Male-to-Female Crossdressing in Early Modern English Literature

<p>This book examines male-to-female (MTF) crossdressing in early modern drama prose and poetry. Chess argues that MTF crossdressing episodes are rich sources for socially-oriented readings of queer gender-that crossdressers' genders are constructed and represented <i>in relation</i> to romantic partners communities and broader social structures like marriage economy and sexuality. These relational representations show that the crossdresser often <i>benefits </i>financially socially and erotically from his/her queer gender presentation. The book makes a larger space for queer genderqueer male-bodied and queer-feminine representations in conversations about early modern gender and sexuality.<i> </p></i>