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Transvestism

December 07, 2023

Not to be confused with Travesti (gender identity), Transgender, or Transvestic fetishism.

Transvestism is the practice of dressing in a manner traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender. In some cultures, transvestism is practiced for religious, traditional, or ceremonial reasons.[1] The term is considered outdated in Western cultures, especially when used to describe a transgender or gender-fluid person.[2]

An Italian Sicilian male cross-dressing as a Spanish female, photographed by Wilhelm von Gloeden in the late 19th century
The jogappa of South India are connected with the goddess Yellamma

History edit

Though the term was coined as late as the 1910s by Magnus Hirschfeld, the phenomenon is not new. It was referred to in the Hebrew Bible.[3] Being 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.[4]

Terminology edit

The word has undergone several changes of meaning since it was first coined and is still used in a variety of senses. Today, the term transvestite is commonly considered outdated and derogatory, with the term cross-dresser used as a more appropriate replacement.[2][5][6] This is because the term transvestite was historically used to diagnose medical disorders, including mental health disorders, and transvestism was viewed as a disorder, but the term cross-dresser was coined by the transgender community.[2][7] In some cases, however, the term transvestite is seen as more appropriate for use by members of the transgender community instead of by those outside of the transgender community, and some have reclaimed the word.[8][9]

Etymology edit

Magnus Hirschfeld coined the word transvestite in 1910 (from Latin trans-, "across, over" and vestitus, "dressed") to refer to the sexual interest in cross-dressing.[10] 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.[11]

 
A 1928 transvestite pass allowing Gert Katter a female-to-male trans man who was one of Hirschfeld's patients, to wear male clothing.[12]

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.[10] In fact, Hirschfeld helped people to achieve the first name changes (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.[10]

Hirschfeld also noticed that sexual arousal was often associated with transvestism.[10] In more recent terminology, this is sometimes called transvestic fetishism.[13] 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.[10]

Cross-dressers edit

Main article: Cross-dressing
 
Yakkun Sakurazuka cross-dressing as a schoolgirl

One of the fiercest activists to come out of the Stonewall Riots was Sylvia Rivera, who set up Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries. In a 1971 essay, "Transvestites: Your Half Sisters and Half Brothers of the Revolution", Rivera wrote, "Transvestites are homosexual men and women who dress in clothes of the opposite sex."[14]

After all the changes that took place during the 1970s,[citation needed] a large group was left without a word to describe themselves: heterosexual males who wear traditionally feminine clothing. This group was not particularly happy with the term "transvestism", and therefore took on the term "cross-dresser".[15]

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 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and the psychiatric diagnosis "transvestic fetishism" is applied.[16]

Culture edit

In some cultures, transvestism is practiced for religious, traditional or ceremonial reasons. For example, in India some male devotees of the Hindu god Krishna, especially in Mathura and Vrindavan, dress in female attire to pose as his consort, the goddess Radha, as an act of devotion.[17] In Italy, the Neapolitan femminielli wear wedding dresses, called the matrimonio dei femminielli (marriage of the feminine males), a procession takes place through the streets, a tradition that apparently has pagan origins.[18]

Image gallery edit

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Eric H. Boehm; Historical Abstracts: Modern history abstracts, 1775–1914, Volume 50, Edition 3, p. 723
  2. ^ a b c Vaccaro, Annemarie; August, Gerri; Kennedy, Megan S.; Newman, Barbara M. (2011). Safe Spaces: Making Schools and Communities Welcoming to LGBT Youth. ABC-CLIO. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-313-39368-6. Retrieved October 21, 2016. 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.
  3. ^ Aggrawal, Anil. (April 2009). "References to the paraphilias and sexual crimes in the Bible". J Forensic Leg Med. 16 (3): 109–14. doi:10.1016/j.jflm.2008.07.006. PMID 19239958.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ Capuzza, Jamie C.; Spencer, Leland G., eds. (2015). Transgender Communication Studies: Histories, Trends, and Trajectories. Lexington Books. p. 174. ISBN 978-1-4985-0006-7. Retrieved October 21, 2016. 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).
  6. ^ Zastrow, Charles (2016). Empowerment Series: Introduction to Social Work and Social Welfare: Empowering People. Cengage Learning. p. 239. ISBN 978-1-305-38833-8. Retrieved October 21, 2016. The term transvestite is often considered an offensive term.
  7. ^ David A. Gerstner (2006). Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture. Routledge. p. 568. ISBN 0313393680. Retrieved October 21, 2016. 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.
  8. ^ Laura Castañeda (2006). News and Sexuality: Media Portraits of Diversity. SAGE Publications. p. 129. ISBN 1412909996. Retrieved October 21, 2016. Trannie is a word much like fag or nigger. It may be permitted in conversation between members of the same group but it is deemed an insult when applied to a transsexual by someone who is not transsexual. Transvestite is deemed a derogatory term when applied to a transsexual. Indiscriminate use of these three words, along with the others, shows a lack of training in and understanding of minority relations.
  9. ^ Richards, Christina; Barker, Meg (2013). Sexuality and Gender for Mental Health Professionals: A Practical Guide. SAGE Publications. p. 162. ISBN 978-1-44628716-3. Retrieved October 21, 2016. 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.
  10. ^ a b c d e Hirschfeld, Magnus: Die Transvestiten. Berlin 1910: Alfred Pulvermacher
    Hirschfeld, Magnus. (1910/1991). Transvestites: The erotic drive to cross dress. (M. A. Lombardi-Nash, Trans.) Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books.
  11. ^ Hirschfeld, Magnus. Geschlechtsverirrungen, 10th Ed. 1992, page 142 ff.
  12. ^ Taylor, Michael T.; Timm, Annette; Herrn, Rainer (30 October 2017). Not Straight from Germany: Sexual Publics and Sexual Citizenship Since Magnus Hirschfeld. University of Michigan Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-472-13035-1.
  13. ^ American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5 (Fifth ed.). Arlington, Virginia: American Psychiatric Publishing. pp. 685–705. ISBN 978-0-89042-555-8. OCLC 847226928.
  14. ^ Rivera, Sylvia, "Transvestites: Your Half Sisters and Half Brothers of the Revolution" in Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries: Survival, Revolt, and Queer Antagonist Struggle. Untorelli Press, 2013. "Transvestites are homosexual men and women who dress in clothes of the opposite sex."
  15. ^ Bullough, Vern L. Cross Dressing, Sex, and Gender. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993. ISBN 0812214315
  16. ^ "DSM-V" (PDF). The DSM Diagnostic Criteria for Transvestic Fetishism. American Psychiatric Association. 2009. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
  17. ^ Meet the crossdresser saints of UP. CNN-IBN. Retrieved 21 January 2013
  18. ^ Il mondo del "femminiello", cultura e tradizione. TorreSette.news. Retrieved 21 January 2013

References edit

  • Ackroyd, Peter. Dressing up, transvestism and drag: the history of an obsession. Simon and Schuster, 1979. ISBN 0671250914
  • Mancini, Elena. A Brighter Shade of Pink: Magnus Hirschfeld. ProQuest, 2007. ISBN 0549700552
  • Ambrosio, Giovanna. Transvestism, Transsexualism in the Psychoanalytic Dimension. Karnac Books, 2011. ISBN 178049307X
  • Gravois, Valory. Cherry Single: A Transvestite Comes of Age (a novel) Alchemist/Light Publishing, 1997 (Available to read free, online), ISBN 0-9600650-5-9

Further reading edit

  • Thanem Torkild, Wallenberg Louise (2016). "Just doing gender? Transvestism and the power of underdoing gender in everyday life and work". Organization. 23 (2): 250–271. doi:10.1177/1350508414547559. S2CID 144150015.

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Transvestism.

  The dictionary definition of transvestite at Wiktionary

  • Transvestism at Britannica Online Encyclopædia

December 07, 2023
transvestism, confused, with, travesti, gender, identity, transgender, transvestic, fetishism, this, article, lead, section, short, adequately, summarize, points, please, consider, expanding, lead, provide, accessible, overview, important, aspects, article, se. Not to be confused with Travesti gender identity Transgender or Transvestic fetishism This article s lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article September 2017 Transvestism is the practice of dressing in a manner traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender In some cultures transvestism is practiced for religious traditional or ceremonial reasons 1 The term is considered outdated in Western cultures especially when used to describe a transgender or gender fluid person 2 An Italian Sicilian male cross dressing as a Spanish female photographed by Wilhelm von Gloeden in the late 19th centuryThe jogappa of South India are connected with the goddess Yellamma Contents 1 History 1 1 Terminology 1 2 Etymology 1 3 Cross dressers 1 3 1 Culture 2 Image gallery 3 See also 4 Notes 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External linksHistory editThough the term was coined as late as the 1910s by Magnus Hirschfeld the phenomenon is not new It was referred to in the Hebrew Bible 3 Being 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 4 Terminology edit The word has undergone several changes of meaning since it was first coined and is still used in a variety of senses Today the term transvestite is commonly considered outdated and derogatory with the term cross dresser used as a more appropriate replacement 2 5 6 This is because the term transvestite was historically used to diagnose medical disorders including mental health disorders and transvestism was viewed as a disorder but the term cross dresser was coined by the transgender community 2 7 In some cases however the term transvestite is seen as more appropriate for use by members of the transgender community instead of by those outside of the transgender community and some have reclaimed the word 8 9 Etymology edit Magnus Hirschfeld coined the word transvestite in 1910 from Latin trans across over and vestitus dressed to refer to the sexual interest in cross dressing 10 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 11 nbsp A 1928 transvestite pass allowing Gert Katter a female to male trans man who was one of Hirschfeld s patients to wear male clothing 12 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 10 In fact Hirschfeld helped people to achieve the first name changes 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 10 Hirschfeld also noticed that sexual arousal was often associated with transvestism 10 In more recent terminology this is sometimes called transvestic fetishism 13 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 10 Cross dressers edit Main article Cross dressing nbsp Yakkun Sakurazuka cross dressing as a schoolgirlOne of the fiercest activists to come out of the Stonewall Riots was Sylvia Rivera who set up Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries In a 1971 essay Transvestites Your Half Sisters and Half Brothers of the Revolution Rivera wrote Transvestites are homosexual men and women who dress in clothes of the opposite sex 14 After all the changes that took place during the 1970s citation needed a large group was left without a word to describe themselves heterosexual males who wear traditionally feminine clothing This group was not particularly happy with the term transvestism and therefore took on the term cross dresser 15 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 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the psychiatric diagnosis transvestic fetishism is applied 16 Culture edit In some cultures transvestism is practiced for religious traditional or ceremonial reasons For example in India some male devotees of the Hindu god Krishna especially in Mathura and Vrindavan dress in female attire to pose as his consort the goddess Radha as an act of devotion 17 In Italy the Neapolitan femminielli wear wedding dresses called the matrimonio dei femminielli marriage of the feminine males a procession takes place through the streets a tradition that apparently has pagan origins 18 Image gallery edit nbsp Priest priestess Archigallus of ancient Rome nbsp A 1927 photograph of Alvaro Echavarria El excluido of Cucuta Colombia nbsp Baron von Teschenberg a German transvestite one of the founders of the Scientific Humanitarian Committee nbsp A modern American transvestite nbsp A 19th century photograph of a femminiello an ancient culture of cross dressing in Naples Italy nbsp A gay man and a transvestite kissing in a demonstration Mexico CitySee also editCross dressing Drag clothing Dual role transvestism Feminization activity Gender bender List of transgender related topics Transsexual Travesti theatre Notes edit Eric H Boehm Historical Abstracts Modern history abstracts 1775 1914 Volume 50 Edition 3 p 723 a b c Vaccaro Annemarie August Gerri Kennedy Megan S Newman Barbara M 2011 Safe Spaces Making Schools and Communities Welcoming to LGBT Youth ABC CLIO p 142 ISBN 978 0 313 39368 6 Retrieved October 21 2016 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 Aggrawal Anil April 2009 References to the paraphilias and sexual crimes in the Bible J Forensic Leg Med 16 3 109 14 doi 10 1016 j jflm 2008 07 006 PMID 19239958 Rainer Herrn Die ZeitschriftDas 3 Geschlecht in Rainer Herrn ed Das 3 Geschlecht Reprint der 1930 1932 erschienenen Zeitschrift fur Transvestiten 2016 ISBN 9783863002176 p 231 ff Capuzza Jamie C Spencer Leland G eds 2015 Transgender Communication Studies Histories Trends and Trajectories Lexington Books p 174 ISBN 978 1 4985 0006 7 Retrieved October 21 2016 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 Zastrow Charles 2016 Empowerment Series Introduction to Social Work and Social Welfare Empowering People Cengage Learning p 239 ISBN 978 1 305 38833 8 Retrieved October 21 2016 The term transvestite is often considered an offensive term David A Gerstner 2006 Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture Routledge p 568 ISBN 0313393680 Retrieved October 21 2016 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 Laura Castaneda 2006 News and Sexuality Media Portraits of Diversity SAGE Publications p 129 ISBN 1412909996 Retrieved October 21 2016 Trannie is a word much like fag or nigger It may be permitted in conversation between members of the same group but it is deemed an insult when applied to a transsexual by someone who is not transsexual Transvestite is deemed a derogatory term when applied to a transsexual Indiscriminate use of these three words along with the others shows a lack of training in and understanding of minority relations Richards Christina Barker Meg 2013 Sexuality and Gender for Mental Health Professionals A Practical Guide SAGE Publications p 162 ISBN 978 1 44628716 3 Retrieved October 21 2016 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 a b c d e Hirschfeld Magnus Die Transvestiten Berlin 1910 Alfred PulvermacherHirschfeld Magnus 1910 1991 Transvestites The erotic drive to cross dress M A Lombardi Nash Trans Buffalo NY Prometheus Books Hirschfeld Magnus Geschlechtsverirrungen 10th Ed 1992 page 142 ff Taylor Michael T Timm Annette Herrn Rainer 30 October 2017 Not Straight from Germany Sexual Publics and Sexual Citizenship Since Magnus Hirschfeld University of Michigan Press p 44 ISBN 978 0 472 13035 1 American Psychiatric Association 2013 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM 5 Fifth ed Arlington Virginia American Psychiatric Publishing pp 685 705 ISBN 978 0 89042 555 8 OCLC 847226928 Rivera Sylvia Transvestites Your Half Sisters and Half Brothers of the Revolution in Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries Survival Revolt and Queer Antagonist Struggle Untorelli Press 2013 Transvestites are homosexual men and women who dress in clothes of the opposite sex Bullough Vern L Cross Dressing Sex and Gender University of Pennsylvania Press 1993 ISBN 0812214315 DSM V PDF The DSM Diagnostic Criteria for Transvestic Fetishism American Psychiatric Association 2009 Retrieved February 4 2013 Meet the crossdresser saints of UP CNN IBN Retrieved 21 January 2013 Il mondo del femminiello cultura e tradizione TorreSette news Retrieved 21 January 2013References editAckroyd Peter Dressing up transvestism and drag the history of an obsession Simon and Schuster 1979 ISBN 0671250914 Mancini Elena A Brighter Shade of Pink Magnus Hirschfeld ProQuest 2007 ISBN 0549700552 Ambrosio Giovanna Transvestism Transsexualism in the Psychoanalytic Dimension Karnac Books 2011 ISBN 178049307X Gravois Valory Cherry Single A Transvestite Comes of Age a novel Alchemist Light Publishing 1997 Available to read free online ISBN 0 9600650 5 9Further reading editThanem Torkild Wallenberg Louise 2016 Just doing gender Transvestism and the power of underdoing gender in everyday life and work Organization 23 2 250 271 doi 10 1177 1350508414547559 S2CID 144150015 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Transvestism nbsp The dictionary definition of transvestite at Wiktionary Transvestism at Britannica Online Encyclopaedia Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Transvestism amp oldid 1187074426, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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