One in a Hundred?

I know that it is notoriously difficult to come up with any sort of reliable statistics on cross dressing, transgender or indeed any form of gender confusion.   I have heard all sorts of numbers bandied about most of them based on very little research, the most frequent is that one in a hundred people are or have to some extent cross dressed.   My first thought is that it is far to round a number to be accurate but it is s often quoted that I must give it some credence.   Now given that I am very rarely in any sort of randomly selected group of substantially more than one hundred I generally tend to assume that I am the one.   I know it's not that simple and I do now know that at least one former member of a band I used to play in has transitioned, at great personal and emotional cost.

Last night a strange little conversation reminded me of an equally strange little event any, many years ago, one I had just about forgotten.   Our conductor at the LGSO is a very nice chap, very friendly as well as being an excellent musician, I can think of many nice things to say about him, but words like slight, slim, lithe are not amongst them, so last night when I saw him wearing a rugby jersey with the number 10 on it I questioned the validity of the number.   Challenged he did admit that in the days when he did play he was actually prop, in return I admitted that I had been as well, and that was more or less the end of the subject.

I was however reminded of a fancy dress party we had at my own Rugby Club many years ago, as I remember it the theme was something as classy as "Vicars and Tarts" as in those days and in that social situation I was still deeply in the closet, I went as a vicar.   Most of the guys and girls there conformed with the expected dress options but there was one guy who went the "Tart" route.   At the time he was our first team fly half I have since lost touch with him, but I do remember thinking that he was perhaps a little too good.    He had certainly gone to greater lengths than would have been necessary for a one evening fancy dress, yes his legs were shaved and in hind sight it was a pretty good quality wig.   Knowing what I know now I would have checked his eyebrows ~ that's a guaranteed give away.

I wonder if this was something that more of us felt comfortable talking about and admitting then how many others we would find share our interest.