Comparison of Transvestism in
Australia and America
Neil Buhrich, M.B.B.S.; D.P.M.; M.R.C. Psych.; M.D.1 and Trina Beaumont,B.Sc.2
Information concerning gender identity, sexual orientation, crossdressing
behavior, fetishism, and bondage was obtained from a questionnaire which was
posted to members of two transvestite clubs, one in the United States and one
in Australia. This study reports the responses of 136 American and 86
Australian self-designated transvestites who reported a period of fetishism to
women's clothes at some stage of development. Characteristics of transvestism
of subjects in both countries were remarkably similar: all were male, almost
half the subjects first crossdressed in prepuberty, and in the large majority
crossdressing was well established by late adolescence; intense fetishism was
usually experienced during adolescence but waned in later years; in almost a
quarter of subjects fetishism ceased, although the desire to crossdress
continued; in many subjects transvestism was associated with fantasies of
bondage, usually of the subjects bound while crossdressed; sexual orientation
was predominantly or exclusively heterosexual in more than three-quarters of
the subjects. Subjects were categorized into two groups. One group, termed
nuclear transvestites, were satisfied with crossdressing. The second group,
termed marginal transvestites, desired feminization by hormone ingestion or by
surgical intervention. Marginal compared to nuclear transvestites reported
significantly stronger feminine gender identity and tended to report a
stronger interest in the homosexual direction. The differences appeared to be
present from childhood. No significant differences were found between the
nuclear and marginal transvestites with regard to characteristics of
fetishism, bondage, and crossdressing except that in the American group
marginal transvestites currently crossdressed more frequently than did nuclear
transvestites.
KEY WORDS: transvestism; gender identity; sexual orientation; fetishism;
bondage; transcultural
1Associate Professor, Psychiatric Department, St. Vincent's Hospital,
Darlinghurst, Sydney 2010, Australia.
2Secretary, Seahorse Club of Australia, Box 341, Royal Exchange, Sydney,
Australia.
INTRODUCTION
Scientific literature concerned with transvestism is conflicting. Some
authors consider it related to homosexuality (Segel, 1962; Allen, 1969; Sim,
1964), others to fetishism (Stoller, 1968; Baker, 1969). Another area of
contention, namely, whether transvestism is a discrete syndrome from
transsexualism (Pauly, 1965; Barker, 1966; Stoller, 1973), is important since
the advent of irreversible sex-change operations. The present study aims to
clarify the characteristics of transvestism by investigating a large sample of
Australian and American subjects who were members of clubs established for
transvestites.
METHODOLOGY
For the purpose of this study, all subjects who crossdressed and reported a
period of fetishism to women's clothes at some stage of development were
regarded as being transvestites. The present study therefore included as
transvestites subjects who had shown fetishism even if they desired a sex-
change operation. All subjects who had not experienced fetishism were
excluded from the study. It has been reported previously that significantly
more transvestites than transsexuals have shown a period of fetishism (Buhrich
and McConaghy, 1977a). In a previous study, Buhrich and McConaghy (1977b)
reported that transvestite subjects who had shown a period of fetishism could
be categorized into two clinically discrete groups. Subjects who were
satisfied with crossdressing showed less intense feminine gender identity and
a stronger interest in the heterosexual direction in comparison with those
who, in addition to crossdressing, desired at least partial feminization by
hormones or by surgery. In that study, Buhrich and McConaghy termed the
former group of subjects nuclear transvestites and the latter group marginal
transvestites. Those two categories were retained for the present study.
A 132-item questionnaire was constructed by one of the authors (N.B.) with
the aim of obtaining information concerning biographical data, gender
identity, sexual orientation, characteristics of fetishism, and patterns of
crossdressing behavior. The questionnaire was sent to 130 members of the
Seahorse Club of Australia and 225 members of the Society for the Second Self
in the United States with a stamped and return-addressed envelope; it was
requested that the questionnaires be completed and returned to the Secretaries
of the respective clubs. The questionnaires were to be answered anonymously.
Responses were received from 139 (62%) American subjects and 97 (75%)
Australian subjects. All were male. Some subjects (13 Americans and 11
Australians) reported that they had not experienced fetishism to women's
clothes and were excluded from the study. The remaining 86 Australians and
126 Americans had shown fetishistic arousal to women's clothes at some stage
of development.
On the basis of their responses the subjects were categorized into two
groups. Those satisfied with crossdressing (31 of the Australians [36%] and
50 of the Americans [40%]) were termed nuclear transvestites. The remaining
subjects (55 Australians [69%] and 75 Americans [60%]) desired at least
partial feminization by hormone ingestion or surgical intervention; they were
termed marginal transvestites. Of the marginal transvestites, 10 of the 55
Australians and 12 of the 75 Americans currently ingested feminizing hormones.
A further 31 Australians and 46 Americans desired female hormones. In
response to the question "Ignoring your situation and responsibility, would
you like to have any change of sex operation at present," 21 Australians and
47 Americans desired only breast and/or nose surgery. A further 34
Australians and 28 Americans also desired genital surgery. Eight Australians
and 11 Americans had sought medical help with the aim of undergoing surgical
feminization. Of these one had received rhinoplasty.
The responses of nuclear and marginal transvestites for the American and
Australian groups will be recorded separately and together. Discrepancies
between the total number of subjects in each group and the number of responses
on each item are due to the fact that some subjects failed to respond to some
questions.
RESULTS
Biographical Data
With regard to the 86 Australians, the mean age of the nuclear
transvestites was 38 years (range 21-68) and of the marginal transvestites, 39
(range 23-72). Twenty-four (77%) nuclear transvestites were married and four
(13%) had never married. Thirty-nine (71%) marginal transvestites were
married and 11 (20%) never married. The remaining subjects were divorced or
widowed.
With regard to the 126 Americans, the mean age of the nuclear transvestites
was 49 years (range, 29-71) and of the marginal transvestites, 44 (range, 26-
75). Thirty-seven (73%) of the nuclear transvestites were married and 7 (14%)
had never married. Fifty (67%) of the marginal transvestites were married and
11 (20%) had never married. The remaining subjects were divorced or widowed.
Characteristics of Feminine Gender Identity
Characteristics of feminine gender identity since childhood for subjects
are recorded in Table I.
Subjects were recorded as having been called "sissy" if they recalled
having been called "sissy" on more than two occasions between the ages of 6
and 12 years. Playmate preference and preference for girls' games such as
"dolls, cooking, or sewing" were also recorded for the ages of 6 to 12 years.
With regard to the item "wish to have been born a girl," the subject's
response was recorded as "often" if he was aware of the wish at least once a
week. With regard to the item "feel like a woman," subject's response was
recorded as "often" if he felt like a woman more than half the time.
Australian compared to American subjects significantly more frequently
preferred girls as playmates (x2 < 0.05, corrected) and wished to have been
born girls between the ages of 6 and 12 years (x2 < 0.05, corrected) and
between the ages of 13 and 18 years (x2 < 0.01, corrected).
In both groups, the tendency for marginal transvestites as compared to
nuclear transvestites to report more items characteristic of a feminine gender
identity reached significance (p < 0.05, Sign Test). Significant differences
on the individual items pertaining to gender identity for nuclear as compared
to marginal transvestite groups are indicated by the footnotes in Table I.
Characteristics of Crossdressing
Characteristics of crossdressing behavior for subjects are given in Table
II. Fully crossdressed was defined as "wearing dress, underwear, shoes,
makeup, and a wig or to dress in such a way so as to be able to pass in
public."
There was no significant difference between the American and Australian
groups with regard to crossdressing behavior. Within the American group,
marginal transvestites significantly more frequently crossdressed compared to
nuclear transvestites. There are no significant differences between the
nuclear and marginal transvestite groups on the remaining items in Table II.
Table I. Characteristics of Feminine Gender Identity (Percentages)
Americans Australians
Nu- Mar- Nu- Mar-
clear ginal Total clear ginal Total
(N=51) (N=75) (N=126) (N=31) (N=55) (N=86)
Called "sissy" 18 29 25 16 29 24
Preferred girls
as playmates 14 12 13 26 31 29
Preferred girls' games 2 7 5 6 20 15
Wished to have been
born a girl often:
Between 6 and 12 years 8 35b 24 26 51 42
Between 13 and 18 years 20 37 30 32 68b 56
After 19 years 14 48c 35 26 65b 51
Feel like a woman when:
Dressed as male 6 26a 18 13 25 21
Nude 6 20 14 16 33 27
Crossdressed 67 92b 82 71 87 81
ax2 < 0.05, corrected. bx2 < 0.01, corrected. cx2 < 0.001, corrected.
Sexual Orientation
Sexual orientation, based on subjects' reported fantasies and activities,
is given in Table III. Subjects' sexual orientations when in men's clothes
and when in women's clothes are tabulated separately. Subjects were
categorized as being exclusively heterosexual if they reported a sexual
preference for women, if they had never experienced homosexual contact to
orgasm, and if they never fantasized sexual contact with a male. Seven
subjects reported no sexual interest in either sex.
Table II. Characteristics of Crossdressing (Percentages)
Americans Australians
Nu- Mar- Nu- Mar-
clear ginal Total clear ginal Total
(N=51) (N=75) (N=126) (N=31) (N=55) (N=86)
Age in years when
first crossdressed
Under 11 44 35 50 59 50 45
11-19 44 37 40 55 45 49
Over 19 15 8 12 6 5 6
Partially crossdressed
at first crossdressing 69 85 79 87 89 87
Wear female items
when dressed as male 54 76 59 65 73 70
Longest continuous
period fully crossdressed
Hours 57 28 40 48 47 48
Days 29 55 52 32 36 35
More than a week 12 15 13 10 13 17
Has appeared fully
crossdressed in public 67 79 74 55 62 59
Frequency of crossdressing
when tense
Diminished 6 5 6 13 13 13
Same 24 21 22 23 20 21
Increased 38 25 30 42 40 41
Varies 34 48 42 32 27 26
Currently crossdresses
more often than weekly 16 49a 36 42 33 36
ax2 < 0.01, corrected.
Table III. Sexual Orientation (Percentages)
When dressed as male When crossdressed
Americans Australians Americans Australians
Nu- Mar- Total Nu- Mar- Total Nu- Mar- Total Nu- Mar- Total
clear ginal clear ginal clear ginal clear ginal
(N=51)(N=126)(N=55)(N =51)(N=126)(N=55)(N=75)(N=31)(N=86) (N=75) (N=31) (N=86)
Exclusively
heterosexual 92 83 87 87 64 72 67 43 52 65 51 56
Predominantly
heterosexual 8 11 10 13 25 21 26 31 29 19 27 24
Equally
homo-hetero-
sexual - 3 2 - 2 1 4 12 9 3 9 7
Predominantly
homosexual - - - 7 5 - 4 2 - 5 3
Exclusively
homosexual - 1 1 - - - - 4 2 3 5 5
When in men's clothes, significantly more Australians reported interest in
the homosexual direction compared to the Americans (x2 < 0.05, Yates
corrected, cutting point nearest the mean). There was no significant
difference between the groups with regard to sexual orientation when in
women's clothes (cutting point nearest the mean).
There was a trend, which reached significance for the American nuclear
transvestites when crossdressed (x2 < 0.05, uncorrected), for nuclear compared
to marginal transvestites to report a stronger heterosexual interest when
dressed as male and when crossdressed.
Characteristics of Fetishism and Bondage
Characteristics of fetishism for women's clothes and of bondage reported by
subjects in both groups is given in Table IV. Spontaneous ejaculation is
defined as ejaculation without manual stimulation while putting on or wearing
women's clothes. With regard to bondage, subjects were asked whether they
ever had fantasies of being tied up or of tying somebody else up. Four
American and three Australian subjects first experienced fetishism after age
40 years.
Table IV. Characteristics of Fetishism and Bondage (Percentages)
Americans Australians
Nuclear Total Marginal Nuclear Total Marginal
(N=51) (N=126) (N=55) (N=75) (N=31) (N=86)
Age in years at first
experience of fetishism
Under 17 11 16 16 16 13 18
11 to 19 62 68 66 61 60 64
Over 19 22 16 18 26 13 18
Spontaneous ejaculation
at some stage of
development 48 42 44 29 34 33
Has been sexually
aroused by reflection
of self crossdressed 60 66 62 77 74 76
Current intensity of
fetishism compared
to earlier years
none 22 26 25 3 27a 19
diminished 34 45 40 42 43 43
same 32 18 24 39 15 24
increased 10 12 11 16 13 14
Fantasies of bondage
(usually of self bound
while crossdressed) 26 30 28 32 45 41
ax2 < 0.05, corrected
There was no significant difference between the Australian and American
groups on the five items recorded in Table IV. Within the Australian group,
significantly more marginal transvestites compared to nuclear transvestites
denied current fetishism. There was no significant difference between the
nuclear and marginal transvestites in the American group.
DISCUSSION
Comparison of Australian and American Transvestites
There was a remarkable similarity in the characteristics reported by
members of the Australian and the American transvestite clubs. No significant
difference between the two groups was found with regard to marital status, the
proportion who desired physical feminization on six of the seven items
concerned with crossdressing, and on all five items concerned with bondage and
fetishism.
Concerning sexual orientation, Benjamin's (1967) observation that
transvestites while crossdressed report a significant shift of interest in the
homosexual direction was supported by this study. The significantly less
heterosexual interest while dressed in men's clothes reported by the
Australians compared to the Americans may be a chance finding, particularly
since subjects in both groups, when crossdressed, reported similar intensity
of interest in the homosexual direction. It should be noted that, even when
crossdressed, well over three-quarters of the subjects maintain an orientation
which is predominantly or exclusively heterosexual.
Australian subjects reported a significantly stronger feminine gender
identity during their formative years compared to American subjects. The
differences between the two groups were not significant when subjects reported
on items indicating feminine gender identity in adulthood.
The older mean age of Americans compared to Australians does not appear to
influence the characteristics recorded. This may be due to the fact that the
large majority of subjects had begun crossdressing by later adolescence and,
consequently, their pattern of transvestite behavior was well established by
the time the questionnaire was completed.
Transvestism, as defined in this article, is invariably associated at some
stage of development with fetishism. However, the conclusion cannot be made
that fetishism is always the primary motivating factor for transvestites to
crossdress, as some authors have suggested (Randell, 1959; Stoller, 1968;
Bancroft, 1972). In this study, almost 50% of subjects reported that they
crossdressed prior to their first fetishistic experience and over 20%
continued to crossdress despite the fact that fetishism has ceased. With
regard to fetishism, little emphasis is evident in the literature written for
transvestite consumption (Buhrich and McConaghy, 1976) or that written by
transvestites (Prince, 1962; Personal Paper, 1971). The finding by Prince and
Bentler (1972) that only 12% of 504 transvestite subjects "looked upon
themselves" as fetishists is probably due to the fact that most transvestites
preferred not to emphasize and may gain little pleasure from this aspect of
behavior (Buhrich, 1978).
The association of bondage and transvestism has been reported previously
(Kinsey et al. 1953; Benjamin, 1966; Taylor-Buckner, 1970). Over a third of
subjects in this study recorded fantasies of bondage, usually of themselves
bound while crossdressed. Playboy (1976) reported that 3% of 3,700 male
college students had practiced and enjoyed bondage. Presumably the incidence
would have been higher if the authors had included fantasies of bondage.
Nevertheless, the association of fantasies of bondage with crossdressing seems
likely to be more frequent than would be expected in the general population,
as suggested by the college sample.
Comparison of Nuclear and Marginal Transvestism
With regard to the differences between nuclear and marginal transvestite
subjects of both groups, it was found that marginal transvestites compared to
nuclear transvestites reported a significantly stronger feminine gender
identity and a trend, which reached significance for the American subjects
while crossdressed, to show more interest in the homosexual direction.
There was no significant difference between the nuclear and marginal
transvestites with regard to crossdressing characteristics, apart from the
finding that, in the American group, marginal transvestites currently
crossdressed more frequently than nuclear transvestites. There was also very
little difference between the nuclear and marginal transvestites with regard
to the characteristics of fetishism and of bondage. The one significant
difference - namely, that Australian marginal compared to nuclear
transvestites reported less current fetishism - cannot be attributed to the
ingestion of female hormones (thereby inhibiting sexual arousal) since a
similar proportion of Australian and American subjects were currently taking
the hormones. The difference between nuclear and marginal transvestites
appears to be present from childhood, since marginal transvestites compared to
nuclear transvestites in both the American and Australian groups report a
stronger feminine gender identity on all items in Table I recording such
characteristics during these years (p < 0.05, Sign Test).
There was no difference between the nuclear and marginal transvestites in
the frequency with which bondage was reported, despite the fact that the two
groups differed in gender identity and sexual orientation. It would therefore
seem that there is an association between fetishism and bondage rather than
sexual orientation or gender identity.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of members of the Seahorse Club
of Australia, members of the Society for the Second Self,and the assistance of
Ms. C. Beecroft, Co-leader of the Society for the Second Self.
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