Cross-dressing has a Different Meaning at a Different Place in a Different Time
In recent years, with more and more social acceptance of multiple variations of gender identity, cross-dressing has become an empowering tool for transgendered individuals who are out, proud, and loud to assert their gender identity. Notwithstanding, we have to be cognizant of the fact that cross-dressing validates the practice of the binary system of gender. We also have to remind ourselves that the binary system of gender is a social construct and that it is built on a medical model using the binary system of sex. More importantly, cross-dressing carries a different meaning at a different place in a different time. Here, I will describe three specific examples of females cross-dress as males.
Today’s Albania
The centuries-old practice of sworn virgins, also called burrnesha in Albanian, still exists in today’s Albania, though the custom is slowly declining. Traditionally, in families where there are no sons, the parents would assign one of their daughters to take the vow of a life-long celibacy, so she can bear the responsibilities of being the male heir of the family. These include making legal decisions for the family such as taking ownership of the family property or signing contracts. After her vow, she is socially and legally accepted as a man. She dresses like a man, lives like a man and is buried like a man. She becomes the head of household and enjoys the freedom solely endowed to men in her community such as drinking and smoking in the company of other men. Life is not easy as she carries out the chores of the man in her family. Essentially, she sacrifices her life for her family’s survival and wellbeing in a patriarchal society that values men more than women.
Today’s Afghanistan
Bacha posh means girls dressed up like a boy in Dari (a Persian language spoken primarily in Afghanistan). In a patriarchal society such as Afghanistan, rigid gender roles are strictly enforced. The birth of a boy is valued, honored, and celebrated. Families that do not have a male heir face social stigma and discrimination. To avoid the shame of not having a son, many parents choose to dress their daughters as boys, sometimes as early as at birth, and raise them as boys. Once a girl is given the status of bacha posh, she is given a male name. With her hair cut short, she puts on boys’ clothes and enjoys many privileges that an Afghan girl does not have. These include attending school, stepping out of her home without a chaperon and moving freely in the public. A bacha posh can also work to financially support the family. When she reaches puberty, the bacha posh is then return to her original sexual identity at birth and assume her female status. Once transitioned back to her original sex identity, she is no longer able to do whatever she does previously as a basha posh. Similar to the sworn virgins in Albania, she sacrifices her life for her family’s survival and wellbeing in a patriarchal society that values men more than women. Unfortunately, many of the basha posh suffer from serious identity confusion, a psychological harm that haunts them for the rest of their lives. Moreover, the basha posh tradition reinforces the superior status of male over female in the country while ignoring the mental health of young women. This further damages their emotional well-being throughout their adult lives.
China (1932 – 1945)
The third example to demonstrate how cross-dressing relates to survival. This time is self-survival. We all have heard or read about women in war torn nations being victims of sexual assault and rape. Tragically, such practice of atrocity continues even today—Ukraine or Gaza to name a couple. Women in China or any countries in the Asian Pacific region during the Japanese occupation were no different. Since the end of Second World War, scores of research have been published about the “comfort women system” implemented by the Imperial Japanese government in wherever locales that it occupied. Such system of institutionalized sexual violence against women is beyond one’s comprehension of any attack on humanity. This history overshadows or completely muffles the quiet resistance of women, both young and old, who cross-dressed to avoid being abducted by the Japanese soldiers to the “comfort women stations” throughout China. I personally heard of such experience from one family member who cross-dressed for years to escape the attention of Japanese soldiers. Decades later today, her story still haunts me. Seeing women who cross-dress as a male, or sometimes vice-versa, triggers my pain and anger as it brings back the memory of my family member recounting her constant fear and trauma during the Japanese occupation. Eight decades had passed, but the memory of her emotion lingers. I wonder how many women that lived through that era had cross-dressed and miraculously succeeded escaping the watchful eyes of Japanese soldiers in their village.
The three examples highlighted in this article bear witness to the practice of cross-dressing that actually demeans women. Though one might contend that these are exceptions rather than the norm, I would argue that any norm in any society is a social construct. Additionally, it also reflects the social value of the time that drives that particular norm. The three practices mentioned earlier exemplifies the norm of being a male who enjoys more privileges than being a female. Accordingly, they also reflect the value that a society assigns to males over females. With respect to the contemporary practice of cross-dressing in many countries, I recognize the empowering aspect of such practice to an individual, whether they self-identify cross-gendered or not. However, the institutionalized binary system of gender is grounded on the legal binary system of sex. By celebrating cross-dressing, we celebrate the practice of coming out and proud. Yet, are we inadvertently accepting the binary system of gender as well as the binary system of sex? Are we also ignoring individuals that are born intersexed? For their own survival, should they select one of the legally recognized sex categories and dress accordingly? Or should they come out and celebrate their sex identity at birth?
Before moving to New Mexico, Julia worked for the Dallas College in Texas where she successfully expanded a $30-million privately-funded endowed scholarship program county-wide. She is a past President of the Texas Diversity Council and a past board chair of the Asian Chamber of Texas.
Julia’s passion is to raise one’s cultural competence of those that look and speak differently from them. In her free time, she volunteers at the Bernalillo Metropolitan County Court as a certified mediator and answers the crisis/suicide hotline for a local crisis center.
- Survival Matters: Cross-dressing – by Julia Wai-Yin So - September 13, 2025
- Misgendering: Is It a Big Deal? – by Julia Wai-Yin So - March 1, 2025
- TRENDS 2025: Inclusive Excellence – by Julia Wai-Yin So - January 13, 2025