transvestism

Traces the history of transgender, defined as people who challenge the boundaries of sex and gender, exploring the question of whether all societies have recognized only two sexes, and featuring portraits and profiles of transgender people.

One day in 1855 Lucy Lobdell cut her hair, changed clothes, and went off to live her life as a man. By the time it was over, she was notorious. Lucy lived at a time when women did not commonly travel unescorted, carry a rifle, sit down in bars, or have romantic liaisons with other women. To gain those freedoms Lucy had to endure public scorn and wrestle with a sexual identity whose vocabulary had yet to be invented.

After the death of his mother, thirteen-year-old Sam comes to live with his cousin; and as a prank, he dresses up as a girl for school.