Distressed transvestites. Psychometric characteristics

Transvestic fetishism is characterized by eroticized cross-dressing in a heterosexual male. Twenty-one transvestites who were seeking psychiatric consultation were evaluated using the Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory (DSFI) and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). They were compared with 45 heterosexual married males. The transvestic group was significantly more distressed on most dimensions of the BSI. The transvestic group displayed a more negative body image, a more feminine gender role perception, and less experience than the comparison group on the DSFI. Those transvestites who had no homosexual experience were less frequently gender dysphoric but more frequently had a concurrent axis I disorder. The transvestite with recent homosexual experience reported an earlier age when cross-dressing began. These findings are discussed in the context of previous research on transvestism.