ABSTRACT
One of mankind's most essential distinctions is that between male and female. In spite of this, one occasionally encounters individuals who permanently adopt the dress and behaviour commonly associated with the opposite sex. It may perhaps provoke some astonishment that such an inversion is not restricted to the ‘decadence’ of urban society but has also existed, and in part still exists today, in more traditional societies. The anthropological information available on the subject is mainly concerned with males who dress and act like females – the Siberian and North American shamans and berdaches are the outstanding examples; whereas there is a remarkable lack of information about the female-to-male inversion. 1
