Dressing up, transvestism and drag

by Peter Ackroyd

Dressing Up explores the fascinating and complex phenomena of Transvestism (cross dressing by heterosexuals who admire and identify with the opposite sex) and Drag (cross dressing by male homosexuals who adorn themselves in the highly exaggerated dress and makeup of the vamp in an expression of parody and misogyny). It is an examination of the profound psychological significance underlying most cross dressing: as erotic experience; as the expression of longing for identification with women while maintaining one's maleness; and as fetishistic impulse. —book jacket

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Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?