Cross-dressing - Analyses

Analyses

The historical associations of maleness with power and femaleness with submission and frivolity mean that in the present time a woman dressing in men's clothing and a man dressing in women's clothing evoke very different responses. A woman dressing in men's clothing is considered to be a marginally more acceptable activity. Feminist advocacy for social change has done much to relax the constrictions of gender roles on men and women, but they are still heavily policed. The reason it is so hard to have statistics for female-bodied crossdressers is that the line where non-crossdressing stops and crossdressing begins has become blurred, whereas the same line for men is just as defined. This is one of the many issues being addressed by third wave feminism as well as the modern-day masculist movement.

Culture can be very skewed about cross-dressing. A woman who wears her husband's shirt to bed is considered sexy. A man who wears his wife's nightgown to bed is considered transgressive. Marlene Dietrich in a tuxedo was considered very erotic. Jack Lemmon in a dress was considered ridiculous.

Some psychoanalysts today do not regard cross-dressing by itself a psychological problem, unless it interferes with the functioning of a person's life. "For instance," said Dr. Joseph Merlino, Senior Editor of the book Freud at 150: 21st Century Essays on a Man of Genius, "...I'm a cross-dresser and I don't want to keep it confined to my circle of friends, or my party circle, and I want to take that to my wife and I don't understand why she doesn't accept it, or I take it to my office and I don't understand why they don't accept it, then it's become a problem because it's interfering with my relationships and environment."