Vernon Coleman - Men in Bras, Panties and Dresses: The Secret Truths About Transvestites

History

Cross-dressing isnt new, of course. Men and women have beendoing it since clothing was invented. Transvestism occurs to some degree in theoldest societies, whether sophisticated or primitive.

In some societies, transvestites were ridiculed (asthey usually are today) but far more often they were treated with respect, andregarded as possessing great wisdom and of having magical or mysticalqualities. Christian saints and Hindu gods have changed sex at will andHippocrates reported that men who dressed as women became priests. AncientJewish history contains accounts of men dressing as women. Caligula used todress as a woman as did at least one English king and one French king. Today,shamans (powerful and deeply respected figures in religions around the world)are often men dressed in feminine clothing.

The most famous transvestite in history wasprobably Le Chevalier dEon de Beaumont, a lawyer, political adventurer, spyand diplomat in the service of Louis XV. He was born in 1728, christenedCharles Genevieve Louise Auguste Andre Timothee dEon de Beaumont and died atthe age of 82, having spent 48 years living as a man and 34 living as a woman.The word eonism is now often used as a synonym for transvestism or cross-dressing.

Cross-dressing hasnt always involved men dressingin feminine clothing, of course. Female suffragettes in England often dressedas men and in the 18th century it was fairly common for Dutch womento dress as men in order to obtain work as sailors.

Part of the problem for transvestites is the factthat we are so wrapped up in what we now consider to be proper or acceptablebehaviour that we often forget that fashion is never more than fleeting. Insome cultures it is women who wear the trousers and men who wear the skirts.Painting finger nails is currently considered to be a feminine preserve but thehabit originated in China where warriors going into battle would paint theirnails crimson in the hope that this would give the enemy the impression thattheir hands were already dripping with blood.