Lecture Notes

Transvestic disorder is another noncoercive paraphilic disorder. It is the wearing of clothing associated with the other sex for sexual arousal. Trans means cross and vest means dress. It forms in a broad range of behaviors in which one can wear only an article of clothing like a bra or panties of the other sex in the privacy of their own home, or an entire outfit. The difference between transvestistic disorder and fetishistic disorder is the viewing or fondling of the item of clothing versus the wearing of it.

The majority of these individuals have no desire to undergo a sex change operation. And transvestism should not be confused with transsexualism. Most transvestites have no desire to change their anatomical sex, where transsexuals do. However, they believe they have both masculine and feminine personalities within and value transvestism as an important part of their life. Most men who engage in this practice are heterosexual and masculine in their gender role.

The DSM-IV limits transvestic disorder to heterosexual males. However, the DSM-5 has no such restriction, opening the diagnosis to women or gay men who have this sexual interest. While

the change could increase the number of people diagnosed with transvestic disorder, the requirement

remains that individuals must experience significant distress or impairment because of their behavior.