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In any society, the perception of femininity and masculinity is not necessarily dependent on female or male genitalia. Cross dressing, gender impersonation, and long-term masquerades of the opposite sex are commonplace throughout history.
In contemporary American culture, the behavior occurs most often among male heterosexuals and homosexuals, sometimes for erotic pleasure, sometimes not. In the past, however, cross dressing was for the most part practiced more often by women than men. Although males often burlesqued women and gave comic impersonations of them, they rarely attempted a change of public gender until the twentieth century. This phenomenon, according to Vern L. Bullough and Bonnie Bullough, has implications for any understanding of the changing relationships between the sexes in the twentieth century.
In most Western societies, being a man and demonstrating masculinity is more highly prized than being a woman and displaying femininity. Some non-Western societies, however, are more tolerant and even encourage men to behave like women and women to act like men. Cross Dressing, Sex, and Gender not only surveys cross dressing and gender impersonation throughout history and in a variety of cultures but also examines the medical, biological, psychological, and sociological findings that have been presented in the modern scientific literature. This volume offers the results of the authors research into contemporary gender issues and the search for explanations. After examining the various current theories regarding cross dressing and gender impersonation, the Bulloughs offer their own theory.
This book, widely deemed a classic in its field, is the culmination of thirty years of research by the Bulloughs into gender impersonation and cross dressing. Their groundbreaking findings will be of interest to anyone involved in the debate over nature versus nurture, and have implications not only for scholars in the various social sciences and sex and gender studies, but for educators, nurses, physicians, feminists, gays, lesbians, and general readers. This work will be of more personal interest to anyone who identifies as a transvestite or transsexual or who has been classified by medical and psychiatric professionals as suffering from gender dysphoria.
Cross Dressing, Sex, and Gender covers a wide range of cultures and periods. As the first comprehensive attempt to examine the phenomenon of cross dressing, it will be of interest to students and scholars of social history, sociology, nursing, and womens studies.
Review
For all scholars of psychology and sexuality, as well as the literate general public, historian Vern Bullough and nurse Bonnie Bullough have done an invaluable service in providing an overview of the phenomenon of cross-dressing. . . . This book is an important resource.Contemporary Psychology
[The book] synthesizes a vast array of original texts into a coherent picture of how culture structures gender and sexuality, even in its more uncommon forms. . . . An excellent addition to our understanding of these phenomena and a worthwhile resource for scholars, clinicians, and educators interested in sexuality and gender. The book should also prove very helpful to those struggling to understand these urges and behavior in themselves or in someone close to them.Journal of Sex Education and Therapy
With so much media interest . . . the publication of this book is timely. . . . It is extremely accessible and clearly structured. Every example is extensively and usually primarily referenced. The authors aspire to accuracy. . . . They demonstrate to the reader that gender-bending and blending is nothing new.Journal of Gender Studies
Painstakingly referenced and indexed, the book is a valuable resource for scholars and others interested in tracing gender-related phenomena through time. . . . An invaluable scholarly contribution.Nursing History Review
About the Author
Vern L. Bullough is SUNY Distinguished Professor in History and Social Studies at the State University of New York and in the School of Nursing at the State University of New York. Bonnie Bullough is Professor in the School of Nursing at the State University of New York. The Bulloughs have coauthored a number of books on various aspects of sex and gender, including Contraception: A Guide to Birth Control Methods and Women and Prostitution. Both have also written extensively, sometimes together and other times individually, on the issues of sex and gender, health care, and the history of science, medicine, and nursing.
