A Short History of Genderised Clothing

Larissa’s Short History of Genderised Clothing and Other Things

I rarely write things or post things on forums, but, well, I thought I would try to write something that another human being might actually read, for a change. Or an AI bot. I’m not prejudiced. If you’re an AI bot, I’m happy for you to be included within my overall readership. ‘Til all are one. Please look after the planet once all of the humans are gone.

Anyway…

I have written this for publication on Crossdresser Heaven. Obviously. As I cross-dress sometimes. I have mixed feelings about it, but yeah, it’s something I do. Presumably you do too, right? If not, no worries. But yeah, as I say, I do. As a cross-dresser, I tend to lean towards goth looks and alternative styles, so this often includes quite a lot of black clothing primarily, spiky accessories, PVC skirts; that kind of thing. This is what I tend to go for usually, but not exclusively. I like to experiment.

I’ve met some lovely people on this site and made some very understanding friends. However, in terms of the site structure, I struggle with the idea of my writing being contextualised as an article to be published. I don’t really consider this to be an article as such and ‘moderately edited general stream of consciousness’ would be a better description. I am waiting for the site administrators to create a function for submitting moderately edited general streams of consciousnesses! Somebody please notify me once this option becomes available.

Anyway…

So why do I cross-dress? Why do you cross-dress, if you do? I’ve studied a bit of psychology here and there (just to mention, I’m not a big fan of Freud, generally speaking), so I often consider that there must be a reason for why I cross-dress. Why? Why do I cross-dress? Why do you cross-dress, if you do? Why does anybody?

Well, let’s see what the big man himself (who I don’t really like) had to say about it. According to Freud, cross-dressing, in men in particular, is categorised under fetishism. On this subject he wrote:

“A fetish is a substitute for the mother’s phallus which the little boy once believed in and—for reasons familiar to us—does not want to give up.”
(Sigmund Freud, Fetishism, 1927)

So there we go, answer found. Thanks Freud. Does this ring true for you? It doesn’t for me especially!

Anyway…

The thing about cross-dressing in particular, is that it largely relates to clothing, somewhat needless to say. Fetishism aside, I wonder by extension, why do any of us dress at all? Why do we wear what we wear? I’m guessing that this question is possibly also suitable for an entirely different forum too though, right? www.inthebuff.co.uk or something similar!

But in all seriousness, when and where did this whole genderised clothing thing start? Prehistoric man would have worn animal skins and such, so by the current stage of human evolution, humans would have been wearing clothing of a sort for a long time already. At what point did clothing gain any additional meaning, beyond the physical benefits?

In my usual day-to-day life as not-Larissa, I have to buy things like trainers, shirts, hats, and so on. I live in the UK and there are a lot of sports shops here that sell genderised clothing and footwear. It has often become apparent to me that a pair of white trainers for men in a size 8, will be remarkably similar to a pair of women’s trainers in the same size. However, the women’s pair will have a stylish pink or pastel strip of coloured plastic material boldly attached to the backs and sides, or something akin to this. This will often be the only notable difference. At what point in the past did we develop a societal norm that now creates a significance between these two pairs of shoes, even though the literal physical differences are minimal?

Well, once upon a time I would have looked up on Google for the answers, but, as we now live in even more modern times, I asked an AI bot to look up the answers and write something for me instead!

According to my bot:

********

The earliest evidence of humans wearing gender-specific clothing emerges in the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt around 3000 BCE, when distinct styles and adornments began to signify roles, status, and gender. Before this, during the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras, clothing primarily served practical purposes, such as protection from the environment, and was made of similar materials like animal skins, fur, and plant fibres for all genders.

Key points in the history of gendered clothing:

*Ancient Mesopotamia (c. 3000–1500 BCE)
Men typically wore knee-length tunics or skirts (kaunakes), while women wore longer dresses that covered more of the body. These differences were influenced by social and cultural roles rather than strict biological divisions.
Both genders wore shawls and cloaks, but patterns, colours, and embellishments often differed by gender.

*Ancient Egypt (c. 3000–332 BCE)
Men commonly wore simple kilts (shendyt), while women wore longer sheath dresses (kalasiris). The distinction reflected differences in societal expectations and modesty standards.
Clothing also marked status, with wealthier individuals of both genders wearing finer materials like linen and more elaborate adornments.

*Indo-European Cultures and the Classical Period
In ancient Greece (c. 800–31 BCE) and Rome (c. 753 BCE–476 CE), men wore tunics and cloaks (like the chiton and himation), often shorter for men and longer for women. Women wore dresses like the peplos or stola.
These distinctions further developed with the use of drapery and accessories to signify femininity or masculinity.

The differentiation in clothing between genders became more pronounced as societies grew more complex, with gender roles becoming codified in law, religion, and culture. Distinctions in clothing were often tied to labour divisions, social hierarchy, and modesty norms, which evolved alongside cultural identities.

********

I must praise our future robotic overlords for writing this up for me so definitely and succinctly! So, there you have it. Answers obtained!

There is still an issue for me here though. Factually, the above text is fairly interesting, and I am very grateful to my bot for having written it for me, however I feel that there is still a personal disconnect here. For cross-dressers, the origins of genderised clothing obviously are important, without them, cross-dressing kind of couldn’t be. However, they don’t reveal much to me about myself as an individual. They still don’t really tell me why I do it; not in any personal way, anyway.

I think the real answer is that there is no one answer, not for cross-dressers collectively, at least. I believe that there are probably as many reasons for cross-dressing as there are cross-dressers, so for the real answers, we all need to learn more about ourselves and how we feel first, before looking to external providers of knowledge.

Thanks to everyone that made it to the end of my ‘moderately edited general stream of consciousness’. You’re all stars!

Larissa✨

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and articles from Crossdresser Heaven.

SUBSCRIBE!

You have Successfully Subscribed!

We hate spam too, unsubscribe at any time.