Transvestism

:This article deals with the history of the word 'transvestite'. For information about cross-dressing, see there.

Conclusion

There are many different usages and meanings of the term transvestism. Some of them clearly contradict each other; the only thing they have in common is

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• They describe a behavior of people dressing in clothes of a gender that is different from the gender they were assigned (usually at birth) or the gender they are living in. It does imply some inner motive for cross-dressing, but does not specify this motive.
• They (usually) exclude transvestic fetishism and they do not include transsexualism.

The word transvestism therefore should be explained when used; most of the time using cross-dressing will avoid much potential confusion. If encountered, it is necessary to find out which particular meaning it has in the context in which it is presented.

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