Cross-dressing

A cross-dresser (sometimes called a transvestite) is any person who wears the clothing of the opposite gender, for any reason. Specific groups within the group of cross-dressers include (among others) drag queens, drag kings, and transvestic fetishists. Cross-dressing is one type of transgender behaviour.

While some cross-dressers may have no desire or intention of adopting other behaviors or practices common to the gender indicated by their choice of clothes, many endeavor to project a complete illusion of belonging to the opposite sex, down to mannerisms, speech patterns, and emulation of sexual characteristics. This is referred to as passing.

Others use a more "mixed" approach: for instance, a man who may wear both a dress and a beard. This is sometimes known as genderfuck.

Analyses of the behavior

Sexual preferences among cross-dressers vary as much as they do in the general population, though, contrary to popular belief, most male-bodied cross-dressers are heterosexual. Some (but by no means all) lesbian women also cross-dress; compare Butch. Cross-dressing among heterosexual women seems to be rare, however, no statistics exist.

The actual determination of cross-dressing is somewhat socially constructed. For example, pants used to be a generally male item of clothing, but has been adopted for wear by women -- this is generally not regarded as cross-dressing, and some women wear some male items of clothing (such as a suit, shirt, or jacket) for fashion, without fear of stigma from others. However, the reverse for men is generally not true. For example, in Western societies, a man who wears a typically female item of clothing such as a skirt will not be able to do so for the sake of fashion as a woman may.

Some students of differentiated reception of cross dressers have suggested as a reason for this aforementioned behavior, is that for a woman to take on a male role in a patriarchal society thus may raise her social status, whereas for a man to take on a female role in that same society is to lower his social status. Thus the woman may be unsympathetically viewed as some kind of social climber, but the man will most likely be unsympathetically viewed as a self-confessed failure in the male quest for dominance, culled by himself from the breeding stock, etc. However this is only one view, and relies on the view that a woman adopting male characteristics in society will be "rewarded" for doing so, which may not be the case.

Classic psychoanalytic views of crossdressing emphasized the role of taboo in the behavior. Only items that were proscribed to a gender would be appropriated, and therefore it is not the general association of an item with one sex or the other, but the prohibitions against the item that give satisfaction to those with a fetish (as opposed to political or sexually expressive) attachment to cross-dressing. As articles become acceptable for occasional wear (a man's necktie on a woman, for example, which passed from taboo to fashion in the 1970's), they cease to be sought by crossdressers.

Specific types of cross-dressing

A drag queen is a male-bodied person who performs in female drag: a costume of extremely gaudy dresses and shoes, large wigs, et cetera, or that imitates famous female film or pop-music stars.
Drag king can be the counter-part of the drag queen — female-bodied persons performing a male or pseudo-male role. It can, however, also denote the complete cross-dressing spectrum of female-bodied persons; also some female bodied people undergoing gender reassignment therapy self-identify as drag kings, so in fact a person identifying as drag king can come from almost the whole of the transgender spectrum.

This use of drag king is considered inaccurate by some people.

A transvestic fetishist is a person, typically a heterosexual male, who cross-dresses as part of a sexual fetish. It is often difficult to distinguish between fetishism that happens to have female clothing as an object and transgender behaviour that includes sexual play.

Other cross-dressing

Some people use the term cross-dresser to refer exclusively to people who wear clothes of the opposite gender who are not transvestic fetishists or doing drag.
Male goths may wear visible make-up, long hair and lace blouses, and even skirts and dresses. Within the goth subculture this is not viewed as cross-dressing.
Some sketch shows, such as League of Gentlemen and Kids in the Hall routinely feature cross-dressing for comic effect.
Some stories have an element of forced feminisation in them, were a man is forced to wear female clothing, or pretend to be a female, often as part of some humiliation.
Female masking is a special form of crossdressing where female clothing and behaviour are combined with female head/face masks, typically made from Latex.

History of cross-dressing

Historically, and still in some parts of the world or in specific situations, cross-dressing occurs for reasons not (or not necessarily) related to the ones mentioned above:

Female-bodied persons who want to take up exclusively male or male dominated positions or professions. Famous examples are pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny, Joan of Arc and Pope Joan.
Females wanting to escape capture and rape in wartime.

Fiction

Tootsie