A male dressed as a female.

This article deals with the history of the word 'transvestite'. For information about cross-dressing, see there. For information about the sexual fetish, see transvestic fetishism.

Transvestism is literally the practice of cross-dressing, wearing the clothing of the opposite sex, and transvestite literally refers to a person who cross-dresses. However, the word has often had additional connotations. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... This articles is about cross-dressing in general, that is the act of wearing the clothing of another gender for any reason. ... A folded cream-coloured full slip Some men find the sheer fabric of stockings highly enticing Transvestic fetishism is a sexual fetish for the clothing of the opposite gender. ... This articles is about cross-dressing in general, that is the act of wearing the clothing of another gender for any reason. ...

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A transgender woman at New York Citys gay pride parade Transgender (IPA: , from trans (Latin) and gender (English)) is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies that diverge from the normative gender role (woman or man) commonly, but not always, assigned at... Image File history File links Transgender_Pride_flag. ... For other uses, see Androgyny (disambiguation). ... Bigender (bi+gender) is a tendency to move between masculine and feminine gender-typed behaviour depending on context, expressing a distinctly male persona and a distinctly female persona. ... This articles is about cross-dressing in general, that is the act of wearing the clothing of another gender for any reason. ... A drag king performance troupe NYC Drag King Alliance Switch NPlay photo:Jenny Norris Drag kings are mostly female-bodied or -identified performance artists who dress in masculine drag and personify male gender stereotypes as part of their performance. ... A drag artist Lypsinka. ... Genderqueer or intergender is a gender identity of both, neither or some combination of man and/or woman. In relation to the gender binary (the view that there are only two genders), genderqueer people generally identify as more both/and or neither/nor, rather than either/or. ... Intersexuality is the state of a person whose sex chromosomes, genitalia and/or secondary sex characteristics are determined to be neither exclusively male nor female. ... Questioning is a term that can refer to a person who is questioning their gender identity, sexual identity or sexual orientation. ... Anna P., who lived for many years as a man in Germany, was photographed for Magnus Hirschfelds book Sexual Intermediates in 1922. ... For the electronic music EP by Mr. ... LGBT history refers to the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender cultures around the world, dating back to the first recorded instances of same-sex love and sexuality within ancient civilizations. ... Manifestations Slavery · Racial profiling · Lynching Hate speech · Hate crime · Hate groups Genocide · Holocaust · Pogrom Ethnocide · Ethnic cleansing · Race war Religious persecution · Gay bashing Pedophobia · Ephebiphobia Movements Discriminatory Aryanism · Neo-Nazism · Supremacism Kahanism Anti-discriminatory Abolitionism · Civil rights LGBT rights Womens/Universal suffrage · Feminism Mens/Fathers rights · Masculinism Children... Homosexuality and transgender are two separate concepts. ... Gynephilia (or gynophilia) (From Greek gunē, women, + -philia, love) is the romantic and/or sexual attraction to adult females, and its counterpart androphilia (from Greek andro-, male, + -philia, love) is attraction to adult males. ... Transsexual people are those who establish a permanent identity with the gender opposite to that which they were assigned at birth. ... Transgender and Transexual people may face difficulty when trying to access amenities, such as toilets and change rooms, when presenting as their chosen gender // From Main Article: Toilet Sex-separated public toilets are often difficult to negotiate for transgendered or androgynous people, who are often subject to embarrassment, harassment, or... Transgender is a very complex topic, where consensual and precise definitions have not yet been reached. ... This is a list of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender-related films. ...

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. 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. A neologism is a word, term, or phrase which has been recently created (or coined), often to apply to new concepts, to synthesize pre-existing concepts, or to make older terminology sound more contemporary. ... // The 1910s represent the culmination of European militarism which had its beginnings during the second half of the 19th Century. ...

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"). 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.) Hirschfeld's group of transvestites consisted of both males and females, with (physically) heterosexual, (physically) homosexual, bisexual and asexual orientations. ^[1] Magnus Hirschfeld in 1933 Magnus Hirschfeld (Kolberg, May 14, 1868 - Nice, May 14, 1935) was a prominent German-Jewish physician, sexologist, and gay rights advocate. ... Year 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday [1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Gender in common usage refers to the sexual distinction between male and female. ... Heterosexuality is a sexual orientation characterized by esthetic attraction, romantic love or sexual desire exclusively for members of the opposite sex or gender, contrasted with homosexuality and distinguished from bisexuality and asexuality. ... Since its coinage, the word homosexuality has acquired multiple meanings. ... In human sexuality, bisexuality describes a man or woman having a sexual orientation to persons of either or both sexes (a man or woman who sexually likes both sexes; people who are sexually and/or romantically attracted to both males and females). ... This article is about human asexuality; asexual reproduction is a separate topic. ...

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. 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. Hirschfeld's transvestites therefore were, in today's terms, not only transvestites, but people from all over the transgender spectrum. Clothing protects the vulnerable nude human body from the extremes of weather, other features of our environment, and for safety reasons. ... Sex reassignment surgery (SRS) includes the surgical procedures by which a persons physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are changed to that of the other sex. ... A transgender woman at New York Citys gay pride parade Transgender (IPA: , from trans (Latin) and gender (English)) is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies that diverge from the normative gender role (woman or man) commonly, but not always, assigned at...

Hirschfeld operated very much in a three-gender framework: male; female; and other, or third gender. Included in this third gender were all who, in today's terms, violated heteronormative bounds. Again, in today's terms, this is very much equivalent with the queer community—lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons. There was, therefore, no pressing reason to find different terms for the different shades of Hirschfeld's transvestism. Anna P., who lived for many years as a man in Germany, was photographed for Magnus Hirschfelds book Sexual Intermediates in 1922. ... Heteronormativity is the reinforcement of certain viewpoints by many social institutions and social policies. ... For the novel by William S. Burroughs, see Queer (novel). ... This article is about same-sex desire and sexuality among women. ... GAY can mean: Gay, a term referring to homosexual men or women The IATA code for Gaya Airport Category: ... “Bisexual” redirects here. ...

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. Turn on redirects here. ... Two women in handcuffs and latex miniskirts and tops - Latex and PVC fetishism Wikinews has related news: Dr. Joseph Merlino on sexuality, insanity, Freud, fetishes and apathy Sexual fetishism is the sexual attraction for material and terrestrial objects while in reality the essence of the object is inanimate and sexless. ...

Today, Hirschfeld's use of transvestism is extinct, but the modern term transgender is used in a nearly equivalent sense. A transgender woman at New York Citys gay pride parade Transgender (IPA: , from trans (Latin) and gender (English)) is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies that diverge from the normative gender role (woman or man) commonly, but not always, assigned at...

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. 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. Also, the three-gendered framework of Hirschfeld disappeared, and the two-gender framework became the frame of reference again. Nazism in history Nazi ideology Nazism and race Outside Germany Related subjects Lists Politics Portal         Nazism or National Socialism (German: Nationalsozialismus), refers primarily to the ideology and practices of the Nazi Party (National Socialist German Workers Party, German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP) under Adolf Hitler. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... This article is about human sexual perceptions. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969. ... Homosexuality refers to sexual interaction and / or romantic attraction between individuals of the same sex. ...

In the 1960s Harry Benjamin and others started working with people showing transvestite behaviour again. Trying to press transvestite behaviour into a two-gendered framework produced a very significant result: transsexualism. 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. Harry Benjamin (1885-1986) was a German-born sexologist[1]. He is best known for his pioneering work with transsexualism. ... For the electronic music EP by Mr. ...

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 interaction and / or romantic attraction between individuals of the same sex. ... A folded cream-coloured full slip Some men find the sheer fabric of stockings highly enticing Transvestic fetishism is a sexual fetish for the clothing of the opposite gender. ...

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 extreme transvestism that is still associated with the LGBT community, which differs from most other forms of transvestism, became known as drag. LGBT rights Around the world By country History · Groups · Activists Declaration of Montreal Same-sex relationships Marriage · Adoption Opposition · Discrimination Violence This box:      The Stonewall riots were a series of violent conflicts between New York City police officers and groups of gay and transgender people that began during the early... The initialism LGBT also GLBT is in use (since the 1990s) to refer collectively to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender people. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

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. Femme redirects here. ...

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. A drag king performance troupe NYC Drag King Alliance Switch NPlay photo:Jenny Norris Drag kings are mostly female-bodied or -identified performance artists who dress in masculine drag and personify male gender stereotypes as part of their performance. ...

Cross-dressers

Main article: Cross-dressing

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. 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 articles is about cross-dressing in general, that is the act of wearing the clothing of another gender for any reason. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ...

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.

Related word: travesty

Although the term 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", then "to dress ridiculously", but soon came to mean "a parody or burlesque" and finally added to that its modern meaning of "disgraceful imitation". The Oxford English Dictionary print set The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP), and is the most successful dictionary of the English language, (not to be confused with the one-volume Oxford Dictionary of English, formerly New Oxford Dictionary of English, of... In contemporary usage, a parody (or lampoon) is a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself, the subject of the work, the author or fictional voice of the parody, or another subject. ... Photograph of Sally Rand, 1934. ...

See also

Look up transvestite in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• List of transgender-related topics

Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wiktionary (a portmanteau of wiki and dictionary) is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 150 languages. ... Transgender is a very complex topic, where consensual and precise definitions have not yet been reached. ...

References

1. ^ Hirschfeld, Geschlechtsverirrungen, 10th Ed. 1992, page 142 ff.
2. ^ Rainbow Reader, Fort Wayne, Indiana