Interdressing

[Kendall]

I like the word interdressing to describe how I try dress in day to day life at work. It is a word someone made up to mean not just dressing fully as the opposite sex, but mixing of both sex items.

The intention may or may not be to pass as your none birth biological sex, more of to express a current mixture of gender or non gender. While androgynous is sort of the same word, androgynous dressing can either mean a mixture of genders, or the absence of gender (neither) either by intention or by coincidence. Someone could dress androgynous without the intention of doing so.

Interdressing sounds more of the intentional or natural mixture of both genders

While its not crossdressing (fully) or dressing full time in a real life full time for transition, its something that Intergender/Genderqueer can or may do to feel more complete.

You can do a websearch and find the page made by the person that made the word up to read how they intended the word.

[Melissa]

Another term for interdressing is gender bending.

Melissa

[Sheila]

Maybe, I'm sounding old, but don't we have terms for all of this? I just don't understand why we need more terms for dressing how you want? I'm open to try and understand, but I would think it would complicate peoples minds even more, I know it does mine.
Sheila

[Kendall]

Gender Bending as I understand is a social activism including all behavior, activities, and processes it includes dressing, surgeries, politics, behavior, and characteristics. Its an informal word that can mean many things. It is another word for genderqueer, two spirits, third gender, intergender, androgyne.

Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothing commonly associated with another gender within a particular society.

Transitioning is the process of ceasing to live in one gender role and starting to live in another, undertaken by transgender and transsexual people.

Transitioning usually happens before any sex reassignment surgery, and in some cases even before any hormone replacement therapy. Transitioning often marks the start of the real life experience which is usually required for SRS.

Many people also use the term 'transitioning' to refer to the entire transgender/transsexual process (from living 24/7 in the original gender role to after surgery). The beginning of the real life experience is then often called 'going fulltime' (i.e. starting to live 24/7 in the opposite gender role).

Transitioning can involve sex reassignment therapy, name changes, wearing clothing seen as gender appropriate or the use of make-up, and generally coming out of the Closet.

Many cross-dressers and most transsexuals want to be able to participate in normal social activities (such as shopping, going out, going to work and/or simple activities like walking down a street) without being recognised as a transgendered person.

Where the person is being perceived by the public as anything other than their birth sex this is described as passing.

Thus a man cross-dressed as a woman would be deemed to pass if nobody realised that the person they were seeing was not in fact female.

If someone correctly determines that somebody is transgendered then they are said to have been read. However, many members of the public will be very discreet if they think they've read someone - this may be out of politeness, sympathy, respect, shyness or because they are uncertain and are too embarrassed to mention it in case it's not.

What then does one call it when someone goes out in public in a mixture of both gender clothes, colors, accessories, makeup, styles with no intention of passing or presenting as one or the either gender but as a mixture of genders?

I am looking for a word that means that and only that. Nothing else.

[Melissa]

Maybe this is what you are looking for.

Melissa

[Kendall]

Yes, but thats a bad word. Not very professional. Definately nothing to talk about seriously to anyone else.

[Melissa]

That's the reason I linked to it in the way I did.  I think that's as close to "official" as you're going to get.  I was under the impression that this was also what gender bending was as you can see here:

http://homepage.smc.edu/katherine_amber/WOMST/genderbender/GBSpr03/pages/P1010473.htm

Melissa


Posted at: August 15, 2006, 01:19:52 PMAdditionally, I found this in the American Heritage Dictionary.

http://www.bartleby.com/61/60/G0076000.html

gender bender
 
PRONUNCIATION: jndr-bndr
VARIANT FORMS: or gen·der-ben·der
NOUN: Slang 1. One who dresses or acts in an androgynous manner. 2. Something, such as a theatrical performance or a book, whose portrayal of gender roles is nontraditional or androgynous. 
OTHER FORMS: gender-bending (jndr-bndng) —ADJECTIVE & NOUN

As you have said, you wanted the definition for dressing nontraditionally.

Melissa

[Kendall]

..  and that is why I like the word interdressing. Its easy to picture in your mind, but not vulgar, nor vague as the other terms.

Fiction and art
In fiction, the term "gender bender" may refer not only to characters modeled after real-life gender benders but also to characters who undergo changes in their physical sex, magically or otherwise, throughout the story. One example of this is the anime and manga series Ranma ½, which features a main character who regularly switches from male to female due to a magic curse.

In addition, a work of art which challenges gender roles or features gender bending or transgendered characters may itself be referred to as a "gender bender."

In the TV show Futurama, Bender becomes an Ultimate Fighting Robot wrestler named 'The Gender Bender' in the episode Raging Bender.

https://www.susans.org/wiki/Gender_Bender

The main acceptable root of transsexuals is "trans". Transsexual, Transition. To Intergender (one subgroup of Genderqueer) the root 'inter' is the main acceptable root.

[Terri-Gene]

 

I am looking for a word that means that and only that. Nothing else.

My brains are a little slow this morning, but wouldn't GenderQueer slide in there somewhere?

Terri

[Nero]

Maybe this is what you are looking for.

Melissa

Thanks Melissa. I've been wondering for some time what that word meant. I'm surprised to find that it's a real word.

Nero

[Kendall]

Genderqueer and androgyne can mean it in a general sense. It can also mean absence of gender too. Sort of Eunuch like or nongender. Or it can be something entirely new and different. It can mean a third gender. It doesnt just refer to the mixture of male and female. Certainly women dress in a combination of male and female clothing sometimes, without intention to passing as a male. I am not sure if they dress to express the male side in them as well as the female mixture. Just trying to find the word that is professional, yet specific. And interdressing is one interesting word I found out there on the web. Androgynous is close, but sometimes refers to gender neutral or nongender (absence of gender) and may be accidental. Gender bending might be the closest so far, though the other uses for it are abstract and new age like. And it sort of has a twisting connotation, almost artificial like, not very natural nor professional sounding.

[stephanie_craxford]

Maybe this is what you are looking for.

Melissa

Thanks Melissa. I've been wondering for some time what that word meant. I'm surprised to find that it's a real word.

Nero

It is also covered in Susan's Wiki here.

Steph

[Kendall]

I really cant see myself telling my coworkers or boss that I am a Genderqueer that genderbends and/or genderplays . The words dont bring any credibility to my nature. Not good for any serious plans for any future. Nor to explain my gender. Its not professional.

Now do you see what I am saying. In my opinion, all three words sound rediculous in the professional world. And the parts of the words takes away from the real meaning behind them, with some bias for other meanings.

They all sound like slang.

The words I posted above for crossdressers and transsexuals are very professional. Terms that are acceptable even to explain it in credible ways.

Edit by Leigh to conform to rules

compare it to
Transsexual, Transition, Crossdressing, Passing, Real life test, HRT which are all professional words.

[Casey]

I think I understand what you're getting at Kendra. There is a difference though between being an androgyne (which I may be) and dressing androgynously. It's kind of like the difference between crossdressing (which transsexuals technically do) and being a crossdresser (which is understood to be something different as a label or identity). My therapist said that using androgynous to mean dressing to give no clue to gender is a misuse of the term. It actually means, well, giving conflicting clues. Perhaps if the transgender community reclaims the correct use of the word from the "general public" use we could make the word more concrete. It's kind of like how "psychotic" means one thing to the mental health community and something different to the general public.

[Melissa]

Oh, I get why you want a term.  How about "transgender"?  It covers that, yet still sounds professional.

Melissa

[Kendall]

I even just used that word in this message board and had it changed to genderplay and warned not to use such language.
Check the link above if you want to see one of the words they said I should use that was altered instead of genderplay.

Good Idea Casey, after all andro means man, gynous means woman. That kind of logic and definition is what I have been looking for, and professional.

Androgynous in the original sense of the word.

Thank you.

[Casey]

Happy to help, Kendra. We'll probably have to qualify it for a while ("androgynous in its original meaning of blending genders") but hopefully it will catch on.

BTW: I got your PM. I just can't (as in, am not allowed to) reply yet.

[beatrix]

I understand pretty well.  If I were to describe myself as genderqueer, especially to a group or person that is not in a forum that is more open to that (like Susan's is), there is a political connotation of that word.  The gender[expletive deleted] term surely means a political/social statement.  It is very specific.

Really, if I want to get a rise out of someone or to make them think about gender in a more confrontational way, I'm not going to soften it.  I think that is the bad method, so I welcome different terms.  It suggests a maturation of thinking.

That's the distinction, in my head, between the term Kendra is bringing in, IMO, and the more "popular," perhaps vulgar, varients.

But, i'm pretty pretensious.  YMMV

beatrix

[Chaunte]

I can see Interdressing as part of the transformation process as somebody heads toward going full time.

Over the course of a year or more, you slowly add in items that would be androgenous or of the opposite sex / correct gender.  You slowly build up and convert your wardrobe until a sizable portion of your clothing is already in place.  Once you go full time, people will see clothing items that they have previously seen.  Logically, that should reduce the public's shock of transitioning. 

Chaunte

[beatrix]

I can see Interdressing as part of the transformation process as somebody heads toward going full time.

Over the course of a year or more, you slowly add in items that would be androgenous or of the opposite sex / correct gender.  You slowly build up and convert your wardrobe until a sizable portion of your clothing is already in place.  Once you go full time, people will see clothing items that they have previously seen.  Logically, that should reduce the public's shock of transitioning. 

Chaunte

That's logical; but pretty time-consuming.  I don't think I'd have the patience for it.  But some of female attire is quite, shall we say, exclusive to "women," and kind of blowing the effect.  While I could probably start buying female shirts and pants and stuff, if I were to show up to work in a dress . . . and then the next day in (guy) jeans and a t-shirt . . .

Interesting exercise, though, if thought through.