Crossing Sexual Boundaries : Transgender Journeys, Uncharted Paths

J. Kane-demaios, V. Bullough

"Transgender" has become a convenient umbrella term to cover a collectivity of individuals (including transvestites and transsexuals) who do not conform to traditionally accepted norms of gender identity or behavior. Until recent centuries, transgender behavior has rarely been the subject of scholarly or public attention, although cross-dressing and impersonation of the opposite gender have been staples of myth and of history since the beginning of historical records. During the 20th century, due to medical advances in hormone therapy and surgery, the worldwide publicity generated by the Christine Jorgensen case in the 1950s, and the popularity of such plays and movies as La Cage Aux Folles and The Birdcage, the subject is now once and for all out of the closet.