A history of Crossdressing

Illustration by Annick Harvey

The current drag bans in some parts of the USA are antiquated and lean into the exact same outdated rhetoric that has been fuelling anti-crossdressing laws for literally hundreds of years. These ignorant laws overlook the centuries-long history of cross-dressing, the importance and place of cross-dressing in religious practices, myth and legend, and cultural stories from across the world and throughout time. They ignore the history of people who cross-dress and their contributions to social movements, art, beauty, entertainment, war, and more. As long as people have had gendered dress, we’ve been experimenting with it, blurring boundaries, and creating culture. I don’t want to go too much into the disappointing, scary nature of these bans on drag and other legislation that deems it “adult entertainment”, both of which jeopardise the livelihood of performers. I would rather use my wordcount to celebrate a small chunk of cross-dressing’s long history, which is full of beauty, brightness, purpose, power, and identity.  

Crossdressing, or the act of dressing in clothes not aligned with one’s gender or sex, has been practiced for many reasons, in many places, through many times. In theatre, folklore, literature, music, mythology, and religion. It is by no means a modern conception. Crossdressing exists in ancient cultural and religious stories of deities and heroes across the world. In ancient Greece, it was said that Zeus disguised himself as the goddess Artemis to be closer to the nymph Callisto, and that Dionysus could appear in both masculine and feminine forms. The Egyptian god Atum, whose name means “the complete one”, created all other gods and the world by himself, acting as both mother and father. While typically depicted in iconography as male, some surviving texts describe Atum as “The Great He-She” to reflect this ‘complete’ gender embodiment. In ancient Sumeria, the deity Inanna could present in both male and female form, bridging the divide between genders and the divide between heaven and Earth. There are many more examples, including Norse and Hindu mythology, that demonstrate just how long these stories have been told. In certain contexts, cross-dressing can be seen as an act of religious devotion for processions and rituals. Changing the barriers of human existence and escaping the convention of gender can be seen as an act of divinity, like Inanna; bridging the barrier of heaven and earth. Across the globe, especially in indigenous societies, cross-dressing and other kinds of gender diversity were and are embraced for these reasons. 

I’ve written in a previous issue about clothing as a marker of identity (issue 7, Big Boots to Fill: alternative fashion and its anti-capitalist legacy). That article was predominantly about clothing as an indicator of personal and political beliefs, but clothing is also used (and has historically been used) as an indicator of other strands of identity, like economic class, one’s role or job, and gender identity. Throughout history and across many cultures, there have been laws in place regulating how people can dress. Often, this was to regulate consumption of fine goods like expensive cloth (called ‘sumptuary laws’), reserving certain fabrics, colours, and embellishments for the nobles and elites as a marker of economic status and social class. Also incredibly prevalent was laws dictating and enforcing standards of ‘male’ and ‘female’ dress, in many places and many times. In the USA (where these current drag bans are being put into place) from the mid-nineteenth century, this was on a city-by-city basis, and many places outlawed cross-dressing starting with St Louis, Missouri in 1843. By the end of the century, more than 40 US cities has passed these laws, allowing thousands of people to be arrested, and many more to be fined, for a range of gender transgressions. These laws targeted cross-dressing entertainers as well as trans*, gender diverse, and queer people well into the twentieth century. They were also used to arrest or fine feminist dress reformers and other women who dressed as men to make a better wage or travel safely.  

During the twentieth century, burgeoning social movements and activism resulted in great visibility and greater power for queer and trans communities, which eventually lead to the repeal of many of these laws in state supreme court rulings in the ‘80s. More militant kinds of social action arose in the 1960s, leading to spontaneous protests to police harassment like Compton’s Cafeteria riot in San Fran in ‘66 and the Stonewall riot in NYC in ‘69. From this time on, people charged with cross-dressing offences began successfully challenging the legitimacy of these laws in court, citing modern unisex fashions that meant ‘male’ and ‘female’ dress were increasingly outdated ideas. Social movements don’t exist in vacuums, and this social and legal progress emerged alongside other socio-political movements like second-wave feminism, gay liberation, Black Power, and anti-war protests. 

In fact, there is a long history of crossdressing and war. Some of the most famous stories of war (fictional and historic) that we remember today involve cross-dressing. Immediately, Joan of Arc comes to mind, the young French teen who dressed as a man to become a military leader during the Hundred Years War. Further back in history, you might think of Hua Mulan, the ancient Chinese folkloric heroine who presented male to take her ill father’s place in the draft. In many times of war, women have disguised themselves as men to serve in battle or to protect and disguise themselves in other dangerous situations. Estimates vary, but somewhere between 500 and 1000 women disguised themselves to serve in the American Civil War according to historian Elizabeth Leonard. There are also recorded instances for both WWI and WWII. On the opposite side of that, some men have been known to dress as women to dodge the draft, just as the fictitious Achilles did to avoid joining the Trojan war. It was extremely common, especially during WWII, for men at war to cross-dress as a form of entertainment for their fellow troops and boost morale. There are hundreds of surviving photographs of soldiers dressed as women on stages, in chorus lines or with other soldiers playing male parts in a narrative. I can imagine how, in a time of combat, uncertainty, and harsh conditions, soldiers would be in need of a good laugh, and to do it together, unified.  

Of course, there is so much more history that I haven’t covered here. However, my point remains. Banning cross-dressing on a perceived moral basis is outdated, ignorant, bigoted, and harmful. Humans have always done it, for themselves, for their religion, for their art, for their country, for their beliefs, and for other people. It has been shaped by countless artists, performers, and everyday people, straight and queer. It has made icons, it has made change, it has made the world better. Cross-dressing is for experimenting, playing, pushing boundaries, loving, and creating joy. It is for everyone.