I’m rather ignorant about this, so please educate me. I caught the end of a documentary on transvestism, about how it is a part of the local culture in some south-east Asian countries, but missed the majority of the program. What little I did see got me thinking about it.
So anyways, my rather simplistic understanding of transvestism is that it’s the urge of males to dress up as females. Is it limited to just that, or does this definition apply vice versa too? Also, the impression I’ve got is that all transvestites are gay - is that a fact?
IAMAT but my (biologically male) roommate is, and s/he has a girlfriend.
There’s a very wide spectrum when it comes to this subject. You can find married straight guys who just want to wear heels or lingerie once in awhile, gays that only do “drag” for parties or special occasions, pre-op transsexuals who live “like a woman” 24/7… For some it’s strictly a sexual fetish, for others it’s a very necessary expression of their identity, and some folks do drag for money or just for the hell of it. Sexual orientation may have nothing or everything to do with it.
My roommate dresses feminine during all her waking hours, and I refer to her as “she” because she uses a female name and basically out of respect. Yet she seems to have no desire to change her biological sex and calls herself a lesbian. So is that gay or not? I don’t really know, and to be honest it never really mattered to me.
Transvesticism is the desire of a person to wear the clothes of, and seek to appear as a member of, the opposite sex, sometimes for sexual arousal, sometimes not.
Not all transvestites are gay; in fact, the majority are straight (see Counseling in Genderland by Niela Miller (1996)). There are also female transvestites (women who seek to appear to be men). Do not confuse this with “butch”, however; a butch woman is not seeking to appear as a man.
Also do not confuse transvestites with transsexuals; transsexualism is (as far as we know) a totally different phenomenon.
It is a somewhat broad (pun intended) term.
Ranging from people who where clothes without reguards to which gender they are originally made for. To pre-op transexuals, who live out their lives as members of the gender they were born with, but didn’t have the ‘equipment’ of.
It could quite well be argued that any woman wearing trousers is a transvestite but that would be an unusual way to use the word.
Does anyone have terms for the various possible levels of transvestitism?
Generally, transvestite only covers people who occasionally wear the clothing “belonging” to the other sex, and when they do they generally go all the way (that is, they try to pass for a member of that sex), mainly for the purpose of recreation (“casual transvestites”), or else they only wear undergarments either alone and in private, or underneath “normal” clothing, for the purpose of sexual arousal (“fetish transvestites”).
Individuals who wear clothing without regard to gender, mixing garments from both and making no concerted effort to pass for the opposite sex (or a deliberate effort to confuse people as to what sex they are) are doing what is called “genderfuck”. This is distinct from transvesticism and is usually done either out of rebelliousness or as an expression of personal identity confusion.
Individuals who crossdress all (or mostly all) of the time are almost exclusively transsexuals, either pre-op or non-op. There are a small number of biologically male individuals who dress as female all the time but who identify as male (or as “intergendered”, “third gender”, or “nongendered”); these people are best identified by the “remaindered” category of “transgendered”. (Many of these people will eventually identify as female and be categorized as transsexuals.) Calling these people “transvestites” lumps them in with the far larger and different category of casual transvestites, or worse yet, fetish transvestites. Calling a transsexual of any sort a transvestite is likely to be taken as an insult.
You probably already know what a “drag queen” is (male, usually gay, who dresses as a remarkably flamboyant and overblown woman). The professional version of this is a “female impersonator”. These people dress as “women” in a manner that is almost never mistaken for a real woman, for their own amusement and the amusement of others. Some, but by no means all, DQs are also transvestites or transsexuals. Most transvestites identify as male (while they may call themselves “girl” or “woman”, such use is usually ironic and if you ask them seriously they will identify as male). There is a female version of a “drag queen” called a “drag king”.
Oh, and Bippy, they do indeed make skirts in your size. Trust me.
When I learned transvestism in my psychology class, it literally meant to cross dress: wearing clothes of the opposite sex, nothing more, nothing less.
A woman in a mans shirt, mens pants, or mens boxer shorts, is the same as a man in a womans blouse, womans slacks, or womens panties.
When you start talking of motives, impersonation, fetishes, gender identity, sexual orientation, sex gratification, etc, then you are talking about more than just transvestism.
It has been my observations that women more commonly wear mens clothes, but men more commonly impersonate women.
Susanann, that definition is virtually useless and does not capture what most people mean when they say “transvestite”. Technically, it’s a correct term, but it’s not useful for conveying information.
It also runs into trouble with people with gender identity disorders because of the ambiguity over the term “sex”.
Kelly, since this question comes up so often, it would be absolutely wonderful if somebody (you, perhaps, or lee?) put up a website with those definitions, along with the birth gender, self-identified gender, “presents” in the technical use, and so on, for people’s clarification in terminology. It would also foster greater understanding and hopefully acceptance of transsexuality in all its manifold variations. (Ideally, material from authoritative sources, to prevent arguments, but even a “been there, done that, bought the T-shirt/frilly blouse” set of definitions from a person who’s lived it would be helpful.)
back on OP, does any one find the term tranny offensive?
It seems a lot of transvestites use the term arround San Francisco area (eg the Trannyshack club…).
Polycarp, there are countless websites out there already that discuss those issues. I’m not the kind of person who is very good at writing that sort of thing. I’m a sysadmin, not a web designer, and certainly not a trans awareness educator.
Bippy, I’ve called myself a “tranny dyke” before. I don’t consider it offensive.
Isn’t this odd: I’m a small woman with short, spiky hair. Today was my day off, and I went to the library, the P.O., the grocery store, liquor store, bookstore & walked my dog through my neighborhood – all while wearing jeans that are identical to those worn by my sons, a plain black T-shirt, plain black boots and no makeup. No one thought I am a man! No one thought I am a transvestite! I know this because everywhere I went I was looked at and treated the same as I am when I wear a skirt and makeup.
This is one thing we women can get away with that men can’t. Yay!
