Cross-dressing

The phenomenon of cross-dressing is seen throughout recorded history, being referred to as far back as the earliest known civilization.{{Cite web |last=Wilkin |first=Stanley |date=2017-11-23 |title=ANCIENT ... MESOPOTAMIAN RELIGION II at Spillwords |url=https://spillwords.com/ancient-fictionality-religion-and-creativity-mesopotamian-religion-ii/ |access-date=2025-06-03 |website=Spillwords |language=en-US |quote=The people of Sumer parade before you. The women adorn their right side with men’s clothing. The people of Sumer parade before you. I say, “Hail” to Inanna, Great Lady of Heaven! The men adorn their left side with women’s clothing. The people of Sumer parade before you.}} The terms used to describe it have changed throughout history; the Anglo-Saxon-rooted term "cross-dresser" is viewed more favorably than the Latin-origin term "transvestite" in some circles, where it has come to be seen as outdated and derogatory.{{cite book |author=Jamie C. Capuzza |author2=Leland G. Spencer|title=Transgender Communication Studies: Histories, Trends, and Trajectories|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-1-4985-0006-7|year=2015|page=174|access-date=October 21, 2016|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A1emBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA174|quote=Eventually, the transvestite label fell out of favor because it was deemed to be derogatory; cross-dresser has emerged as a more suitable replacement (GLAAD, 2014b).}} Its first use was in Magnus Hirschfeld's {{langx|de|Die Transvestiten|label=none}} (The Transvestites) in 1910, originally associating cross-dressing with non-heterosexual behavior or derivations of sexual intent. Its connotations largely changed in the 20th century as its use was more frequently associated with sexual excitement, otherwise known as transvestic disorder.{{Cite web |title=transvestism {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/transvestism |access-date=2022-12-01 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}} This term was historically used to diagnose psychiatric disorders (e.g. transvestic fetishism), but the former (cross-dressing) was coined by the transgender community.{{cite book |author=Annemarie Vaccaro |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZkxjSnI2e0UC&pg=PA142 |title=Safe Spaces: Making Schools and Communities Welcoming to LGBT Youth |author2=Gerri August |author3=Megan S. Kennedy |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-313-39368-6 |page=142 |quote=Cross-dresser/cross-dressing. (1) The most neutral word to describe a person who dresses, at least partially or part of the time, and for any number of reasons, in clothing associated with another gender within a particular society. Carries no implications of 'usual' gender appearance, or sexual orientation. Has replaced transvestite, which is outdated, problematic, and generally offensive since it was historically used to diagnose medical/mental health disorders. |access-date=October 21, 2016}} The Oxford English Dictionary gives 1911 as the earliest citation of the term "cross-dressing", by Edward Carpenter: "Cross-dressing must be taken as a general indication of, and a cognate phenomenon to, homosexuality". In 1928, Havelock Ellis used the two terms "cross-dressing" and "transvestism" interchangeably. The earliest citations for "cross-dress" and "cross-dresser" are 1966 and 1976, respectively.{{Cite web|url=http://www.oed.com/;jsessionid=54290019DADF286E3311933DC816B7ED?authRejection=true&url=%2Fview%2FEntry%2F44812%3FredirectedFrom%3Dcross-dress|title=Home: Oxford English Dictionary|website=www.oed.com|language=en|access-date=2019-02-17|archive-date=2021-03-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307191918/https://www.oed.com/;jsessionid=54290019DADF286E3311933DC816B7ED?authRejection=true&url=%2Fview%2FEntry%2F44812%3FredirectedFrom%3Dcross-dress|url-status=dead}}

The term en femme is a lexical borrowing of a French phrase. It is used in the transgender and crossdressing community to describe the act of wearing feminine clothing or expressing a stereotypically feminine personality. The term is a loanword from the French phrase {{lang|fr|en femme}}{{Cite web |last=Butler |first=Kirstin |date=June 1, 2023 |title=We Were Never Meant to See this Photograph |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/casa-susanna-we-were-never-meant-to-see-this-photograph/ |access-date=2024-03-24 |website=www.pbs.org |language=en |archive-date=2024-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718121100/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/casa-susanna-we-were-never-meant-to-see-this-photograph/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Julia Serano's trans, gender, sexuality, & activism glossary |url=http://www.juliaserano.com/terminology.html |access-date=2024-03-24 |website=www.juliaserano.com}} meaning "as a woman", Most crossdressers also use a feminine name whilst {{lang|fr|en femme}}; that is their "femme name". In the cross-dressing community the persona a man adopts when he dresses as a woman is known as his "femme self".{{cite book|last=Boyd|first=Helen|title=My Husband Betty: Love, Sex and Life With a Cross-Dresser|year=2004|publisher=Sdal Press|isbn=1560255153|pages=64|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vCT70HjI_a4C&q=en+femme}}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

{{lang|fr|En homme}} ({{IPA|fr|ɑ̃n‿ɔm|lang}}) is a similar borrowing from French, used to describe the act of wearing masculine clothing or expressing a stereotypically masculine personality.{{Cite book |last=Scott |first=Joan Wallach |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1smjv00 |title=Only Paradoxes to Offer: French Feminists and the Rights of Man |date=1996 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-63930-0 |pages=140–141 |language=en |chapter=The Radical Individualism of Madeleine Pelletier |jstor=j.ctv1smjv00.8 |quote=To re-dress the female body 'en homme' was to signal its autonomy and its individuality . . . . She herself wore closely cropped hair, a starched collar, tie, and suit coat long before these had become fashionable attire for 'modern' women after World War 1. . . . She understood her transvestism as a transgression of prevailing norms, a way of establishing her individuality in the face of a disapproving crowd |chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1smjv00.8}} The term is borrowed from the French phrase {{lang|fr|en homme}} meaning "as a man". Most crossdressers also use a masculine name whilst {{lang|fr|en homme}}.

File:Crossdressing circa 1890 Frances Benjamin Johnston (right).jpg (right) poses with two cross-dressing friends; the "lady" is identified by Johnston as the illustrator Mills Thompson {{circa|1890}}.]]

{{Main|History of cross-dressing}}

{{See also|Trousers as women's clothing}}

File:Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari) (CBL J 1038.1).jpg classical novel The Tale of Genji from 1008 demonstrates the transgression between masculine and feminine beauty with characters that have no clear gender differentiability. ]]

Cross-dressing has been practiced throughout much of recorded history, in many societies, and for many reasons. Examples exist in Greek, Norse, and Hindu mythology. Cross-dressing can be found in theater and religion, such as kabuki, Noh, and Korean shamanism, as well as in folklore, literature, and music. For instance, in examining kabuki culture during Japan's edo period, cross-dressing was not only used for theater purposes, but also because current societal trends: cross-dressing and the switching of genders was a familiar concept to the Japanese at the time which allowed them to interchange characters's genders easily and incorporate geisha fashion into men's wear.{{Cite web |title=Cross-dressers in Ukiyo-e {{!}} 太田記念美術館 Ota Memorial Museum of Art |url=http://www.ukiyoe-ota-muse.jp/exhibition-eng/crossdressors |access-date=2022-12-01 |language=ja |archive-date=2022-12-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201011917/http://www.ukiyoe-ota-muse.jp/exhibition-eng/crossdressors |url-status=live }} This was especially common in the story-telling of ancient stories such as the character Benten from Benten Kozō. He was a thief in the play cross-dressing as a woman. Cross-dressing was also exhibited in Japanese Noh for similar reasons. Societal standards at the time broke boundaries between gender. For example, ancient Japanese portraits of aristocrats have no clear differentiation in characteristics between male and female beauty. Thus, in Noh performance, the cross-dressing of actors was common; especially given the ease of disguising biological sex with the use of masks and heavy robes.{{Cite web |title=Intersections: Children in Late Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Century Lowland Philippine Societies |url=http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue16/saeki.htm |access-date=2022-12-01 |website=intersections.anu.edu.au |archive-date=2022-12-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201011923/http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue16/saeki.htm |url-status=live }} In a non-entertainment context, cross-dressing is also exhibited in Korean shamanism for religious purposes. Specifically, this is displayed in chaesu-gut, a shamanistic rite gut in which a shaman offers a sacrifice to the spirits to intermediate in the fortunes of the intended humans for the gut. Here, cross-dressing serves many purposes. Firstly, the shaman (typically a woman) would cross-dress as both male and female spirits can occupy her. This allows her to represent the opposite sex and become a cross-sex icon in 75% of the time of the ritual. This also allows her to become a sexually liminal being. It is clear that in entertainment, literature, art, and religion, different civilizations have utilized cross-dressing for many different purposes.{{Citation |last=Panoussi |first=Vassiliki |title=cross-dressing |date=2023-04-19 |work=Oxford Classical Dictionary |url=https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-8634 |access-date=2024-03-24 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.8634 |isbn=978-0-19-938113-5 |archive-date=2024-04-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240423125531/https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-8634 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}{{Cite book |last1=Duggan |first1=Anne E. |title=Folktales and fairy tales: traditions and texts from around the world |last2=Haase |first2=Donald |last3=Callow |first3=Helen J. |date=2016 |publisher=Greenwood |isbn=978-1-61069-253-3 |edition=2nd |location=Santa Barbara, California |pages=241–3 |language=en |quote=Prohibited in many societies, cross-dressing, or wearing the clothing of the other sex, is nonetheless practiced or narrated around the world in ritual, dance, balladry, theater, folktales, fairy tales, short stories, and novels. Transvestism, as it is also known, is an integral part of many folk ritual practices.}}

File:MFA PELIKE 04.jpg

In Ashkenaz Moses Isserles (1520-1572) writes, "There is a custom to wear masks on Purim, for men to wear women’s clothing, and for women to wear men’s clothing." clearly he saw masks and cross-dressing as common enough to be mentioned as standard custom.{{Cite web |last=Moskowitz |first=Mike |date=2018-02-27 |title=I'm A Boy And These Are My Clothes |url=https://www.jta.org/2018/02/26/ny/im-a-boy-and-these-are-my-clothes |access-date=2025-06-03 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}

In the British and European context, theatrical troupes ("playing companies") were all-male, with the female parts undertaken by boy players.

The Rebecca Riots took place between 1839 and 1843 in West and Mid Wales.{{cite book |last=Davies |first=John |author2=Jenkins, Nigel |title=The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales |year=2008 |publisher=University of Wales Press |location=Cardiff|page=730 |isbn=978-0-7083-1953-6}} They were a series of protests undertaken by local farmers and agricultural workers in response to unfair taxation. The rioters, often men dressed as women, took their actions against toll-gates, as they were tangible representations of high taxes and tolls. The riots ceased prior to 1844 due to several factors, including increased troop levels, a desire by the protestors to avoid violence and the appearance of criminal groups using the guise of the biblical character Rebecca for their own purposes.{{cite book |last=Gross|first=David M.|year=2014|title=99 Tactics of Successful Tax Resistance Campaigns|publisher=Picket Line Press|isbn=978-1-4905-7274-1|pages=68–69}} In 1844 an Act of Parliament to consolidate and amend the laws relating to turnpike trusts in Wales was passed.

A variety of historical figures are known to have cross-dressed to varying degrees. Many women found they had to disguise themselves as men in order to participate in the wider world. For example, it is postulated that Margaret King cross-dressed in the early 19th century to attend medical school, as universities at that time accepted only male students. A century later, Vita Sackville-West dressed as a young soldier in order to "walk out" with her girlfriend Violet Keppel, to avoid the street harassment that two women would have faced. The prohibition on women wearing male garb, once strictly applied, still has echoes today in some Western societies which require girls and women to wear skirts, for example as part of school uniform or office dress codes.{{cite news |last1=Doig |first1=Liz |title=Who's wearing the trousers? |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/505095.stm |access-date=12 December 2018 |work=BBC News UK |agency=BBC |date=November 4, 1999 |archive-date=23 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081123005510/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/505095.stm |url-status=live }} In some countries, even in casual settings, women are still prohibited from wearing traditionally male clothing.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}} Cross-dressing practices existed within both an evolving social and cultural environment up until cross-dressing laws became a prevalent part of controlling gender normativity and expression.Sears, Clare. “Instant and Peculiar.” In Arresting Dress: Cross-Dressing, Law, and Fascination in Nineteenth-Century San Francisco. pg. 23-40. Duke University Press, 2015. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1220nx9.

In many countries, cross-dressing was illegal under laws that identified it as indecent or immoral. Many such laws were challenged in the late 1900s giving people the right to freedom of gender expression with regard to their clothing.{{Cite web |title=Chapter seven: Gender Expression and Cross-dressing |url=https://www.icj.org/sogi-casebook-introduction/chapter-seven-gender-expression-and-cross-dressing/ |access-date=2022-11-14 |website=International Commission of Jurists |language=en-US}} There still remains 13 UN member states that explicitly criminalize transgender individuals, and there exist even more countries that use a great deal of diverse laws to target them. The third edition of the Trans Legal Mapping Report, done by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association found that an especially common method to target these individuals is through cross-dressing regulations.{{Cite web |last=Srikanth |first=Anagha |date=2020-09-30 |title=It is still illegal to be transgender in these countries |url=https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/519060-it-is-still-illegal-to-be-transgender-in-these-countries/ |access-date=2022-12-01 |website=The Hill |language=en-US}}

For instance, from 1840 forward, United States saw state and city laws forbidding people from appearing in public while dressed in clothes not commonly associated with their assigned sex. The goal of this wave of policies was to create a tool that would enforce a normative gender narrative, targeting multiple gender identities across the gender spectrum. With the progression of time, styles, and societal trends, it became even more difficult to draw the line between what was cross-dressing or not. In 2011, it was still possible for a man to get arrested for "impersonating a woman" — a vestige of the 19th century laws.{{Cite web |date=2015-05-31 |title=Arresting dress: A timeline of anti-cross-dressing laws in the United States |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/arresting-dress-timeline-anti-cross-dressing-laws-u-s |access-date=2022-12-01 |website=PBS NewsHour |language=en-us |archive-date=2024-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718120857/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/arresting-dress-timeline-anti-cross-dressing-laws-u-s |url-status=live }} Legal issues surrounding cross-dressing perpetuated all throughout the mid 20th century. During this time period, police would often reference laws that did not exist or laws that have been repealed in order to target the LGBTQ+ community.{{Cite web |last=Ryan |first=Hugh |title=How Dressing in Drag Was Labeled a Crime in the 20th Century |url=https://www.history.com/news/stonewall-riots-lgbtq-drag-three-article-rule |access-date=2022-12-01 |website=HISTORY |date=28 June 2019 |language=en}}{{Unreliable source?|date=May 2025}}

Nepal decriminalized cross-dressing in 2007.{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtonblade.com/2024/04/22/out-in-the-world-lgbtq-news-from-europe-and-asia-21/,%20https://www.washingtonblade.com/2024/04/22/out-in-the-world-lgbtq-news-from-europe-and-asia-21/|title=Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe and Asia|first=Rob|last=Salerno|date=April 22, 2024|website=www.washingtonblade.com|access-date=April 24, 2024|archive-date=July 18, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718121101/https://www.washingtonblade.com/2024/04/22/out-in-the-world-lgbtq-news-from-europe-and-asia-21/|url-status=live}} Only in 2014 did an appeal court in Malaysia finally overturn a state law prohibiting Muslim men from cross-dressing as women.

In the Australian state of Tasmania, cross-dressing in public was made a criminal offence in 1935, and this law was only repealed in 2000.{{cite news |last1=Delaney |first1=Martine |title=How Tasmania is going from worst to best on transgender human rights |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/08/how-tasmania-is-going-from-worst-to-best-on-transgender-human-rights |work=The Guardian |date=8 April 2019 |access-date=15 June 2023 |archive-date=4 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190504185844/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/08/how-tasmania-is-going-from-worst-to-best-on-transgender-human-rights |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Evening Cross-Dressing Legal in Tasmania |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=82131&page=1 |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=ABC News |language=en}}

There are many different kinds of cross-dressing and many different reasons why an individual might engage in cross-dressing behavior.Rainbow Reader, Fort Wayne, Indiana Some people cross-dress as a matter of comfort or style, a personal preference for clothing associated with the opposite gender. Some people cross-dress to shock others or challenge social norms; others will limit their cross-dressing to underwear, so that it is not apparent. Some people attempt to pass as a member of the opposite gender in order to gain access to places or resources they would not otherwise be able to reach.

File:A duet, “Mary from Dundee”.jpg concert party (Diamond Troupe), performing during World War I]]

Single-sex theatrical troupes often have some performers who cross-dress to play roles written for members of the opposite sex (travesti and trouser roles). Cross-dressing, particularly the depiction of males wearing dresses, was historically used for comic effect onstage and on-screen.

Boy player refers to children who performed in Medieval and English Renaissance playing companies. Some boy players worked for the adult companies and performed the female roles as women did not perform on the English stage in this period. Others worked for children's companies in which all roles, not just the female ones, were played by boys.{{cite book

|last=Chambers |first=E.K. |author-link=Edmund Kerchever Chambers

|year=1923

|title=The Elizabethan Stage

|volume=2

|place=Oxford, UK

|publisher=Clarendon Press

}}

{{rp|style=ama|pp= 1–76}} 

{{cite book

|last=Halliday |first=F.E. |author-link=F. E. Halliday

|year=1964

|title=A Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964

|place=Baltimore, MD

|publisher=Penguin Books

|pages=35, 71, 98–101

}}

In an effort to clamp down on kabuki's popularity, women's kabuki, known as {{transliteration|ja|onna-kabuki}}, was banned in 1629 in Japan for being too erotic.{{cite book | url=http://www.theatrehistory.com/asian/kabuki001.html | title=An Outline History of the Japanese Drama | publisher=George Allen & Unwin LTD | author=Lombard, Frank Alanson | year=1928 | location=London | pages=287–295 | isbn=978-1-138-91983-9 | access-date=2022-06-15 | archive-date=2022-03-20 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320073931/http://theatrehistory.com/asian/kabuki001.html | url-status=live }} Following this ban, young boys began performing in {{transliteration|ja|wakashū-kabuki}}, which was also soon banned. Thus adult men play female roles in kabuki.

Dan is the general name for female roles in Chinese opera, often referring to leading roles. They may be played by male or female actors. In the early years of Peking opera, all {{transliteration|zh|dan}} roles were played by men, but this practice is no longer common in any Chinese opera genre.

Women have often been excluded from Noh, and men often play female characters in it.{{Cite web|url=https://thetheatretimes.com/living-breathing-history-noh/|title=Living And Breathing History, Through Noh|date=March 24, 2018|access-date=June 15, 2022|archive-date=June 18, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220618180243/https://thetheatretimes.com/living-breathing-history-noh|url-status=live}}

Drag is a special form of performance art based on the act of cross-dressing. A drag queen is usually a male-assigned person who performs as an exaggeratedly feminine character, in heightened costuming sometimes consisting of a showy dress, high-heeled shoes, obvious make-up, and wig. A drag queen may imitate famous female film or pop-music stars. A faux queen is a female-assigned person employing the same techniques. A drag king is a counterpart of the drag queen – a female-assigned person who adopts a masculine persona in performance or imitates a male film or pop-music star. Some female-assigned people undergoing Gender-affirming surgery also self-identify as 'drag kings'.File:Lady Bunny and Sherry Vine by David Shankbone.JPGs Lady Bunny (left) and Sherry Vine (right) in 2008. Drag is a form of cross-dressing as performance art.]]The modern activity of battle reenactments has raised the question of women passing as male soldiers. In 1989, Lauren Burgess dressed as a male soldier in a U.S. National Park Service reenactment of the Battle of Antietam, and was ejected after she was discovered to be a woman. Burgess sued the Park Service for sexual discrimination.{{cite news |last1=Robinson |first1=Lynda |date=September 30, 1991 |title=Battle re-enactor finds herself at war with U.S. Park Service |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1991/09/30/battle-re-enactor-finds-herself-at-war-with-us-park-service/ |work=The Baltimore Sun |issn=1930-8965 |oclc=244481759 |publisher=Trif Alatzas |access-date=13 August 2018 |archive-date=2018-08-15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815024639/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-09-30/news/1991273008_1_re-enactors-civil-war-burgess/2 }} The case spurred spirited debate among Civil War buffs. In 1993, a federal judge ruled in Burgess's favor.{{cite news |last1=Meyer |first1=Eugene L |date=March 18, 1993 |title=Woman Wins Fight Over Civil War 'Battle' Garb |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-03-18-mn-12369-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=14 August 2018 |quote=U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled that... the Antietam park policy of 'categorically barring women from portraying male soldiers... constitutes unconstitutional discrimination against women.' |archive-date=2024-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718121042/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-03-18-mn-12369-story.html |url-status=live }}

"Wigging" refers to the practice of male stunt doubles taking the place of an actress, parallel to "paint downs", where white stunt doubles are made up to resemble black actors.{{cite news |last1=Robb |first1=David |title=Stuntwomen Panel: Evangeline Lilly Says She Was Intentionally Injured While Filming 'Lost' |url=https://deadline.com/2018/05/stuntwomen-panel-evangeline-lilly-deven-macnair-1202393558/ |access-date=12 December 2018 |work=Deadline |date=17 May 2018 |language=en}} Female stunt doubles have begun to protest this norm of "historical sexism", saying that it restricts their already limited job possibilities.{{cite news |last1=Carroll |first1=Rory |title='It's historical sexism' – the fight to end stuntmen doubling for women |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/feb/10/wigging-stuntmen-doubling-for-women-lawsuit |access-date=12 December 2018 |work=The Guardian |date=10 February 2018 |archive-date=18 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718121100/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/feb/10/wigging-stuntmen-doubling-for-women-lawsuit |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Lavelle |first1=Daniel |title=Why stuntwomen are angry about 'wigging' – and are changing the industry from within |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/nov/27/why-stuntwomen-are-angry-about-wigging-and-are-changing-the-industry-from-within |access-date=12 December 2018 |work=The Guardian |date=27 November 2018 |archive-date=18 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718121101/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/nov/27/why-stuntwomen-are-angry-about-wigging-and-are-changing-the-industry-from-within |url-status=live }}

Image:1896 DanLeno-WidowTwankey.jpg as Widow Twankey in the 1896 pantomime Aladdin at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London]]

Cross-dressing is a traditional popular trope in British comedy.{{cite news |title=The Brits and Cross-Dressing: A History |url=http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2014/11/brits-cross-dressing-history |access-date=26 April 2019 |agency=BBC America |archive-date=26 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426175832/http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2014/11/brits-cross-dressing-history |url-status=live }} The pantomime dame in British pantomime dates from the 19th century, which is part of the theatrical tradition of female characters portrayed by male actors in drag. Widow Twankey (Aladdin's mother) is a popular pantomime dame: in 2004 Ian McKellen played the role.

The Monty Python comedy troupe donned frocks and makeup, playing female roles while speaking in falsetto.{{cite news |title=Cross-Dressing and Fish-Slapping, One Python at a Time |newspaper=The New York Times |date=22 February 2006 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/22/arts/television/crossdressing-and-fishslapping-one-python-at-a-time.html |access-date=26 April 2019 |agency=The New York Times |last1=Martel |first1=Ned |archive-date=18 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718121109/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/22/arts/television/crossdressing-and-fishslapping-one-python-at-a-time.html |url-status=live }} Character comics such as Benny Hill and Dick Emery drew upon several female identities. In the BBC's long-running sketch show The Dick Emery Show (broadcast from 1963 to 1981), Emery played Mandy, a busty peroxide blonde whose catchphrase, "Ooh, you are awful ... but I like you!", was given in response to a seemingly innocent remark made by her interviewer, but perceived by her as ribald double entendre.{{cite news |title=The Dick Emery Show |url=https://www.britishclassiccomedy.co.uk/ooh-you-are-awful-but-i-like-you |access-date=26 April 2019 |agency=British classic comedy}} The popular tradition of cross dressing in British comedy extended to the 1984 music video for Queen's "I Want to Break Free" where the band parody several female characters from the soap opera Coronation Street.{{cite news |title=10 things you may not know about Queen's biggest 80s hits |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4C6GqGSRcDydqhJNh5xpgyZ/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-queens-biggest-80s-hits |first=Fraser |last=McAlpine |date=29 November 2018 |agency=BBC |access-date=6 January 2019 |archive-date=18 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718121446/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4C6GqGSRcDydqhJNh5xpgyZ/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-queens-biggest-80s-hits |url-status=live }}

File:Luzi Wuzi.jpg liked to dress and be photographed as a woman]]

Transvestic fetishism is a psychiatric diagnosis applied 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. The limit to gynephilic men in the fourth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders was abrogated with the passage of the DSM-5.http://www.dsm5.org/Documents/Paraphilic%20Disorders%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161123042559/http://www.dsm5.org/Documents/Paraphilic%20Disorders%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf |date=2016-11-23 }} DSM-5 Documents: Paraphilic Disorders Fact Sheet

Sometimes either cisgender member of an androphilic and gynephilic couple will cross-dress in order to arouse the other. For example, the male might wear skirts or lingerie and/or the female will wear boxers or other male clothing. (See also forced feminization)

{{Main|Passing (gender)}}

Some people who cross-dress may endeavor to project a complete impression of belonging to another gender, including mannerisms, speech patterns, and emulation of sexual characteristics. This is referred to as passing or "trying to pass", depending how successful the person is. An observer who sees through the cross-dresser's attempt to pass is said to have "read" or "clocked" them. There are videos, books, and magazines on how a man may look more like a woman.Transformation magazine; interviews for Rainbow Reader, Fort Wayne, Indiana

Others may choose to take a mixed approach, adopting some feminine traits and some masculine traits in their appearance. For instance, a man might wear both a dress and a beard. This is sometimes known as "genderfuck". In a broader context, cross-dressing may also refer to other actions undertaken to pass as a particular sex, such as packing (accentuating the male crotch bulge) or, the opposite, tucking (concealing the male crotch bulge).{{cite journal |last1=Rankin |first1=Sue |last2=Beemyn |first2=Genny |title=Beyond a Binary: The Lives of Gender-Nonconforming Youth |journal=About Campus: Enriching the Student Learning Experience |date=September 2012 |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=2–10 |doi=10.1002/abc.21086 |s2cid=145529045 }}

Gender disguise has been used by women and girls to pass as male, and by men and boys to pass as female. Gender disguise has also been used as a plot device in storytelling, particularly in narrative ballads,{{cite book |last=Child |first=Francis James |title=The English and Scottish Popular Ballads |publisher=Dover Publications Inc |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-486-43146-8 |volume=II |pages=428–432}} and is a recurring motif in literature, theater, and film. Historically, some women have cross-dressed to take up male-dominated or male-exclusive professions, such as military service. Conversely, some men have cross-dressed to escape from mandatory military service{{efn|See the television series M*A*S*H for an example of a cross-dresser who did not want to serve in the military (Max Klinger). Although the character was played for laughs, his situation was based on military regulations prohibiting cross-dressing.}} or as a disguise to assist in political or social protest, as men in Wales did in the Rebecca Riots and when conducting Ceffyl Pren as a form of mob justice.{{Cite web |date=2 August 2013 |title=Some Welsh customs |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/webarchive/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fblogs%2Fwales%2Fentries%2F5d65f917-5961-3e76-b5ac-ec0c8fb3c0b6 |website=BBC Wales}}

File:RebeccaRiots.gif

Conversation surrounding exclusion and gender inequality in sports has been around for decades. Some women have dressed as men to enter male sports, or registered in male sports using an alias.

Roberta "Bobbi" Gibb is the first woman to have competed in the Boston Marathon. In 1966 Bobbi Gibb wrote a letter to the Boston Athletic Association asking to participate in the race happening that year. When Gibb received her letter back in the mail she was faced with the news that her entry to the race was denied due to her gender. Rather than just accept her fate, Gibb did not take no for an answer and decided to run the marathon anyways—however, she would do it hidden as a man. On the day of the race Gibb showed up in an oversized sweatshirt, her brother's shorts, and men's running shoes. Gibb hid in the bushes until the race started and then joined in with the crowd. Eventually her fellow runners figured out Gibb's real gender but stated that they would make sure that she finished the race. Gibb ended up finishing her first Boston Marathon in 3 hours, 27 minutes and 40 seconds.{{Cite journal |last=Boyer |first=Leroy |date=December 6, 2022 |title=RUNNING: Run for the Diamonds celebrates milestone |journal=Republican & Herald}} She crossed the finish line with blistered, bleeding feet from the men's running shoes she was wearing.{{Cite journal |last=Petri |first=Alexandra |date=October 11, 2021 |title=Roberta Gibb broke barriers in the Boston Marathon. Now there's a statue of her feet |url=https://advance.lexis.com/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:63TP-S8P1-JBG3-61MD-00000-00&context=1516831. |journal=The New York Times |access-date=October 30, 2023 |archive-date=July 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718121447/https://signin.lexisnexis.com/lnaccess/app/signin?back=https%3A%2F%2Fadvance.lexis.com%3A443%2Furl-api%2Flaapi%2Fdocument%3Fcollection%3Dnews%26id%3Durn%253AcontentItem%253A63TP-S8P1-JBG3-61MD-00000-00%26context%3D1516831.&aci=la |url-status=live }} Gibb's act of defiance influenced other women marathon runners of the time like Katherine Switzer, who also registered under an alias to be able to run the race in 1967. It would not be until 1972 until there was an official women's race within the Boston Marathon.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

Sam Kerr is a forward for the Australian Women's Soccer Team and Chelsea FC in the FA Women's Super League. Kerr has been regarded as one of the best forward players in the sport and has been one of the most highly paid players in women's soccer as well. While Kerr now shares the world state with other great women soccer players, as a young child she shared the field with young boys. Kerr grew up in a suburb of Perth where there was little to no access to young girls soccer teams in the direct area. Not having a girls team to play on did not bother Kerr though, she simply played on a youth boys team where all of her teammates just assumed she was also a boy. Kerr states in her book My Journey to the World Cup that she continued to hide her gender because she did not want to be treated any differently. In her book Kerr also revealed that when one of her teammates found out that she was, in fact a girl, he cried. While Kerr's act of hiding her gender was initially an accident, it is still an example of how women (and in the case a young girl) can create opportunities for themselves by looking or acting as a man.{{Cite web |last=Saeed |first=Daanyal |date=August 14, 2023 |title=Sam Kerr details why she had to hide her gender as a junior footballer |url=https://www.news.com.au/sport/football/sam-kerr-opens-up-on-why-she-had-to-hide-her-gender-as-a-junior-footballer/news-story/031f7ce28ba2237ffa5296a5b8bdff5c |access-date=September 27, 2023 |website=news.com.au}}

One of the most common instances of gender disguise is in the instance of war/militaristic situations. From Joan of Arc in the 15th century to young girls in World War II, there have been many different people of many different sexes that disguise themselves as men in order to be able to fight in wars.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

Born {{circa|1412}},{{Cite web |title=Joan of Arc |date=26 March 2024 |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Joan-of-Arc |access-date= |archive-date=30 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130222443/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Joan-of-Arc |url-status=live }} St Joan of Arc or the Maid of Orleans is one of the oldest examples of gender disguise. At 13, after receiving a revelation that she was supposed to lead the French to victory over the English in the 100 years war,{{Cite web |title=Joan of Arc -- World History |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Joan_of_Arc/ |access-date=}} Joan donned the clothing of a male soldier in the French army. Joan was able to convince King Charles the VIII to allow her to take the lead of some of the French armies in order to help him get his crown back. Ultimately, Joan of Arc was successful in claiming victory over the English but was captured in 1430 and found guilty of heresy, leading to her execution in 1431. The impact of her actions was seen even after Joan's death. During the suffragette movement, Joan of Arc was used as an inspiration for the movement, particularly in Britain where many used her actions as fuel for their fight for political reform.{{Cite web |title=How Joan of Arc Inspired Women's Suffragists |url=https://publicmedievalist.com/joan-of-arc-inspired-suffragists/#:~:text=Still%2C%20Joan's%20life%20and%20legend,Reims%20a%20few%20months%20later. |website=The Public Medievalist |date=10 September 2020 |access-date=10 October 2023 |archive-date=18 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718122627/https://publicmedievalist.com/joan-of-arc-inspired-suffragists/#:~:text=Still%2C%20Joan's%20life%20and%20legend,Reims%20a%20few%20months%20later. |url-status=live }}

Born in 1760 in Plympton, Massachusetts,{{Cite web |title=Deborah Sampson |url=https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/deborah-sampson?gclid=CjwKCAjwyNSoBhA9EiwA5aYlbyKd_p6BMuOINFc0a10m6ORAqIBvuaOgE1alHQCnOT_QC0dC5VMD_RoCXU4QAvD_BwE |website=National Women's History Museum |access-date=2023-10-10 |archive-date=2024-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718122010/https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/deborah-sampson |url-status=live }} Deborah Sampson was the first female soldier in the US Army.{{Cite web |title=Deborah Sampson, U.S. Army |url=https://foundationforwomenwarriors.org/deborah-sampson-u-s-army/ |website=Foundation for Women Warriors |date=March 2017 |access-date=2023-10-10 |archive-date=2024-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718123622/https://foundationforwomenwarriors.org/deborah-sampson-u-s-army/ |url-status=live }} The only woman in the Revolution to receive a full military pension, at age 18 Deborah took the name "Robert Shirtleff" and enlisted in revolutionary forces. In her capacity as a soldier, she was very successful, being named captain and leading an infantry in the capture of 15 enemy soldiers among other things.{{Cite web |title=Deborah Sampson |url=https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/deborah-sampson/ |website=George Washington's Mount Vernon |access-date=2023-10-10 |archive-date=2023-10-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231017105659/https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/deborah-sampson/ |url-status=live }}{{failed verification|date=January 2025}} One and a half years into service, her true sex was revealed when she had to receive medical care. Following an honorable discharge, Deborah petitioned congress for her full pay that was withheld on the grounds of being an "invalid soldier" and eventually received it.{{Cite web |last=Hassencahl |first=Fran |title=Mary Hayes and Deborah Sampson: The Rhetoric of Neglect, Praise, and Expectation |date=December 1974 |url=https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED102620 |access-date=2023-10-10 |archive-date=2024-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718122001/https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED102620 |url-status=live }} She died in 1827 at age 66.{{Cite web |title=Deborah Sampson: American Revolutionary War Hero |url=https://www.mass.gov/info-details/deborah-sampson-american-revolutionary-war-hero |website=Mass.gov |access-date=2023-10-10 |archive-date=2023-10-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231012023926/https://www.mass.gov/info-details/deborah-sampson-american-revolutionary-war-hero |url-status=live }} Even after her death, Deborah Sampson continues to be a "hero of the American Revolution".{{Cite web |title=Deborah Sampson: American Revolutionary War Hero |url=https://www.mass.gov/info-details/deborah-sampson-american-revolutionary-war-hero#:~:text=Deborah%20Sampson%20became%20a%20hero,participation%20in%20the%20Revolutionary%20army. |website=Mass.gov |access-date=2023-10-10 |archive-date=2023-10-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231012023926/https://www.mass.gov/info-details/deborah-sampson-american-revolutionary-war-hero#:~:text=Deborah%20Sampson%20became%20a%20hero,participation%20in%20the%20Revolutionary%20army. |url-status=live }} In 2019, a diary from corporal Abner Weston shares about Deborah Sampson's previously unknown first attempt to enlist in the Continental Army.{{Cite web|url=https://www.amrevmuseum.org/press-releases/revolutionary-war-diary-reveals-new-details-about-deborah-sampson-who-disguised-herself-as-a-man-to-join-the-continental-army#:~:text=%E2%80%9CAs%20someone%20who%20has%20spent,17%20months%20as%20a%20soldier.|title=Revolutionary War Diary Reveals New Details about Deborah Sampson, Who Disguised Herself as a Man to Join the Continental Army - Museum of the American Revolution|access-date=2023-10-10|archive-date=2024-07-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718123627/https://www.amrevmuseum.org/press-releases/revolutionary-war-diary-reveals-new-details-about-deborah-sampson-who-disguised-herself-as-a-man-to-join-the-continental-army#:~:text=%E2%80%9CAs%20someone%20who%20has%20spent,17%20months%20as%20a%20soldier.|url-status=live}}

These women are just a few among many who have disguised themselves as men in order to be able to fight in many different wars. Others who have used gender disguise for this purpose include Kit Kavanaugh/Christian Davies, Hannah Snell, Sarah Emma Edmonds, Frances Clayton, Dorothy Lawrence, Zoya Smirnow, and Brita Olofsdotter.{{Cite web |last=Thomas |first=Heather |date=2021-03-30 |title=Women Who Dressed as Men and Made History {{!}} Headlines and Heroes |url=https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2021/03/women-who-dressed-as-men-and-made-history/ |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=The Library of Congress}}{{Cite web |title='I Wanted to Do My Part': Women as Soldiers in Civil War America {{!}} Mercy Street Revealed |url=http://mercystreet.lunchbox.pbs.org/blogs/mercy-street-revealed/i-wanted-to-do-my-part-women-as-soldiers-in-civil-war-america/ |access-date=2023-11-08 |website='I Wanted to Do My Part': Women as Soldiers in Civil War America {{!}} Mercy Street Revealed |archive-date=2023-03-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324152544/http://mercystreet.lunchbox.pbs.org/blogs/mercy-street-revealed/i-wanted-to-do-my-part-women-as-soldiers-in-civil-war-america/ |url-status=dead }}

In some instances, women in journalism deem wearing the identity of a man necessary in order to gather information that is only accessible from the male point of view. In other cases, people cross-dress to navigate certain cultures and/or specific circumstances that involve strict gender norms and expectations.{{Cite web |title=Chapter seven: Gender Expression and Cross-dressing |url=https://www.icj.org/sogi-casebook-introduction/chapter-seven-gender-expression-and-cross-dressing/ |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=International Commission of Jurists |language=en-US}}

Norah Vincent, author of the book Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey Into Manhood and Back Again, used gender disguise in order to go undercover as a man to penetrate men's social circles and experience life as a man. In 2003, Vincent put her life on pause to adopt a new masculine identity as Ned Vincent.{{Cite book |title=Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey Into Manhood and Bac… |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29434.Self_Made_Man |access-date=2023-09-28 |website=Goodreads |isbn=978-0-670-03466-6 |oclc=62089984 |language=en |last1=Vincent |first1=Norah |date=2006 |publisher=Viking }}{{Unreliable source?|date=May 2025}} She worked with a makeup artist and vocal coach in order to convincingly play the role of a biological man. She wore an undersized sports bra, a stuffed jock strap, and size 11½ shoes to deceive those around her. In her book, Vincent makes discoveries about socialization, romance, sex, and stress as a man that leads her to conclude that, "[Men] have different problems than women have, but they don't have it better",{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=January 20, 2006 |title=A Self-Made Man |url=https://abcnews.go.com/2020/Entertainment/story?id=1526982 |access-date=2023-09-28 |website=ABC News |language=en |archive-date=2007-10-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071008172430/http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Entertainment/story?id=1526982 |url-status=live }} However, Vincent developed controversial opinions about sex and gender, claiming that transgender people are not legitimate until they undergo hormone therapy and surgical intervention. After writing Self-Made Man, Vincent became a victim of depression; she died by medically assisted suicide in 2022.{{cite news |last1=Green |first1=Penelope |title=Norah Vincent, Who Chronicled Passing as a Man, Is Dead at 53 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/18/obituaries/norah-vincent-dead.html |work=The New York Times |date=18 August 2022 |access-date=10 October 2023 |archive-date=18 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220818190111/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/18/obituaries/norah-vincent-dead.html |url-status=live }}

Bacha posh, an Afghan tradition, involves the crossdressing of young Afghan girls by their families so that they present to the public as boys. Families without sons, or whose sons are heavily outnumbered by daughters, may choose to raise one of their daughters bacha posh for a number of reasons. Having a bacha posh daughter may ease financial burdens, as girls and women are generally prohibited from work in contemporary Afghanistan,{{Cite web |date=2022-12-24 |title=Taliban bans women from working for domestic, foreign NGOs in Afghanistan |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/taliban-ban-women-from-working-for-domestic-foreign-ngos-in-afghanistan |access-date=2023-10-10 |website=PBS NewsHour |language=en-us}}{{cite book |last1=Billaud |first1=Julie |title=Kabul Carnival: Gender Politics in Postwar Afghanistan |date=2015 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-4696-4 |jstor=j.ctt13x1pdw }}{{page needed|date=November 2023}} and improve their social status, as families with boys tend to be more well regarded in Afghan society.{{Cite web |last1=Hamidi |first1=Nilab |last2=Bohren |first2=Meghan |date=March 3, 2022 |title=Girls forced to act as boys in Afghanistan |url=https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/news/40573-girls-forced-to-act-as-boys-in-afghanistan |access-date=2023-10-10 |website=findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au |archive-date=2023-10-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231012023927/https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/news/40573-girls-forced-to-act-as-boys-in-afghanistan |url-status=live }} While there is no law that prohibits bacha posh, girls are expected to revert to traditional gender norms upon reaching puberty.{{cite journal |last1=Keerthana |first1=R |last2=Jayanthi |first2=S |title=The Unjust Twisting: Bacha Posh custom of the Invisible Girl Children in Afghanistan from Nadia Hashimi's work |journal=European Chemical Bulletin |date=2023 |volume=12 |issue=10 |url=https://www.eurchembull.com/issue-content/the-unjust-twisting-bacha-posh-custom-of-the-invisible-girl-children-in-afghanistan-from-nadia-hashimi-s-work-8214 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231105132541/https://www.eurchembull.com/issue-content/the-unjust-twisting-bacha-posh-custom-of-the-invisible-girl-children-in-afghanistan-from-nadia-hashimi-s-work-8214 |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 5, 2023 |ssrn=4383274 }}{{cite journal |title=Autonomy, Post-puberty Bacha Posh and Third World Feminism in Selected Afghan Fiction |journal=Journal of International Women's Studies |date=3 February 2023 |volume=25 |issue=1 |id={{ProQuest|2778390671}} |url=https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol25/iss1/13/ }}{{Cite web |date=2022-01-16 |title=Afghan girls live as boys until they hit puberty, a temporary chance at freedom |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/afghanistans-bacha-posh-tradition-allows-girls-freedom-boys-rcna12216 |access-date=2023-10-01 |website=NBC News |language=en}} According to Thomas Barfield, an anthropology professor at Boston University, bacha posh is "one of the most under-investigated" topics in the realm of gender studies, making difficult to determine exactly how common the practice is in Afghan society. However, some prominent female figures in Afghan society have admitted to being bacha posh in their youth. A more famous example of this is Afghan parliament member Azita Rafaat. Rafaat claims that bacha posh was a positive experience that built her self-confidence in Afghanistan's heavily patriarchal society and gave her a more well rounded understanding of women's issues in Afghanistan.

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The actual determination of cross-dressing is largely socially constructed.{{Cite journal |last=Gilbert |first=Miqqi Alicia |date=May 1, 2014 |title=Cross-Dresser |url=https://doi.org/10.1215/23289252-2399632 |journal=Transgender Studies Quarterly |volume=1 |issue=1–2 |pages=65–67 |doi=10.1215/23289252-2399632 |via=Duke University Press}} For example, in Western society, trousers have long been adopted for usage by women, and it is no longer regarded as cross-dressing.{{Cite news |last=Brucculieri |first=Julia |date=March 8, 2019 |title=Women And Pants: A Timeline Of Fashion Liberation |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/women-and-pants-fashion-liberation_l_5c7ec7f7e4b0e62f69e729ec |access-date=July 1, 2024 |work=Huffington Post}} In cultures where men have traditionally worn skirt-like garments such as the kilt or sarong, these are not seen as women's clothing, and wearing them is not seen as cross-dressing for men. In many parts of the world, it remains socially disapproved for men to wear clothes traditionally associated with women.{{Cite web |title=Cross Dressing |url=https://gendercentre.org.au/downloads/Cross%20Dressing%20Information.pdf |access-date=July 1, 2024 |website=Gender Centre}}

Cosplaying may also involve cross-dressing, for some females may wish to dress as a male, and vice versa (see crossplay). Females may choose to chest bind while cosplaying a male character.{{Cite web |date=2022-06-29 |title=Chest or breast binding: Tips, side effects, safety, and more |url=https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/breast-binding |access-date=2024-07-04 |website=www.medicalnewstoday.com |language=en}}

While creating a more feminine figure, male cross-dressers may utilize breast forms or breast plates to give the appearance of breasts.{{Cite journal |last=Germann |first=Olivia |date=2018 |title=Gender Performance: From the Freak Show to Modern Drag |url=https://openjournals.bsu.edu/dlr/article/download/2645/1567/4275 |journal=Digital Literature Review |volume=3 |pages=72}}{{Cite news |last=Piper |first=Dannielle |date=June 12, 2019 |title=The Family-Owned Store that Helps Transgender Customers Find the Perfect Fit |url=https://thetyee.ca/News/2019/06/12/Family-Owned-Store-Breast-Forms-Helps-Transgender-Customers/ |work=The Tyee}} Some male cross-dressers may also cinch their waists or use padding to create a profile that appears more stereotypically feminine.{{Cite web |last=Spataro |first=Joanne |date=2017-05-04 |title='Drag Race' Tells Us a Lot About the Queens' Jacked Up Eating Habits |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/drag-race-tells-us-a-lot-about-the-queens-jacked-up-eating-habits/ |access-date=2024-07-04 |website=Vice |language=en |archive-date=2024-03-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240307013345/https://www.vice.com/en/article/mgmjzy/drag-race-tells-us-a-lot-about-the-queens-jacked-up-eating-habits |url-status=live }}

While most male cross-dressers utilize clothing associated with modern women, some are involved in subcultures that involve dressing as little girls{{Cite book |last=Bent |first=Rosalie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K_KoDwAAQBAJ&q=%2522adult%2520little%2520girl%2522%2520age%2520play&pg=PT23 |title=Dealing With the Baby In Your Bed!: Learning to Live With the Adult Baby In Your Relationship |date=2019-08-14 |publisher=AB Discovery |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Bennett |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m8gvEAAAQBAJ&q=petticoat |title=Clinical Psychology: Psychopathology Through the Lifespan: Psychopathology through the Lifespan |date=2015-08-16 |publisher=McGraw-Hill Education (UK) |isbn=978-0-335-24770-7 |language=en}} or in vintage clothing. Some such men have written that they enjoy dressing as femininely as possible, so they wear frilly dresses with lace and ribbons, bridal gowns complete with veils, as well as multiple petticoats, corsets, girdles and/or garter belts with nylon stockings.

The term underdressing is used by male cross-dressers to describe wearing female undergarments such as panties under their male clothes. The famous low-budget film-maker Edward D. Wood Jr. (who also went out in public dressed in drag as "Shirley", his female alter egoCraig, Rob (2009). Ed Wood, Mad Genius: A Critical Study of the Films. pg. 108. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-5423-5.) said he often wore women's underwear under his military uniform as a Marine during World War II.{{Cite magazine|last=Corliss|first=Richard|date=June 1, 1992|title=The World's Worst Director|magazine=Time|volume=139|page=79|via=Biography Reference Bank}} Female masking is a form of cross-dressing in which men wear masks that present them as female.{{cite web | url=http://vicestyle.com/en/news/today/post/female-masking | title=Female Masking | publisher=Vice Style | author=Jamie Clifton | date=August 30, 2011 | access-date=2012-02-07 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120717035229/http://vicestyle.com/en/news/today/post/female-masking | archive-date=July 17, 2012 }}

Some drag kings may use binders or chest plates to give the impression of a more stereotypically male physique, but others forego this.{{Cite web |last=Rowello |first=Lauren |date=2024-05-29 |title=Philly Drag Kings: Challenges and the push for inclusion |url=https://epgn.com/2024/05/29/drag-kings-philly-challenges/ |access-date=2024-07-01 |website=Philadelphia Gay News |language=en-US}} They may also paste or draw on fake facial hair.{{Cite web |date=2019-11-12 |title=The Many Styles Of Drag Kings, Photographed In And Out Of Drag |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/drag-kings_l_5db9c682e4b00d83f72159c8 |access-date=2024-07-01 |website=HuffPost |language=en |archive-date=2021-03-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308080628/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/drag-kings_l_5db9c682e4b00d83f72159c8 |url-status=live }} Drag kings may use a phallic prosthetic for packing to create the appearance of having male genitals.{{Cite book |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781118896877 |title=The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality |date=2015-04-10 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-4051-9006-0 |editor-last=Bolin |editor-first=Anne |edition=1 |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781118896877.wbiehs326 |editor-last2=Whelehan |editor-first2=Patricia}}{{Cite web |last=Drysdale |first=Kerryn |date=2017-07-17 |title=Strapped, packed and taking the stage: Australia's new drag kings |url=http://theconversation.com/strapped-packed-and-taking-the-stage-australias-new-drag-kings-79747 |access-date=2024-07-27 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}}

File:A Morning Frolic, or the Transmutation of the Sexes.jpg, which were considered to be vulgar at the time.]]

Cross-dressers may begin wearing clothing associated with the opposite sex in childhood, using the clothes of a sibling, parent, or friend. Some parents have said they allowed their children to cross-dress and, in many cases, the child stopped when they became older. The same pattern often continues into adulthood, where there may be confrontations with a spouse, partner, family member or friend. Married cross-dressers can experience considerable anxiety and guilt if their spouse objects to their behavior.

Sometimes because of guilt or other reasons cross-dressers dispose of all their clothing, a practice called "purging", only to start collecting the other gender's clothing again.

{{main|Transvestia}}

In 1960, Virginia Prince published the first issue of Transvestia, a magazine aimed at cross-dressers.{{cite web |last=Prince |first=Virginia |date=1952 |title=Transvestia |publisher=Chevalier Publications |location=Los Angeles |website=University of Victoria |url=https://search.library.uvic.ca/discovery/fulldisplay?context=L&vid=01VIC_INST:01UVIC&search_scope=MyInstitution&tab=LIBALL&docid=alma9955531023807291 |access-date=16 March 2025 }} Prince funded the initial publication with a capital of one hundred dollars raised through personal acquaintances.Prince, Virginia. "My Accidental Career." How I Got Into Sex. Eds. B. Bullough, V.L. Bullough, M.A. Fithian, W.E. Hartman and R.S Klein. Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1997. The first issue was published by Prince's Chevalier Publications, and sold by subscription and through adult bookstores.{{cite book|title=Virginia Prince: Pioneer of Transgendering|year=2006|publisher=Haworth Medical Press Inc|location=Binghamton|editor=Richard Elkins and Dave King}}"The Life and Times of Virginia", Transvestia #100 (1979)

In 1963, the inside jacket of the magazine stated the publication as "dedicated to the needs of the sexually normal individual who has discovered the {{sic|exi|stance}} of his or her 'other side' and seeks to express it." Rather than relying on a team of professional authors, this magazine was to be"written by... the readers" with the editor's job to be organizing and categorizing these submissions as appropriate.Prince, Virginia. (1979). "The Life and Times of Virginia." Transvestia, 1.2.

Transvestia was published bi-monthly by Prince between the years of 1960 and 1980, with a total of 100 issues being created. The subsequent 11 issues were edited and published by Carol Beecroft (the co-founder of Chevalier publications) until 1986.

With a readership of mostly white, middle-to-professional-class crossdressers, the magazine offered, among other things, dozens of published life stories and letters contributed by other crossdressers.Hill, Robert. (2011). "'We Share a Sacred Secret:' Gender, Domesticity, and Containment in Transvestia's Histories and Letters from Crossdressers and Their Wives." Journal of Social History 44.3: 667–687.

{{main|Beaumont Bulletin}}

The Beaumont Society began in the UK in 1966 as an offshoot of Virgina Prince's Full Personality Expression group for cross-dressers.{{Cite web |title=Beaumont Society Press Cuttings Collection |url=https://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/collections/beaumont-society-press-cuttings-collection |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=Bishopsgate Institute}} The society began to distribute its publication the Beaumont Bulletin in January 1968. Starting out at eight pages, it reached 24 pages by 1970. The publication referred to its readers as 'girls',{{Cite book |last=Pickett |first=Brent |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=84nxEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22The+Beaumont+Society%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA39 |title=The Transgender Encyclopedia |date=2024-02-26 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-5381-5726-8 |pages=39 |language=en}} and included tips on make-up and women's clothing, especially those in larger sizes.{{Cite book |last=Fawcus |first=Margaret |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7i8BCAAAQBAJ&dq=%22The+Beaumont+Society%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA323 |title=Voice Disorders and their Management |date=2013-11-11 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4899-2861-0 |pages=323 |language=en}} In 1977, a new publication, Beaumag, was issued which included fiction and comic writing.{{Cite web |title=Museum of London |website=London Museum |url=https://collections.museumoflondon.org.uk/online/object/531220.html |access-date=2024-03-13}} As of 2024, the society was still publishing a magazine for its members, entitled Beaumont Magazine.

Between 1987 and 1991, JoAnn Roberts and CDS published a magazine called En Femme that was "for the transvestite, transsexual, crossdresser, and female impersonator".{{cite web |last=Roberts|first=JoAnn|date=December 1990|title=En femme magazine |publisher=Creative Design Services |url=https://archive.org/details/enfemmemagazine21unse/page/n1/mode/2up}}

Chrysalis Quarterly was Dallas Denny's publication from the 1990s focused on gender identity, including cross-dressing and transgender issues.

{{cite web |title=Chrysalis Quarterly |website=Digital Transgender Archive |author= |date=

|url=https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/col/2801pg32c |access-date=16 March 2025}}

Femme Mirror was a quarterly inewsletter/magazine of Tri-Ess begun by Carol Beecroft, and catered to the cross-dresser community.{{cite book |editor1-last=Goldberg |editor1-first=Abbie E. |editor2-last=Beemyn |editor2-first=Genny |date=2021 |title=The SAGE Encyclopedia of Trans Studies |publisher=SAGE Publications |isbn=9781544393841 |oclc= |page= |url=}}{{page needed|date=March 2025}}

Transgender Tapestry magazine began as the TV-TS Tapestry newsletter by Merissa Sherrill Lynn's Tiffany Club. It was published from 1979 to 2008, and continues as an online website of the International Foundation for Gender Education.{{Cite web |title=LGBTQ Publications |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8hq45dc/entire_text/|website=oac.cdlib.org|access-date=2020-05-08}}

Empathy Magazine was a publication in the United States focused on support for cross-dressers and their families.{{cite web |last=Slavik |first=Cathy Charles |date=1970 |title=Empathy Magazine |website=Digital Transgender Archive |publisher=Empathy Press

|url=https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/z890rt48c |access-date=17 March 2025}}

Celebrations of cross-dressing occur in widespread cultures. The Abissa festival in Côte d'Ivoire,{{cite book |last1=Hall |title=Bibliographic Guide to Dance |date=1992 |page=4 }} Ofudamaki in Japan,{{cite news |last1=Egli |first1=Justin |title=Visiting an ancient Japanese cross-dressing festival |url=http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/32036/1/visiting-an-ancient-japanese-cross-dressing-festival |access-date=12 December 2018 |work=Dazed |date=13 July 2016 |language=en |archive-date=15 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215222551/http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/32036/1/visiting-an-ancient-japanese-cross-dressing-festival |url-status=live }} and Kottankulangara Festival in India{{cite news |title=Cross-dressing for the Goddess - Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cross-dressing-for-the-Goddess/articleshow/2929677.cms? |access-date=12 December 2018 |work=The Times of India |date=Apr 6, 2008}} are all examples of this.

Advocacy for social change has done much to relax the constrictions of gender roles on men and women, but they are still subject to prejudice from some people.{{cite book |last1=Butler |first1=Judith |title=Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity |date=2011 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-78323-4 }}{{page needed|date=November 2023}}{{cite book |last1=Halberstam |first1=Judith |last2=Halberstam |first2=Jack |title=Female Masculinity |date=1998 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-2243-6 }}{{page needed|date=November 2023}}Epstein, Julia, Straub, Kristina; Eds, Body Guards: The Cultural Politics of Gender Ambiguity, Routledge, London, 1991

The reason it is so hard to have statistics for female cross-dressers is that the line where cross-dressing stops and cross-dressing begins{{clarify|reason=same phrase twice|date=April 2024}} has become blurred, whereas the same line for men is as well defined as ever. This is one of the many issues being addressed by third wave feminism as well as the modern-day masculist movement.

The general culture{{clarify|reason=Which culture? Where?|date=May 2021}} has very mixed views about cross-dressing. A woman who wears her husband's shirt to bed is considered attractive, while a man who wears his wife's nightgown to bed may be considered transgressive. Marlene Dietrich in a tuxedo was considered very erotic; Jack Lemmon in a dress was considered ridiculous.{{cite book |last1=Blechner |first1=Mark J. |title=Sex Changes: Transformations in Society and Psychoanalysis |date=2009 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-99435-4 }}{{page needed|date=November 2023}} All this may result from an overall gender role rigidity for males; that is, because of the prevalent gender dynamic throughout the world, men frequently encounter discrimination when deviating from masculine gender norms, particularly violations of heteronormativity.{{cite web |url=http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/scmsAdmin/media/users/lec321/Sirin_Articles/Sirin_McCriery__Mahalik_2004.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140418220633/http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/scmsAdmin/media/users/lec321/Sirin_Articles/Sirin_McCriery__Mahalik_2004.pdf |archive-date=2014-04-18 |url-status=live |title=Differential Reactions to Men and Women's Gender Role Transgressions: Perceptions of Social Status, Sexual Orientation, and Value Dissimilarity |publisher=NYU |access-date=1 June 2013 }} A man's adoption of feminine clothing is often considered a going down in the gendered social order whereas a woman's adoption of what are traditionally men's clothing (at least in the English-speaking world) has less of an impact because women have been traditionally subordinate to men, unable to affect serious change through style of dress. Thus when a male cross-dresser puts on his clothes, he transforms into the quasi-female and thereby becomes an embodiment of the conflicted gender dynamic. Following the work of Judith Butler, gender proceeds along through ritualized performances, but in male cross-dressing it becomes a performative "breaking" of the masculine and a "subversive repetition" of the feminine.{{cite web|last=Butler|first=Judith|title=Performative Acts and Gender Construction: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory|url=http://www.mariabuszek.com/kcai/PoMoSeminar/Readings/BtlrPerfActs.pdf|access-date=1 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112054310/http://www.mariabuszek.com/kcai/PoMoSeminar/Readings/BtlrPerfActs.pdf|archive-date=12 January 2012}}{{primary source inline|date=May 2022}}

Psychoanalysts today do not regard cross-dressing by itself as a psychological problem, unless it interferes with a person's life. "For instance", said Joseph Merlino, senior editor of Freud at 150: 21st Century Essays on a Man of Genius, "[suppose that]...I'm a cross-dresser and I don't want to keep it confined to my circle of friends, or my party circle, and I want to take that to my wife and I don't understand why she doesn't accept it, or I take it to my office and I don't understand why they don't accept it, then it's become a problem because it's interfering with my relationships and environment",Shankbone, David. "Interview with Dr. Joseph Merlino", Wikinews (October 5, 2007)

File:Camp - Notes on Fashion at the Met (73835).jpg made an appearance during the 2019 Met Gala which had the theme of "Camp: Notes on Fashion", A themed exhibit of the same name was later displayed at the Met Fifth Avenue.]]

Cross-dressing today is much more common and normalized due to trends such as camp fashion and androgynous fashion.

Camp is a style of fashion that has had a long history extending all the way back to the Victorian era to the modern era. During the Victorian era up until the mid-20th century, it was defined as an exaggerated and flamboyant style of dressing.{{cite news |title=Camp Fashion Unveiled: Stunning Examples and the 3 Key Elements |url=https://usatales.com/what-is-camp-fashion-examples-and-elements/ |date=30 November 2022 |access-date=1 December 2022 |archive-date=1 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201064448/https://usatales.com/what-is-camp-fashion-examples-and-elements/ |url-status=dead }}{{unreliable source?|date=November 2023}} This was typically associated with ideas of effeminacy, de-masculization, and homosexuality.{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Erika W. |title=Ahead Of The Met Gala, Remember: 'You Can't Have Camp Without Queer' |url=https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/05/231016/camp-fashion-gay-culture-drag-lgbtq-history |work=Refinery29 |date=18 April 2019 |access-date=1 December 2022 |archive-date=1 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201064446/https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/05/231016/camp-fashion-gay-culture-drag-lgbtq-history |url-status=live }} As the trend entered the 20th century, it also developed an association with a lack of conduct, creating the connotation that those who engaged in Camp are unrefined, improper, distasteful, and, essentially, undignified. Though this was its former understanding, Camp has now developed a new role in the fashion industry. It is considered a fashion style that has "failed seriousness" and has instead become a fun way of self-expression. Thanks to its integration with high fashion and extravagance, Camp is now seen as a high art form of absurdity: including loud, vibrant, bold, fun, and empty frivolity.

File:RuPaul at Dragcon 2019 by dvsross (cropped).jpg speaking at RuPaul's DragCon in Los Angeles in 2019.|left]]

Camp is often used in drag culture as a method of exaggerating or inversing traditional conceptions of what it means to be feminine. In actuality, the QTPOC community has had a large impact on Camp. This is exhibited by ballroom culture, camp/glamour queens, Black '70s funk, Caribbean Carnival costumes, Blaxploitation movies, "pimp/player fashion", and more. This notion has also been materialized by camp icons such as Josephine Baker and RuPaul.

Androgynous fashion is described as neither masculine nor feminine rather it is the embodiment of a gender inclusive and sexually neutral fashion of expression. The general understanding of androgynous fashion is mixing both masculine and feminine pieces with the goal of producing a look that has no visual differentiations between one gender or another. This look is achieved by masking the general body so that one cannot identify the biological sex of an individual given the silhouette of the clothing pieces: Therefore, many androgynous looks include looser, baggier clothing that can conceal curves in the female body or using more "feminine" fabrics and prints for men.

File:Harry Styles - St. Paul, MN 7 1 2018 (41393943120).jpg wearing a shimmery pussy-bow blouse at a concert in Saint Paul in 2018.]]

Both of these style forms have been normalized and popularized by celebrities such as Harry Styles, Timothée Chalamet, Billie Eilish, Troye Sivan, and more.{{Cite web |date=2022-11-01 |title=The iconic Princess Diana fashion moment that changed the lives of two fashion designers |url=https://www.hellomagazine.com/fashion/royal-style/20221101155704/princess-diana-sheep-jumper-designers/ |access-date=2022-12-01 |website=HELLO! |language=en |archive-date=2022-12-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201064449/https://www.hellomagazine.com/fashion/royal-style/20221101155704/princess-diana-sheep-jumper-designers/ |url-status=live }}

File:C2E2 2015 - Misty (16697788693).jpg as Misty from the popular anime Pokémon at Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo in 2015.]]

Beyond fashion, cross-dressing in non-Western countries has not fully outgrown the negative connotations that it has in the West. For instance, many Eastern and Southeastern Asian countries have a narrative of discrimination and stigma against LGBTQ+ and cross-dressing individuals. This is especially evident in the post-pandemic world. During this time, it was clear to see the failures of these governments to provide sufficient support to these individuals due to a lack of legal services, lack of job opportunity, and more. For instance, to be able to receive government aid, these individuals need to be able to quickly change their legal name, gender, and other information on official ID documents.{{Cite web |date=2022-11-14 |title=Asia and the Pacific Islands: Pandemic's disproportionate impact on transgender people should be "wake-up call" to governments |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/11/asia-pacific-pandemics-transgender-rights/ |access-date=2022-12-01 |website=Amnesty International |language=en}} This fault augmented the challenges of income loss, food insecurity, safe housing, healthcare, and more for many trans and cross-dressing individuals. This was especially pertinent as many of these individuals relied on entertainment and sex work for income. With the pandemic removing these job opportunities, the stigmatisation and discrimination against these individuals only increased, especially in Southeast Asian countries.

On the other hand, some Asian countries have grown to be more accepting of cross-dressing as modernization has increased. For instance, among Japan's niche communities, there exists the otokonoko. This is a group of male-assigned individuals who engage in female cross-dressing as a form of gender expression. This trend originated with manga and grew with an increase in maid cafes, cosplaying, and more in the 2010s.{{cite news |last1=Ripley |first1=Will |title=A 51-year-old male schoolgirl? Meet Tokyo's inspirational cross-dresser |url=https://www.cnn.com/2014/07/19/world/asia/japan-inspirational-cross-dresser/index.html |work=CNN |date=20 July 2014 |access-date=1 December 2022 |archive-date=1 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201073100/https://www.cnn.com/2014/07/19/world/asia/japan-inspirational-cross-dresser/index.html |url-status=live }} With the normalization of this through cosplay, cross-dressing has become a large part of otaku and anime culture.{{Cite news |date=2022-11-10 |title=LSA100: Rule Breaker Hakken is comfortable in their own skin, in cosplay and in life |url=https://www.lifestyleasia.com/kl/digital-cover/lsa100-rule-breaker-hakken-cosplayer/ |access-date=2022-12-01 |website=Lifestyle Asia Kuala Lumpur |language=en-US}}

In 2023, Noor Alsaffar, an Iraqi vlogger and model, who described themselves as a cross-dresser, was murdered.{{Cite web |date=2024-04-27 |title=Iraqi social media influencer Um Fahad shot dead by motorbike gunman in Baghdad - CBS News |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/iraq-investigating-killing-um-fahad-social-media-influencer/ |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US |archive-date=2024-04-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427201521/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/iraq-investigating-killing-um-fahad-social-media-influencer/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite magazine |date=2024-04-27 |title=Iraqi Authorities Investigate Killing of TikTok Star |url=https://time.com/6971797/iraqi-authorities-investigate-tiktok-star-om-fahad-killing/ |access-date=2024-04-28 |magazine=TIME |language=en |archive-date=2024-04-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427211650/https://time.com/6971797/iraqi-authorities-investigate-tiktok-star-om-fahad-killing/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Popular Iraqi female TikTok star shot dead in Baghdad night attack |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/27/iraqi-tiktok-star-om-fahad-shot-dead-in-baghdad-night-attack |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en |archive-date=2024-04-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427183634/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/27/iraqi-tiktok-star-om-fahad-shot-dead-in-baghdad-night-attack |url-status=live }} The killing of Alsaffar appears to be linked to an increase in homophobia and transphobia in Iraq.{{Cite web |last=Morey |first=Alice |date=2023-09-29 |title=Popular Iraqi TikToker allegedly shot dead in Baghdad |url=https://www.gaytimes.co.uk/life/popular-iraqi-tiktoker-shot-dead-in-baghdad/ |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=GAY TIMES |language=en-GB |archive-date=2024-04-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240428104911/https://www.gaytimes.co.uk/life/popular-iraqi-tiktoker-shot-dead-in-baghdad/ |url-status=live }}

{{Main|Cross-dressing in literature|Cross-dressing in film and television|Cross-dressing in music and opera}}

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-U0920-507, Lucie Höflich.jpg portraying Viola in a Berlin production of Twelfth Night in 1907.]]

Women dressed as men, and less often men dressed as women, is a common trope in fictionClute & Grant 1997, p. 395 and folklore. For example, in Thrymskvitha, Thor disguised himself as Freya. These disguises were also popular in Gothic fiction, such as in works by Charles Dickens, Alexandre Dumas, père, and Eugène Sue, and in a number of Shakespeare's plays, such as Twelfth Night. In The Wind in the Willows, Toad dresses as a washerwoman, and in The Lord of the Rings, Éowyn pretends to be a man.

In science fiction, fantasy and women's literature, this literary motif is occasionally taken further, with literal transformation of a character from male to female or vice versa. Virginia Woolf's Orlando: A Biography focuses on a man who becomes a woman, as does a warrior in Peter S. Beagle's The Innkeeper's Song;Clute & Grant 1997, p. 396 while in Geoff Ryman's The Warrior Who Carried Life, Cara magically transforms herself into a man.

Other popular examples of gender disguise include Madame Doubtfire (published as Alias Madame Doubtfire in the United States) and its movie adaptation Mrs. Doubtfire, featuring a man disguised as a woman.Anita Silvey [https://books.google.com/books?id=8GUNHGutszEC&dq=characters+disguised+as+human&pg=PA284 The essential guide to children's books and their creators] p.155 Similarly, the movie Tootsie features Dustin Hoffman disguised as a woman, while the movie The Associate features Whoopi Goldberg disguised as a man. Japanese fashion designer and visual kei musician Mana of the bands Malice Mizer and Moi dix Mois is notable for wearing traditionally female clothes. He is credited with popularizing cross-dressing among visual kei bands.{{cite web|title=【インタビュー】Mana × Közi、MALICE MIZERを語る「Kamiの約束が実現できる」|url=https://www.barks.jp/news/?id=1000158491&page=3|work=Barks|language=Japanese|date=2018-08-29|accessdate=2024-05-15|archive-date=2021-04-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426024350/https://www.barks.jp/news/?id=1000158491&page=3|url-status=live}}

The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems listed dual-role transvestism (non-sexual cross-dressing){{Cite web |url=https://icd.who.int/browse10/2016/en#/F64.1 |title=ICD-10 Version:2016 |website=icd.who.int |access-date=2019-10-11 |archive-date=2018-11-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105125609/http://apps.who.int/classifications/icd10/browse/2016/en#/F64.1 |url-status=live }} and fetishistic transvestism (cross-dressing for sexual pleasure) as disorders in its 10th edition,{{Cite web |url=https://icd.who.int/browse10/2016/en#/F65.1 |title=ICD-10 Version:2016 |website=icd.who.int |access-date=2019-10-11 |archive-date=2018-11-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105125609/http://apps.who.int/classifications/icd10/browse/2016/en#/F65.1 |url-status=live }} but both were removed for the 11th edition, which came into effect in 2022.{{Cite web |url=https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2019/05/world-health-organization-will-no-longer-classify-transgender-mental-disorder/ |title=The World Health Organization will no longer classify being transgender as a 'mental disorder' |last=Bollinger |first=Alex |date=2019-05-28 |website=LGBTQ Nation |access-date=2019-10-11 |archive-date=2021-03-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308211753/https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2019/05/world-health-organization-will-no-longer-classify-transgender-mental-disorder/ |url-status=live }}

Transvestic fetishism is a psychiatric diagnosis applied in the United States 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.{{cite web |title=Paraphilic Disorders Fact Sheet |website=dsm5.org |date=2013-05-15 |url=https://www.dsm5.org/Documents/Paraphilic%20Disorders%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161123042559/https://www.dsm5.org/Documents/Paraphilic%20Disorders%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf |archive-date=2016-11-23 |url-status=dead |access-date=2024-10-08 }} Under the name transvestic disorder, it is categorized as a paraphiliac disorder in the DSM-5.{{Cite book

| last=American Psychiatric Association

| year=2013

| title=Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

| edition=Fifth

| publisher=American Psychiatric Publishing

| location=Arlington, VA

| pages=[https://archive.org/details/diagnosticstatis0005unse/page/685 685–705]

| isbn=978-0-89042-555-8

| url=https://archive.org/details/diagnosticstatis0005unse/page/685

}} The DSM-5 defines a paraphilic disorder as "a paraphilia that is currently causing distress or impairment to the individual or a paraphilia whose satisfaction has entailed personal harm, or risk of harm, to others", adding that paraphilias do not require or justify psychiatric treatment in themselves.{{cite book|title=Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders|edition=Fifth|chapter=Paraphilic Disorders|year=2013|publisher=American Psychiatric Publishing|location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|pages=685–686}}

{{Distinguish|Travesti (gender identity)|Transgender|Transvestic fetishism}}

Transvestism is the practice of dressing in a manner traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender.

The terms transvestism and transvestite were coined by Magnus Hirschfeld in 1910. In the early 20th century, transvestite referred to cross-dressers, and also a variety of people who would now be considered transgender.

The term transvestite is now considered outdated and derogatory, and has been replaced with the more neutral word cross-dresser.

Though the term was coined as late as the 1910s by Magnus Hirschfeld, the phenomenon is very old, It was referred to as far back as the earliest known civilization. It was part of the homosexual movement of Weimar Germany in the beginning, a first transvestite movement of its own started to form since the mid-1920s, resulting in founding first organizations and the first transvestite magazine, Das 3. Geschlecht. The rise of National Socialism stopped this movement from 1933 onwards.Rainer Herrn: Die Zeitschrift Das 3. Geschlecht in: Rainer Herrn (ed.): Das 3. Geschlecht – Reprint der 1930 – 1932 erschienenen Zeitschrift für Transvestiten, 2016, ISBN 9783863002176, p. 231 ff.

File:Faksimile-Transvestitenschein.png allowing Gert Katter, a female-to-male trans man who was one of Hirschfeld's patients, to wear male clothing.{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Michael T. |last2=Timm |first2=Annette |last3=Herrn |first3=Rainer |title=Not Straight from Germany: Sexual Publics and Sexual Citizenship Since Magnus Hirschfeld |date=30 October 2017 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-13035-1 |page=44 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WS9ADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA44 |language=en}}]]

Magnus Hirschfeld coined the word transvestite (from Latin trans-, "across, over" and vestitus, "dressed") in his 1910 book Die Transvestiten (Transvestites) to refer to the sexual interest in cross-dressing.Hirschfeld, Magnus: [https://books.google.com/books?id=mQMbAAAAYAAJ Die Transvestiten.] Berlin 1910: Alfred Pulvermacher
Hirschfeld, Magnus. (1910/1991). [https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1591021685 Transvestites: The erotic drive to cross dress.] (M. A. Lombardi-Nash, Trans.) Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books. He used it to describe persons who habitually and voluntarily wore clothes of the opposite sex. Hirschfeld's group of transvestites consisted of both males and females, with heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, and asexual orientations.Hirschfeld, Magnus. Geschlechtsverirrungen, 10th Ed. 1992, page 142 ff.

Hirschfeld himself was not happy with the term: He believed that clothing was only an outward symbol chosen on the basis of various internal psychological situations. In fact, Hirschfeld helped people to achieve changes of their first name (legal given names were required to be gender-specific in Germany) and performed the first reported sexual reassignment surgery. Hirschfeld's transvestites therefore were, in today's terms, not only transvestites, but a variety of people from the transgender spectrum.

Hirschfeld also noticed that sexual arousal was often associated with transvestism. In more recent terminology, this is sometimes called transvestic fetishism. Hirschfeld also clearly distinguished between transvestism as an expression of a person's "contra-sexual" (transgender) feelings and fetishistic behavior, even if the latter involved wearing clothes of the other sex.

The use of the term {{lang|es|travesti}} meaning cross-dresser was already common in French in the early 19th century,{{Cite Q|Q125754132}}, Volume II, p. 896 from where it was imported into Portuguese, with the same meaning.Porto Editora – [https://www.infopedia.pt/dicionarios/lingua-portuguesa/travesti travesti] no Dicionário Infopédia da Língua Portuguesa [em linha]. Porto: Porto Editora. Accessed on 2024-05-02 20:58:24.

Today, the term transvestite is commonly considered outdated and derogatory, with the term cross-dresser used as a more appropriate replacement.{{cite book|last1=Vaccaro |first1=Annemarie |last2=August |first2=Gerri |last3=Kennedy |first3=Megan S. |last4=Newman |first4=Barbara M. |title=Safe Spaces: Making Schools and Communities Welcoming to LGBT Youth|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-39368-6|year=2011|page=142|access-date=October 21, 2016|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZkxjSnI2e0UC&pg=PA142|quote=Cross-dresser/cross-dressing. (1) The most neutral word to describe a person who dresses, at least partially or part of the time, and for any number of reasons, in clothing associated with another gender within a particular society. Carries no implications of 'usual' gender appearance, or sexual orientation. Has replaced transvestite, which is outdated, problematic, and generally offensive since it was historically used to diagnose medical/mental health disorders. }}{{cite book|editor1-last=Capuzza |editor1-first=Jamie C. |editor2-last=Spencer |editor2-first=Leland G.|title=Transgender Communication Studies: Histories, Trends, and Trajectories|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-1-4985-0006-7|year=2015|page=174|access-date=October 21, 2016|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A1emBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA174|quote=Eventually, the transvestite label fell out of favor because it was deemed to be derogatory; cross-dresser has emerged as a more suitable replacement (GLAAD, 2014b).}}{{cite book |author=Charles Zastrow |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DB5TCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA239 |title=Empowerment Series: Introduction to Social Work and Social Welfare: Empowering People |publisher=Cengage Learning |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-305-38833-8 |page=239 |quote=the term transvestite is often considered an offensive term. |access-date=October 21, 2016}}{{Cite book |editor1-last=Kattari |editor1-first=Shanna K. |editor2-last=Kinney |editor2-first=M. Killian |editor3-last=Kattari |editor3-first=Leonardo |editor4-last=Walls |editor4-first=N. Eugene |date=2021 |chapter=Glossary |title=Social Work and Health Care Practice With Transgender and Nonbinary Individuals and Communities: Voices for Equity, Inclusion, and Resilience |edition=1st |location=New York, NY |publisher=Routledge |page=xxxviii |isbn=978-1138336223 |quote=Transvestite: Outdated term previously used to describe a cross-dresser. Now considered pejorative.}}

The term transvestite was historically used to diagnose medical disorders, including mental health disorders, and transvestism was viewed as a disorder, while the term cross-dresser was coined by the trans community.{{cite book |author=David A. Gerstner |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XS_SnVPixE8C&pg=PA568 |title=Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-313-39368-6 |page=568 |quote=A variety of derogatory terms are still used to describe any aspect of the transgender condition. [...] The term transvestite being older [than cross-dresser] and associated with the medical community's negative view of the practice, has come to be seen as a derogatory term. [...] The term cross-dresser, in contrast, having come from the transgender community itself, is a term seen as not possessing these negative connotations. |access-date=October 21, 2016}}

In some cases, the term transvestite is seen as more appropriate for use by members of the trans community instead of by those outside the trans community, and some have reclaimed the word.{{cite book|first1=Christina |last1=Richards |first2=Meg |last2=Barker|title=Sexuality and Gender for Mental Health Professionals: A Practical Guide|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-44628716-3|year=2013|page=162|access-date=October 21, 2016|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=13GKAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA162|quote=The term transvestite should not be considered to be a safe term, and should certainly not be used as a noun, as in 'a transvestite'. Instead, and only when relevant, the term trans person should be used. [...] There are some people who have reclaimed the word transvestite and may also use the word tranny or TV to refer to themselves and others. [...] The term cross-dressing too is somewhat outdated and problematic as not only do many fashions allow any gender to wear them -- at least in many contemporary Western societies -- but it also suggests a strict dichotomy being reinforced by the person who uses it.}}

The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) listed dual-role transvestism (non-sexual cross-dressing) and fetishistic transvestism (cross-dressing for sexual pleasure) as disorders in ICD-10 (1994).{{Cite web |title=ICD-10 Version:2016 |url=https://icd.who.int/browse10/2016/en#/F64.1 |access-date=2019-10-11 |website=icd.who.int}}{{Cite web |title=ICD-10 Version:2016 |url=https://icd.who.int/browse10/2016/en#/F65.1 |access-date=2019-10-11 |website=icd.who.int}} Both items were removed for ICD-11 (2022).

When cross-dressing occurs for erotic purposes over a period of at least six months and also causes significant distress or impairment, the behavior is considered a mental disorder in the United States Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and the psychiatric diagnosis "transvestic fetishism" is applied.{{cite web |url=http://www.dsm5.org/Documents/Sex%20and%20GID%20Lit%20Reviews/Paraphilias/DSMV.TF.pdf |title=DSM-V |work=The DSM Diagnostic Criteria for Transvestic Fetishism |publisher=American Psychiatric Association |date=2009 |access-date=February 4, 2013}}

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{{Reflist}}

• Ackroyd, Peter. [https://archive.org/details/dressinguptransv00ackrrich Dressing up, transvestism and drag: the history of an obsession.] Simon and Schuster, 1979. {{ISBN|0671250914}}
• Mancini, Elena. [https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0549700552 A Brighter Shade of Pink: Magnus Hirschfeld.] ProQuest, 2007. {{ISBN|0549700552}}
• Ambrosio, Giovanna. [https://books.google.com/books?isbn=178049307X Transvestism, Transsexualism in the Psychoanalytic Dimension.] Karnac Books, 2011. {{ISBN|178049307X}}
• Gravois, Valory. {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130103160412/http://www.crossdressingnovel.com/ Cherry Single: A Transvestite Comes of Age (a novel)]}} Alchemist/Light Publishing, 1997 (Available to read free, online), {{ISBN|0-9600650-5-9}}

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{{notelist}}b. Reclaiming Two-Spirits, by Gregory D. Smithers. Beacon Press Books, copyright 2022 gives an excellent historical perspective of spirituality in the indigenous persons of Native Americal.

• Anders, Charles. The Lazy Crossdresser, Greenery Press, 2002. {{ISBN|1-890159-37-9}}.
• Boyd, Helen. My Husband Betty, Thunder's Mouth Press, 2003
• {{citation |last=Chesser |first=Lucy Sarah |title=Parting with My Sex: Cross-dressing, Inversion and Sexuality in Australian Cultural Life |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CKRE6-CWLAoC |year=2008 |publisher=Sydney University Press |isbn=978-1-920898-31-1 |oclc=488863093}}
• Clute, John & Grant, John. The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, Orbit Books, 1997. {{ISBN|978-1-85723-368-1}}
• {{citation |last1=Dekker |first1=Rudolf M |last2=van de Pol |first2=Lotte C |author3=Kazi Maruful Islam |title=The Tradition Of Female Cross-Dressing In Early Modern Europe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=buewCwAAQBAJ |date=8 February 1989 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=978-1-349-19752-1}}
• {{citation |last=Hauk |first=Savannah |title=Living with Crossdressing: Defining a New Normal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CJ8uDwAAQBAJ |date=1 September 2017 |isbn=978-1-5378-6529-4 |oclc=1013928885}}
• "Lynne". [https://web.archive.org/web/20160305000529/https://gendercentre.org.au/resources/polare-archive/archived-articles/a-cross-dressing-perspective.htm "A Cross-Dressing-Perspective"]

• {{cite journal | author = Thanem Torkild, Wallenberg Louise | publisher=Stockholm University | year = 2016 | title = Just doing gender? Transvestism and the power of underdoing gender in everyday life and work | url = http://su.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:770890/FULLTEXT01| journal = Organization | volume = 23 | issue = 2| pages = 250–271 | doi = 10.1177/1350508414547559 | s2cid = 144150015 }}

• {{Commons category-inline}}

{{Wikiquote}}

• [http://www.gendercentre.org.au/ The Gender Centre (Australia)]
• [http://www.xdresser.ca/ Crossdressing Support Group (Canada)]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060207033802/http://www.cdspub.com/ef01.html The EnFemme Archives]
• [https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/s1784k813 En Femme Magazine No. 1, Digital Transgender Archive]

{{wiktionary-inline|transvestite}}

• [http://www.britannica.com/topic/transvestism Transvestism at Britannica Online Encyclopædia]

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