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Oxford University Bends Rules on Cross Dressing
Hi Girls, I thought this article in the Australian dated 31st July might be of interest. (Marian WA)
MATRICULATION photographs at the University of Oxford may never be the same again after the university agreed to allow cross-dressing during formal occasions.
Oxford has always required male students to wear different formal clothing from their female counterparts when matriculating, attending some formal dinners, or sitting exams at the end of the year.
But after a motion by the university’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer Society, men will now be able to sit tests in skirts and stockings while women will have the option of wearing suits and bow ties.
A university spokesman said that the regulations had been amended “in response to concerns raised by Oxford University Student Union that the existing regulations did not serve the interests of transgender students”.
Old laws on academic clothing, known as subfusc, stipulated that on formal occasions male students must wear a dark suit and socks, black shoes, a white bow tie and white shirt under a black gown.
Female students had to wear a dark skirt or trousers, a white blouse, black stockings and a black ribbon tied in a bow at the neck.
Until now a transgender student wanting to wear subfusc of the opposite gender had to seek permission from university proctors, who had the power to punish those who breached the rules.
“It’s a small change that will make a number of students’ exam experience significantly less stressful by eliminating the need for transgender students to cross-dress to avoid being confronted by an invigilator or disciplined during their exam,” said Jess Pumphrey, executive officer of LGBTQ.
A third-year student at Lincoln College told The Oxford Student that they were “very pleased to see the university modernising its rules”.
However, another questioned whether the move was “a further example of the politically correct society we now live in”.
Academic dress descends from everyday medieval dress. Scholars of the Middle Ages were members of the church and wore their black ecclesiastical gowns to classes.
Some Oxford colleges demand that students wear full academic dress for every evening meal, while other colleges only require it to be worn during exams, graduation ceremonies and other formal occasions.
St Antony’s College tells its freshers that subfusc is “the get-up which makes you look like a penguin but makes you feel like you are part of Oxford”. -
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