Cheese, Hard Drugs and Crossdressing

Hey kids. Sniffing cheese. It's not big and it's not clever...

As a cheese lover I was quite interested to see a piece of research floating around the internet claiming that cheese was actually shown to stimulate the same areas of the brain as hard drugs. It was widely reported in the mainstream press but in case you missed it here's the report from The Independent. What the various reports didn't suggest was that cheese was actually capable of giving you a high, although various headlines referencing hard drugs, crack cocaine and the like were obviously titillating along those lines. And of course the comments sections were full of 'mainlining brie', 'high on Stinking Bishop' sort of remarks. So who am I to spurn the opportunity either? (see pic above) What actually seems to be suggested is that cheese, due to the concentration of elements in the milk used to make it, is high in a chemical that stimulates a specific part of the brain relating to addiction and cravings. This area particularly relates to fatty and sweet foods which were valuable and highly prized elements in our ancestors diets. In a time of food scarcity it were these foods that were particularly valuable so it makes sense that our bodies did their best to promote their consumption by flagging them up to us in some way. And craving and addiction should do it well enough, although some manifestations are a little odd. It's pretty well documented that pregnant women also have unusual and, thankfully, temporary food cravings and I'm pretty sure that one of the explanations I've heard is that this is also the body's way of getting just the right elements it needs for the growing baby. Although you'd hope there were viable alternatives to coal and soap sometimes. But what on earth has this to do with cross-dressing?

Well, if I'm being absolutely truthful, probably not a lot although I might make a very weak attempt to link it all up  

                                      All cheese-lovers are addicted to cheese. 
                                                  I am addicted to cheese.
                                                      I am a cross-dresser.
                                         All cross-dressers are cheese-lovers.
                                                            and maybe
                                         All cheese lovers are cross-dressers

but I don't think anyone is really going to buy into that one... rather what made me link the two was something that has been intriguing me with regard to my own and others cross-dressing. Namely how much of it might be down to an actual chemical addiction in the same way as alcohol, tobacco, drugs and, of course, cheese?

I've been wondering if my own patterns of behaviour are not really unlike that of, say, an

Sexy cheeseboard. No corset required.

alcoholic? I'm quite devious when it comes to my dressing and I'm used to hiding things; if I don't get to dress on a fairly frequent basis I can get very crotchety and irritable; when younger I would on occasion have a 'purge' and get rid of everything, only to fall back off the wagon later on; my real pleasure is in the anticipation and satisfying of my urge to dress rather than the actual dressing itself (once I'm dressed and done up there's not much more to do really); I spend way too much time thinking about dressing and the issues around dressing than I really should. Does that make me sound a bit like an addict? Of course what would be really fascinating would be to have one of those really useful infographics showing nebula-like clusters of brain activity of an alcoholic taking their first shot of the day; an artisanal cheese producer sniffing at their blue cheese rind and myself ratchetting the corset up one notch too far. Would that show or prove anything definitve? Probably not but I'm up for it if there are any Phd students looking for a project...

Those damned spots...

Well if cross-dressing did ever show any correlation to addiction I suppose that would provide ammunition for those who would be looking to 'medicalise' the whole thing so on the whole probably best let it lie. However, in the course of some random googling that I laughingly refer to as 'research', there was another interesting snippet that I came across. Now if cross-dressing as an addiction might be a little too much to take, I was intrigued to see several references to cross-dressing as a form of OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (you know, the one we all associate with continual hand washing). A study from 2001 concluded "It is possible that some cases of transvestism are OCD-related while others are more related to a gender identity disorder." which I took to suggest that if you're transgender then probably not but if you're a transvestite probably yes. Bear in mind though that this research seems to have been carried out on a total of two (yes 2) individuals so I'm not really sure how much faith to put in it really. Another thing is that the NHS website defines OCD in terms of an 'An obsession - an unwanted and unpleasant thought, image or urge that repeatedly enters a person's mind, causing feelings of anxiety, disgust or unease. and a compulsion as a repetitive behaviour or mental act that someone feels they need to carry out to try to temporarily relieve the unpleasant feelings brought on by the obsessive thought. Well I can't really say that I find dressing makes me disgusted, and really I'm only anxious if I think I may be caught. And can I really say that dressing up now and then constitutes a repetative act to relieve these unpleasant feelings? Using these definitions I'm not sure I can.