Female-bodied cross-dressers
The behaviour of women in general has historically often received less
attention than that of men, and cross-dressing is no exception. However,
there are some famous examples of cross-dressing female-bodied persons
in history (see Famous historical examples of cross-dressing people
below).
Cross-dressing among women in modern Western societies seems to be
rare. Yet the question of how many people cross-dress is difficult to
answer, as it depends on social norms that change over time. When only
a few women in the West wore trousers, women in trousers were considered
to be cross-dressing. As more women began to wear trousers, the style
gained mainstream social acceptance. Trousers are now no longer considered
for men only. This broadening of clothing types considered "normal"
for women has made cross-dressing behavior in women more difficult to
identify. A woman might wear men's shirts, trousers, and underwear without
anyone recongizing that she is cross-dressing, as very similar clothing
items are produced for women.
The classic psychoanalytic view
Classic psychoanalytic views of cross-dressing emphasized the role of
taboo in the behavior. Only items that were proscribed to a gender would
be appropriated, and therefore it is not the general association of
an item with one sex or the other but the prohibitions against the item
that give satisfaction to those with a fetish attachment to cross-dressing.
According to this theory, as articles become acceptable for ordinary
wear (e.g. a man's necktie on a woman, which passed from taboo to fashion
in the 1970s) they will cease to be sought by cross-dressers.
The problem of attributing motives for cross-dressing
When speaking of historical figures, when cross-dressing is not clearly
related to specific events (like an escape or disguise) it is usually
impossible to state clearly what the motives for cross-dressing were.
This information was rarely recorded or preserved. Documents on the
subject are often either court records (where the cross-dressing person
may have said whatever they thought would minimize their punishment)
or accounts by other people who might not understand the motivations
correctly. Furthermore, historic figures were often unable to identify
themselves as homosexual, transgender, transsexual, or transvestite
because these classifications simply had no names or social recognition
in their era.
It can be equally difficult to be certain of the motives of modern
day people who cross-dress. The only real proof of motive is that person's
own statement. Yet even this is not always certain, as there are examples
of people attributing their cross-dressing behaviour to one motive only
to later realize that they may have had another reason. The classical
example of this would be a transsexual person who initially attributed
cross-dressing behaviour to transvestic fetishism (for transwomen) or
the utilitarian practicality of male clothing (for transmen).
