Opinion Sur Joven

They aren’t drag queens who at a certain point and with a purpose (essentially an artistic one) choose to "be a part of the opposite sex". They aren’t transvestites either, because they don’t dress or behave as women all the time.

Cross-dressers are people who occasionally wear clothes associated to the opposite sex. Some think it’s a previous step of transvestism, though not everyone agrees. Moreover, many of them are heterosexuals who secretly enjoy wearing women’s clothes. Sometimes they use women’s names, women’s underwear or make-up, or do it all at once. Sometimes this is kept a secret; sometimes it isn’t. Diversity within the cross-dressing world is very wide.

"It’s like living under the skin of someone who breaks free from stereotypes. It makes me relax in a way that has nothing to do with sexuality", says Carlos, who has occasionally become Alejandra for over two years now and confesses being homosexual. Cross-dressing is more frequent among men than among women. They assert dressing as women allows them to express a hidden side of their personalities: they can get in touch with their feminine side and complete their identities.

My own private world

Some of our interviewees comment they started trying women’s clothes in their mothers’ rooms. “I still remember I’d go to her bedroom and wear her shoes and try her outfits”, Carlos recalls.

According to Argentine psychiatrist and sexologist Adrián Sapetti, extravagant behavior to produce sexual arousal is called paraphilia. “This term is used in the 21st century to classify psychosexual disorders, because it has no pejorative or moral connotations", Sapetti explains. However, society still uses popular terms such as “deviance” or “perversion”. But the specialist rejects these concepts because “they don’t take into account the pleasurable aspect of the act” and are associated with wrong and vicious behaviors.

Andrés/Andreíta is a Colombian cross-dresser who designed a website to share her experience by e-mail with people interested in discovering this practice. She confesses to be split in two parts: she was born Andrés, but many times –always at home- she’s Andrea. “When I see myself in the mirror –she thinks-, I know I’ve gone a lot further than many men who don’t dare to search in themselves and other people’s selves". In spite of practicing cross-dressing, Andrés claims to be heterosexual: “I like my masculinity and enjoy my sexuality very much”. I like being the man and making love to a woman”, he sums up.

Many people change their clothes behind their partners’ backs. “Sometimes their wives have no idea”, Sapetti admits. He knew a man who carried a case full of women’s clothes, and when his wife found it he preferred to tell her those clothes belonged to his lover instead of acknowledging he was a cross-dresser. And this is probably not an isolated incident, because cross-dressers tend to hide this practice from their everyday life.

A new market

In an apartment in La Paternal, a neighborhood in the city of Buenos Aires, we find Crossdressing Buenos Aires, a place where all cross-dressers can find all the accessories they need to become women.

Claudia Molina, a wardrobe assistant and make-up artist, owns the place and runs the business she set up five years ago. “It all started with a story a friend of mine told me; he confessed to me he would dress as a woman, and he said people like him had a great necessity of a space to spend some time together and share stories”, she told OSJ. Therefore, she bought all the necessary equipment –clothes, shoes, make-up, accessories- and opened her business. People started coming by word of mouth. Then, demand increased thanks to her website.

The place is arranged so that after their makeovers cross-dressers can hang out together for a while. “We have tea and talk, they tell me about their lives. I want them to have a good time". They pay AR$100 (about U$S30) for two hours. If they want to take a picture, they additionally have to pay AR$50 (about U$S15). Many decide to do it, because then they show those pictures in MSN or in their blogs.

“For most customers, I’m the only person who knows their secrets”, Claudia assures. Therefore, upon their strong necessity to gather, she also decided to arrange meetings for cross-dressers. “Now we’ve formed a large group; after meeting here they go dancing. We need to see those panties under their suits!”, she jokes.

Cross-dressers today

“There are some things society considers to be an eccentricity. But all homosexual or bisexual activities are more visible nowadays”, Sapetti explains. Cross-dressing isn’t a fashion or an attempt to be freaks or funny. For many people it’s not just a practice either. “It’s a part of my life; I’ve learned to live with it”, Carlos accepts.

When they have an opportunity to show their feminine side, cross-dressers make an aesthetic and sexual experience, in different ways and with different intensities. Some decide to come out of the closet and some never do. Some choose to live it as a moment or a secret, although more people are managing to broaden their circles of trust and share their preferences.