Return to Cross-Dressing and DragFurther explanation of Rambam's commentsIn this text, the Rambam too indicates that drag, in and of itself, is not the problem. For him, the issue is that wearing the clothing of another gender is sometimes associated with idol-worship. Rambam's chief concern seems to be differentiating the boundary between Jewish and non-Jewish cultural practices. He is anxious about local costumes that might lead to religious offenses, such as idol worship; and he focuses on this concern, rather than discussing any opposition to gender transgression itself.This commentary is similar to other classical opinions ( Babylonian Talmud, Rashi) in that it does not take seriously the idea that cross-dressing and drag in themselves can be seen as a to'evah (completely off-limits behavior). Although the punishment of whipping that is prescribed in this text may sound harsh to the modern ear, whipping is the punishment for rabbinic based (d'rabanan) offenses, not Torah-based (d'oraita) offenses. This implies that Rambam is not reading our central verse literally as a Torah-based ban on men wearing women's adornments and vice versa. Rambam, like the Talmud and Rashi) argues that the problem of wearing the clothing of another gender is that it might lead to other forbidden practices. Equally importantly, Rambam defines gender norms in clothing purely by local community standards. In other words, it is up to us, the people--and not divine or human religious authority figures--to define the boundaries around "appropriate apparel." In most times and places these boundaries have been drawn fairly narrowly, excluding the expression of trans and gender nonconforming individuals. However, if it is up to us to define our own norms, we are then empowered to define, push, and change the boundaries around clothing in expansive and liberating directions. |