ABSTRACT

The answers to these questions - and much, much more - are to be found in The Changing Room , which traces the origins and variations of theatrical cross-dressing through the ages and across cultures. It examines:
* tribal rituals and shamanic practices in the Balkans and Chinese-Tibet
* the gender-bending elements of Greek and early Christian religion
* the homosexual appeal of the boy actor on the traditional stage of China, Japan and England
* the origins of the dame comedian, the principal boy, the glamour drag artiste and the male impersonator
* artists such as David Bowie, Boy George, Charles Ludlam, Dame Edna Everage, Lily Savage, Candy Darling, Julian Clary and the New York Dolls.
Lavishly illustrated with unusual and rare pictures, this is the first ever cross-cultural study of theatrical transvestism. It is a must for anyone interested in cross-dressing, theatre, and gender.

chapter |13 pages

Introduction

part 1|55 pages

Acting out

chapter 2|20 pages

The sham in shaman

chapter 3|16 pages

The Greek for it is ‘gynaikíseōs'

chapter 4|18 pages

Skirting Christ

part 5|74 pages

Stages of sodomy

chapter 6|25 pages

Orientations

chapter 7|20 pages

China trade

chapter 8|28 pages

Playboys and boy players

part 9|128 pages

The mannish and the unmanned

chapter 10|19 pages

Arms and the woman

chapter 11|25 pages

Monstrous pleasures of the baroque

chapter 12|21 pages

Breeches birth

chapter 13|29 pages

Beldames sans merci

chapter 14|33 pages

The prince, the pauper and the pan

part 15|75 pages

Subcultures surface

chapter 16|29 pages

Putting on the drag

chapter 17|23 pages

The imp(ersenator) of the perverse

chapter 18|22 pages

Amateur hour

part 19|128 pages

Children of the ghetto

chapter 20|31 pages

Queens of clubs

chapter 21|32 pages

Alternatives

chapter 22|14 pages

Sex, drags and rock 'n' roll

chapter 23|21 pages

Glad-ragging the Establishment

chapter 24|19 pages

A gender of their own

chapter 25|10 pages

From dressing up to dressing down