Abstract
If all appearance were reality the world we live in would probably be a very different place. As it is, we construct images of ourselves, projecting them through our appearance, and in this respect the transvestite is no different. He too creates an image and hopes that it will be convincing in the eyes of others. The difference lies in the fact that his image is socially unacceptable and is generally greeted with a response emanating from the shock-horror end of the scale.
‘They think that women have a better life than men, but it’s totally untrue. You can’t escape from pain and problems, can you? You’ve still got to face up to them whether you wear a skirt or trousers.’
(June, married to a transvestite)
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Notes and references
See Val Binney, Leaving Violent Men (Women’s Aid Federation, London, 1981).
Olive Leonard, 1982 unpublished dissertation, South Bank Polytechnic, London.
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© 1989 Annie Woodhouse
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Woodhouse, A. (1989). Transvestism and women. In: Fantastic Women. Women in Society. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20024-5_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20024-5_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-44670-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-20024-5
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