By Julia Moore

Why men want to dress like women is a mystery to me. High quality textiles and wonderful tailoring is one possible answer, but surely not the poor quality, highstreet rags brands? In whalebone days, the reality of course was that your precious offal was squeezed beyond recognition. Most women did not breathe from 8am to bedtime, how times have changed. I have not yet seen The Danish Girl, but the content focus (first transgender procedure) is wowing them in the aisles. How our world view of this phenomenon is, as with so many previously taboo topics, becoming mainstream.

The label ‘taboo’ is, of course, nonsense itself. In common with other aspects of changing social mores homosexuality, samesex marriage, special needs the slow journey for such marginalised groups becoming ‘normalized’ paints them a faux image. Subcultures have always existed, always been persecuted, and required brave footsoldiers to battle for recognition, acceptance and legal protection. The pace of change depends on where the social ‘deficit’ is located. If you are in one of the above groups, there are plenty of places in the world in 2016 where you would probably be advised not to shout about it in public.

Back to the frocks. Exactly that’s the titillating stereotype I’d like to focus on here. As with many babes of the 1960s, I grew up against a backdrop of Danny la Rue, Dick Emry and Barry Humphries, with their feminine alteregos. I laughed like a drain at a Hinge and Brackett performance, but even at that delicate age, wondered why they obviously talented songwriters were not performing in their own right? Answer? Society adores the crossdresser. As with all ‘dysfunctional’ behaviour, it releases something in all of us. As viewers, we vicariously enjoy being the rebel, daring to do something we cannot do for ourselves. As participants not enough space in the world to navigate that one. Event as a female, I’ll never own their beautiful haute couture, or have occasion to wear those hats, but, by golly, I wish I did?

This perverse portrayal of womanness, think of Monty Python’s Mrs YetiGooscreacher, or any of their ‘female’ roles, continues to intrigue. Some female characters are written as strong ‘women’ Robbie Williams’ ‘Mrs Doubtfire’ has moments of poignant genius, it was not all pratfalling, but most of it is.

By contrast, the reverse practicewomenasmen, on the whole, veers away from the pastiche, caricature performance. Julie Andrews’ acclaimed, ‘Victor, Victoria ’ was an expedient role, the crossdressing intelligently intertwined with the plot. Mapp and Lucia’s colourful friends included some interesting girlboy derringdos. Again, the femaletomale characters are downplayed, tending not to clown around, or overdo the make up. I am unable to place one female impersonator who remotely resembled any female I have ever known. Perhaps my female network mothers, aunts, friends, happened to be unusually feminine, bright, capable and strongminded women. If any of them HAD a reallife persona of, for example, Les Dawson, in drag (whom I loved, and still do), I think, even at an early age, I would have contacted Childline, and asked for help.

I blame the war I usually do. Actually no, in this case, I blame Queen Elizabeth I, and Shakespeare for keeping females out of the theatre for so long. This has given men a resonant tendency for dressing up in tights. Then I blame the war women, real women, are, by and large, too savvy to act like idiots on stage. Men, thus, need to don the 1950s headscarf, the crossover pinny and the unlikely breasts to act out lines and plots which they dare not do as real chaps.

Back to The Danish Girl.The daily reality for transgender individuals is a world away from the cultural arts portrayal. Years of seclusion, repression and lack of support for most, is thankfully changing, albeit slowly. Much like the glamorization of drugtaking, or overindulgence of drink it looks manageable on celluloid as entertainment, but the real world of such lifestyles is not so attractive, if you, indeed survive this lifestyle. A recent UK study analyses the increase in children and young people presenting to the health authorities for gender reassignment. I make no judgement about this other than to say this. Christmas and birthdays already provide adults with enormous giftbuying trauma. This is an additional factor they can well do without.