User:Houstontonorman/History of cross-dressing

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The practice of women dressing as men was generally viewed more positively as compared to men dressing as women. Altenburger states that female-to-male cross-dressing entailed a movement forward in terms of social status, power, and freedom whereas men who cross-dressed were ridiculed or otherwise viewed negatively. Some people also alleged that men would cross-dress to gain access around women for their own sexual desire. The queer community would use cross dressing as a means of "being able to find acceptance within the dominant culture." This idea was raised during the late 1900s, but throughout history, including early Christianity, there are accounts of saints cross-dressing as a means of protection, expression and necessity to stand in line in the social order. They take on a name that would accurately represent who they identified as and how they wanted to stand in the social order.

Kristi Upson-Saia discusses how the early church reacted and dealt with the accusations and proof of saints cross-dressing. According to Upson-Saia, the church's response to these incidents varied depending on the social and political backdrop of the period. In other cases, the church used the saints' cross-dressing to promote traditional gender standards and its own authority over problems of gender and sexuality. In other situations, the church may have accepted the saints' cross-dressing as proof of their spiritual purity and dedication. Upson-Saia also observes that the church's stance to cross-dressing was not always uniform across time and region. Some cross-dressing saints, for example, were honored in some parts of the world but reviled in others. Furthermore, the church's reaction to cross-dressing may have been impacted by other factors such as the saint's social rank, their role in the church, and the political context of the time.

 Tertullian 

Tertullian, a Christian theologian, shames women who would refuse to wear their veil in public, which is an example of cross-dressing and bending the gender norms during early Christianity. Tertullian contends that women who dress like males commit a sin because they violate God's natural order. He claims that God designed men and women to be unique and diverse, and that cross-dressing blurs these boundaries and distorts gender roles. He also claims that when women dress like males, they are "degrading themselves" and "diminishing their own femininity." He writes that when a woman dresses like a man, they are "laying aside the ornaments of their own sex, to assume those of the other." He says, when women do this, they decide on "changing their condition and deserting what is peculiar to themselves." According to Tertullian, this leads to "depravity of morals."