Conclusion: Transvestism and the politics of gender

Abstract

The debate concerning the causes of transvestism continues, but one thing is clear — there are no readily available means of curing it. Even if the causal factors were to be identified, how would they be used? Attempts to prevent transvestism developing, whereby manifestations of childhood and juvenile ‘incorrect’ gender behaviour are subject to modification by experts, reveal the slippery slope from intervention to control. More to the point, the underlying assumption is made that transvestism is problematic in and of itself. It is categorised under the heading of sexual deviance, or worse, and therefore something which must be eliminated, or at least kept at a relatively low incidence.