- This article deals with the history of the word 'transvestite'. For information about cross-dressing, see there. Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothing commonly associated with another gender within a particular Society. For information about the sexual fetish, see transvestic fetishism. Transvestic fetishism is having a sexual or erotic interest in Cross-dressing.
Transvestism is the practice of cross-dressing, which is wearing the clothing of the opposite sex. Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothing commonly associated with another gender within a particular Society. Transvestite refers to a person who cross-dresses; however, the word often has additional connotations.
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Contents |
History
The term transvestism has undergone several changes of meaning since it was coined in the 1910s, and it is still used in a variety of senses. Transgender (trænzˈdʒɛndɚ from ( Latin) derivatives Androgyny is a term derived from the Greek words ανήρ ( anér, meaning man and γυνή ( gyné, meaning woman that can refer to either of two Bigender (bi+gender is a tendency to move between masculine and feminine Gender -typed behaviour depending on context expressing a distinctly " Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothing commonly associated with another gender within a particular Society. Drag kings are mostly female Performance artists who dress in masculine drag and personify male Gender stereotypes as part of their performance A drag queen is a person usually a man who dresses (or "drags" in female clothes and make-up for special occasions and usually because they are performing and entertaining Genderqueer and intergender are catchall terms for gender identities other than man and woman Intersexuality is the state of a living thing of a gonochoristic species whose Sex chromosomes, Genitalia, and/or Secondary sex characteristics Questioning is a term that can refer to a person who is questioning their Gender, Sexual identity or Sexual orientation. The terms third gender and third sex describe individuals who are considered to be neither women nor men as well as the social category present in those societies who recognize Transsexualism is a condition in which a person identifies with a physical Sex different from the one with which they were born LGBT history refers to the History of Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and Transgender peoples and cultures around the world dating back Gynephilia (or gynophilia) (From Greek gunē, "women" + -philia, "love" is the romantic and/or sexual attraction to adult Transsexual people are those who establish a permanent identity with the Gender opposite to that which they were assigned at birth Transgender is a complex topic where consensual and precise definitions have not yet been reached IMPORTANT!!!! Please note If you add a movie to this list please add it to the List of lesbian gay bisexual or transgender-related films by year article as well The people on this list have been selected because their fame or notoriety is in some way due A neologism (from Greek neo = "new" + logos = "word" is a word that although devised relatively recently in a specific time period has been The 1910s decade ran from January 1 1910 through December 31 1919 Therefore it is important to find out, whenever the word is encountered, in which particular sense it is used. However, to understand the different meanings of transvestism it is necessary to explain the development of the term and the reasons behind the changes of meaning.
Origin of the term
Magnus Hirschfeld coined the term transvestism (from Latin trans-, "across, over" and vestere, "to dress or to wear") in 1910 in his book "Die Transvestiten : eine Untersuchung über den erotischen Verkleidungstrieb" ("The transvestites : an investigation of the erotic urge to disguise"). Magnus Hirschfeld ( May 14, 1868 - May 14, 1935) was a German- Jewish physician sex researcher, and early Gay rights Year 1910 ( MCMX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting He used it to describe persons who habitually and voluntarily wore clothes of the opposite sex. (The distinction between sex and gender had not been made at that time. An organism's sex is defined by the gametes it produces males produce male gametes (spermatozoa or Sperm) while females produce female gametes (ova or Egg cells; individual Gender comprises a range of differences between men and women extending from the biological to the social ) Hirschfeld's group of transvestites consisted of both males and females, with (physically) heterosexual, (physically) homosexual, bisexual and asexual orientations. Heterosexuality refers to sexual behavior with or attraction to people of the opposite sex or to a heterosexual orientation Homosexuality refers to sexual behavior with or attraction to people of the same sex or to a Homosexual orientation. Bisexuality refers to sexual behavior with or attraction to people of both sexes or to a bisexual orientation Asexuality is a Sexual orientation that describes individuals who do not experience Sexual attraction. [1]
Hirschfeld himself was not particularly happy with the term: he understood that clothing was only an outward symbol chosen on the basis of various internal psychological situations. Clothing (also called clothes, accoutrements, accouterments, or habiliments) protects the Human body from extreme Weather In fact, Hirschfeld helped people to achieve the very first name changes (legal given names were and are required to be gender-specific in Germany) and to get the very first sexual reassignment surgery. Sex reassignment surgery (SRS gender reassignment surgery, or sex-change operation is a term for the Surgical procedures by which a person's physical Hirschfeld's transvestites therefore were, in today's terms, not only transvestites, but people from all over the transgender spectrum. Transgender (trænzˈdʒɛndɚ from ( Latin) derivatives
Hirschfeld operated very much in a three-gender framework: male; female; and other, or third gender. The terms third gender and third sex describe individuals who are considered to be neither women nor men as well as the social category present in those societies who recognize Included in this third gender were all who, in today's terms, violated heteronormative bounds. Heteronormativity is a term to describe the marginalization of Non-heterosexual lifestyles and the view that Heterosexuality is the normal Sexual orientation Again, in today's terms, this is very much equivalent with the queer community—lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons. Queer has traditionally meant odd or unusual but is now also used to refer to anyone who is not heteronormative. A lesbian is a Woman who is romantically or sexually attracted only to other women In the English language, gay is an Adjective that in modern usage refers to Homosexuality. Bisexuality refers to sexual behavior with or attraction to people of both sexes or to a bisexual orientation There was, therefore, no pressing reason to find different terms for the different shades of Hirschfeld's transvestism.
Hirschfeld also noticed that sexual arousal was often, but not always, associated with transvestite behaviour; he also clearly distinguished between transvestism as an expression of a person's "contra-sexual" (transgender) feelings and fetishistic behaviour, even if the latter involved wearing clothes of the other sex. Sexual fetishism, or erotic fetishism, is the Sexual attraction to materials and objects not conventionally viewed as being sexual in nature
Today, Hirschfeld's use of transvestism is extinct, but the modern term transgender is used in a nearly equivalent sense. Transgender (trænzˈdʒɛndɚ from ( Latin) derivatives
Modern usage
The rise of the Nazis to power and the Second World War had brought an end not only to Hirschfeld's work, but to also most European research in the field of sexuality. Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Generally speaking human sexuality is how people experience and express themselves as sexual beings In both Europe and North America transvestite behaviour (both by male and female bodied persons) was until the 1960s seen as an expression of homosexuality or suppressed homosexual impulses. The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 Homosexuality refers to sexual behavior with or attraction to people of the same sex or to a Homosexual orientation. Also, the three-gendered framework of Hirschfeld disappeared, and the two-gender framework became the frame of reference again.
In the 1960s Harry Benjamin and others started working with people showing transvestite behaviour again. Harry Benjamin ( January 12 1885 – August 24 1986) was a German-born endocrinologist widely known for his clinical work with Transsexualism Trying to press transvestite behaviour into a two-gendered framework produced a very significant result: transsexualism. Transsexualism is a condition in which a person identifies with a physical Sex different from the one with which they were born Unlike Hirschfeld, who had tried to find a social space where third-gendered people could live the way they needed or wanted, people showing other-gendered behaviour now were forced to find a way of living as "proper men" or "proper women". And if a person could not be "cured" of transvestite behaviour, it seemed the best to make them "change sex". Those who refused or were refused this "cure" were labeled either homosexuals or sexual fetishists.
Since transsexual people had and sometimes still have to "prove" that they are not "just transvestites" to get access to medical treatment, people who see themselves as transsexuals occasionally discriminate against anything they see as "transvestism" even more strongly than the public in general.
Today, some people still associate homosexuality, transvestic fetishism and transsexualism with transvestism both alone and in various combinations. Homosexuality refers to sexual behavior with or attraction to people of the same sex or to a Homosexual orientation. Transvestic fetishism is having a sexual or erotic interest in Cross-dressing.
Divergence from homosexuality
Social changes brought about the next modifications.
The gay and lesbian rights movement after the Stonewall riots weakened tranvestism's association with homosexuality, since more lesbians and gays became visible and most of them did not show transvestite behaviour. The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28 1969 at the Stonewall Inn The extreme transvestism that is still associated with the LGBT community, which differs from most other forms of transvestism, became known as drag. LGBT (also GLBT) is an initialism referring collectively to Lesbian, Gay, bisexual, and Transgender / transsexual Drag in its broadest sense means any clothing one wears however the traditional use of the term is for any Costume or outfit that carries symbolic significance
That left transvestism as transvestic fetishism, in which transvestic behavior is coupled with, and often necessary for, sexual arousal. However, in most western societies it became almost impossible for women to engage in transvestism, because more and more pieces of male clothing were permitted or even fashionable for them. Also, the distinctive transvestic behaviour of butches in the lesbian community became "politically incorrect" and therefore became rather rare (or went "underground"). All this led to the term transvestism being applied to men or male-bodied persons only, because there seemed to be no need for a word for transvestic female-bodied persons.
Today transvestism is still applied mostly to male-bodied persons. However, some researchers never stopped using the term transvestism for female-bodied persons, and recently some groups of female-bodied transvestites have started to use the term to describe themselves, although the term "drag king" is more common. Drag kings are mostly female Performance artists who dress in masculine drag and personify male Gender stereotypes as part of their performance
Cross-dressers
After all the changes which took place during the 1970s, a large group was left without a word to describe themselves: heterosexual males (that is, male-bodied, male-identified, gynophilic persons) who wear traditionally feminine clothing. Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothing commonly associated with another gender within a particular Society. This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. This group was not particularly happy with the term transvestism. Therefore, the term cross-dresser was coined. Nor do those self-identified cross-dressers have any fetishistic intentions. They simply enjoy wearing female clothing at times, and most admire, and imitate, women.
This group did - and sometimes still does - distance themselves strictly from both gay men and transsexual people, and usually also deny any fetishistic intentions. It was probably this development that led to the explicit definition of transvestic fetishism as distinctively different from transvestism.
However, when this group of people achieved public attention, most of the time not the word cross-dressing was used, but transvestism. That led, paradoxically, to yet another usage of transvestism: Today transvestism is sometimes used to describe specifically cross-dressing male-bodied, male identified, heterosexual persons. This group usually self-identifies as "cross-dressers".
Echoing the changing history of the term "transvestism", cross-dressing (but not cross-dresser) is now being used to describe the act of wearing clothing of another gender.
There are some cross-dressers who enjoy going out in public, either to special clubs or organizations or to adult night clubs that welcome the transgender community. They take great care in their choice of clothing, wigs, and makeup, sometimes spending considerable time on transforming their appearance from male to female. [2]
Conclusion
There are many different usages and meanings of the term transvestism. Some of them contradict each other; the only thing they have in common is
- They describe a behavior of people dressing in clothes of a gender that is different from the gender they were assigned (usually at birth) or the gender they are living in. It does imply some inner motive for cross-dressing, but does not specify this motive.
- They (usually) exclude transvestic fetishism and they usually do not include transsexualism, or transgender people who completely change their gender role.
The word transvestism therefore should be explained when used; most of the time using cross-dressing will avoid much potential confusion. If encountered, it is necessary to find out which particular meaning it has in the context in which it is presented. In scientific literature, cross-dressing has mostly replaced transvestism.
Travesty in drama
Although, as recounted above, the word transvestism was a modern invention, it has exactly the same two Latin roots as the word travesty, which dates from the 17th century. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word travesty originally meant "to disguise by changing costume" specifically "in the attire of the opposite sex". The Oxford English Dictionary ( OED) published by the Oxford University Press (OUP is a comprehensive Dictionary of the English [3] In modern literary theory, the word continues to hold this meaning in reference to dramatic works: transvestism onstage is referred to as travesty. Literary theory in a strict sense is the systematic study of the nature of Literature and of the methods for analyzing literature [4] In particular travesty roles are dramatic roles in which the sex of the character is opposite that of the performer.
Subsequently, the term took on a vernacular meaning suggesting "a parody or burlesque", and finally the modern definition as a "debased and distorted imitation". A parody (ˈpɛɹədiː US, [ˈpaɹədiː] UK) in contemporary usage is a work created to mock comment on or poke fun at an original work its subject Burlesque is theatrical entertainment of broad and parodic humor which usually consists of comic skits (and sometimes a strip tease) [5]
See also
References
- ^ Hirschfeld, Geschlechtsverirrungen, 10th Ed. Transgender is a complex topic where consensual and precise definitions have not yet been reached 1992, page 142 ff.
- ^ Rainbow Reader, Fort Wayne, Indiana
- ^ "Travesty". Oxford English Dictionary (2nd). (1989).
- ^ See, for instance, Anne Hermann (1989). "Travesty and Transgression: Transvestism in Shakespeare, Brecht, and Churchill". Theatre Journal 41 (2): 133-154.
- ^ "Travesty". Oxford English Dictionary (2nd). (1989).
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