Women in relationships with cross-dressing men: a descriptive study from a nonclinical setting

Over a 6-year period, 106 women involved with men who cross-dress (mostly heterosexual transvestites) completed a questionnaire regarding themselves, their male partners, and their relationships. Interview data supplemented these questionnaires for 75% of the respondents. All respondents were recruited from nonclinical settings. The "modal" female partner was a 40-year-old Protestant, Caucasian woman, who was a firstborn child, in her first marriage. She was more likely than other women her age to be childless, and to have earned at least a 2-year college degree. She was no more likely to have had lesbian experiences or substance use problems than comparably aged American women. She had been married to her cross-dressing mate for 13 years and had known of his activities for 9 years. A quarter of women reported at least occasional sexual arousal to their mate's cross-dressing. The two variables associated with low acceptance of cross-dressing were discovery of their partner's cross-dressing after marriage and lack of sexual arousal to cross-dressing stimuli. Low acceptance was unrelated to firstborn status, amount of exposure to cross-dressing activities, or having had children. This group may be more representative of women in relationships with cross-dressing men than previous reports limited to cross-dressers and spouses who are in treatment.