Cross-Dressing: It’s Just Dressing
By: Dr. Denise Renye
Not that long ago, cross-dressing was the brunt of many jokes. It was considered the height of hilarity to put a man in a dress and heels or a woman in a too-large man’s suit. Some younger people who may be reading this might have a hard time fathoming such a reality, depending on your social circle and location. For folx who enjoyed wearing clothes that mainstream society didn’t consider “appropriate” for their gender, there may have been a feeling of shame. They may have felt there was something wrong with them or that they needed to hide their dressing preferences.
There are parallels between cross-dressing and the experience of older LGBTQIA+ folx who stayed in the closet because it was dangerous, both psychologically and physically. For instance, Matthew Shepard was beaten, tortured, and left in a rural setting, attached to a fence to die near Laramie, Wyoming, in 1998 because he was gay. Yes, that definitely still happens, especially for trans folx. This can be seen in the instances of the mass shooting in the Orlando nightclub Pulse and the Colorado Springs nightclub Club Q. And by and large, the culture is shifting.
Older folx fought for the rights younger queer people may take for granted and the same is true today in terms of clothes. Nowadays, cross-dressing can more easily be considered just dressing. It’s losing its stigma as people are wearing whatever clothes make them feel good. This is shifting in terms of dressing in private, but also shifting slowly in the public sphere as well.
We have celebrities like 58-year-old Brad Pitt who in July 2022 wore a linen skirt to a movie premiere. When asked about the inspiration behind it, he said, “I don’t know! We’re all going to die, so let’s mess it up.” We can only postulate but he may have meant let’s mess up the status quo of rigid gender norms that keep people small, oppressed, and judged.
And we also have singer Harry Styles who regularly wears pussycat bow blouses, floral print suits, and pearl necklaces. Not only that, the almost 29-year-old was the first solo male to grace the cover of Vogue in 2020 and he donned a dress. In an accompanying interview, Styles said, “When you take away ‘There’s clothes for men and there’s clothes for women,’ once you remove any barriers, obviously you open up the arena in which you can play. I’ll go in shops sometimes, and I just find myself looking at the women’s clothes thinking they’re amazing. It’s like anything – anytime you’re putting barriers up in your own life, you’re just limiting yourself.”
He added, “There’s so much joy to be had in playing with clothes. I’ve never really thought too much about what it means – it just becomes this extended part of creating something.” In part, that’s because Styles came of age when gender is more fluid and the lines surrounding gender are less rigid.
Christina Zervanos, the head of PR at the gender-neutral clothing shop The Phluid Project, told The Guardian, “Generation Z has rejected the societal restraints previously put upon them and demanded we look beyond the binary. Twenty-seven percent of teens identify as gender non-conformist, while 81% of generation Z believe a person shouldn’t be defined by their gender … 56% of generation Z shop outside their assigned gender.”
In other words, the majority of Gen Z can’t relate to the concept of cross-dressing as they are wearing whatever feels good to them without shame or judgment. Yes, certain circles continue to criticize the move but that hasn’t stopped the trend. Clothing is an expression of who you are. If you want to wear a dress, wear a dress. If you want to wear “men’s” clothing, wear men’s clothing. The most important thing is that you are expressing yourself to your fullest capacity, limits be damned.
It may be hard to do that because shame is deeply embedded in our psyches, especially if we grew up with rules that conditioned us to feel shameful when wearing anything but traditionally gendered clothing, especially in older generations. But as Gen Z shows us, it can be done.
Journal Prompts
· What do you notice in your body when you imagine someone close to you coming out as a cross-dresser?
· How would it feel to consider it’s just dressing and not cross-dressing?
· Is there anything in the way of viewing clothes as pieces of fabric that do not have an inherent gender? If so, what is it?
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References
Bowles, Hamish. “Playtime with Harry Styles.” Vogue. December 2020. https://www.vogue.com/article/harry-styles-cover-december-2020
Elan, Priya. “How Harry Styles became the face of gender-neutral fashion.” The Guardian. November 17, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/nov/17/how-harry-styles-became-the-face-of-gender-neutral-fashion
Murphy, J. Kim; Malkin, Marc. “Brad Pitt Explains Why He Wore a Skirt on the ‘Bullet Train’ Carpet: ‘We’re All Going to Die, So Let’s Mess It Up’” Variety. August 1, 2022. https://variety.com/2022/film/news/brad-pitt-skirt-bullet-train-premiere-1235331233/