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Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothing commonly associated with another gender within a particular society. more...

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The usage of the term, the types of cross-dressing both in modern times and throughout history, an analysis of the behaviour, and historical examples are discussed in the article below.

Usage

Nearly every human society throughout history has distinguished between male and female gender by the style, color, or type of clothing they wear and has had a set of norms, views, guidelines, or laws defining what type of clothing is appropriate for each gender. Cross-dressing is a behavior which runs significantly counter to those norms and therefore can be seen as a type of transgender behavior. It does not, however, necessarily indicate transgender identity; a person who cross-dresses does not always identify as having a gender different from that assigned at birth.

The term cross-dressing denotes an action or a behavior without attributing or proposing causes for that behavior. Some people automatically connect cross-dressing behavior to transgender identity or sexual, fetishist, and homosexual behavior, but the term cross-dressing itself does not imply any motives. (See "Equal clothing rights" below.) However, referring to a person as a cross-dresser suggests that their cross-dressing behavior is habitual and may be taken to mean that the person identifies as transgendered. The term cross-dresser should therefore be used with care to avoid causing misunderstanding or offense.

Other meanings of the term

A new meaning for the term "cross-dressing" has appeared in the African-American community, where it is used to refer to wearing two different name brands of clothing (or sports team logos) simultaneously. For example, wearing both a Tommy Hilfiger hat and FUBU jacket might be referred to as "cross-dressing." This use of the term is exclusively negative. While far removed from the original meaning, this usage is increasingly common and can lead to confusion among those used to more traditional meanings of the term.

The term "cross-dressing" is also used in debate, as a rhetorical device to couch your argument in your opponent's terms, making you appear more cooperative and your argument more difficult to refute.

Varieties of cross-dressing

There are many different kinds of cross-dressing, and many different reasons why an individual might engage in cross-dressing behavior.

Some people cross-dress as a matter of comfort or style. They have a preference towards clothing which is only marketed to or associated with the opposite sex. In this case, a person's cross-dressing may or may not be visible to other people.

Read more at Wikipedia.org