Nonbinary Mainstream Media

If you were an alien that came to Earth today, you might come to believe that transgenderism was invented by the Biden administration for the express purpose of destroying America. SAD. That is not actually true though! People who don't fit in gender binaries have always existed.

This is a list of just a few of the appearances of characters that are trans, cross dressing or otherwise gender non-conforming. All of the entries are at least 20 years old, because my point is that this is not new. This has always been happening.

Some of these representations are not ideal, but I'm not listing anything where a trans person only shows up to be a punching bag.

Lola (1970)

If you're just casually listening to classic rock radio, it's possible to miss that Lola was assigned male at birth. Especially since some radio stations have been known to edit out the final line that explicitly said that Lola was a man.

Victor/Victoria (1982)

When talented but unremarkable Victoria (Julie Andrews) meets aging gay performer Toddy (Robert Preston) he comes up with a plan to overcome their shared impoverishment - present her as Victor, a female impersonator. It's a success, as audiences can't believe how good Victor is at appearing female. The story is actually even older as it's based off a 1933 German film.

Ranma 1/2 (1989)

This is a show that helped popularize anime in America. Ranma is a teenage martial artist cursed to change into a girl whenever splashed with cold water and reverts to a boy when splashed with hot water. His father (who is the panda, it's a weird show) has arranged that he will marry one of the three Tendo sisters. Akane Tendo's older sisters agree that it should be her since she hates men, but Ranma is only half a man; hence the show's title.

Ranma plainly sees the fact that he sometimes involuntarily switches genders as a curse. Yet Ranma won't hesitate to become a girl if it gives him an advantage over an opponent. Ranma is also proud of the beauty his female form possess (particularly the large boobs since this is an anime).

Dude (Looks Like a Lady) (1987)

The Aerosmith song about a guy who is startled to realize the the person he's attracted to is a feminine man, but decides to just go with it anyway.

This song has sometimes been misappropriated by transphobes, but the lines "So never judge a book by its cover, Or who you gonna love by your lover" indicate that this is a story about acceptance. Also, front man Steven Tyler has described his own gender as "half and half."

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

This cult classic was definitely not mainstream when it first came out. The musical story of a clean cut couple (Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick) who stumble into a castle occupied into the castle of mad scientist alien transvestite Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) is about as weird as it can get. The film found a dedicated audience though, leading to interactive midnight showings that would go on for decades. The success let the film creep into the mainstream; though sometimes getting watered down such as the Glee adaptation. "Instead of being from Transsexual, Transylvania, Frank-N-Furter, played by the Glee character Mercedes, is from Sensational, Transylvania."

Birdo from Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988)

The English manual for Super Mario Bros. 2 describes Birdo as a character who "thinks he is a girl" and would prefer to be called Birdetta. While that description leaves a bit to be desired, it likely makes Birdo the first ever trans video game character.

Birdo isn't even the only trans character in the Super Mario world, there's also Vivian, who first appeared in 2004's Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Chicago jazz musicians Joe and Jerry (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon) witness a mob hit. They decide to pose as "Josephine and Daphne" so they can join Sweet Sue and her Society Syncopators, an all-female band headed by train to Miami. They both try to court vocalist and ukulele player Sugar Kane (Marylin Monroe) while maintaining their secret identities.

Arguably Joe and Jerry only cross dressed under duress. Yet they could have left town without posing as women. It feels like these guys had been waiting their whole lives for a problem where the solution was to dress like women. This is one of several movies where, for contrived reasons, the answer to a problem is drag, including Tootise (1982), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Big Momma's House (2000), Sorority Boys (2002) and White Chicks (2004). It's almost as if there's this demand to see cross dressing, but audiences need plausible deniability.

Bugs Bunny (1940)

People's memories of Bugs Bunny tends to tone down his flamboyant androgyny. Bugs love nothing more than to pose as a sexy lady to confound would be hunters (at least before Space Jam anyway). And Bugs wasn't alone on this, in the Golden Age of cartoons, cross dressing happened a lot.

Shakespearean Comedies (1600's)

In case you were thinking gender bending was a 2oth century phenomenon, Shakespeare featured girls dressed as boys all the time. It was a one of his favorite devices for comedies, including:

As You Like It: Protagonist Rosalind spends much of the play disguised as a male shepherd named Ganymede.

Twelfth Night: Protagonist Viola is a shipwrecked young woman who disguises herself as a page named Cesario

The Two Gentlemen of Verona: Protagonist Julia disguises herself as a page named Sebastian

Cymbeline: Princess Imogen disguises herself as the page Fidele.

There was also The Merry Wives of Windsor in which Abraham Slender and John Casius both try to steal away Anne to marry her. But Slender returns to say he has been deceived – the 'girl' he took away to marry was not Anne but a young boy. Caius returns with similar news – however, he has actually married his boy.

Shakespeare was alone on this either, which is why Wikipedia has an entire list of Cross-dressing in literature.