变异的性行为

性少数: 6. 易装癖者

戏剧传统

在戏剧中穿着异性的服饰有着悠久的传统。数个世纪以来，许多文化传统里不准妇女登台演出，因而所有的旦角就必须由男人或男孩来扮演。这样的例子有（中国的）“京剧（Peking Opera）”和日本的歌舞伎（Kabuki）。在西方文化中，众所周知的例子是莎士比亚时期的英国戏剧。莎士比亚及后来的剧作家都由“男孩演员”扮演他们剧中的旦角，也就是说，由大约在青春期年龄的男孩扮演旦角，他们能够并的确使观众相信他们所扮演的奥菲利亚、朱丽叶、克利奥派特拉、麦克白夫人等角色。终于，到了17世纪晚期，才允许女演员和歌剧女歌手登台演出，但是，最出色的歌剧明星曾经是阉人歌手（castrati），即有极高音域的被阉割的男性。到了19世纪，当逐渐难以寻到高音域男性演旦角的时候，便发生了奇怪的逆转：剧中的这些小生被着男装的女歌手所接管，即被所谓的“穿裤子的角色（trouser role）”所替代。甚至，一些作曲家不久就利用这一进展，有意为他们的新歌剧写出这样的剧情角色。戏剧中换穿异性服饰的另一个例子是大不列颠传统的圣诞节舞剧（Christmas Pantomime），其中有由女人扮演的娇媚王子（Prince Charming）和由女孩扮演的“哑剧男主角（principal boy）”，或由女演员扮演的“彼得·潘（Peter Pan）”剧本中的彼得，或者诸如由男人扮演的“埃德娜女爵士（Dame Edna）”这样的现代电视剧情人物。

不过，以当代性学的概念，这种在戏剧中换穿异性服饰并不被当作易装癖，换穿异性服饰并未表明表演者的性兴趣或性行为如何。我们尽管不能排除每一个换穿异性服饰的演员都不会是易装癖者，但是，这种换穿异性服饰的现象可能从根本上就没有什么性方面的意义。一些亚洲著名的“旦角”男演员因他们的同性恋而闻名，但是，如果认为他们就是典型的同性恋者则是错误的。对于当时与现在的大多数演员来说，换穿异性服饰曾经是或只是一件演出工作或歌唱工作而已。对于一些现代称之为滑稽模仿秀（travesty show）的“模仿秀女艺人（female impersonator）”，也许情形有一些不同，但是，尽管这样，我们也不应该就这些人的性别认同、性爱兴趣或性取向随意地做出推定。她们的舞台生涯与其私人生活可能与实际的情形大相径庭。

 [1]. 即：奥古斯都-罗马帝国第一任皇帝，公元前 27年-公元 14年。——译者注。

舞台上的换穿异性服饰

从左至右：在莎士比亚戏剧中扮演麦克白夫人的男孩演员、在“京剧”里扮演贵夫人（旦角）的男性演员、在日本歌舞伎中扮演女性角色的男演员（昂那咖塔，onnagata）、在理查德德·施特劳斯的歌剧《玫瑰骑士》（Der Rosenkavalier）中的屋大维（Octavian）[1]，即被称为“穿裤子的角色”的女演员，常为女中音。

Cross dressing on the stage
From the left: Boy actor playing Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare’s theater
Male actor playing a princess in the “Peking Opera”
Male actor (onnagata) playing a female role in the Japanese Kabuki
Female mezzosoprano in the “trouser role” of Octavian in Richard Strauss’ opera “Der Rosenkavalier”

Variations in Sexual Behavior

Sexual Minorities: 6. Transvestites

Theatrical Traditions

Wearing the clothes of the other sex has a long tradition in the theater. In many cultures for many centuries women were not allowed to act on the stage, and thus all female roles had to be played by men or boys. Examples of this are the “Peking Opera” and the Japanese Kabuki. In Western countries, the best known example is the English theater at the time of Shakespeare. He and his fellow dramatists had all female parts in their plays performed by “boy actors”, i.e. young males around the age of puberty who could and did convince their audiences as Ophelia, Juliet, Cleopatra, and Lady Macbeth. Finally, in later the 17th century, actresses and female opera singers were permitted, but the greatest opera stars were castrati, i.e. castrated males with very high voices. When these high male voices for male characters became unavailable in the 19th century, a curious reversal took place: Their parts were taken over by female singers in male costume, i.e. in so-called “trouser roles”. Indeed, some composers soon took advantage of this development and deliberately wrote such roles for their new operas. Other examples of theatrical cross dressing are the traditional British Christmas Pantomime with Prince Charming being played by a woman and the “principal boy” played by a girl, or the play “Peter Pan” with Peter played by an actress, or modern television personalities like “Dame Edna” played by a man.
However, this theatrical cross dressing is not considered transvestism in the modern sense of the term, and it does not say anything about the sexual interests or behavior of the performers. While one cannot exclude it in every case, it probably has no sexual significance for them at all. Some famous Asian actors of female roles were known for their homosexuality, but it would be wrong to consider them typical. For most performers then and now, it was and is simply another acting or singing job. The case may be different for certain modern “female impersonators” in so-called travesty shows, but even then one should not presume anything about their self-identification, erotic interest, or sexual orientation. Their stage lives and their private lives may have less in common than it seems.