Arresting dress : cross-dressing, law, and fascination in nineteenth-century San Francisco / Clare Sears.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sears, Clare, 1970-

Series:

Perverse modernities.

Perverse modernities

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cross-dressing--California--San Francisco--History--19th century.

Cross-dressing.

Cross-dressers--Legal status, laws, etc--California--San Francisco--History--19th century.

Cross-dressers.

San Francisco (Calif.)--Social life and customs--19th century.

San Francisco (Calif.).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (213 p.)

Place of Publication:

Durham : Duke University Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In 1863, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors passed a law that criminalized appearing in public in "a dress not belonging to his or her sex." Adopted as part of a broader anti-indecency campaign, the cross-dressing law became a flexible tool for policing multiple gender transgressions, facilitating over one hundred arrests before the century's end. Over forty U.S. cities passed similar laws during this time, yet little is known about their emergence, operations, or effects. Grounded in a wealth of archival material, Arresting Dress traces the career of anti-cross-dressing laws from municipal

Contents:

Instant and peculiar

Against good morals

Problem bodies, public space

A sight well worth gazing upon

Indecent exhibitions

Problem bodies, nation-state.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780822357582

0822357585

9780822376194

0822376199

OCLC:

892914224