Setting the Context (East vs West)

 

Before going on about my story, I feel that the readers need to understand the background and context of where I am writing from. As introduced by both Isabelle and Gin Kim, we are from Singapore where the act of crossdressing is much frown upon. Singapore's population of ethnic Chinese is around 76.2% of the citizen population; the outside world generally view us as a Confucian country with conservative mindset. We live in a country with system and law and everything must be in order. With that in mind, anything out of the norm or does not comply with the general way things are will be viewed as weird, freak, crazy, gila or siao (means crazy in local dialect).

Crossdressing is generally not widely accepted by the society even though LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer or Questioning) community is getting more recognised these days. The views of Crossdressing differ from culture to culture and namely the Eastern world and the Western world. 

Starting from the East, the view of crossdressers in the eyes of a commoner, especially around South East Asia area, can range from someone who is perverted to drag queen to sexual workers. The public object to crossdressing especially when male dress in female clothing. This could be due to the traditional and religious influence around the region. In Thailand, even though it is well-known for their ladyboys and transvestites, crossdressers are more commonly viewed as someone from the sex trade or nightlife. Most of the time, the CDs opt for M-t-F (Male to Female) operation and change to the opposite sex totally and they look more feminine than most women. 

However, strange enough, a much different situation can be found in Japan, which is considered as an Oriental country or Eastern world. Crossdressing is more widely accepted in Tokyo, especially around Shinjuku area. Men of different age group, different background can just dress up as opposite gender and go out and no one will bat an eyelid. No sex change operation, no hormones. A guy can don on a girl's outfit and put on makeup yet it is nothing strange about it. There is even entertainment programme in Japan that invite crossdressers to be on TV.

Now, turning to the West, crossdressing is more forgiving even though it is still not as liberal as in Japan. Celebrities such as Eddie Izzard is a well known comedian who crossdress openly. The Western world are more accommodating to the idea of guys dressing in opposite gender clothing. This can be seen in movies and in real life, there are even studios (Boys will be Girls) that provide Makeup Artist, Photographer and Stylist for guys to turn into girls for a photoshoot.  

On Youtube, I remembered seeing a video of how a Hispanic or French family engage a Makeup Artist, Photographer and Stylist from Fabricio Castro Fotografia and arranged a crossdress party for his 15 years old son whom dress up as Alice in Alice in Wonderland. From here, we can see that Westerners are more open in their views about CD and they respect human rights. Therefore, people are given the liberty for their choices. Crossdressing is more palatable to the general public there.

Now, back to Singapore, the crossdressing scene here is mainly reserved, if not, closet or at times, viewed as perversion... Even though we have a famous drag queen Kumar who crossdress for the stage or entertainment purposes, crossdressing out in the open is never well received. The only crossdressing you will be able to see are those anime or comic conventions where you get photographers who swamp over pretty looking cosplayers (or at times, crossdressers). 

The next event where guys can openly dress up as the opposite sex is for Halloween, which is not really an Asian or Singaporean thing, but these are mainly accepted because it is a marketing strategy by pubs and bars. So we get people who dress up as ghosts or vampires and some crossdressers will use this opportunity to CD out in the open. If anyone else say anything, they may be quick to dismiss this as for Halloween dress up party because you get more weirdly dressed people dressed up as monsters walking around...

At other times, when a guy dress up openly as a girl, people will give their stabbing stares and make criticism such as calling him a bapok (Malay for transsexual) or gay or siao. Police may be activated as Singapore is such a law-abiding state and a complaint city. This can be viewed as a crime of public nuisance... In recent years, there were negative news about how some crossdressers sneak into female's toilet and took lewd photos and videos of girls and this further exacerbate the public opinions about CDs...

Above are my views about the CD cultures from the East and West and locally. I might not have covered it thoroughly, but I believe that it is good to set a background and context for my readers when they continue reading my story.