Unzipping Gender: Sex, Cross-Dressing and Culture
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How does culture shape notions of sexuality and gender? Why are transvestites in the West so often seen as "deviant" or "perverse," while they are accepted in other societies? Is transvestism motivated primarily by sex or gender? What are the implications for the categories of "male" and "female" when considering transvestism? Unzipping Gender compares transvestism across cultures and considers how emotion, mythology, imagery, and beliefs influence ideas about sex and gender. Suthrell challenges the straightforward binary divide that dominates Western theories of gender. She argues that sex and gender are really so closely connected that we need a more sophisticated response to the complex practice of transvestism. In order to gain a deeper understanding of sex and gender issues, it is imperative to examine underlying social and symbolic structures. This unique study across cultures leads the way.
1Introduction12Clothing sex, sexing clothes: transvestism, material culture and the sex and gender debate133Transvestites in the UK : the dream of fair women314Disorder within the pattern : the Hijras of India755Crossing gender boundaries in cultural context : fieldwork comparisons and cultural influences1156Dressing up/dressing down : reconsidering sex and gender culture1317Thinking of themselves : transvestism and concepts of the person163
