Transvestism

Transvestismis the practice of dressing in a manner traditionally or stereotypically associated with a differentgender.

The termstransvestismandtransvestitewere coined byMagnus Hirschfeldin 1910. In the early 20th century,transvestitereferred tocross-dressers,and also a variety of people who would now be consideredtransgender.

The termtransvestiteis now considered outdated and derogatory, and has been replaced with the more neutral wordcross-dresser.^[1]^{[better source needed]}

History

Though the term was coined as late as the 1910s byMagnus Hirschfeld,the phenomenon is not new. It was referred to in the Hebrew Bible.^[2]Being part of the homosexual movement of Weimar Germany in the beginning, a first transvestite movement of its own started to form since the mid-1920s, resulting in founding first organizations and the first transvestite magazine,Das 3. Geschlecht.The rise ofNational Socialismstopped this movement from 1933 onwards.^[3]

Etymology

A 1928transvestite passallowingGert Katter,a female-to-maletrans manwho was one of Hirschfeld's patients, to wear male clothing.^[4]

Magnus Hirschfeldcoined the wordtransvestite(from Latintrans-,"across, over" andvestitus,"dressed" ) in his 1910 bookDie Transvestiten(Transvestites) to refer to the sexual interest in cross-dressing.^[5]He used it to describe persons who habitually and voluntarily wore clothes of the opposite sex. Hirschfeld's group of transvestites consisted of both males and females, withheterosexual,homosexual,bisexual,andasexualorientations.^[6]

Hirschfeld himself was not happy with the term: He believed that clothing was only an outward symbol chosen on the basis of various internal psychological situations.^[5]In fact, Hirschfeld helped people to achieve changes of theirfirst name(legal given names were required to be gender-specific inGermany) and performed the first reportedsexual reassignment surgery.Hirschfeld's transvestites therefore were, in today's terms, not only transvestites, but a variety of people from thetransgenderspectrum.^[5]

Hirschfeld also noticed thatsexual arousalwas often associated with transvestism.^[5]In more recent terminology, this is sometimes calledtransvestic fetishism.^[7]Hirschfeld also clearly distinguished between transvestism as an expression of a person's "contra-sexual" (transgender) feelings andfetishisticbehavior, even if the latter involved wearing clothes of the other sex.^[5]

The use of the termtravestimeaning cross-dresser was already common inFrenchin the early 19th century,^[8]from where it was imported intoPortuguese,with the same meaning.^[9]

Transvestite

Today, the termtransvestiteis commonly considered outdated and derogatory, with the termcross-dresserused as a more appropriate replacement.^[1]^[10]^[11]^[12]

The termtransvestitewas historically used to diagnose medical disorders, including mental health disorders, and transvestism was viewed as a disorder, while the termcross-dresserwas coined by the trans community.^[1]^[13]

In some cases, the termtransvestiteis seen as more appropriate for use by members of the trans community instead of by those outside of the trans community, and some havereclaimed the word.^[14]

Transvestism as a “disorder”

When cross-dressing occurs foreroticpurposes over a period of at least six months and also causes significant distress or impairment, the behavior is considered amental disorderin theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,and the psychiatric diagnosis "transvestic fetishism"is applied.^[15]

TheInternational Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems(ICD) listeddual-role transvestism(non-sexual cross-dressing) andfetishistic transvestism(cross-dressing for sexual pleasure) as disorders inICD-10(1994).^[16]^[17]Both items were removed forICD-11(2022).^[18]

Notes

^^a ^b ^cVaccaro, Annemarie; August, Gerri; Kennedy, Megan S.; Newman, Barbara M. (2011).Safe Spaces: Making Schools and Communities Welcoming to LGBT Youth.ABC-CLIO.p. 142.ISBN 978-0-313-39368-6.RetrievedOctober 21,2016.Cross-dresser/cross-dressing. (1) The most neutral word to describe a person who dresses, at least partially or part of the time, and for any number of reasons, in clothing associated with another gender within a particular society. Carries no implications of 'usual' gender appearance, or sexual orientation. Has replaced transvestite, which is outdated, problematic, and generally offensive since it was historically used to diagnose medical/mental health disorders.
^Aggrawal, Anil. (April 2009). "References to the paraphilias and sexual crimes in the Bible".J Forensic Leg Med.16(3): 109–14.doi:10.1016/j.jflm.2008.07.006.PMID 19239958.
^Rainer Herrn:Die ZeitschriftDas 3. Geschlecht in: Rainer Herrn (ed.):Das 3. Geschlecht – Reprint der 1930 – 1932 erschienenen Zeitschrift für Transvestiten,2016, ISBN 9783863002176, p. 231 ff.
^Taylor, Michael T.; Timm, Annette; Herrn, Rainer (30 October 2017).Not Straight from Germany: Sexual Publics and Sexual Citizenship Since Magnus Hirschfeld.University of Michigan Press. p. 44.ISBN 978-0-472-13035-1.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^eHirschfeld, Magnus:Die Transvestiten.Berlin 1910: Alfred Pulvermacher
Hirschfeld, Magnus. (1910/1991).Transvestites: The erotic drive to cross dress.(M. A. Lombardi-Nash, Trans.) Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books.
^Hirschfeld, Magnus.Geschlechtsverirrungen,10th Ed. 1992, page 142 ff.
^American Psychiatric Association (2013).Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5(Fifth ed.). Arlington, Virginia: American Psychiatric Publishing. pp.685–705.ISBN 978-0-89042-555-8.OCLC 847226928.
^Bescherelle (M, Louis Nicolas) (1843),Dictionnaire usuel de tous les verbes français: tant réguliers qu'irréguliers, entièrement conjugués, contenant par ordre alphabétique les 7,000 verbes de la langue française avec leur conjugaison complète, et la solution analytique et raisonnée de toutes les difficultés auxquelles ils peuvent donner lieu(in French),Wikidata Q125754132,Volume II, p. 896
^Porto Editora –travestino Dicionário Infopédia da Língua Portuguesa [em linha]. Porto:Porto Editora.Accessed on 2024-05-02 20:58:24.
^Capuzza, Jamie C.; Spencer, Leland G., eds. (2015).Transgender Communication Studies: Histories, Trends, and Trajectories.Lexington Books.p. 174.ISBN 978-1-4985-0006-7.RetrievedOctober 21,2016.Eventually, the transvestite label fell out of favor because it was deemed to be derogatory; cross-dresser has emerged as a more suitable replacement (GLAAD,2014b).
^Zastrow, Charles (2016).Empowerment Series: Introduction to Social Work and Social Welfare: Empowering People.Cengage Learning.p. 239.ISBN 978-1-305-38833-8.RetrievedOctober 21,2016.The term transvestite is often considered an offensive term.
^Kattari, Shanna K.; Kinney, M. Killian; Kattari, Leonardo; Walls, N. Eugene, eds. (2021). "Glossary".Social Work and Health Care Practice With Transgender and Nonbinary Individuals and Communities: Voices for Equity, Inclusion, and Resilience(1st ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. p. xxxviii.ISBN 978-1138336223.Transvestite: Outdated term previously used to describe a cross-dresser. Now considered pejorative.
^David A. Gerstner (2006).Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture.Routledge.p. 568.ISBN 0313393680.RetrievedOctober 21,2016.A variety of derogatory terms are still used to describe any aspect of the transgender condition. [...] The term transvestite being older [than cross-dresser] and associated with the medical community's negative view of the practice, has come to be seen as a derogatory term. [...] The term cross-dresser, in contrast, having come from the transgender community itself, is a term seen as not possessing these negative connotations.
^Richards, Christina; Barker, Meg (2013).Sexuality and Gender for Mental Health Professionals: A Practical Guide.SAGE Publications.p. 162.ISBN 978-1-44628716-3.RetrievedOctober 21,2016.The termtransvestiteshould not be considered to be a safe term, and should certainly not be used as a noun, as in 'a transvestite'. Instead, and only when relevant, the term trans person should be used. [...] There are some people who have reclaimed the word transvestite and may also use the wordtrannyorTVto refer to themselves and others. [...] The termcross-dressingtoo is somewhat outdated and problematic as not only do many fashions allow any gender to wear them -- at least in many contemporary Western societies -- but it also suggests a strict dichotomy being reinforced by the person who uses it.
^"DSM-V"(PDF).The DSM Diagnostic Criteria for Transvestic Fetishism.American Psychiatric Association.2009.RetrievedFebruary 4,2013.
^"ICD-10 Version:2016".icd.who.int.Retrieved2019-10-11.
^"ICD-10 Version:2016".icd.who.int.Retrieved2019-10-11.
^Bollinger, Alex (2019-05-28)."The World Health Organization will no longer classify being transgender as a 'mental disorder'".LGBTQ Nation.Retrieved2019-10-11.

References

Ackroyd, Peter.Dressing up, transvestism and drag: the history of an obsession.Simon and Schuster, 1979.ISBN 0671250914
Mancini, Elena.A Brighter Shade of Pink: Magnus Hirschfeld.ProQuest, 2007.ISBN 0549700552
Ambrosio, Giovanna.Transvestism, Transsexualism in the Psychoanalytic Dimension.Karnac Books, 2011.ISBN 178049307X
Gravois, Valory.Cherry Single: A Transvestite Comes of Age (a novel)Alchemist/Light Publishing, 1997 (Available to read free, online),ISBN 0-9600650-5-9

External links

The dictionary definition oftransvestiteat Wiktionary

Transvestism at Britannica Online Encyclopædia

[Vaccaro-1] Vaccaro, Annemarie; August, Gerri; Kennedy, Megan S.; Newman, Barbara M. (2011).Safe Spaces: Making Schools and Communities Welcoming to LGBT Youth.ABC-CLIO.p. 142.ISBN 978-0-313-39368-6.RetrievedOctober 21,2016.Cross-dresser/cross-dressing. (1) The most neutral word to describe a person who dresses, at least partially or part of the time, and for any number of reasons, in clothing associated with another gender within a particular society. Carries no implications of 'usual' gender appearance, or sexual orientation. Has replaced transvestite, which is outdated, problematic, and generally offensive since it was historically used to diagnose medical/mental health disorders.

[aggrawal_2009_16_3-2] Aggrawal, Anil. (April 2009). "References to the paraphilias and sexual crimes in the Bible".J Forensic Leg Med.16(3): 109–14.doi:10.1016/j.jflm.2008.07.006.PMID 19239958.

[3] Rainer Herrn:Die ZeitschriftDas 3. Geschlecht in: Rainer Herrn (ed.):Das 3. Geschlecht – Reprint der 1930 – 1932 erschienenen Zeitschrift für Transvestiten,2016, ISBN 9783863002176, p. 231 ff.

[4] Taylor, Michael T.; Timm, Annette; Herrn, Rainer (30 October 2017).Not Straight from Germany: Sexual Publics and Sexual Citizenship Since Magnus Hirschfeld.University of Michigan Press. p. 44.ISBN 978-0-472-13035-1.

[MagnusHirschfeld-5] Hirschfeld, Magnus:Die Transvestiten.Berlin 1910: Alfred Pulvermacher
Hirschfeld, Magnus. (1910/1991).Transvestites: The erotic drive to cross dress.(M. A. Lombardi-Nash, Trans.) Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books.

[Hirschfeld-6] Hirschfeld, Magnus.Geschlechtsverirrungen,10th Ed. 1992, page 142 ff.

[DSM-5-paraphillic-7] American Psychiatric Association (2013).Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5(Fifth ed.). Arlington, Virginia: American Psychiatric Publishing. pp.685–705.ISBN 978-0-89042-555-8.OCLC 847226928.

[8] Bescherelle (M, Louis Nicolas) (1843),Dictionnaire usuel de tous les verbes français: tant réguliers qu'irréguliers, entièrement conjugués, contenant par ordre alphabétique les 7,000 verbes de la langue française avec leur conjugaison complète, et la solution analytique et raisonnée de toutes les difficultés auxquelles ils peuvent donner lieu(in French),Wikidata Q125754132,Volume II, p. 896

[9] Porto Editora –travestino Dicionário Infopédia da Língua Portuguesa [em linha]. Porto:Porto Editora.Accessed on 2024-05-02 20:58:24.

[Capuzza-10] Capuzza, Jamie C.; Spencer, Leland G., eds. (2015).Transgender Communication Studies: Histories, Trends, and Trajectories.Lexington Books.p. 174.ISBN 978-1-4985-0006-7.RetrievedOctober 21,2016.Eventually, the transvestite label fell out of favor because it was deemed to be derogatory; cross-dresser has emerged as a more suitable replacement (GLAAD,2014b).

[Zastrow-11] Zastrow, Charles (2016).Empowerment Series: Introduction to Social Work and Social Welfare: Empowering People.Cengage Learning.p. 239.ISBN 978-1-305-38833-8.RetrievedOctober 21,2016.The term transvestite is often considered an offensive term.

[kattari_2021-12] Kattari, Shanna K.; Kinney, M. Killian; Kattari, Leonardo; Walls, N. Eugene, eds. (2021). "Glossary".Social Work and Health Care Practice With Transgender and Nonbinary Individuals and Communities: Voices for Equity, Inclusion, and Resilience(1st ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. p. xxxviii.ISBN 978-1138336223.Transvestite: Outdated term previously used to describe a cross-dresser. Now considered pejorative.

[Gerstner-13] David A. Gerstner (2006).Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture.Routledge.p. 568.ISBN 0313393680.RetrievedOctober 21,2016.A variety of derogatory terms are still used to describe any aspect of the transgender condition. [...] The term transvestite being older [than cross-dresser] and associated with the medical community's negative view of the practice, has come to be seen as a derogatory term. [...] The term cross-dresser, in contrast, having come from the transgender community itself, is a term seen as not possessing these negative connotations.

[Richards-14] Richards, Christina; Barker, Meg (2013).Sexuality and Gender for Mental Health Professionals: A Practical Guide.SAGE Publications.p. 162.ISBN 978-1-44628716-3.RetrievedOctober 21,2016.The termtransvestiteshould not be considered to be a safe term, and should certainly not be used as a noun, as in 'a transvestite'. Instead, and only when relevant, the term trans person should be used. [...] There are some people who have reclaimed the word transvestite and may also use the wordtrannyorTVto refer to themselves and others. [...] The termcross-dressingtoo is somewhat outdated and problematic as not only do many fashions allow any gender to wear them -- at least in many contemporary Western societies -- but it also suggests a strict dichotomy being reinforced by the person who uses it.

[15] "DSM-V"(PDF).The DSM Diagnostic Criteria for Transvestic Fetishism.American Psychiatric Association.2009.RetrievedFebruary 4,2013.

[16] "ICD-10 Version:2016".icd.who.int.Retrieved2019-10-11.

[17] "ICD-10 Version:2016".icd.who.int.Retrieved2019-10-11.

[lgbtq-18] Bollinger, Alex (2019-05-28)."The World Health Organization will no longer classify being transgender as a 'mental disorder'".LGBTQ Nation.Retrieved2019-10-11.

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Transvestism

Contents