LGBTQ Transgender and Cross-Dressing Fiction in Underground Press Chapbooks, 1982–1983

Cathy Slavik

Archive

Slavik, Charles (Cathy Slavik); VanLow, Larry. Skirted Men: Tales of Transvestism. Six issues published 1982–1983, documenting early independent press representations of cross-dressing and gender role transformation within underground LGBTQ print culture. Produced and circulated through small press networks, these chapbooks reflect a niche readership engaged with themes of gender performance, identity experimentation, and social taboo. The series occupies a transitional moment in late twentieth-century queer publishing, when transgender and cross-dressing narratives were largely excluded from mainstream media and instead developed within informal distribution systems. The material offers insight into how trans-feminine authors and associated writers explored identity categories such as transvestism through fiction that blends melodrama, fantasy, and social commentary.

Slavik, Charles. Skirted Men: Tales of Transvestism. Issues 1, 2, 5, 12, 13. Seattle: Empathy Press, 1982–1983; VanLow, Larry. Skirted Men: Tales of Transvestism. Issue 8. Seattle: Empathy Press, 1982. Six staple-bound chapbooks, octavo format. Each issue contains short stories or novellas centered on scenarios of gender transformation, disguise, or role reversal. Issue 1 includes “Revenge on the Rapist” and “Tommi: TV Model,” presenting narratives in which gender roles are inverted through imposed or voluntary feminization. Issue 2’s “Sissy in Satin” incorporates elements of crime fiction and explores identity through masquerade. Issue 5 presents multiple stories structured around captivity and enforced role change. Issue 8, “TV Impersonation,” introduces themes of inheritance and deception through cross-dressing performance. Issue 12 includes “The Story of Jan (Part 2)” and “Men as Maids,” combining serialized narrative with satirical treatment of gendered labor. Issue 13’s “Boy Ballerina” follows a character compelled into feminized presentation within a disciplinary framework. Across the issues, illustrations and text emphasize clothing, performance, and transformation as recurring visual and narrative motifs.

Produced in early 1980s Seattle, these works illustrate how transgender and cross-dressing themes were articulated within underground publishing prior to broader public visibility in later decades. Empathy Press functioned as a small-scale distributor for specialized audiences, contributing to networks of queer print culture that operated outside mainstream publishing channels. The archive supports research into transgender literary history, fetish and subcultural print networks, and the evolution of gender representation in late twentieth-century media. Light toning and minor edge wear, with some faint staining to wrappers; overall very good condition. A cohesive group of early underground chapbooks documenting transvestism and gender performance in small press fiction.

Item #22593

Price: $550.00