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Cross-dressing
Cross-dressing – a bit weird or pushing gender boundaries?
The issue:
They do it in Little Britain and Monty Python; Eddie Izzard does it... but why? Wearing clothes traditionally seen as those of the opposite sex, or cross-dressing, has been around since Biblical times. But do we really understand why people cross-dress? One thing that seems certain is that lack of understanding and prejudice can often lead us to jump to conclusions about, and stereotype, other people.
What is it?
Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes usually associated with the opposite gender within a society. There are various terms used to describe people who cross-dress, such as transvestite, tranny (which can be seen as derogatory) and TV, though these terms are only used to describe male cross-dressers.
History
The term transvestism was first used by Magnus Hirschfeld, a German scientist and sexologist, in 1915 (from Latin trans-, 'across, over' and vestere, 'to dress or to wear'). He used it to describe people who wore clothes of the opposite sex. However, cross-dressing has been around throughout history. For example, women have dressed as men in order to enter professions that were previously forbidden to women, such as medicine; and men have cross-dressed in order to escape military service.
Statistics
It is difficult to put an exact number to those people who cross-dress. Due to the continuing stigma about people coming out as cross-dressers and the fact that so much of cross-dressing is private, any statistics are likely to be an underestimation.
Why do people do it?
There are many different reasons why someone cross-dresses; these can be as individual as the person themselves. The reasons vary from just being more comfortable in the clothes of the opposite sex, to being sexually aroused by them, to using it as a political statement by confronting society's social norms around gender.
Does it mean he's gay?
Many people make all sorts of assumptions about transvestites or cross-dressers, but you can't assume the sexual orientation of someone who cross-dresses any more than anyone else. Men who cross-dress are actually more likely to be straight (heterosexual), with research studies putting the figure at between 50-80% (though again, there are very few reliable statistics about this).
Some straight men find transvestites very intimidating, either because they feel as if they represent a threat to their own sense of their gender or because they are worried or confused by being attracted to the outwardly female appearance of a transvestite, as it threatens their own sense of their sexuality.
On the other hand, straight women often see transvestites as less threatening than other men, as they don't perceive them as being sexually predatory. However, some straight women can also view transvestites as a competition or threat.
Sexually weird?
Some people are threatened by difference and by what they see as deviation to 'normal' sexual or gender roles. This can lead to them jumping to irrational conclusions about someone's sexual behaviour. However, there are no links between cross-dressing and abusive practices such as rape or child abuse.
Don't they just want to be women?
A lot of people confuse transvestism (cross-dressing) with being transsexual or transgender. Cross-dressing does not mean people want to change sex, whereas transgender people are those who feel that they were born into the wrong body or don't associate with the gender of their biological sex and transsexuals are those who want to, or have actually changed sex, through hormone replacement therapy and/or sex reassignment surgery.
Women cross-dressers
It is often assumed that there are many more male than female cross-dressers. However, women who cross-dress are much less 'visible' than male cross-dressers, as it has long been acceptable in our society for women to wear trousers, shirts and other clothes traditionally associated with men. We've moved a long way from Biblical times, when women wearing men's clothing was referred to as an 'abomination' in the book of Deuteronomy (22:5). But it's only been in the last seventy or so years that this has been seen as acceptable in Western society, and it's still unthinkable in many cultures around the world. So if we now see it as acceptable for women to wear men's clothing, why shouldn't men be allowed the same freedom? Why should men wearing skirts be considered any less 'normal' or socially acceptable than women wearing trousers?
Drag
Transvestism isn't the same as being a drag queen or drag king. Though drag is based on cross-dressing, in that it involves wearing clothes of the opposite sex, drag is a performance art, often involving singing, dancing and comedy. Drag queens are men who act as an exaggeratedly feminine character, usually in flamboyant dresses, wigs and make-up. Drag king is the term for a woman who dresses as an exaggeratedly masculine character, again usually for performance. Drag is predominately on the gay and lesbian scene, so the assumption is usually made that drag queens and kings are always gay or lesbian, though this is not always the case.
Do they do it as a turn on?
Sometimes, cross-dressing can be associated with sexual arousal, but not necessarily. Many cross-dressers get a sexual kick out of dressing in the clothes of the opposite sex and may use it as part of their sex life with their partners, or a man may just get a secret sexual kick for example by wearing women's underwear under his own clothes (referred to as underdressing). But often, cross-dressing has nothing to do with sexuality, it's just how someone wants to express themselves.
The term transvestic fetishism is used where a person is sexually aroused by items of clothes of the opposite sex. This may not involve wearing them, but just collecting silky underwear for example, or they may wear these items in private as a turn on.
Some people may also choose to cross-dress as part of a sexual role-play, though this doesn't mean they would consider themselves a cross-dresser or that they have a fetish.
Does it mean that they cannot have a relationship?
Most men who cross-dress have satisfying sexual relationships with women, but some research says that those women who found it hard to accept their partners' cross-dressing were those who found out about it after they had been together for a long time, making them feel as though they had not really known that person. If possible, it seems better to tell any partner or potential partner early on, in order for it to be accepted as part of the relationship.
Is it a mental health problem?
The DSM IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, a description of mental health difficulties) does describe a condition called Gender Identity Disorder, which is when people feel that they cannot identify with the gender of their biological sex, as is the case for transgender people (though many would argue that being transgender is not a mental health issue at all). Cross-dressing is not a mental illness, though it is likely that people who cross-dress could develop emotional health difficulties such as depression as a consequence of the prejudice and discrimination that they can face from society.
Psychological explanations
Psychologists have made several interpretations of why people cross-dress. Some say that it is a reaction to society's pressure for people to behave as is expected for their gender role, so for men it can be a way of allowing themselves to be more caring and sensitive, traits that are often associated with being female, and perhaps for women allowing them to be more overtly aggressive and tough.
Other theories are about how people develop a sense of their own gender through their experience of the opposite-sex parent. If they felt that this parent could not be there for them in the way they wanted then dressing up as their gender might be a way of building into themselves, or being in touch with, a wished-for parent of the opposite sex.
Some psychologists have talked about the difficulties that some cross-dressers have experienced in the past with attaching emotionally to their mothers and that, through cross-dressing, they are taking a bit of their mother with them and acting her out, meaning that they never experience the trauma of separation.
Gender boundaries
It could be said that, in our Western culture, as well as in many other cultures, we feel uncomfortable with people crossing the boundaries of what are seen as accepted gender roles. Cross-dressers may argue that they are playing with and challenging the constraints of gender roles and refusing to be labelled in a society that insists on putting people in categories and stereotyping them.
What do you think?
You've read some of the issues to do with cross-dressing; now it's your chance to have your say.
