Includes bibliographical references (pages 391-425) and index.
INTRODUCTION: Clothes make the man.
CONCLUSION A TERGO: Red Riding Hood and the wolf in bed.
TRANSVESTITE EFFECTS. Fear of flying, or Why is Peter Pan a woman? -- Cherchez la femme: cross-dressing in detective fiction -- Religious habits -- Phantoms of the opera : actor, diplomat, transvestite, spy -- Black and white TV: cross-dressing the color line -- The chic of Araby: transvestism and the erotics of cultural appropriation -- The transvestite continuum: Liberace-Valentino-Elvis.
TRANSVESTITE LOGICS. Dress codes, or the theatricality of difference -- Cross-dress for success -- The transvestite's progress -- Spare parts: the surgical construction of gender -- Fetish envy -- Breaking the code: transvestism and gay identity.
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Beginning with the bold claim, "There can be no culture without the transvestite," Marjorie Garber explores the nature and significance of cross-dressing and of the West's recurring fascination with it. Rich in anecdote and insight, Vested Interests offers a provocative and entertaining view of our ongoing obsession with dressing up, and with the power of clothes.