# Are cross-dressers (men) still called transvestites??
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [April 1, 2018, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579 "2018-04-01T12:50:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2018, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579/1 "2018-04-01T12:50:31Z")
I don’t want to offend but new gender terms keeps evolving. So if I go to a drag show, are the performers still called transvestites?
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2018, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579/2 "2018-04-01T13:23:24Z")
Yes. It’s just the Latin for cross-dresser: trans = (a)cross, vestite = dressed.
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### Author:  [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2018, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579/3 "2018-04-01T14:38:48Z")
It’s cross dreser now, according to [GLAAD](https://www.glaad.org/reference/transgender).
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### Author:  [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2018, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579/4 "2018-04-01T14:52:23Z")
An actual crossdresser here. I’ve never heard my fellow crossdressers refer to themselves as transvestites in conversation. It’s considered an outdated word; whether its’ considered just old fashioned or offensive I can’t say.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2018, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579/5 "2018-04-01T17:06:19Z")
> [@installLSC](#):
>
> An actual crossdresser here. I’ve never heard my fellow crossdressers refer to themselves as transvestites in conversation. It’s considered an outdated word; whether its’ considered just old fashioned or offensive I can’t say.
I certainly couldn’t say, as I am, apparently, an out-of-touch fossil. There was a form at a play yesterday that had eleven (!) gender choices on it. I have no idea as to what at least half of them are.
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### Author:  [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2018, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579/6 "2018-04-01T17:19:25Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> I certainly couldn’t say, as I am, apparently, an out-of-touch fossil. There was a form at a play yesterday that had eleven (!) gender choices on it. I have no idea as to what at least half of them are.
I Would say most cross-dressers don’t know either. A lot of those are used by gender theorists and only them.
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### Author:  [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2018, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579/7 "2018-04-01T17:45:21Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> I certainly couldn’t say, as I am, apparently, an out-of-touch fossil. There was a form at a play yesterday that had eleven (!) gender choices on it. I have no idea as to what at least half of them are.
Yup, and I just didn’t want to incur any wrath thru my ignorance
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### Author:  [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2018, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579/8 "2018-04-01T17:59:33Z")
> [@Nava](#):
>
> Yes. It’s just the Latin for cross-dresser: trans = (a)cross, vestite = dressed.
This is specious reasoning. “Nigger” is just Latin for “black” but that doesn’t mean its use is acceptable today.
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### Author:  [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2018, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579/9 "2018-04-01T19:27:07Z")
I’m cis-female, but the general impression I get from friends who do drag is that crossdresser, or drag queen in a show is generally the preferred term.
Transvestite seems to be only really used in recent years by the guys who consider it shocking and shameful and maybe kinda get off on the humiliation idea of ‘being caught’. The guys who write in to advice columns about how they can’t stop stealing their wife’s underwear, but would never dream of going out in public wearing a dress.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2018, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579/10 "2018-04-01T19:32:01Z")
> [@DummyGladHands](#):
>
> Yup, and I just didn’t want to incur any wrath thru my ignorance
I feel no shame in not knowing. It’s not information that I need in any situation I can imagine myself in.
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2018, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579/11 "2018-04-01T20:14:25Z")
> [@markn\_1](#):
>
> This is specious reasoning. “Nigger” is just Latin for “black” but that doesn’t mean its use is acceptable today.
According to Google Translate “nigreos” is Latin for black. The word you refer to is derived from the Latin, but is in fact an English word that is now considered highly offensive, as you note.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2018, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579/12 "2018-04-01T21:03:05Z")
> [@installLSC](#):
>
> An actual crossdresser here. I’ve never heard my fellow crossdressers refer to themselves as transvestites in conversation. It’s considered an outdated word; whether its’ considered just old fashioned or offensive I can’t say.
Eddie Izzard says he is a “executive transvestite”.
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### Author:  [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2018, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579/13 "2018-04-01T21:20:45Z")
I used to be married to a cross-dresser though I didn’t know about it for a very, very long time, and finding out, while a shock, was not the reason for the divorce. Back then–almost 20 years ago–he and his online cross-dressing friends used the terms “transvestite” and “cross-dresser” interchangeably but preferred cross-dresser. I can’t remember clearly, but it seems to me “transvestite” had some negative connotations. I think that term is completely passé now. I sure wouldn’t use it.
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### Author:  [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2018, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579/14 "2018-04-01T21:21:49Z")
Also, “drag” and “drag queen” are not the same as cross-dressing and cross-dresser. But perhaps I’m stating the obvious.
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### Author:  [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2018, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579/15 "2018-04-01T22:01:50Z")
> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> According to Google Translate “nigreos” is Latin for black. The word you refer to is derived from the Latin, but is in fact an English word that is now considered highly offensive, as you note.
Google Translate is, as is often the case, incorrect. The normal Latin adjective for “black” is _niger_, _nigra_, _nigrum_ (masculine, feminine and neuter respectively). I can’t figure out what “nigreos” is supposed to be. Maybe some form of the verb _nigrare_ “to blacken”, but I don’t recognize the _-eos_ ending as any form of a first conjugation verb that I’m familiar with.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2018, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579/16 "2018-04-02T00:07:20Z")
> [@markn\_1](#):
>
> Google Translate is, as is often the case, incorrect. The normal Latin adjective for “black” is _niger_, _nigra_, _nigrum_ (masculine, feminine and neuter respectively). I can’t figure out what “nigreos” is supposed to be. Maybe some form of the verb _nigrare_ “to blacken”, but I don’t recognize the _-eos_ ending as any form of a first conjugation verb that I’m familiar with.
“Nigger” is simply a mispronounciation of “negro” the Spanish word for black, IIRC.
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### Author:  [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2018, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579/17 "2018-04-02T00:16:58Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> I certainly couldn’t say, as I am, apparently, an out-of-touch fossil. There was a form at a play yesterday that had eleven (!) gender choices on it. I have no idea as to what at least half of them are.
What sort of play makes you fill out a form?
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### Author:  [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2018, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579/18 "2018-04-02T00:31:07Z")
> [@nelliebly](#):
>
> I used to be married to a cross-dresser though I didn’t know about it for a very, very long time, and finding out, while a shock, was not the reason for the divorce. Back then–almost 20 years ago–he and his online cross-dressing friends used the terms “transvestite” and “cross-dresser” interchangeably but preferred cross-dresser. I can’t remember clearly, but it seems to me “transvestite” had some negative connotations. I think that term is completely passé now. I sure wouldn’t use it.
IIRC, the reason “transvestite” was abandoned was because the term was traditionally a medical diagnosis, when transgenderism was still considered a disease by the medical/psychiatric community. “Crossdresser” rarely had those connotations.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2018, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579/19 "2018-04-02T02:12:44Z")
> [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#):
>
> What sort of play makes you fill out a form?
None that I know of. It was a survey form.
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2018, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cross-dressers-men-still-called-transvestites/811579/20 "2018-04-02T09:02:34Z")
> [@markn\_1](#):
>
> Google Translate is, as is often the case, incorrect. The normal Latin adjective for “black” is _niger_, _nigra_, _nigrum_ (masculine, feminine and neuter respectively). I can’t figure out what “nigreos” is supposed to be. Maybe some form of the verb _nigrare_ “to blacken”, but I don’t recognize the _-eos_ ending as any form of a first conjugation verb that I’m familiar with.
Isn’t Latin for “black guy” simply _ater (homo)_? And not offensive? I think **Guinastasia** has a point that the people calling others “nigger” are not exactly Classical scholars.
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