In “Policing Gender,” historian Clare Sears explains the history of “drag bans” and their origin in cross-dressing laws from the 19th century to the present. Sears demonstrates that regulations like drag bans have long aimed to police a flexible category of “indecency,” which has been interpreted to mean any variety of differences in appearance, ability, and dress. These regulations of the past help us understand what’s at stake in fighting a government’s ability to regulate what we wear.
Policing Gender Difference: A Brief History of Anti Cross-Dressing Laws
