Sweet Transvestite, Sour History: The Queer Paradox of Rocky Horror

Every October, theaters fill with fishnets, glitter, and the echo of a familiar line: “I’m just a sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania.”

For many, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a beloved tradition. It’s a campy, chaotic celebration of queerness. But beneath the sequins lies a complicated legacy. The film’s use of terms like transvestite and transsexual, once clinical, now carry the weight of stigma and outdated ideology. So why hasn’t Rocky Horror been canceled? Why does a film that portrays queer characters as unstable, dangerous, and alien still hold a cherished place in LGBTQ+ culture?

“The transsexual is a psychopath. He is emotionally disturbed and mentally ill, and his desire to change sex is a symptom of his disorder.” — David Cauldwell, M.D. (1949), from Psychopathia Transexualis

A Product of Its Time—and a Beacon in It

Released in 1975, just six years after the Stonewall Riots sparked the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, Rocky Horror emerged during a time when queer identities were still largely invisible in mainstream media. Being openly LGBTQ+ could mean losing your job, your family, or your safety. In that context, the film was radical. Despite its exaggerated portrayals, Rocky Horror offered something rare: visibility. It introduced audiences to characters who defied gender norms, embraced sexual fluidity, and lived outside the boundaries of heteronormativity. For many queer viewers, it was the first time they saw a reflection of themselves—however distorted—on screen.

Dr. Frank-N-Furter, for all his flaws, was powerful, seductive, and unapologetically queer. His presence challenged rigid binaries and offered a glimpse into alternative ways of being. In a world that demanded conformity, Rocky Horror dared to be different. Midnight showings became rituals of rebellion, where dressing up, shouting back, and celebrating queerness became acts of community and catharsis.

The Problematic Legacy: Queer as Strange and Dangerous

While Rocky Horror broke ground in visibility, it also reinforced harmful stereotypes. The language “transvestite” and “transsexual” reflects a time when transgender identities were misunderstood and medicalized. These terms, now considered offensive, reduce complex identities to outdated notions of deviance.

Frank-N-Furter is portrayed as seductive, manipulative, and ultimately violent. His queerness is inseparable from his instability, reinforcing a trope that has long plagued LGBTQ+ representation: the idea that queer people are dangerous, mentally ill, or morally corrupt.

The film leans heavily into “otherness.” Its queer characters are literally aliens, disrupting the lives of straight-laced Brad and Janet. This framing suggests queerness is not just different, but invasive and destructive.

For transgender viewers especially, the use of outdated terms and the conflation of gender identity with sexual deviance can be painful. It reminds us of a time when being trans was considered a mental illness, and when visibility came at the cost of dignity.

Medical Pathologization: The Weight of Words

The term "transvestite" was coined in 1910 by German physician Magnus Hirschfeld, transvestite comes from Latin: trans- (“across”) and vestire (“to clothe”). Initially clinical, it quickly became stigmatized. In psychiatry, it was linked to paraphilic disorders like transvestic fetishism, pathologizing gender expression and conflating it with sexual deviance. [jstor.org] [hirschfeld...-berlin.de]

“Transvestite is an old term that often misrepresents trans people. Today, that community prefers the term ‘cross-dresser’ and finds ‘transvestite’ to be insulting.” — PRISM LGBTQ+ Education Initiative [cde.ca.gov]

For much of the 20th century, transgender identity was viewed through a lens of pathology. Medical professionals often interpreted a desire to transition as a symptom of psychological disturbance, rooted in emotional instability or identity confusion. Trans people were frequently described as suffering from delusions or gender dysphoria that required correction rather than affirmation. These views were shaped by rigid understandings of gender and sexuality, which framed any deviation from assigned sex roles as abnormal or disordered.

This pathologizing perspective led to transgender identities being grouped with sexual deviations and paraphilias, reinforcing the idea that gender variance was not only unnatural but dangerous. Treatment models focused on containment or conformity, rather than support or understanding.

Over time, however, this view began to shift. As transgender individuals gained visibility and advocacy grew, the medical community began to recognize that the distress many trans people experienced was not inherent to their identity, but often a result of societal rejection, discrimination, and lack of access to affirming care. This reframing helped reduce stigma and laid the foundation for more compassionate, inclusive approaches to gender identity in both medicine and culture.

“It was taken out from the mental health disorders because we had a better understanding that this wasn't actually a mental health condition.” — Dr. Lale Say, WHO [who.int]

Why Rocky Horror Still Belongs to Us

Despite its flaws, Rocky Horror has been reclaimed by the very community it once caricatured. Queer audiences have transformed the film into a participatory ritual and a space where identity is fluid, norms are mocked, and self-expression is celebrated. Audiences don’t passively consume Rocky Horror—they rewrite it. What was once a portrayal of queerness as dangerous becomes a celebration of queerness as powerful, joyful, and unapologetic.

This reclamation isn’t about ignoring the film’s problematic elements. It is about confronting them, contextualizing them, and choosing what to carry forward. It’s about honoring the visibility Rocky Horror offered in a time of silence, while also acknowledging the progress that has been made and the work that remains. In the end, Rocky Horror is more than a movie. It’s a mirror, a memory, and a movement.

Crystal Libby

Founder, Queer Edge Consulting

www.queeredgeconsulting.com

#RockyHorror #QueerHistory #LGBTQMedia #TransRights #GenderDysphoria #TransVisibility #CampCulture #QueerCinema #IntersectionalActivism #TransErasure #MidnightMovies #QueerReclamation #StonewallLegacy #TransLiberation #LGBTQRepresentation #QueerTheory #TransHealth #ICD11 #DSM5 #StopStigma #CelebrateQueerVoices #QueerEdgeConsulting #QueerEdgeMonterey #MontereyCounty

References

Cauldwell, D.O. (1949). Psychopathia Transexualis. Hirschfeld, M. (1910). 

Die Transvestiten. Benjamin, H. (1966). 

The Transsexual Phenomenon. American Psychiatric Association. (2013). 

DSM-5: Gender Dysphoria. World Health Organization. (2018). 

ICD-11: Gender Incongruence. PRISM LGBTQ+ Education Initiative. prismfl.org