Table of Contents

PART I. CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: CROSS DRESSING IN PERSPECTIVE
—Mythology and History in the Ancient World
—Cross Dressing and Social Status in the Middle Ages
—Playing with Gender: Cross Dressing in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
—Cross Dressing Women and Men
—Challenges to the Hierarchy
—Women and Cross Dressing in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
—Men, Gender Concepts, and Transvestism in the Nineteenth Century
PART II. MODERN PERSPECTIVES: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MEDICAL MODEL
—Drag Queens and Cross Dressing on the Stage
—Transsexualism
—The Emergence of Organized Transvestism and Its Implications
—Current Explanations of Cross Dressing
—What to Do about Cross Dressing

Promotional Information

Not only surveys cross dressing and gender impersonation throughout history and in a variety of cultures but examines the medical, biological, psychological, and sociological findings that have been presented in modern scientific literature.

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.

Reviews

"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