5 Things You Thought You Knew About Transvestites

Ask any member of the general public about transvestism and you will, quite probably, get a reply which uses descriptive words such as ‘weird,’ ‘gay,’ ‘solitary,’ ‘unhappy,’ ‘strange’ . . . of pretty much any other negative adjective.

This is undoubtedly because these ‘normal’ people have never directly met a transvestite or had any actual connection with transvestism, or so they think. They respond based on an ignorance of the facts and because their attitudes have been formed through social conditioning. Western society teaches that there are only two genders with each characterised by a certain behavioural pattern. A man who wishes to dress and act as a woman does not fit into the social doctrine and therefore must be something other than ‘normal.’

However consider some the typical statements given, by the general public, compared with the statistically proven facts.

1. “I do not know anybody who crossdresses, so I am not affected”
It is not recorded exactly how many heterosexual men have at some time during their lives, crossdressed, but it is believed that, conservatively, the figure could be as high as 10%, of all males between 10 years and 65 years of age.
So how many men is that, exactly, for example in the UK ?

• The population of the United Kingdom was around the 63 million mark (2011 Census).
• This can be split about 105/100 male to female.
• Some 16.4% (2011) are over 65 years equalling 10.33 million.
• Approximately 15% (2011) are under 10 years equalling 9.45 million
• This leaves some 43.22 million people between 10 years and 65 years.
• On the male/female split this equates to 22.137 million men.

Even if the figure is realistically even half the 10% estimated, this means CROSSDRESSING COULD AFFECT AS MANY AS 1.1 MILLION MEN! Just in the United Kingdom.

More importantly how many men do you know between those ages ?

In the simplest of terms this means that if you, my reader, know fifty men between the ages of 10 years and 65 years of age at least 2 or 3 of them, are likely to crossdress, sometime in their life.

2. “Transvestites are typically middle aged men trying to get a sexual thrill “
We are told that crossdressing may begin as a result of some external influence, as a result of some traumatic event or even sexual experimentation during puberty. The facts are that most crossdressing statistically begins, in boys, aged 8 years to 12 years old.

It will nearly always be carried out in complete secrecy and with no distinguishable external signs. It is rarely directly associated with puberty or sexual development or as a result of any external influence. In some recently recorded cases, a desire to crossdress has been witnessed in children as young as four.

3. “All transvestites must be homosexual”
It is often thought that if a man wants to dress as a woman he must be effeminate or obviously attempting to solicit other men for a homosexual relationship, after all why else would a ‘normal’ man want to crossdress. However in some of the most influential surveys carried out over the last forty years the responses confirmed that 75% – 80% of ALL transvestites, are in fact, socially normal HETEROSEXUAL males. In fact the proportional percentage of homosexuality within the transvestite community is actually lower than the equivalent heterosexual community.

4. “Transvestites are strange, little men who live on their own, with no wife or girlfriend, because they cannot maintain a relationship”
A common misconception is that most transvestites live, alone in a solitary fantasy world. They are unable to form or maintain any type of relationship with the opposite sex due to their egocentric nature and the need for complete secrecy. However the truth appears to be completely different. As part of my book Men Can Wear Dresses I reviewed the results of nearly 10,000 respondents to four independent crossdressing surveys. Surprisingly it revealed that on average over 70% of crossdressers are married. Of those, again 70% have disclosed their crossdressing to partners, who again, surprisingly are accepting, if not entirely approving.

5. “Men who dress in women’s clothes are sexual perverts”
It is widely believed that the singular reason for a man to crossdress is for sexual stimulation or gratification. In fact transvestism as, we have discovered is referred to as a fetishist activity.

The Oxford English Dictionary definition of the noun fetish is:

1a Form of sexual desire in which gratification is linked to an abnormal degree to a particular object, item of clothing, part of the body, etc. in particular it states “Some may have fetishes, like dressing up in women’s clothes”

1b An excessive and irrational devotion or commitment to a particular thing.

It is, based on the above, undoubtedly true that their must be an element of fetishism in any repeated crossdressing. In 2001 an Internet survey of 513 crossdressers established that 42% dressed due to an inner compulsion compared to 34% who crossdressed for sexual excitement. A further survey of nearly 6,000 crossdressers strongly or mostly disagreed that their crossdressing was a sexual fetish. Furthermore they went on to ask if the respondents believed their transgendered behaviour was primarily sexually motivated ? Of the 6,000 responses 49% strongly or mostly disagreed with 17% remaining ambivalent.

So it appears most crossdressers began dressing as pre-pubescent boys, generally as a result of an inner emotional need. The majority of transvestites are heterosexual, have stable relationships, with partners who are aware of their crossdressing. The majority of crossdressers, do so for reasons other than sexual excitement and most importantly . . . IT IS A CERTAINTY THAT YOU WILL KNOW A CROSSDRESSER!

So do you still think you know about transvestites . . . .

Taken from the forthcoming book Men Can Wear Dresses Too by Catie Maye

Tags: crossdressing, featured, transvestism, transvestite

Category: Transgender Body & Soul