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Though male
Cross-Dressing
is common historically, cross-dressers have often been
misunderstood and maligned, especially in societies with strictly defined
gender roles. Despite this disapprobation, cross-dressing entertainers have
often been accepted and even celebrated in many cultures. |
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Drag
artist Lady Bunny |
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Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo is an all-male dance troupe that combines
dance,
cross-dressing, and comedy to both parody and celebrate classical ballet.
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Ray Bourbon (1892?-1971)
was a
legendary drag performer and recording artist who appeared in silent
movies, vaudeville acts, Broadway plays, and, from the 1940s
through the 1960s, performed across the United States in a gay
nightclub circuit. |
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In
Literature,
the gay male cross-dresser and the lesbian cross-dresser are depicted
quite differently. |
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Divine (Harris Glenn Milstead, 1945-1988)
was a versatile character actor, nightclub singer, and international
cult star who generally performed his stage show and movie roles in
drag. He became famous through his appearances in
John Waters'
films. |
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Drag Shows need say nothing about sexual identity, but they have been
an almost institutionalized aspect of gay male culture for a long time. |
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The Chevalier d'Éon (1728-1810)
was the most famous transvestite of the eighteenth century. The French
diplomat and soldier lived the first half of his life as a man and the
second as a woman.
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Harvey Fierstein (b. 1954) is an
award-winning playwright and an
accomplished
actor and performer.
He began his acting career as a drag performer in New York City in the
early 1970s. |
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Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935) was a pioneering
German activist and sexologist.
A cross-dresser himself, Hirschfeld coined the term "transvestite." |
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Barry Humphries (b. 1934)
is a character actor, singer, writer, poet, and painter known
principally for the stage personas he has developed. Of these personas,
the most internationally recognized is Dame
Edna Everage whose sheer force of personality has enabled
her to achieve the status of "International Mega-Star." |
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Kabuki
is a
classic Japanese theatrical form incorporating fantastical costumes,
stylized gestures, music, and dance. Kabuki originally showcased female
and boy prostitutes, but now features all-male casts. |
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Charles Ludlam (1943-1987)
was an actor, playwright, and innovator in the "Theater of the
Ridiculous." He drew on many elements of camp and farce, but never
allowed them to obscure the seriousness of his themes. |
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Male Cross-Dressers
Part 1 is the first half of a two part series.
Click Here to
view Part 2. |
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Photo
Credits: Photograph of Lady Bunny by Jimmy Smith, courtesy
ladybunny.net. Photograph of Ballet Trockadero performers by Sasha
Vaughn, courtesy Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. Engraving of the
Chevalier
d'Éon courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Image of Magnus Hirschfeld courtesy Archiv für Sexualwissenschaft,
Berlin. Image of Kabuki actor courtesy McCormick Library of
Special Collections, Northwestern University. |
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