History of cross-dressing

Patriarchy is a social system in which men hold the primary power over women and their families in regards to the tradition, law, division of labor, and education women can take part in. Women used cross-dressing to pass as men in order to live adventurous lives outside of the home, which were unlikely to occur while living as women. Women who engaged in cross-dressing in earlier centuries were lower-class women who would gain access to economic independence as well as freedom to travel, without much risk of losing what they had. The practice of women dressing as men was generally viewed more positively as compared to men dressing as women. Altenburger states that female-to-male cross-dressing entailed a movement forward in terms of social status, power, and freedom Some people also alleged that men would cross-dress to gain access around women for their own sexual desire. Furthermore, the church's reaction to cross-dressing may have been impacted by other factors such as the saint's social rank, their role in the church, and the political context of the time. Tertullian, a Christian theologian, shames women who would refuse to wear their veil in public, which is an example of cross-dressing and bending the gender norms during early Christianity. Tertullian contends that women who dress like males commit a sin because they violate God's natural order. He claims that God designed men and women to be unique and diverse, and that cross-dressing blurs these boundaries and distorts gender roles. He also claims that when women dress like males, they are "degrading themselves" and "diminishing their own femininity Cross-dressing is cited as an abomination in the Bible in the book of Deuteronomy (22:5), which states: "A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this", but as Aquinas noted above this principle was interpreted to be based on context. Other people in the Middle Ages occasionally disputed its applicability; for instance, the 15th-century French poet Martin le Franc. Historical figures photograph of English war reporter Dorothy Lawrence who secretly posed as a man to become a soldier. Historical figures have cross-dressed for various reasons across the centuries. For example, women have dressed as men in order to go to war, and men have dressed as women in order to avoid going to war. Many people have engaged in cross-dressing during wartime under various circumstances and for various motives. This has been especially true of women, whether while serving as a soldier in otherwise all-male armies, while protecting themselves or disguising their identity in dangerous circumstances, or for other purposes. Conversely, men would dress as women to avoid being drafted, the mythological precedent for this being Achilles hiding at the court of Lycomedes dressed as a girl to avoid participation in the Trojan War. • Several tales of the Desert Fathers speak of monks who were disguised women, and being discovered only when their bodies were prepared for burial. One such woman, Marina the Monk, died 508, accompanied her father to a monastery and adopted a monk's habit as a disguise. When falsely accused of getting a woman pregnant, she patiently bore the accusation rather than revealing her identity to clear her name, an action praised in medieval books of saints' lives as an example of humble forbearance. • In monarchies where the throne was inherited by male offspring, male descendants of deposed rulers were sometimes dressed as female so that they would be allowed to live. One example was the son of Korean Princess Gyeonghye, herself the daughter of a former king, who was dressed in female clothes in his early years to fool his great uncle into thinking he was not a male descendant of Munjong. • The legend of Pope Joan alleges that she was a promiscuous female pope who dressed like a man and reigned from 855 to 858. Modern historians regard her as a mythical figure who originated from 13th-century anti-papal satire. ==In mythology==

Greek • In punishment for his murder of Iphitus, Heracles/Hercules was given to Omphale as a slave. Many variants of this story say that she not only compelled him to do women's work, but compelled him to dress as a woman while her slave. • In Achilles on Skyros, Achilles was dressed in women's clothing by his mother Thetis at the court of Lycomedes, to hide him from Odysseus who wanted him to join the Trojan War. Krishna and his consort Radha had cross-dressed in each other's clothing. Krishna is also said to have dressed as a gopi and a kinnari goddess. ==In folklore==

Ballads have many cross-dressing heroines. While some (The Famous Flower of Serving-Men) merely need to move about freely, many do it specifically in pursuit of a lover (Rose Red and the White Lily or Child Waters) and consequently pregnancy often complicates the disguise. In the Chinese poem the Ballad of Mulan, Hua Mulan disguised herself as a man to take her elderly father's place in the army. Occasionally, men in ballads also disguise themselves as women, but not only is it rarer, the men dress so for less time, because they are merely trying to elude an enemy by the disguise, as in Brown Robin, ''The Duke of Athole's Nurse, or Robin Hood and the Bishop. According to Gude Wallace'', William Wallace disguised himself as a woman to escape capture, which may have been based on historical information. Fairy tales seldom feature cross-dressing, but an occasional heroine needs to move freely as a man, as in the German The Twelve Huntsmen, the Scottish The Tale of the Hoodie, or the Russian The Lute Player. Madame d'Aulnoy included such a woman in her literary fairy tale, Belle-Belle ou Le Chevalier Fortuné. ==In festivals==

In the cities Techiman and Wenchi (both Ghana) men dress as women – and vice versa – during the annual Apoo festival (April/May). ==In literature==

disguised as a Gypsy woman sitting at the fireplace. Illustration by F. H. Townsend in the second edition of Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel Jane Eyre. Cross-dressing as a literary motif is well attested in older literature but is becoming increasingly popular in modern literature as well. It is often associated with character nonconformity and sexuality rather than gender identity. ==On stage and on the screen==

. He wears a man's conical cap but female garments, following the Greek custom of men playing the roles of women. 150-100 BCE. Many societies prohibited women from performing on stage, so boys and men took the female roles. In the ancient Greek theatre men played females, as they did in English Renaissance theatre and continue to do in Japanese kabuki theatre (see onnagata). Chinese opera was traditionally all-male, which led to the ride of female-led yue or Shaoxing opera. Cross-dressing in motion pictures began in the early days of the silent films. Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel brought the tradition of female impersonation in the English music halls when they came to America with Fred Karno's comedy troupe in 1910. Both Chaplin and Laurel occasionally dressed as women in their films. Even the beefy American actor Wallace Beery appeared in a series of silent films as a Swedish woman. The Three Stooges, especially Curly (Jerry Howard), sometimes appeared in drag in their short films. The tradition has continued for many years, usually played for laughs. Only in recent decades have there been dramatic films in which cross-dressing was included, possibly because of strict censorship of American films until the mid-1960s. Cross-gender acting, on the other hand, refers to actors or actresses portraying a character of the opposite gender. ==In music==

Spain and Latin America in the early 20th century. Catalina de Erauso (1592–1650), known as la monja alférez "the Nun Lieutenant", was a Spanish woman who, after being sent to a convent at the age of 4, escaped from it disguised as a man, fled to America and enrolled herself in the Spanish army under the false name of Alonso Díaz Ramírez de Guzmán. She served under several captains, including her own brother, and was never discovered. She was said to behave as an extremely cruel soldier, although she had a successful career, reaching the rank of alférez (lieutenant) and becoming quite well known in the Americas. After a fight in which she killed a man, she was severely injured, and fearing her end, she confessed her true sex to a bishop. She nonetheless survived, and there was a huge scandal afterwards, especially since as a man she had become quite famous in the Americas, and because nobody had ever suspected anything about her true sex. Nevertheless, thanks to the scandal and her fame as a brave soldier, she became a celebrity. She went back to Spain, and was even granted a special dispensation by the pope to wear men's clothes. She started using the male name of Antonio de Erauso, and went back to the America, where she established a business as a muleteer between Mexico City and Veracruz. from Argentina in 1995. In the 1990s, drag queens became a fixture in the flourishing gay nightlife of Buenos Aires. There was a complex and visible culture of homosexuals and cross-dressers that extended in all the social classes of Buenos Aires during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the first historical records of gay life in Buenos Aires were the criminal careers of several crossdressing swindlers, who were profiled by hygienists. A 1912 article published by Fray Mocho reported that this gang of crossdressing criminals made up of about three thousand men, which represented about 0.5 percent of the male population of Buenos Aires at that time. In several Latin American countries, the local term for "cross-dresser" (travesti) was established over the years as a term to designate people who were assigned male at birth, but develop a gender identity according to different expressions of femininity; as the Western notions of "transgender" and "transsexual" had not yet been introduced to the region. Although of pejorative origin, many people continue to claim the travesti term as a gender identity that escapes the male-female binary. Europe Stories about cross-dressing women appear often in European folklore. Ulrika Eleonora Stålhammar was a Swedish woman who served as a soldier during the Great Northern War and married a woman. United States The history of cross-dressing in the United States is quite complicated as  the title of 'cross-dresser' has been historically been utilized as an umbrella term for varying identities such as cisgender people who dressed in the other gender's clothing, transgender people, and intersex people who dress in both genders' clothing. The term pops up in many arrest records for these identities as they are perceived to be a form of 'disguise' rather than a gender identity. For example, Harry Allen (1888–1922), born female under the name Nell Pickerell in the Pacific Northwest, was categorized as a 'male impersonator' who cross-dressed; he self-identified and lived full time as a man, fitting more closely with the term transgender which originated after Allen's lifetime. Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon, colonial governor of New York and New Jersey in the early 18th century is reported to have enjoyed going out wearing his wife's clothing, but this is disputed. Hyde was an unpopular figure, and rumors of his cross-dressing may have begun as an urban legend. Because female enlistment was barred, many women fought for both the Union and the Confederacy during the American Civil War while dressed as men. Other contemporary cross-dressing artists include J.S.G. Boggs. The Gold Rush of 1849 led to a mass global migration of mainly male laborers to Northern California and the development of government backed economic interests in the Pacific Northwest region of the modern United States. The sudden explosive population increase resulted in a huge demand to import commodities including food, tools, sex, and entertainment, to these new male-oriented, homogeneous societies. As these societies evolved over the following decades, the growing demand for entertainment created a unique opportunity for male cross-dressers to perform. Cross-dressing was encouraged for entertainment purposes due to lack of women, yet the tolerance for the acts were limited to on-stage roles and did not extend to gender identities or same-sex desires. Julian Eltinge (1881–1941), a 'female impersonator' who performed in saloons in Montana as a kid and eventually made it to the Broadway stage, exemplifies this limited social acceptance for cross-dressing. His cross-dressing performances were celebrated by laborers who were starved for entertainment, yet his career was put at risk when he was exposed for exhibiting homosexual desires and behaviors. The law was enforced by arrest; Gold Rush pioneer Marie Suize was arrested for wearing pants in San Francisco in 1871. In another case, doctor Hjelmar von Danneville was arrested in 1925, though she later negotiated with the city to obtain a permit to dress in masculine clothing. The ban against transvestism in the United States military dates back to 1961. US laws against crossdressing The birth of anti-cross-dressing laws (also known as masquerade laws and the three-article rule) stemmed from the increase in non-traditional gender expression during the spread of America's frontier, and the will to reinforce the two-gender system which was threatened by those who deviated from it. Some of the earlier cases of US arrests made due to cross-dressing are seen in 19th century Ohio. In 1848, Ohio passed a law which prohibited its citizens from publicly presenting themselves "in a dress not belonging to his or her sex," and during the 1850s, over 40 cities in the US went on to pass anti-cross-dressing laws. By the time the US entered WWI, over 150 cities had passed anti-cross-dressing ordinances. These cities were noticeably focused in the West, This conflation of cross-dressing with acts such as prostitution was not unintentional, as many prostitutes at the time used cross-dressing to signify their availability. In 1986, the case D.C. & M.S. v. City of St. Louis centered on an anti-cross-dressing city ordinance, with the presiding judge ruling that laws with criminal penalties must be strictly construed. France As the Hundred Years' War developed in the late Middle Ages, cross dressing was a way for French women to join the cause against England. Joan of Arc was a 15th-century French peasant girl who joined French armies against English forces fighting in France during the latter part of the Hundred Years' War. She is a French national heroine and a Catholic saint. After being captured by the English, she was burned at the stake upon being convicted by a pro-English religious court, with the act of dressing in male (soldiers') clothing being cited as one of the principal reasons for her execution. A number of eyewitnesses, however, later explained that she had said she wore soldiers' clothing in prison (consisting of hosen and long hip-boots attached to the doublet with twenty fasteners) because this made it more difficult for her guards to pull her clothing off during rape attempts. She was, however, burned alive in a long white gown. In the seventeenth century, France underwent a financially driven social conflict, the Fronde. At this period, women disguised themselves as men and enlisted in the army, sometimes with their male family members. Cross dressing also became a more common strategy for women to conceal their gender as they traveled, granting a safer and more efficient route. During early modern London, religious authorities were against cross-dressing in theater due to it disregarding social conduct and causing gender confusion. Later, during the eighteenth century in London, crossdressing became a part of the club culture. Crossdressing took a part in men's only clubs where men would meet at these clubs dressed as women and drink. One of the most well known clubs for men to do this was known as the Molly Club or Molly House. Artist and Turner Prize winner, Grayson Perry often appears as his alter-ego, Clare. Writer, presenter and actor Richard O'Brien sometimes cross-dresses and ran a "Transfandango" ball aimed at transgender people of all kinds in aid of charity for several years in the early 2000s (decade). Eddie Izzard, stand-up comedian and actor, states that she has cross-dressed her entire life. She often performs her act in feminine clothing, and has discussed her cross dressing as part of her act. She calls herself an "executive transvestite". Japan Japan has a centuries-old tradition of male kabuki theatre actors cross-dressing onstage. Transgender men (and more rarely, women) were also "conspicuous" in Tokyo's gei (gay) bar and club subculture in the pre- and post-World War II period. By the 1950s, publications concerning MTF cross-dressing were in circulation, advertising themselves as aimed at the "study" of the phenomenon. Fully-fledged "commercial" magazines aimed at cross-dressing 'hobbyists' began publishing after the launch of the first such magazine, Queen, in 1980. It was affiliated with the Elizabeth Club, which opened branch clubs in several Tokyo suburbs and other cities. Yasumasa Morimura is a contemporary artist who cross-dresses. Thailand Through the pre-modern age, cross-dressing and transgender appearance in Thailand was apparent in many contexts including same-sex theater performance. The term Kathoey came to describe anyone from cross-dressers to transgender men (and women) as the practice became more prevalent in everyday life. In contrast to many Western civilizations, where homosexuality and cross-dressing have been historically criminal offenses, Thai legal codes have not explicitly criminalized these behaviors. It was not until the 20th century that a public majority, whether on stage or in public, came to assume cross-dressing a sign of transgenderism and homosexuality. The rise of dan, though characterized as female characters, was a prominent feature of the Peking Opera and many males took the roles of females. There were schools dedicated to the specific dan training as well. Female crossdressers in the Chinese opera were also valued immensely and prospered far better than male crossdressers did. The Yuan dynasty is known for recognizing and accepting the involvement of many Chinese women in theatrical plays. In a time of male dominance politics, the Yuan dynasty allowed women to participe in these plays and often played main roles. Chinese opera was influenced by early-century historical events, poems, and mythology. By using a mixture of different art forms like music, dancing and singing, many women were able to fit into these roles. Lead-roles were the only people that had singing parts, the rest of the supporting roles only talked. That same person often played different characters and different genders because they were the only ones allowed to sing on stage. Hua Mulan, the central figure of the Ballad of Mulan (and of the Disney film Mulan), may be a historical or fictional figure. She is said to have lived in China during the Northern Wei, and to have posed as a man to fulfill the household draft quota, thus saving her ill and aged father from serving. ==See also==