Transvestite is a dated name for cross-dressing. They are the same thing, but people no longer use the term transvestite for the most part. It may be an offensive term for some, and for others, it is not, but the more accepted term these days is cross-dresser.
Crossdressing in history has long been recorded throughout the world. Whether it had to do with survival or self-expression, there are many examples of why both women and men crossdress from all round the world and in every era.
Where did the term transvestite come from?
In 1910 Magnus Hirschfeld coined the term transvestite. While the practice of dressing as the opposite sex was not new, Hirschfeld believed that clothing was only a representation of the outer world of a person, but not who someone felt they were on the inside. Hirschfeld helped many people back in the 1910s to change their names legally and even performed the first sexual reassignment surgery.
Crossdressing laws in UK history
Criminal law was passed in 1885 in the UK that made all homosexual behaviour illegal and punishable by law. It wasn’t just the UK that put these laws into place. They were also found throughout Europe at this time. During this time, people who were suspected of being homosexual and convicted could face time in prison, alongside hard labour for two years. People who cross-dressed were easy targets since the assumption was that they must be homosexual if they enjoy wearing the clothing of the opposite gender.
The first public trial for cross-dressing was for Ernest Boulton, aka Stella, and Fred Park, aka Fanny. They were both arrested in 1870 for cross-dressing and classified as commiting indecent behaviour. The charges were based on how they dressed as women and solicited men dressed as women. Thankfully no conviction was reached, and they were acquitted.
Crossdressing throughout history
There have been many historical figures that have cross-dressed for various reasons. Some women dressed as men so they could go to war, whereas some men dressed as women so they could avoid going to war.
A woman dressed as a man to join a monastery. She concealed her identity until she died in 508, and she was known as Marina the Monk.
Scandinavia
In Norse mythology, Loki and Thor were two of the first cross-dressers known to man. The story wasn’t recorded until the 11th century CE, but the story had been told throughout the Icelandic people for hundreds, possibly thousands of years before that.
It is said that Thor dressed as Freyja, the Norse Goddess of love, in a wedding gown, and Loki dressed as his handmaiden to return his hammer from the Giants that had stolen it and used blackmail against Thor and Loki—wanting only to return Thor’s hammer for a bride, Freyja.
China
The movie Mulan made by Disney wasn’t an idea a writer at the company thought up. It was based on a poem written about Hua Mulan; the poem is called “The Ballad of Mulan,” and it is about a young girl dressing as a man to serve in the army in place of her elderly father.
England
In England, during the Elizabethan era, Shakespeare’s plays were only allowed to have men actors, even for the women’s roles. Making it common for men to dress as women to play these parts. This didn’t sit well with women, and some women would dress as men, dressed as women to be part of a play.
Shakespeare has thirty-eight plays, and seven of them featured cross-dressed characters.
- As you like it
- The merchant of Venice
- Twelfth night
- The two gentlemen of Verona
- The merry wives of Windsor
- The taming of the shrew
- Cymbeline
Afghanistan
It is not uncommon for families to dress their little girls to appear as little boys. This is called bacha posh because boys are given so many more opportunities than girls, and male children in the family define a family’s status. As they hit puberty, some children will start to dress as female while some may be more comfortable dressed in boys’ clothing.
North America
The Indigenous people of North America were one of the very few cultures in history to accept someone who cross-dressed. They called them two-spirited, meaning they did not feel comfortable with the traditional male or female gender but had a little spirit of both genders. It was more common for two-spirit men, but there were also two-spirit women.
There were four mutually agreed-upon genders.
- Masculine men
- Feminine men
- Masculine women
- Feminine women
These people were considered a blessing to their tribe and never scorned for their feelings. This tradition and viewpoint did not make it through colonization, unfortunately. Europeans brought many terrible things to the indigenous tribes of North America, and homophobia was one of them.
Conclusion
There are very many famous people throughout the history of crossdressers, many of whom have suffered for their preferences. Thankfully, we are now a lot more open-minded and understanding.
While transvestite and cross-dresser mean the same thing, transvestite is a dated term and has been replaced with a cross-dresser. Neither term identifies as transgender—most nowdays identify as a straight man who likes wearing women’s clothing.
If anyone has any other examples of crossdressing in history that you’d like to add, please leave in the comments.
Add comment