Introduction; Part 1 Tranvestite Logics; Chapter 1 Dress Codes, or the Theatricality of Difference; Chapter 2 Cross-Dress for Success; Chapter 3 The Transvestite’s Progress; Chapter 4 Spare Parts; Chapter 5 Fetish Envy; Chapter 6 Breaking the Code; Part 2 Transvestite Effects; Chapter 7 Fear of Flying, or Why is Peter Pan a Woman?; Chapter 8 Cherchez La Femme; Chapter 9 Religious Habits; Chapter 10 Phantoms of the Opera; Chapter 11 Black and White TV; Chapter 12 The Chic of Araby; Chapter 13 The Transvestite Continuum Liberace-Valentino-Elvis; Chapter 14 Conclusion A Tergo;
Director of the Humanities Center at Harvard
"Vested Interests is a political and emotional gold
mine--beautifully illustrated, and written with wit, style, and
with obvious love for the subject. Could you ask for more?." --
Kate Bornstein, Lambda Book Report
". . . erudite and exhilaratingly well-argued . . . her [Garber's]
argument is both intricate and persuasive." -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett,
The New York Times Book Review
"Vested Interests is a political and emotional gold
mine--beautifully illustrated, and written with wit, style, and
with obvious love for the subject. Could you ask for more?." --
Kate Bornstein, Lambda Book Report
". . . erudite and exhilaratingly well-argued . . . her [Garber's]
argument is both intricate and persuasive." -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett,
The New York Times Book Review
Do clothes really make the man? What do Elvis and Liberace have in common? Why is Peter Pan always played by a woman? These are just a few of the questions of sexual and sartorial politics raised by Garber. From the sumptuary laws of medieval Europe to ``vogueing'' in New York City in 1991, she traces Western society's inconsistent and often arbitrary views regarding the clothes we wear and how they affect class structure, gender stereotyping, and our own self-image. Garber boldly asserts that transvestism makes culture possible by deliberately confusing the constructs of gender identification and challenging the social control they seek to maintain. Well documented and thoroughly researched, Garber's book is a serious work that is not without a piquant feel for the ironic, especially as she details the lengths to which both men and women have gone to hide their gender in order to get ahead in the world. Often raising more questions than it answers, this is nevertheless a fascinating book about an equally fascinating subject. Highly recommended.-- Jeffrey Ingram, New port P.L., Ore.
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