Transvestism

Last updated

Transvestism is the practice of dressing in a manner traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender.

Contents

The terms transvestism and transvestite were coined by Magnus Hirschfeld in 1910. In the early 20th century, transvestite referred to cross-dressers, and also a variety of people who would now be considered transgender.

The term transvestite is now considered outdated and derogatory, and has been replaced with the more neutral word cross-dresser. [1]

History

Though the term was coined as late as the 1910s by Magnus 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 of National Socialism stopped this movement from 1933 onwards. [3]

Etymology

A 1928 transvestite pass allowing Gert Katter a female-to-male trans man who was one of Hirschfeld's patients, to wear male clothing. Faksimile-Transvestitenschein.png
A 1928 transvestite pass allowing Gert Katter a female-to-male trans man who was one of Hirschfeld's patients, to wear male clothing.

Magnus Hirschfeld coined the word transvestite in 1910 (from Latin trans-, "across, over" and vestitus, "dressed") 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, with heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, and asexual orientations. [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 the first name changes (legal given names were required to be gender-specific in Germany) and performed the first reported sexual reassignment surgery. Hirschfeld's transvestites therefore were, in today's terms, not only transvestites, but a variety of people from the transgender spectrum. [5]

Hirschfeld also noticed that sexual arousal was often associated with transvestism. [5] In more recent terminology, this is sometimes called transvestic fetishism. [7] Hirschfeld also clearly distinguished between transvestism as an expression of a person's "contra-sexual" (transgender) feelings and fetishistic behavior, even if the latter involved wearing clothes of the other sex. [5]

The use of the term travesti meaning cross-dresser was already common in French in the early 19th century, [8] from where it was imported into Portuguese, with the same meaning. [9]

Transvestite

Today, the term transvestite is commonly considered outdated and derogatory, with the term cross-dresser used as a more appropriate replacement. [1] [10] [11] [12]

The term transvestite was historically used to diagnose medical disorders, including mental health disorders, and transvestism was viewed as a disorder, while the term cross-dresser was coined by the trans community. [1] [13]

In some cases, the term transvestite is seen as more appropriate for use by members of the trans community instead of by those outside of the trans community, and some have reclaimed the word. [14]

Transvestism as a disorder

When cross-dressing occurs for erotic purposes over a period of at least six months and also causes significant distress or impairment, the behavior is considered a mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , and the psychiatric diagnosis "transvestic fetishism" is applied. [15]

The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) listed dual-role transvestism (non-sexual cross-dressing) and fetishistic transvestism (cross-dressing for sexual pleasure) as disorders in ICD-10 (1994). [16] [17] Both items were removed for ICD-11 (2022). [18]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 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 . Retrieved October 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.
  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 Zeitschrift Das 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.
  5. 1 2 3 4 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.
  6. ↑ Hirschfeld, Magnus. Geschlechtsverirrungen, 10th Ed. 1992, page 142 ff.
  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 – travesti no Dicionário Infopédia da Língua Portuguesa [em linha]. Porto: Porto Editora. Accessed on 2024-05-02 20:58:24.
  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 . Retrieved October 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).
  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 . Retrieved October 21, 2016. The term transvestite is often considered an offensive term.
  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.
  13. ↑ David A. Gerstner (2006). Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture. Routledge. p. 568. ISBN   0313393680 . Retrieved October 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.
  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 . Retrieved October 21, 2016. The term transvestite should 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 word tranny or TV to refer to themselves and others. [...] The term cross-dressing too 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. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
  16. ↑ "ICD-10 Version:2016". icd.who.int. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  17. ↑ "ICD-10 Version:2016". icd.who.int. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  18. ↑ Bollinger, Alex (2019-05-28). "The World Health Organization will no longer classify being transgender as a 'mental disorder'". LGBTQ Nation. Retrieved 2019-10-11.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cross-dressing</span> Practice of dressing like a different gender

Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and express oneself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paraphilia</span> Atypical sexual attraction

A paraphilia is an experience of recurring or intense sexual arousal to atypical objects, places, situations, fantasies, behaviors, or individuals. It has also been defined as a sexual interest in anything other than a legally consenting human partner. Paraphilias are contrasted with normophilic ("normal") sexual interests, though the definition of what makes a sexual interest normal or atypical remains controversial.

Gender dysphoria (GD) is the distress a person experiences due to a mismatch between their gender identity—their personal sense of their own gender—and their sex assigned at birth. The term replaced the previous diagnostic label of gender identity disorder (GID) in 2013 with the release of the diagnostic manual DSM-5. The condition was renamed to remove the stigma associated with the term disorder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual fetishism</span> Sexual arousal a person receives from an object or situation

Sexual fetishism or erotic fetishism is a sexual fixation on a nonliving object or body part. The object of interest is called the fetish; the person who has a fetish for that object is a fetishist. A sexual fetish may be regarded as a non-pathological aid to sexual excitement, or as a mental disorder if it causes significant psychosocial distress for the person or has detrimental effects on important areas of their life. Sexual arousal from a particular body part can be further classified as partialism.

Transvestic fetishism is a psychiatric diagnosis applied to men who are thought to have an excessive sexual or erotic interest in cross-dressing; this interest is often expressed in autoerotic behavior. It differs from cross-dressing for entertainment or other purposes that do not involve sexual arousal. Under the name transvestic disorder, it is categorized as a paraphilia in the DSM-5.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to transgender topics.

Psychosexual disorder is a sexual problem that is psychological, rather than physiological in origin. "Psychosexual disorder" was a term used in Freudian psychology. The term of psychosexual disorder used by the TAF for homosexuality as a reason to ban the LGBT people from military service.

<span title="German-language text"><i lang="de">Institut für Sexualwissenschaft</i></span> German sexology research institute (1919–33)

The Institut für Sexualwissenschaft was an early private sexology research institute in Germany from 1919 to 1933. The name is variously translated as Institute for Sexual Research, Institute of Sexology, Institute for Sexology, or Institute for the Science of Sexuality. The Institute was a non-profit foundation situated in Tiergarten, Berlin. It was the first sexology research center in the world.

The American-Canadian sexologist Ray Blanchard proposed a psychological typology of gender dysphoria, transsexualism, and fetishistic transvestism in a series of academic papers through the 1980s and 1990s. Building on the work of earlier researchers, including his colleague Kurt Freund, Blanchard categorized trans women into two groups: homosexual transsexuals who are attracted exclusively to men and are feminine in both behavior and appearance; and autogynephilic transsexuals who experience sexual arousal at the idea of having a female body. Blanchard and his supporters argue that the typology explains differences between the two groups in childhood gender nonconformity, sexual orientation, history of sexual fetishism, and age of transition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transgender sexuality</span> Sexuality of transgender people

Sexuality in transgender individuals encompasses all the issues of sexuality of other groups, including establishing a sexual identity, learning to deal with one's sexual needs, and finding a partner, but may be complicated by issues of gender dysphoria, side effects of surgery, physiological and emotional effects of hormone replacement therapy, psychological aspects of expressing sexuality after medical transition, or social aspects of expressing their gender.

The classification of transgender people people into distinct groups has been attempted since the mid-1960s. The most common modern classifications in use are the DSM-5 and ICD, which are mainly used for insurance and administration of gender-affirming care.

Mak Nyah, alternatively spelled maknyah, is a Malay vernacular term for trans women in Malaysia. It arose in the late 1980s in order to distinguish trans women from other minorities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transgender</span> Gender identity other than sex assigned at birth

A transgender person is someone whose gender identity differs from that typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth. Some transgender people who desire medical assistance to transition from one sex to another identify as transsexual. Transgender is also an umbrella term; in addition to including people whose gender identity is the opposite of their assigned sex, it may also include people who are non-binary or genderqueer. Other definitions of transgender also include people who belong to a third gender, or else conceptualize transgender people as a third gender. The term may also include cross-dressers or drag kings and drag queens in some contexts. The term transgender does not have a universally accepted definition, including among researchers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transsexual</span> People experiencing a gender identity inconsistent with their assigned sex

A transsexual person is someone who experiences a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desires to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance to help them align their body with their identified sex or gender.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Prince</span> American transgender activist (1912–2009)

Virginia Charles Prince, born Arnold Lowman, was an American transgender activist. She published Transvestia magazine, and started Full Personality Expression , which later became Tri-Ess, for male heterosexual cross-dressers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of LGBT topics</span> Overview of and topical guide to LGBT topics

The following outline offers an overview and guide to LGBT topics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transvestite pass</span> Certificate formerly used in Germany

A transvestite pass was a doctor's note recognized by the governments of Imperial Germany and the Weimar Republic, under the support of sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld, identifying a person as a transvestite. Transvestite at this time referred to all individuals whose gender identity or preferred clothing was discordant to that associated with their assigned sex, and so included both cross-dressing and transgender people. As gender-confirming surgery was only an emerging practice in the early 20th century, obtaining a Transvestitenschein, along with an official name change, represented the maximum extent to which many trans individuals could transition.

Gerd Katter

Gerd Katter was a German apprentice carpenter, insurance agent and patient of the notable German physician and sexologist, Magnus Hirschfeld.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transgender people in Nazi Germany</span>

In Nazi Germany, transgender people were prosecuted, barred from public life, forcibly detransitioned, and imprisoned and killed in concentration camps. Though some factors, such as whether they were considered "Aryan", heterosexual with regard to their birth sex, or capable of useful work had the potential to mitigate their circumstances, transgender people were largely stripped of legal status by the Nazi state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paragraph 183</span> Provision of the German Criminal Code regarding public indecency and cross-dressing

Paragraph 183 is a public indecency law of the German Criminal Code, which prohibits "sexual self-determination" and public exhibitionism. From its adoption in 1871, at an increasing rate during the rise of the Nazis, and until as late as the mid-20th century, the law was used to enforce penalties for cross-dressing and homosexual acts. As of 2021, the law's scope is limited to indecent exposure.

References

Further reading

Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg The dictionary definition of transvestite at Wiktionary

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.