Is Transvestite a dirty word? No, it’s just a drag, and really a travesty.

I used the term in the article about Nora Eckert’s memoir Wie Alle Nur Anders, by describing Chez Romy Haag’s famed 1970s Berlin nightspot as a “transvestite club.” I was quickly informed by the local Pride Center, in a pronouncement that “The use of that word is a slur, no different than any other offensive racial, homophobic or religious slur.” My response to that message was “What word should I use instead? Be clear that we are talking about cis men performing in cartoonish “female” costumes for the amusement of straight audiences.”