# What's the difference between a transvestite and a drag queen?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-transvestite-and-a-drag-queen/331368
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [November 16, 2005, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-transvestite-and-a-drag-queen/331368 "2005-11-16T20:03:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2005, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-transvestite-and-a-drag-queen/331368/1 "2005-11-16T20:03:02Z")
I don’t know what got me to thinking about this, except maybe that I watched To Wong Foo a few weeks ago, and Some Like it Hot last weekend.
I was going to post this in GQ, but I realize it may be more a matter of opinion.
From what I understand, a transvestite and a drag queen are not the same thing, and woe be to the person who calls one the other. But silly me, I don’t know the difference.
And what other categories of men wearing dresses are there? (Excluding costumes.)
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### Author:  [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2005, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-transvestite-and-a-drag-queen/331368/2 "2005-11-16T20:29:19Z")
A drag queen is performing; a transvestite is getting off. That simple.
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-transvestite-and-a-drag-queen/331368/3 "2005-11-16T20:31:06Z")
I think a transvestite could wear female clothing almost anytime such as around the house or on errands. A drag queen needs to perform and it is part of an exihibition.
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### Author:  [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-transvestite-and-a-drag-queen/331368/4 "2005-11-16T21:52:45Z")
Drag Queens are nearly always gay men, they tend to want to be obviously men in womens clothing. They usually dress extravagently and put on a show.
Cross dressers are more often straight men then gay men, they usually want to be seen as members of the opposite sex (not just people dressed like their opposite sex). They often would like to be mistaken for members of the opposite sex.
Gender benders, wear clothes suitable for either sex, may or may not be gay, rarely wear only clothes suitable for a single sex.
Transvestites is a word that covers all the above, plus people who are sexually stimulated by wearing clothes more common for their opposite sex. Often might only wear the underwear of their opposite sex whilst maintaining an outward appearence of totally normal clothing.
There are probably more subsets that I can’t think of at the moment.
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### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-transvestite-and-a-drag-queen/331368/5 "2005-11-16T23:28:14Z")
The exposition in the movie you saw covered the differences most succinctly.
> [@](#):
>
> When a straight man puts on a dress and goes on a sexual kick, he is a transvestite.
> When a man is a woman trapped in a man’s body and has a little operation, he is a transsexual.
> When a gay man has _way_ too much fashion sense for one gender, he is a drag queen.
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### Author:  [@mojave66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mojave66)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2005, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-transvestite-and-a-drag-queen/331368/6 "2005-11-17T00:20:47Z")
Just to clarify, transvestism isn’t really about blatant “sexual kicks”, there is a lot of nuance to it. A lot of us (yeah, women can be transvestites) just feel much more comfortable and think we look much, much better in clothes that are traditionally assigned to the “opposite” gender.
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### Author:  [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2005, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-transvestite-and-a-drag-queen/331368/7 "2005-11-17T00:30:20Z")
I don’t think of a transexual as in any ways a transvestite. Such people tend to wear clothes apropriate to their true gender rather than to the version of genitalia they were born with.
(of course a mtof who wears mens clothes a monacle fake beard and sings cabaret could be a drag king)
Drag King is of course the name for a usually gay female who wears exageratedly masculin mens clothes putting on a show of it.
Pantomime Dames are the characters of ugly older women traditionally played by men in pantomime. The leading male part in such productions is also often played by a woman dressed to appear as a young man.
P.S. the drag Kings and Queens I’ve seen arround San Francisco have terrible fashion sense. I think **Johanna** ’s quote would be better as
When a gay man has way too much makeup and glitter for one gender, he is a drag queen.
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### Author:  [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-transvestite-and-a-drag-queen/331368/8 "2005-11-17T00:33:27Z")
Here is what my Human Sexuality textbook says:
Transvestic fetishism: a sexual behavior in which a person derives sexual arousal from wearing clothing of the oppostie sex. Technically now a “transvestite” is a “transvestic fetishist.”
It is a noncoercive paraphilia. Almost all documented cases are of men (especially since there are few “exclusively male” clothing items - many women normally wear unisex clothing. But it could just be that women are better at doing it undetected because many men’s clothes can be unisex).
Cross dressing is when a transgendered (person whose appearance and/or behaviors do not conform to traditional gender roles) person wears clothing not usually associated with their sex. It is usually for psychological rather than sexual gratification.
Transsexuals (person whose gender identity is different from their biological sex) who want sex-reassignment surgery are usually required to cross-dress and live as the opposite gender for a certain amount of time before their surgery. These people have gender dysphoria, which is unhappiness with one’s biological sex or gender role.
Drag queens are homosexual men who have fun dressing up in women’s clothing and performing, often in a “drag show.”
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2005, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-transvestite-and-a-drag-queen/331368/9 "2005-11-17T00:54:00Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#):
>
> (of course a mtof who wears mens clothes a monacle fake beard and sings cabaret could be a drag king).
Ooooh, what a wonderful idea! I’m going to get a suit, monocle and stick-on moustache and become the [Vesta Tilley](http://www.peopleplayuk.org.uk/guided_tours/music_hall_tour/music_hall_stars/tilley.php?) for the New Millennium!
“I’m Burlington Bertie I rise at ten thirty – And Buckingham Palace I view . . .”
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2005, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-transvestite-and-a-drag-queen/331368/10 "2005-11-17T01:40:19Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#):
>
> Drag Queens are nearly always gay men, they tend to want to be obviously men in womens clothing. They usually dress extravagently and put on a show.
Depends on the style of drag. There are those who attempt to look as female as possible, those who affect “clown drag,” (think Priscilla, Queen of the Desert), those who impersonate a particular celebrity (who can go for a direct impersonation or something more exaggerated), etc.
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### Author:  [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2005, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-transvestite-and-a-drag-queen/331368/11 "2005-11-17T03:30:18Z")
Transvestites hang from the ceiling.
Transvestmites grow up from the floor.
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### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2005, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-transvestite-and-a-drag-queen/331368/12 "2005-11-17T05:15:14Z")
**Paul** , in the queer scene those are called “tops” and “bottoms.” 😉