Buddhism and crossdressing?

I became a Buddhist a year and a half ago and recently I have had strong urges to revisit my past cross dressing fetish. It was so bad last night that I could not even sleep, I just kept thinking about wearing hose!

I am relatively the only Buddhist in my area and I was just wondering how a Buddhist would view cross dressing, or sexuality in general, especially in this area. My idea is that if I am attached to it it will lead to suffering, correct? But then again it is harmless to indulge... so I'm not sure? Any advice?

Namaste!

Desires and attachments lead to suffering. You need to meditate more...

Master

You are correct in considering cross-dressing as a fetish. It is a common fetish. About 10% of normal, healthy, heterosexual men say they feel pleasure from feminizing themselves. When they feminize themselves their brain releases dopamine and other neurotransmitters which produce sensations of well-being, pleasure, sexual gratification and bonding. It affects the reward centers of the brain and mimics the addiction response. Actually you do not love to cross-dress. You love the neurotransmitters and you are using cross-dressing as the tool to get your brain to release the neurotransmitters. It is an addiction and therefore it is harmful. As a fetish you are using objects as a substitute for human intimacy which is also unnatural. It will cause you to have a low self-esteem and poor social skills. So it should stop.

You have two options: The pure option is just to recognize it as harmful and immerse yourself in Buddhism and meditation.

The second option is to practice self-control, limit your cross-dressing and keep it private. This would be a long process. You will select one or two articles of feminine clothing. You will sleep in them every night (and only at night), over and over and over. You will find that over time your stimulation will wane. When you do the same thing over and over and over, it causes your brain to fatigue and your brain will slowly release less and less neurotransmitters. You will feel an urge to do something different to keep the level of neurotransmitters high. You must keep your discipline intact. It may take several years, but you should find it easier and easier to control your cross-dressing thoughts. Stay with you limited items until you no longer need them.

Early Buddhist attitudes to sexuality and gender were incredibly fluid. There are even accounts of women turning into men! It's to be noted that the norms for masculinity in Lord Buddha's day were 'effeminate' by modern Western standards - I'm talking jewelery, makeup and dresses.

So, cross dress away, Medea, and have lots of fun while you're at it! There's no shame in wearing women's clothing, either for women or for men.