Transvestism as Deviance and the Condemning Behaviour

Firstly, we discuss about the introduction of research topic “Tansvestism as deviance”. Clothing is only outward symbol to represent your chosen on the basis of basic internal psychological situations. The transvestites periodically want to be free of the rigid demands of being a man, with the attendant requirement for-masculinity. As a man, the transvestites expected to perform a sex role which he may sometimes want to avoid. When dressed in woman's clothing, the transvestite feels freer to express tenderness, grace, and other qualities which society defines as feminine. Dressing enables him to relax and express the suppressed side of his nature. As one respondent put it 'I feel a gender comfort when I cross-dress. I feel relaxed, very passive and warm. I am very aggressive person when acting out my male role - very dominant. When I dress as a woman, I feel this offsets the other side of my personality. I feel more together. Although I am a man, I envy qualities of females sensitivity to others, and gentleness”.

Many actors and actresses find their work rewarding because they can portray other people enmeshed with a different set of expectations. Costume parties give one the same sort of fulfillment. A transvestite who goes out in public and passes as a woman gains immense satisfaction in enacting the role. I love to go out in public dressed as a woman. It's amazing how many people take me for a female. I ride on buses and shop when dressed. I really get kick out fooling people. It's amazing how many people take appearance for granted.

The power of conventional definitions of masculinity leads many transvestites to accept the dominant society's lowly evaluation of them. They interact with normal, defined by the mainstream conception of male sexual orientation. They feel ambivalent about themselves, and manifest feelings of alienation from self. This condition manifests itself as a form of self-hate beginning at a young age. Many older transvestites buy clothes and later destroy them from a sense of guilt and disgust with themselves. Deviants try to nullify the negative status which others accord them by 4 processes:

1. denial;
2. excepting;
3. excusing; and
4. normalizing (Mageo, 1996).

Transvestites who dress secretively alone tend to deny their deviance in order to escape stigma. Several respondents implicitly used denial when they could not admit in plain age that they were one of those people. 'Many transvestites stress that they are conventional in all other aspects of their lives. In their self-image, they point out that they are many things, such as a good father, husband, and worker. These good qualities mitigate the stigma. Excusing is the third form of neutralization. Blame is deflected to a force beyond the transvestite's control. The transvestite sees his compulsion as similar to that of the alcoholic. Some use the assumption of biological determinism, that their compulsion is in the genes, or that they happen to have excess female hormones. Some cite the astrological influence of stars and planets which chart their destiny. Others claim reincarnation from a previous life when they were a woman.

Normalization is the transvestite's stratagem to condemn conventional behavior, and praise their own honesty. One respondent said: 'All people contain the potential for Tansvestism but it is repressed by society.1t another claimed: 'Women are becoming more assertive and entering the world of work but men are afraid to express their feminine qualities such as tenderness and gentleness (Kaplan & Rogers, 1990). Cross-dressing helps me to do this. Such statements seem to provide a springboard for action, and manifest what can be labeled conversion from stigma that is a sense of rebirth into a new identity. A similar process is identified among homosexuals (K. Gauthier & J. Forsyth, 1999). For the transvestite, this is the assumption of the androgynous ideal. Sexual humor is another way of dealing with the inner conflict. Transvestite jokes and cartoons are attempts to find a socially acceptable means of expressing the egression and conflict. Such humor is private, and is limited to the transvestite subcultures.

The term rationalization is inappropriate. It is a conversion process, and the statements or beliefs. The transvestites also deal with ambivalent feelings by showing displaced aggression toward homosexuals. They are particularly sensitive to the drag queen homosexual whose parading in women’s clothing tends to give the heterosexual transvestite a bad name in the public mind (Baker, 1994).

As they do not want to be considered deviant, they enact a masculine image and, try to normalize their cross-dressing by presenting it as another hobby. So, many transvestites tend to stay secret in order to avoid being labeled as deviant. To avoid guilt and secrecy, they have also created groups and formed sub-cultures that reflect their ideology of femininity (Prince & Bentler, 1972).Thus, we can say that transvestites are doubly deviant. Firstly, they deviate from the mainstream, as they present a non-normative behavior and secondly, they present a non-normative behavior, but unlike most deviants, they are part of the mainstream when not cross-dressing (Bacigalupo, 2004).

At first, most transvestites accept the conventional condemnation of this behavior. The transvestites feel shame, disgust, and guilt. Still, they feel completed to explore their desire by using women's clothing, cosmetics, and mannerisms. They derive sexual, esthetic, and escapist satisfaction. Confronted with the contradiction between their conventional values and their deviance, they rationalize to mitigate their conflicted sense of self. They should be helped in order to make them acceptable citizen of society. Deviant behavior also reflects the negativity transvestites are facing. Whereas no suitable measures have been taken in regards to give rightful share and status to this community in the society as to adopt them as what they are. Disproval to this lifestyle also stems from religious and patriarchal beliefs. They are deviant because their families disowned them. The purpose of the study was to study the factors that lead an individual towards deviance.