Transvestic Fetishism 

An example of transvestic fetishism
Some men find the sheer fabric of stockings highly enticing

Transvestic fetishism is having a sexual or erotic interest in cross-dressing. It differs from cross-dressing for entertainment or other purposes that do not involve sexual arousal and is categorized as a paraphilia in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. (Sexual arousal in response to donning sex-typical clothing is homeovestism.)

Description

Transvestic fetishism refers specifically to cross-dressing; sexual arousal in response to individual garments is fetishism.1 Transvestic fetishism can occur with or without gender dysphoria1; that is, there are people who experience sexual arousal with cross-dressing and want to become the other sex, and there are there are people who experience sexual arousal with cross-dressing but do not want to become the other sex.

Some male transvestic fetishists collect women's clothing, e.g. nightgowns, babydolls, slips, and other types of nightwear, lingerie stockings and pantyhose, items of a distinct feminine look and feel. They may dress in these feminine garments and take photographs of themselves while living out their secret fantasies.

Transvestic fetishism has been described only in men and, more specifically, only in men sexually attracted to women.1

Transvestic fetishists may begin wearing their opposite sex's clothing as young children, using the clothes of a sibling, parent, or friend. Some parents have said they allowed their children to cross-dress and in many cases the child stopped when they became older. It appears that when boys are forbidden to cross-dress, they will try to stop, only to resume doing it later.citation needed The same pattern often continues into adulthood, where there may be confrontations with a spouse. Married transvestic fetishists will experience considerable anxiety and guilt if their spouse objects to their behaviour. Some have periodically disposed of all their clothing, a practice called "purging", only to start another collection later.

There are two key criteria before a psychiatric diagnosis of "transvestic fetishism" is made:1

  1. Recurrent, intense sexually arousing fantasies, urges, or behaviour, involving cross-dressing.
  2. This causes clinically significant distress or impairment, whether socially, at work, or elsewhere.

Thus, transvestic fetishism is not diagnosed unless it causes significant problems for the person concerned.

References

  1. ^ a b c d American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.

See also

v • d • e
Sexual fetishism
Fetishized subjects
and categories
Actions, events and states
Body parts (partialisms)
Breast · Foot · Hand · Navel · Nose
Fiction
Human identity and ethnic groups
Objects and substances
Fetish culture