is crossdressing in the genes

[Bobbie Anne]

Hi All. Long story cut short. I am the product of WW2 5 years ago I learned the man I new as my father was not. My daughter started all this and found my biolgical father,of course he denided, his wife and son believed my daughter, also my mother wrote a letter saying it was true. Why would she lie after 55 years of hiding this.
My bio father died 5 years ago, two weeks later his oldest son, my half brother called and gave me the news. We have gotten along great ever since, he and his wife have stayed with us, and we have been to his place, there is no doubt in his mind who I am. Now his younger brother who was a year younger than me died about 7 years ago, he was a confirmed crossdresser and did not hide it. This gets we wondering as I have been dressing for 40+ years, is there a connection here. Two sons from the same man like to dress up. Any thoughts on this. Bobbie Anne

[Leeza]

I have wondered about this also.

My half brother bought me my first pair of earrings before I came out to him and seemed accepting when I told him I was a crossdresser. I never knew of him being a CD, but a short time before his death I found out that he had a shoe fetish.

Leeza

[Caith]

My father's first cousin committed suicide very young, and from his teenage pictures, it was clearly evident he probably was a transsexual. My first cousin on my father's side is gay. There's bound to be something genetic at play here, but I don't believe either the science or psychology was available that long ago, to recognize it.

[DonnaT]

I definitely feel there is a genetic link, possibly influenced by hormones. I also feel it may lay dormant until triggered by some event, like dressing up for the first time.

[Paula G]

Of course if both my brothers come out as cross dressers I will be convinced, but I must say I am sceptical. I would love it to e the case that this is genetic, if only because that would let me "off the hook" if it is genetic then that would explain why it is so compulsive, but I suspect that our clothing choices are much more a matter of nurture.

[DonnaT]

One of my ideas is, think about those who are Intersex. A result of differences in genes and/or their reactions to hormones.

If nearly the whole body (including the brain) can be altered (think CAIS) because of the genes and hormones, or if ones genitalia can be altered, why not the brain alone?

[Anthony Simon]

Well genetics works by selection over long periods. So, over time, those characteristics which make better fathers are going to be naturally selected in the male - and those that make better mothers in the female. That's one root of "male" and "female" characteristics. But you can also have it the other way - like as long as you've got a balance of these characteristics within a family, for example enough "nurturing" characteristics between father and mother - then the children will also do OK.

Or, at least that's my theory about my family, where my mother has distinctly masculine characteristics and my father feminine ones and I'm somewhere in between.

So my theory would be you'd get family groups where individuals have characteristics of the "wrong" sex and marry individuals who have balancing characteristics of the opposite "wrong" sex. If that is so and the "wrong" characteristics are passed down from generation to generation (i.e. genetically), then you'd tend to get various non-standard gender/sexual outcomes - like CDing or being gay - across the extended family.

Not that it has anything to do with this, but I tend to think that the stereotypical "male" qualities are becoming more difficult to fit into what is a very controlled and structured society. Well maybe it does a bit, because I think that a certain amount of "feminine" behaviour on the part of males is more useful in this society than when we were out there hunting woolly mammoths for our dinner (though you wouldn't know it from the stereotypes we see on TV and film). Which would mean that, over time, behaviour such as ours is likely to be less frowned upon because, at root, a society such as ours is better off with less stereotypicaly "male" males.

[Absaroka]

Any question like this must first address what we mean by crossdressing, since it covers so many different things.

I had an interesting discussion about genetics and criminal behavior. The gold standard for genetic studies is separated identical twin studies-identical twins separated at birth and raised without knowing each other. There is a close to 100 % correlation for alcoholism in these studies. Therefore we might conclude that alcoholism has a strong genetic component. Alcoholism is strongly correlated with violent crime- drunks are more likely to get violent. Thus there would be a genetic link to tendencies to commit violent crimes via genetic links to alcoholism. No doubt other links in other areas might be found. But would a genetic link for cross dressing be a link to sexual fetishism, atypical gender identification, or simple resistance to socialization?

Zari

[DonnaT]

We've known twins that live together having the same nurturing parents where one twin is trans, but I don't know of any that have been raised separately and both turned out to be trans. Secrecy could be a big part of not knowing.

[Wendae]

I responded to this once and for some reason it didn't post anyway..... My uncle on my father side was a gay crossdresser and my aunt on my mom's side was a lesbian. My dad had a fem streak but claimed to be a homophobe. I think there is something to the idea of genetics. Or... maybe I was a lesbian in a past life!!!

[Ralitsa]

it seems like almost everything has some genetic component, but like Zari pointed out it could be indirectly linked to a lot of things.
but aside from the academic interest, I would ask what difference it makes. I disagree with the idea of being "off the hook" since it implies that crossdressing is a defect. Alcoholism I think is a defect, insofar as it causes a lot of trouble and damage to the people involved. depending on one's attitude to life, homosexuality can be considered a defect in that it is a barrier to reproduction. if one thinks that reproduction is not critical and there are already enough people doing it, then it could also be considered an advantage.
so it is curious to me that people would like to blame whatever they consider to be a defect on genetics, but are happy enough to take credit themselves for any desirable traits. did you ever notice how proud people can be of their intelligence or beauty, and those are entirely genetically determined.
I myself take more pride in my clothing selection than my intelligence, since I have complete discretion over what I wear, and no control whatsoever over my mental capability. I don't want to be off the hook at all for wearing beautiful dresses or cute skirts with killer heels. I want people to tell me how nice it looks

[Domonique]

After much thought on this matter, i came to one possible answer. Scientificately everything is linked through genetics. Somewhere along the gentic pool things started changing. From Generation to generation the genes started "mixing and matching". Thus
creating us and our desire to dress in our prettiest of clothing and filling the spot that some still seem to leave empty for too long. Through out our generations there have been crossdressers and so forth. At least one of our U.S. Presidents was a CD. Stop and think about how many people that know us know that we are cd's.... We keep it a secret and only tell those that we want to know... So yes it is geneticly linked.
Of course thats my opinion.

[April Rose]

Which president was a Cd?

[Domonique]

Ok on my last statement i was incorrect about the president. It was J Edgar Hoover. I was corrected thankfully by another member. My memory is horrible lately about historical facts. and I think too much.

[DanielleW]

Well I know crossdressing runs in my family. When my mother found out she asked my great aunt about it. It seems my great grandfather was a CD and my great anut's nephew is a CD also. I don't know of any others but, I'm sure they're out there.