Cross dressing
Cross-Dressing (of English cross "crossed" and dress "clothing") generally refers to the deliberate wearing clothes (sstücken), within the gender order man - woman to be typical for the other sex are respected. The intentions range from taste and practical reasons, the desire to dress up or the expression of a (personal) fashion style, to protest against gender stereotypes, to expressing a gender identity that does not correspond to the (assigned) biological gender (compare gender role ) . The term was introduced in the early 1970s by a group of heterosexual cross-dressers in the United States to dispel the public equation of transvestism with being gay and transvestite fetishism . While the term was quickly taken up to denote any wearing of clothing of the opposite sex, it can also be found in the original meaning. Cross-dressing as an expression of a person's gender identity is considered to be transgender , other cross-dressing is not. In the case of historical persons, however, it is not always clear to what extent their cross-dressing was a question of their gender identity or was caused by external circumstances.
Cross-dressing as an expression of gender identity
Almost all people feel the desire to express their gender identity outwardly, this includes not only voice and language , but primarily clothing. The clothing style of people in whom sex and gender do not completely match is called cross-dressing, as it crosses the classic gender boundaries. Cross-dressing can either be integrated into everyday clothing or explicitly, then often done in secret or in private.
Women and trans men in particular have the opportunity to integrate “male” items of clothing into everyday clothing, which can be done consciously or unconsciously. Cross-dressing is usually not associated with sexual arousal or sexual activity. Female cross-dressers generally not only place little value on typical women's clothing, but also little value on typical women's career choices, or generally on behavior that is understood as typical of women.
Men or trans women have this option less, so that conscious cross-dressing occurs more often, but this can also cause problems much more frequently. There is also compensation here from time to time; In other words, while in everyday life one tries particularly well to fill the male social role, cross-dressing is “only” understood as transvestism or transvestite fetishism , without being related to one's own gender identity . There are also trans women who later changed their gender roles completely , who report corresponding phases.
Cross dressing as a means of sexual stimulation
Wearing clothes of the opposite sex can promote sexual arousal; either through individual items of clothing ( pantyhose , women's underwear, compare women's lingerie , skirt, blouse , or men's trousers, suit , tie ) or by completely putting on clothing of the opposite sex (sometimes with a wig, make-up, jewelry or a false beard). While wearing these fetishistic cross-dressers, there is sexual stimulation, often accompanied by masturbation . After the orgasm and the associated decrease in arousal, there is usually the need to take off the non-gender clothing and return to one's own gender. Sexual orientation does not play a role when wearing opposite-sex clothing.
Cross dressing as a means to an end
Disguise
Best known is cross-dressing as an extreme form of disguise to escape adverse circumstances. These include women who wear men's clothes to escape rape , which occurs particularly often in warlike situations. There are also a number of known cases in which prisoners fled wearing the clothing of the opposite sex. Even today, and in times of peace, women feel compelled to take this step.
Cross dressing in the theater
Sarah Bernhardt is probably one of the most famous cross-dressers in the theater world , who slipped into men's clothes in order to be able to play a certain role. For example, she played Hamlet in Shakespeare 's tragedy of the same name in 1899 . Of course, the term was not yet coined for this. Nevertheless, she was admired and admired for it. The Munich stage comedians Karl Valentin and Liesl Karlstadt (joint stage successes from 1911 to around 1940) enriched the numbers shown in their program with skits in which Karlstadt had to slip into male roles. Both the external appearance (outerwear, glasses, hat, hair pieces / beard) as well as the appearance (posture, tone of voice, intonation, manner of speaking) were changed according to the role, for example as an official of a royal-imperial era. This way of playing was due to the general circumstances of the cabaret and its social position, so that only a few actors suitable for the stage were available - the cross-dressing of this time arose from a kind of personnel shortage. Some of these representations, in particular through feature films and short films, have been handed down in pictures.
Leading actor Tim Curry took on a very well-known role in the successful musical Rocky Horror Show in England at the beginning of the 1970s (in the best-known form as a movie, 1975 ), where he and other actors dressed up and imagined transvestites with suspenders and corsages . Contemporary productions, especially if you have to go on tour with a small budget, generally like to use the means of casting several roles with one and the same actor. Usually it is a combination of speaking role and extra roles. The extra role is then at least formally separated from the first role for the viewer by other clothing, accessories or even artificial beards. This also includes slipping into the role of the respective opposite sex. Well-known examples are the disguises of the political cabaret artist Mathias Richling and the satirist Oliver Kalkofe .
Cross-dressing as a disguise in the film
Women in men's clothing were often seen in German films around 1930 ( Renate Müller in Viktor and Viktoria , Dolly Haas in Liebeskommando ). In the post-war period, Liselotte Pulver exchanged her clothes in the role of a kidnapped count's daughter as part of the film Das Wirtshaus im Spessart .
In the Austrian comedy Zauber der Montur from 1958, Maria Sebaldt and Christine Görner dress up as aristocratic (male) officers, but their friends Harald Juhnke and Gunther Philipp as their wives. All four end up having to deal with a fake colonel ( Grethe Weiser ). In more recent films, women can again be seen in corresponding roles, for example Barbra Streisand in Yentl or Julie Andrews in Victor / Victoria .
In recent films the majority are men in women's clothes, often to flee something in the context of the plot ( some like it hot embodied by Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon ), out of courtesy ( Charley's aunt embodied by Sydney Chaplin , Heinz Rühmann , Peter Alexander , Jörg Pleva , Thomas Heinze and others) or to achieve something that you cannot achieve as a man ( Tootsie with Dustin Hoffman or Mrs. Doubtfire with Robin Williams ).
In the pastiche Das Leben des Brian , numerous aspects of cross-dressing are taken up in a more or less serious way. When fleeing from the Romans , the protagonist tries to find a beard at the market, which is usually only bought by local women, as they had to disguise themselves in the case of stonings for the apartment that is not permitted for women. Brian's mother, however, was portrayed in women's clothes by Terry Jones .
Cross-dressing as a political statement
Cross-dressing can also be used to make a political and / or social statement; This is probably best known from the lesbian and gay movement , although this occasionally overlapped with cross-dressing as an expression of gender identity. As a political statement, it has largely disappeared from the public eye since the 1980s. It still lives on the stage and as a drag queen to the CSD events; however, the political statement has mostly disappeared here, and it is only an expression of the corresponding subculture . Occasionally, cross-dressing is used unrelated to lesbian, gay and / or transgender people to attract attention to a political statement; because especially a man in women's clothes can be sure of this. For example, some members of Commune I put on women's clothes for some actions.
Cross-dressing as a ritual or cultural act
Cross-dressing also occurs in ritual and / or cultural acts and traditions, of which not much is left in Western cultures; at most the men's ballet at Carnival. The Tanzmariechen (Funkenmariechen) of the Cologne Carnival was originally a man in women's clothes, which was changed in the “ Third Reich ” - together with the change of the traditional male occupation of the maiden of the Cologne triad by a woman - in order to exclude homosexual allusions. This is to be seen in connection with the fact that female theater roles, which also includes the representation of the virgin in carnival, have traditionally almost always been cast by men in centuries past since ancient times. In other cultures, however, cross-dressing has often played an important role. The exchange of sexual roles, evidently represented by the exchange of clothes, is now an important subject of Christian celebrations on the Pacific Islands.
Subject in art
Cross-dressing has also been discussed extensively in Mangas and Manhwas over the past two decades . In the manga and anime version Ouran High School Host Club , Haruhi Fujioka disguises himself as a man in order to be able to work in the host club and thus represents one of many stories in which the "impossible situation" of a woman in an area is consciously is used for men to create strange situations. Based on the manga Hana-Kimi , the Taiwanese real television series Huayang shaonian shaonu also implemented a similar topic and was extremely successful with it. It had an average market share of around 39% on Taiwanese television and a maximum share of as much as 50.9%.
Not only in the works, but also in fandom , drawings of figures in disguise (mostly men depicted as women and referred to as trap , English for trap) are widespread. A distinction is made with regard to gender bending , in which new figures are created on the basis of the original, but only the gender was swapped, while both external and character traits are retained.
Cross-dressing as a fashionable term
The mix of different clothing styles that traditionally do not go together. This type of cross-dressing combines different designers and styles. The high-contrast combination of different looks and materials is also known as cross-dressing.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gabi Haas: Transvestites: The desire to swap clothes. In: Stern.de . December 10, 2009, accessed on May 27, 2020 : “In fact, many people still believe that transvestites are always gay or perverse - shrill birds who like to present themselves in public with feather boa and glittering dresses or are at home in the red light district. This is not the case for the vast majority of cross-dressers. Transvestites are predominantly heterosexual. "
- ↑ Dieter Sauter: The man in the woman's body. In: Tagesschau.de . November 21, 2004, accessed May 27, 2020 .
- ↑ Gunna Wendt: Liesl Karlstadt: Münchner Kindl und Travestie-Star (= blue notes. Volume 37). Ebersbach, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-938740-38-5 , pp. ??.
- ↑ Ratings / Charts: = 中 時 娛樂 ｜ 收視 率 排行榜 ( Memento from March 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) In: showbiz.chinatimes.com. 2009, accessed May 27, 2020 (Chinese).
- ↑ Anke Schipp: Mode: The calculated break in style. In: FAZ.net. May 24, 2005, accessed May 27, 2020 .