Some Like It Hot, Tootsie, Mrs. Doubtfire, To Wong Foo, The Crying Game, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show are usually what pops into most of our heads when we think about crossdressing in film. Iconic movies that millions have enjoyed and accepted seeing men dressing in women’s clothes and lingerie. If you go waayyyyy back though, it all started in the silent film era and continued throughout movie history. Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel and Wallace Beery (to name a few) all dressed as women in some of their amazing film appearances. Charlie for example dressed as a woman in the movie “A Woman” and Laurel in “Twice Two.” Heck, even The Three Stooges have crossdressed in their films.
It leaves me wondering though why throughout film history has this been accepted and yet in society today, there is still a stigmatism attached to crossdressing? Seems kind of odd doesn’t it? It’s okay to enjoy it in film, but don’t actually do it in real life. I could go on and on about this, but instead lets focus on a couple of the other great examples of men crossdressing in film.
One that pops into my head that some of you may not have seen yet is All Men Are Liars. It’s a 1995 comedy from Australia in which a guy dresses as a woman to join an all-female band so that he can raise enough money to buy back the piano his father sold. It’s a cute movie that comically explores a bit of the difficulties associated with crossdressing. If you're looking to watch a funny movie on a Friday night while lounging in your Glistening Satin and Lace Cheeky Panty and Sports Bra from XDress. Why not toss this one on for a lark?
A more recent film is The Danish Girl, which is a drama based in the 1920’s. A wife asks her husband to stand in as a model for a female that is late showing up for a painting she is working on. This unmasks the husband's life-long identification as a woman. It’s a great drama and explores things like gender identity and gender reassignment. I wouldn’t say this is a movie just to pop on for a laugh as it has some sadness to it, but an excellent drama.
I could keep going, but I think at this point I will stop and ask you to tell me what are some of your favorite films that involve men dressing in lingerie or women’s clothes. I always enjoy hearing what my friends like.
Before I sign off though, I just wanted to say that throughout the history of film men have dressed in women’s clothes and what is film but a reflection of reality. We are the Actors in life and I urge you to continue to crossdress or as I like to say just be comfortable in your sexuality. Let’s not put a label on it and just enjoy how it makes us feel. We deserve to feel sexy and we owe it to ourselves to feel good.
Until next time my friends,
XD Blogger
2 comments
Was watching Kingdom on Netflix and the lead character, Jay, was wearing womens panties int he first episode but I think he was “borrowing” from his GF. Either way, they looked great and Hollywood should have more male characters wearing panties. I think as we evolve we will see it come to film but, like anything, it takes time and probably the right story to tell.
Danish Girl was a great movie but told the story of the far more serious issue ot gender identification rather than dressing in a feminine way. There are very few films that feature people who dress in a feminine way without it being some kind of fetish (Rocky Horror Show), devious plot (Mrs Doubtfire) or comic event (Some Like It Hot). What we need is more film where men dressed and made-up in a more feminine way is a natural part of an accepted expression of personality.