Cross-dressing

Okay...I don't want to sound like a sexist here, but I don't really like the idea of men cross-dressing (aesthetically it just is not pleasing for me--sorry, dudes. Hey, dudes look good with muscle while women just don't. It's not about social stereotypes. It's just aestheticism, like how humans tend to prefer the golden ratio. Imho, anyway.) I mean, in real life or in hetero fiction, okay. I can accept it, though I'm not fond of it.

BUT.

In slash fiction/yaoi/whatever, I rarely accept the idea of cross-dressing. Especially if said cross-dresser is a doe-eyed uke or some feminine looking uke with feminine personalities. ESPECIALLY IF THEY ARE THE UKE (I think I'm being rather repetitive already). I mean, cross-dressing seme? Hell yeah. Uke? NO. No, no, no, no, no, no, NO! NOOOO! What's the point of M/M if the uke looks like a girl and thinks like a girl, even if the girl isn't a cry-baby? THERE'S NO POINT!!!!!! No point, no point, no point! I think I am going crazy here, I know. It's probably just the matter of taste, but not really, I don't think.



Okay. Sorry. Done venting.

Aww, I don't mind cross-dressing, when the bishie is beautiful but still in a subtly masculine way. For example, I love to see Byakuya drawn in a beautiful woman's kimono with his hair pinned up; he's just so beautiful.

There is another picture that I love, of all the Kyou Kara Maou characters, and Gunter is in a woman's kimono with his hair pinned up, and he's just gorgeous, just smiling away. And of course Gwendal is beside him, looking masculine and yummy, so more reasons for me to love that pic

But speaking of Kyou Kara Maou, I roll my eyes whenever the younger boys dress as girls, or when Wolfram is in his "frilly pink nightie." I don't find Wolfram attractive in the first place because he is so big-eyed and quite feminine (also quite young), but Wolfram (or Yuri) in girls' clothes is just very off-putting.

There is also a scene in Gakuen Heaven where Keita is in a girl's dress. It's awful BUT then there's the scene of Kaoru in the hot spring with his hair all trussed up (like a woman's, basically), and he's just drop dead gorgeous. I wish it had been Omi instead of Keita who entered that water with him

So for me I guess it depends on the uke XDDD

I think this might tie in to the whole psychology deal we talked about oh so long ago. It's kind of like, if a guy is effeminate, fine. If he's got his hair done up and in some kinda girly clothes, ok. But if he looks so much like a woman (i.e., wearing a dress or something) and acts like one, that he may as well BE one, well, then I think our brains associate them with women and a lot of the appeal is lost because you may as well go read guyxgirl instead of BL, because your brain sees it as pretty much the same. Am I making any sense? I'm not dissing any crossdressers or anything, btw. I'm just giving my opinion.

cross-dressing seme? Noooo. I read a Yaoi manga like that and quickly drop it. I kinda don't like the idea. Its like, a woman with a penis ****ing a guy.
As for cross-dressing uke who almost crosses the line as a girl, it depends. Just like what Artemis said, cross-dressing also makes a guy gorgeous, but for me, it's only if they are in kimono. It also actually depends how it is drawn, especially the facial and jaw structure.

Yes, for me it depend on what they wear and how does it change their look. And here is the appeal of men in female kimonos as they are very tasteful, understated and allow to mellow a little a strong lines of the male body, so they still look strong but a little more softer (Byakuya is here a very good example). When in case of a dresses...it is OK if they go for a completely female look (Princess Princess), however it really sends wrong signals if one is reading BL. And if the effect is partially male, partially female...usually it doesn't look well on anyone. However, some of female accessories can look well e.g. a hair bow, a jewellery or some clothes associated usually with females e.g. pink shirt (but no skirt - male legs do not look well in short skirts). They also are able to soften a male image without making it not male enough.
However, with the doe-eyed ukes, no matter what they wear, nothing will make them appealing.

Okay...got to clarify here. I actually do like guys wearing kimonos, I agree that it softens their lines and makes them look elegant. I like to see the dudes in fics and mangas to crossdress in girl kimonos like...once. But NOT pretending to be girls and NOT for the entire story. I hate cross-dressing and pretending to be another gender throughout the story. Eck. To me it's an overdone cliche that can't possibly be any more refreshing now that so many versions of it are out. Especially hate the girl crossdressing as guy--I think it is cheating and stupid. Not that guy cross-dressing as girl isn't any less stupid and cheating.

And yeah, doe-eyed ukes don't look good in anything.

Yes, cross-dressing and pretending being of another sex as a main point of the story is a stupid plot device. No matter, that it was done a few times by Shakespeare, but if a man falls in love with a man, who then reveals himself to be female...yuck! The only possibility of this being OK are comedies, where there is no romantic interest or the main romantic interest of the person cross-dressing is in the know (Victor, Victoria!) or when it is done as a comedic cameo in a story - vide Sex Pistols and poor, poor Norio.

I have no problem with cross-dressing, okama are so awesome.
Or if a man is feminine in appearance or in personality, but if it's too over-done (they look like a girl until you take off their pants), it might as well not even be boy's love.

I only dislike cross-dressing when they just do it for fanservice. =_= It's just increative and boring.

However, some of female accessories can look well e.g. a hair bow, a jewellery or some clothes associated usually with females e.g. pink shirt (but no skirt - male legs do not look well in short skirts).

Male legs don't look good in a skirt??



WRONG!!!

I think it depends. I like cross dressing when it is part of the character's make up or there's a reason for it. Like Isabella in Paradise Kiss, though Paradise Kiss is not a BL, but I LOVE him and wouldn't mind reading a love story about him just because he's such a good soul and I want to see him happy.

Or Susumu in Peacemaker Kurogane, again, not a strict BL but hints do abound .

I don't mind if a character is showing a bit of eccentricity or daring by waring a bit of female clothing or accessories.

But I don't like putting a weeping weakling in a skirt. It's not titillating because I don't find big snotty tears attractive, and adding a skirt doesn't make them any better. And it's not even interesting nor does it add to the character because the character doesn't HAVE any character lol.

Oh PS I think it does work if the seme gets to punch the uke in question lol. Like Yuri punching Shuichi for showing up at his family dojo dressed as his "fiancee" lol. (not that I condone violence in general ).