by Lynette Alice

Created on: September 27, 2008   Last Updated: January 19, 2009

Drag queens and transvetities appear quite similar on the surface, but the underlying motivations for their cross gender appearance are quite different. It is not uncommon for these two categories of people to be confused with each other and the transsexual community as well. In this article we will examine what each is and isn't, the most common underlying theme for their cross gender appearance, and why it is important to understand these differences.

A drag queen is a man that dresses and appears as a woman in public venues. They don't simply dress in clothing associated to women, they go the whole nine yards applying makeup, wigs as necessary, and often employ the use of body shaping undergarments to further create the illusion. It is important the do all this because a drag quenn is a person that goes through all this for on or both of the following reasons, performing and financial gain. Those motivations are kept separate as in some cases these are not always two things that go hand in hand. Some assune the female persona strictly to perform for financial gain, others because they just like performing and female impersonation is the venue they excel in.

A drag queen is not necessarily transgender or even gay. They do not find disgust with their genitals and wish to have them altered. They are quite satisfied with their sexual identity as is and simply assume the femme role for no purpose but that related to business to employ an umbrella term. This is not a lifestyle for them.

A transvestite or crossdresser is quite different. In the case of men, although this phenomena is present to a lesser degree with women known as drag kings, this is a lifestyle choice. It is defined as a sexual paraphilia (fetish) in which the person finds sexual gratification by wearing womens clothing. They do not undergo body altering procedures, introduce feamle hormones to the body, nor do they generally fo overboard with trying to look passably female. In the majority of these people they will not appear publicly in cross gender clothing.

For a transvestite crossdressing is a part of their intimate ritual. In many cases this starts out as a playful diversion but in time it can become so centrally important the person cannot function sexually without crossdressing. A transvestite has no finacial motivation for assuuming this temporary persona, nor do they perform publicly. In very limited cases is the person actually gay. Even in the cases in which the person would be defined

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>