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Transvestic disorder

Paraphilic disorder in the United States

Summary

Paraphilic disorder in the United States

FieldValue
synonymTransvestic fetishism
imageTransvestFetish.jpg
altA transvestite in black stockings.
captionA transvestite in black stockings.
specialtyPsychiatry
symptomsBeing sexually aroused by the act of cross-dressing and experiencing significant distress or impairment because of one’s behavior

Transvestic disorder (formerly transvestic fetishism) is a psychiatric diagnosis applied in some countries to people who are sexually aroused by the act of cross-dressing and experience significant distress or impairment – socially or occupationally – because of their behavior.

In countries which have adopted the World Health Organization standard ICD-11 CDDR it is not a diagnosis, but has been deprecated in favor of the more general "Paraphilic disorder involving solitary behavior or consenting individuals".

In countries, such as the United States, which use the American Psychiatric Association DSM-5 it is categorized as a specific paraphilic disorder. It differs from cross-dressing without distress or impairment, or for entertainment or other purposes that do not involve sexual arousal.

Diagnosis

DSM-5

According to DSM-IV, transvestic disorder (called fetishism at that time) was limited to heterosexual men; however, the DSM-5 does not have this restriction, and opens it to women and men with this interest, regardless of their sexual orientation. It is, however, usually documented in men.

There are two key criteria before a psychiatric diagnosis of "transvestic disorder" is made:

  1. Individuals must be sexually aroused by the act of cross-dressing.
  2. Individuals must experience significant distress or impairment – socially or occupationally – because of their behavior.

Criticism of DSM5-TR

An academic criticism says that the main cause of distress is not within the individual but “external invalidation, systemic stigma, and structural barriers” from society.

References

;

References

  1. "Paraphilic disorder involving solitary behaviour or consenting individuals".
  2. American Psychiatric Association. (2013). "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders". American Psychiatric Publishing.
  3. (2013-05-15). "Paraphilic Disorders Fact Sheet".
  4. (2012). "Shorter Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry". [[OUP Oxford]].
  5. American Psychiatric Association. (2000). ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing.
  6. Meneguzzo, Paolo. (November 2025). "Between Flesh and Identity: Embodied Selves in Disembodied Systems". Archives of Sexual Behavior.
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

cross-dressing fashion-related-fetishism gender-identity paraphilias sexual-fetishism sexual-roleplay
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