so is for those who do want to stop and then there ar ethose who dont want to stop but want so desperately to accept it fully and be accepted. Such an unhfair state of affairs !
I would also be interested in what size group these stats are drawn from
Hugs
SUzz -
Quote:Do you have any sources for these stats?
These stats don’t look right.
If they are then TgR has some advertising research to do!
Come on,
We KNOW we are in a tiny minority – it is obvious. Hardly anybody I know outside of sites like this is a CD/TG/TV/TS. Ok – some might be “in the closet” but try this for an experiment…
Does your family know you are TG? If they do then we must assume that other males in your family of the same persuasion would gravitate towards you. How many other TGs are there in your family?
Why do we want to be “normal” and “accepted” anyway?
What is good about being one of the crowd? Why not strive to be different, individual, weird, and unique.
It is because of the fact that you are all so exquisitely strange that I love you all so deeply.
Hugs
Hex -
Scources for the percentages that I have shown come from a clinical psychologist here in Perth who has been doing his own research throughout the world for the last two and a half years. The target number from what I recall was almost 50,00 people who have given responses through clinical visits.
I am due to speak with my therapist this week and will endeavour to gain some further clarification and documentation of this study.
Warmest regards
Samantha-Lee -
I think the fact that the stats were collected from men who visited a therapist says something . To me it would appear that out of 50,000 males who saw a therapist for some psychlogical problem 95 % had worn female clothes etc which to me would appear to skew the stats a bit in that their crossdressing may well have been related to their problems especially when you consider the high % of those who had contemplated suicide etc
whatever the truth is I feel that the biggest issue facing cd /ts people is guilt associated with it along with low public acceptance. I agree that its not all that desirable to be part of the crowd , but if you run outside the crowd you certainly shouldnt feel alienation an dguilt for doing so
SUzz
