What Causes People To Crossdress?

13 Aug What Causes People To Crossdress?

What causes people to crossdress? It’s a fascinating subject with many answers. In most societies, women can get away with crossdressing but men are still looked down upon for doing the same.

The term cross-dressing is usually used (but not always) to refer to cisgender, heterosexual men who wear clothing and accessories that are considered feminine or associated with women. They might dress that way full time, occasionally, or only in private. The rationale for cross-dressing isn’t universal and there’s limited research on common characteristics among those who do cross-dress.

Lets look at some of the possible explanations on what causes people to crossdress?

To be exact, there isn’t one specific thing that causes someone to crossdress as far as any research or studies have shown. A person’s reason to want to crossdress may vary from one person to the next. But there are also some common and not so common causes for people to crossdress, some of which are discussed as below.

For some, crossdressing is a very necessary outlet for feminine self-expression, which they might feel is a part of their identity or personality. These people are just expressing themselves and there’s nothing more to it than that.  They crossdress as a form of expression and crossdressing is a great opportunity for them to express themselves in the way they really want to. For some, they might just want to experiment with the feminine side of their otherwise male personalities.

A common cause in case of many crossdressers is because of the fascination for opposite gender clothing. They are very attracted to feminine clothing and enjoy the fabric of women’s clothing or feminine fashion. They like to envision or dress in a single or more piece of clothes generally intended for the opposite sex. These can be a single item, such as a bra, or a set of items, such as a dress, stockings, and heels.  Some of them might also feel men’s clothing to be quite boring or restrictive.

Another common cause for a person to crossdress is that it helps to reduce anxiety, to relax or to relieve tension. A person could be crossdressing as a form of escapism. There are societal expectations to being a man and sometimes they stress them out. Crossdressing is a way to relieve this stress for some people.

For some, it could be because they have a crossdressing fetish. For some, they could find being feminized or  forced to be feminine a strong fetish. This feeling of challenging social norms or doing something you’re quote un quote not supposed to do, may give a person some sort of gratification.

For some, crossdressing is not a sexual issue. It helps them to demolish some of the stereotypes about who women / men are and what their roles should be in society. By presenting themselves in a way that challenges the societal expectations of being a man, may lead them to adopt a feminine persona.

Once again, this doesn’t mean they have split personalities, it means certain conditions have to be present for them to express a side of themselves that they wouldn’t normally express if these conditions weren’t present. They might feel it to be liberating and empowering to be able to acknowledge their inner, forbidden desire.

There are also people who crossdress out of curiosity. Wondering what it’s like to be viewed as the opposite gender. How would people treat them if they happen to look very convincing?

Then of course, there are people who crossdress for fun. Perhaps they want to be a sexy nurse or a hot doctor and laugh it off with your friends.

In some cases, crossdressing as a defense mechanism against loss or trauma has also been discovered.

These are some of the reasons and someone else could have a reason for crossdressing that don’t fit these explanations. Also, crossdressing doesn’t mean every crossdresser is gay.

Gender expression and sexual identity don’t always align. There’s plenty of heterosexual people who crossdress and crossdressing doesn’t mean they want to transition it to the opposite gender. They may temporarily identify as opposite gender complete with the mannerisms, a name and pronouns but this still doesn’t necessarily mean they want to transition.

Is it true that once people get the urge to crossdress, it stays constant and strong throughout their life? No, in fact there are crossdressers who experience highs and lows and their desire to crossdress. Ways that people choose to express gender may change over time, so someone may find that over time crossdressing no longer meets those needs or interests, but for others, crossdressing is a lifelong practice.