Editing Cross-dressing (section)

===Non-Western history===
[[File:Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari) (CBL J 1038.1).jpg|thumb|[[Lady Murasaki|Lady Murasaki's]] classical novel ''[[The Tale of Genji]]'' from 1008 demonstrates the transgression between masculine and feminine beauty with characters that have no clear gender differentiability. ]]

Cross-dressing has been practiced throughout much of recorded history, in many societies, and for many reasons. Examples exist in [[Greek mythology|Greek]], [[Norse mythology|Norse]], and [[Hindu mythology]]. Cross-dressing can be found in theater and religion, such as [[kabuki]], [[Noh]], and [[Korean shamanism]], as well as in folklore, literature, and music. For instance, in examining kabuki culture during Japan's edo period, cross-dressing was not only used for theater purposes, but also because current societal trends: cross-dressing and the switching of genders was a familiar concept to the Japanese at the time which allowed them to interchange characters's genders easily and incorporate [[Geisha|geisha fashion]] into men's wear.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cross-dressers in Ukiyo-e {{!}} 太田記念美術館 Ota Memorial Museum of Art |url=http://www.ukiyoe-ota-muse.jp/exhibition-eng/crossdressors |access-date=2022-12-01 |language=ja |archive-date=2022-12-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201011917/http://www.ukiyoe-ota-muse.jp/exhibition-eng/crossdressors |url-status=live }}</ref> This was especially common in the story-telling of ancient stories such as the character Benten from [[Benten Kozō]]. He was a thief in the play cross-dressing as a woman. Cross-dressing was also exhibited in Japanese Noh for similar reasons. Societal standards at the time broke boundaries between gender. For example, ancient Japanese portraits of aristocrats have no clear differentiation in characteristics between male and female beauty. Thus, in Noh performance, the cross-dressing of actors was common; especially given the ease of disguising biological sex with the use of masks and heavy robes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Intersections: Children in Late Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Century Lowland Philippine Societies |url=http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue16/saeki.htm |access-date=2022-12-01 |website=intersections.anu.edu.au |archive-date=2022-12-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201011923/http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue16/saeki.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> In a non-entertainment context, cross-dressing is also exhibited in Korean shamanism for religious purposes. Specifically, this is displayed in chaesu-gut, a shamanistic rite gut in which a shaman offers a sacrifice to the spirits to intermediate in the fortunes of the intended humans for the gut. Here, cross-dressing serves many purposes. Firstly, the shaman (typically a woman) would cross-dress as both male and female spirits can occupy her. This allows her to represent the opposite sex and become a cross-sex icon in 75% of the time of the ritual. This also allows her to become a sexually liminal being. It is clear that in entertainment, literature, art, and religion, different civilizations have utilized cross-dressing for many different purposes.<ref>{{Citation |last=Panoussi |first=Vassiliki |title=cross-dressing |date=2023-04-19 |work=Oxford Classical Dictionary |url=https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-8634 |access-date=2024-03-24 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.8634 |isbn=978-0-19-938113-5 |archive-date=2024-04-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240423125531/https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-8634 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Duggan |first1=Anne E. |title=Folktales and fairy tales: traditions and texts from around the world |last2=Haase |first2=Donald |last3=Callow |first3=Helen J. |date=2016 |publisher=Greenwood |isbn=978-1-61069-253-3 |edition=2nd |location=Santa Barbara, California |pages=241–3 |language=en |quote=Prohibited in many societies, cross-dressing, or wearing the clothing of the other sex, is nonetheless practiced or narrated around the world in ritual, dance, balladry, theater, folktales, fairy tales, short stories, and novels. Transvestism, as it is also known, is an integral part of many folk ritual practices.}}</ref>