Cross-dressers collared in crackdown

SOCIAL VALUES: Dubai police have arrested several men and women for cross-dressing. (Getty Images)

Police in Dubai have arrested several men and women for cross-dressing in what they said was a campaign to preserve the social values of the cosmopolitan Gulf Arab trade and tourism hub, newspapers reported on Monday.

Dubai is part of the seven-member United Arab Emirates, a Muslim country where cross-dressing is frowned upon but whose population is dominated by migrants with diverse backgrounds and lifestyles.

"We have noted an emerging trend of men dressed as women and vice versa in the UAE markets and streets," the Khaleej Times daily quoted Dubai Police Chief Dhahi Khalfan Tamim as saying.

"Several men in women's dresses and make-up have already been arrested from shopping malls and residential buildings," he said.

The detainees were being referred to the public prosecutor as part of the one-week campaign called "Preserve Our Social Values", though it was not clear what charges would be brought.

Tamim urged the Social Affairs Ministry to study the reasons behind the trend, which he said could be a consequence of mixed-sex schools.

Dubai is a city of sky-scrapers and mega-developments, which attracts foreign workers rangingf from well-paid Western executives to low-wage Asian labourers. Tourists may wear bikinis and drink cocktails at hotel nightclubs but sex outside marriage is banned as is homosexual behaviour. (Reuters)

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Crossdressers
Posted by Charm, Dubai on Saturday 31 May 2008 at 09:30 UAE time

Cross dressing is an obvious manifestation of homosexuality, (unless one is an actor and the role calls for it) though I've seen some features in TV that a few heterosexual men had a liking for women's clothings and make-up, the reason behind it is still suspect.

In my country where gays are a common sight and I can say, very popular, particularly in the entertainment, beauty and fashion industries, cross dressing is acceptable and is not really something that would raise somebody else's eyebrows or offend the moral sensibilities. The increase in the trend of cross dressers here in the UAE, must have come from the influence of expats who are either working or studying here.

The first time they did it must have elicited a gamut of response from encouragement to shock, to laughter and a frown, but whatever it is, they've gotten away with it without being arrested. And then others would have thought it is safe to follow the trend.

It is the prerogative of the government of the UAE to implement regulations that they think would preserve their social and religious values and for us temporary residents, it is our obligation to follow these rules, else we should go elsewhere where these rules do not exist.

As they say, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. If you are a guest to somebody else's house, you cannot run around naked because that is what you do in your own home. Freedom of expression is not absolute and has its limitations.

Cross dressing
Posted by John on Tuesday 27 May 2008 at 23:44 UAE time

Cross dressing is not a crime. Rock on Sisters.. .

Cross Dressing Article
Posted by Dr.Vinod Prabhu on Tuesday 27 May 2008 at 07:09 UAE time


One of the reasons cited in the article behind the trend of cross dressing was that it being a consequence of mixed-sex schools.
On the contrary,I would like to think that it is due to majority of the schools not being co-ed.And hence the children want to get a feeling of how the opposite gender behaves.

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