I think I would quite like to be a transvestite

[solidgoldbrass]

I think maybe I am one. Because I do wear quite a lot of men's clothes (I mean, literally, have always had shirts and sweaters passed down from dad and brother). I also like the fact that a woman dressing as a man (as opposed to just wearing fairly gender-neutral clothing like jeans, t-shirt and trainers) seems to freak people out nearly as much if not more than a man dressing as a woman.
So is basic mucking around with clothing and gender identity feminist, anti-feminist, or just mucking around?

I hate labels. Why should you conform to any group of people's idea of what is correct? For this reason I think it's just mucking around and doing what you feel is right for you!

Go for it.

(no socks with sandals though please)

Playing with gender boundaries is always fun, and pro-feminist in that feminists are opposed to rigid gender construction.

Interesting that what was once seen as traditionally masculine (jeans/shirt/jumper) is now unisex... whereas I can't think of any traditionally feminine dress styles that have been picked up by men. I guess this is the usual way of things (women imitating men much more culturally acceptable than men imitating women, because men are so much superior to women. Hmmph).

Personally I love male formal wear, but I am too short and curvy to carry it off well (sob).

From my knowledge, transvestism is about dressing up, taking on a persona, not necessarily different from putting on a costume to go to a fancy dress party. The person putting on clothing associated with an "extreme" interpretation of femininity may be straight, gay, transgendered or cisgendered when "out of costume."

Transgender is something else and that's more to do with identifying with a different gender to the one you were born into/assigned from birth or identifying as something other than strictly male or female. It's not about an "act," though, but about individual identity - which may mean adopting some of the clothing/styling associated with the opposite gender (to the one you were born into/assigned at birty) or a combination of both, or something else entirely!

Birty? Who's Birty? :) Make that "birth."

There's also genderqueer, which is about blending/bending the boundaries between genders.

Native Americans have the concept of being Two Spirited, which is very interesting: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-Spirit

Transgender is the more general term covering the whole area. It means a person isn't the dull, straight forward male or female.
Transsexual (2 esses) is when somebodies brain (gender) doesn't match their body (sex).
Transvestite and crossdresser should mean the same thing: somebody who wears clothes of the opposite gender, but crossdressers are usually thought of as 'less serious' than transvestites. i.e a transvestite would probably shave their legs and a crossdresser wouldn't. Annoyingly, it kind of the exact opposite in America!
Think of a transvestite as a kind of male tom boy. They have a bigger feminine side than most men.
People also crossdress for fetishistic or sexual reasons, and to hide from gangsters.

mooncup about the jeans jumpers etc - isn't it more that women have managed to make it acceptable to wear the more comfortable male clothing?

1980's, I had short cropped hair, wore suits, shirts and ties, brought about by Annie Lennox in Eurythmics. Have to confess I wore the bright red lippy and mascara.
Interesting times as in several clubs the males wore lashings of make-up and it was hard to tell gender at times.

Maybe so SQ!

Although it is clearly also more acceptable for women to be a bit manly than men to be a bit girly. I know several men who whinge about trousers being uncomfortable compared to skirts, women having a much better/more comfortable choice of summer clothing, etc. But they don't actually make any attempt to edge towards feminine clothing as they feel (no doubt rightly) that it would be socially unacceptable.

Things are much more constrained now than they were in the 80s in many ways. It's come up on here before - watching old music videos, women with very short hair and men's suits, men with piles of makeup, big hair and shoulderpads... And most of the videos are made with an emphasis on it all being a great laugh. Loads of jokes and people arsing around.

That's sad! Especially as I was too young to appreciate that aspect of the 80s at the time.

(Though I didn't have a single pink item of clothing and no one gave me hassle for my boyish haircut and fondness for climbing trees, so I probably did benefit too.)

The 80's were a fabulous time for young females and many from my school went on to have some great careers: lecturers, banking sector, civil service, engineering, law, medicine, accountants, teachers, nursing, businesswomen ... .
No university fees, a strong female Prime Minister, regardless of whether you liked her policies or not, changes in technology and a genuine feeling of being truly equal in society.