“I know what I am and what I am not”: heterosexual male cross-dressing in postwar America, 1960-1990

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dc.contributor.authorGlover, Alexie Moira
dc.contributor.supervisorCleves, Rachel Hope
dc.date.accessioned2018-08-23T19:13:56Z
dc.date.copyright2018en_US
dc.date.issued2018-08-23
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of History
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts M.A.en_US
dc.description.abstractThis thesis uncovers and historicizes an overlooked aspect of America’s transgender history. The heterosexual male cross-dressers, or transvestites, of mid-century America constituted a group of individuals that espoused a particular discourse of respectability in their cross-gender practices, conceptualized unique bi-gender identities, and cultivated a community. Heterosexual male cross-dressers, under the leadership of Virginia Prince and Ariadne Kane worked to separate themselves from broader, and more recognizable, identities such as gay transvestites, drag queens, and homosexuals in an effort to define themselves as respectable. A critical historical analysis of Fantasia Fair indicates that Prince and Kane were not alone in their desire for a community of their peers, with whom to share ideas about sexological theories, personal stories, and tactics for self-preservation. As a direct response to the pervasive nature of transsexual narratives in the field of transgender history, this project demonstrates the important advances made by heterosexual male cross-dressers to our modern understanding of trans diversity. These cross-dressing narratives prompt historians of transgender phenomena to think critically about the diversity of identity categories that are encompassed in our present understanding of the term ‘transgender’.en_US
dc.description.embargo2019-07-30
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/9947
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.subjecttransgenderen_US
dc.subjecttransgender historyen_US
dc.subjectAmerican historyen_US
dc.subjectcross-dressingen_US
dc.subjectheterosexual cross-dressingen_US
dc.subjectLGBTQ historyen_US
dc.subjectVirginia Princeen_US
dc.subjectAriadne Kaneen_US
dc.subjectFantasia Fairen_US
dc.title“I know what I am and what I am not”: heterosexual male cross-dressing in postwar America, 1960-1990en_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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