{"id":543,"date":"2025-04-14T10:41:21","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T14:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/wrt118\/?p=543"},"modified":"2025-04-14T10:41:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T14:41:21","slug":"playing-crazy-in-size-12-pumps-the-pathologization-of-cross-dressing-in-mash-1972","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/wrt118\/playing-crazy-in-size-12-pumps-the-pathologization-of-cross-dressing-in-mash-1972\/","title":{"rendered":"Playing Crazy in Size 12 Pumps: The Pathologization of Cross-dressing in M*A*S*H (1972)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jamie Farr as Corporal Klinger<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An earnest and clever man, the cross-dressing Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger of the television show M*A*S*H <\/em>(1972) has long been a fan favorite of queer viewers. The show ran from 1972 to 1983, spanning 11 seasons. Set during the Korean war, M*A*S*H<\/em> (1972) tackled the futility of war while following the antics of the 4077th mobile army surgical hospital in typical sitcom structure. Among the cast of surgeons, nurses, officers, and corpsmen is Klinger, played by Jamie Farr. A draftee, willing to do anything to get out of the army, Klinger is aiming for a \u201cSection VIII,\u201d upon which he would be discharged. Titled \u201cInaptness or Undesirable Habits or Traits of Character,\u201d Section VIII of Army Regulation 615-360 aligned homosexual tendencies (such as cross-dressing) with mental conditions that warranted a discharge, honorable or dishonorable depending on the circumstances (Whitt 176). In his plot to evade service, Klinger seems to have woefully misunderstood the implications of a Section VIII, assuming the army would see cross-dressing as a sign of mental illness. On the contrary, the army saw it as a sign of homosexuality, an \u201cundesirable habit or trait of character\u201d which would attract a dishonorable discharge and greater social repercussions. Klinger\u2019s friends are supportive of his protest against the war, and they humor his genuine interest in women\u2019s clothing. Although progressive for the time, the show mainly uses Klinger\u2019s appearance for comedic purposes. This portrayal of cross-dressing makes queerness into a spectacle and relies on jokes which reinforce harmful views of queer and trans people off-screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Klinger plays into the army\u2019s pathologization of homosexuality, affirming the association between queerness and mental illness for the audience. Homosexuality was still considered a sexual perversion and mental illness in the early 1950s, and thus a reason for discharge under Section VIII. In her book \u201cManaging Sex in the U.S. Military,\u201d Jacqueline Whitt explains that army regulations were meant to discourage \u201cdisruptive\u201d behavior in the U.S. military. As homosexuality became viewed as an identity rather than a behavior, these regulations were used to weed out queer people entirely. This view of queer and trans people (as the two were often conflated) permitted their dismissal because the military could claim they were unfit for service and disruptive to good order (Whitt 176). Klinger takes advantage of this army policy and creates this caricature of an insane man wearing dresses. Throughout the show he refers to himself as \u201ccrazy,\u201d \u201cnuts,\u201d and once in a letter to a general says \u201chere\u2019s one more picture of myself to prove I\u2019m mentally unbalanced and deservant of a psychological discharge.\u201d Albeit in jest, the show draws a clear line between \u201ccrazy\u201d and queer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, when the audience sees what a Section VIII would mean for Klinger, the show fails to address the devastating weight of a dishonorable discharge. In season 2 episode 3, Dr. Sydney Freedman is called to the camp to evaluate Klinger upon the request of Majors Margaret Houlihan and Frank Burns. The psychiatrist is appalled at the obvious ploy to evade service but goes through the process anyways to satisfy Houlihan and Burns. Freedman gives Klinger papers to sign that would get him sent home under Section VIII, but he would be declaring himself a \u201ctransvestite and a homosexual.\u201d Klinger is appalled at the assumption and retorts, \u201cwhere do you come off calling me that?…I\u2019m just crazy. All I want is a section eight.\u201d By admitting he\u2019s \u201cone of those\u201d as the show often puts it, he would be jeopardizing his future back home. Freedman even warns, \u201cthis will be on your record permanently. From here on, you go through life on high heels.\u201d When a serviceman was dishonorably discharged under a Section VIII, their family was often informed so they would have nowhere to go once they returned home. In Klinger\u2019s case, his family knows he\u2019s bucking for a Section VIII, \u201cMy uncle got out of WWII this way, keeps sending me pieces of his wardrobe.\u201d Although they briefly acknowledge the staying power of a Section VIII, neither acknowledge how a dishonorable discharge would ruin his life. If anything, Klinger is more offended at being called queer than he is threatened or frightened by Freedman\u2019s bluff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides presenting Klinger\u2019s cross-dressing as absurd and inherently comedic, the sitcom also relies on gay jokes. When his friends and other personnel complement his outfits, even sincerely, the laugh track plays. Occasionally, these friendly remarks are played as flirtation, which gets an even bigger laugh. Cross-dressing jokes are the basis of his character\u2019s comedic value, but they also open the door to gay jokes that involve the rest of the cast. In season 3 episode 11, Klinger remarks that he gets his lingerie from Chicago, to which Major John McIntyre says, \u201cand it\u2019s beautiful,\u201d quick to defend himself with, \u201cI hear!\u201d In season 4 episode 3, Burns grabs Klinger\u2019s arm and remarks, \u201canother week in command and I\u2019d have had you out of that dress\u201d to which he responds, \u201cI\u2019m not that easy.\u201d These jokes also offer Klinger a way of defending himself by shifting the accusations onto others, whether purposeful or not. Still, the joke that a straight man could be interested in Klinger only works under the assumption that his cross dressing is deceiving others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feeds into transphobic rhetoric and relies on the visual contrast of femininity and masculinity, and that of presentation and \u201creality.\u201d He presents himself very feminine through clothing and accessories, but does nothing to feminize his features such as shaving or growing his hair long. This further emphasizes the contrast, adding to the comedic effect when he enters the frame. Klinger uses his ambiguous gender presentation to purposefully crosses boundaries and create conflict in hopes of being reported. In season 2 episode 3, the inciting incident for Burns and Houlihan\u2019s report is when Burns mistakes Klinger for Houlihan. He walks into her tent, sees Klinger from behind dressed in a robe with his hair up in a bonnet, and bites his neck playfully. When Klinger turns around, upset, Burns jumps and accuses him of being a pervert. The writers use what scholar Tallia Mae Bettcher calls the \u201cappearance-reality contrast\u201d where \u201cgender presentation (attire, in particular) constitutes a gendered appearance, whereas the sexed body constitutes the hidden, sexual reality\u201d (Bettcher 48). Frank responds to his mistake with panic and anger, a response often used as a justification for violence against trans women when this \u201csexual reality\u201d is found out. Burns calls Klinger a \u201cpervert\u201d and a \u201cfreak.\u201d Houlihan goes to the commanding officer and demands that he is discharged, \u201cCorporal Klinger has got to go. He\u2019s a menace to the discipline and morale of this military establishment.\u201d Yet in spite of Frank\u2019s assertion that Klinger is a sexual deviant, the corporal is straight and cisgender which provides him with a certain deniability. Furthermore, he exhibits the very deception transphobes are afraid of, that a man could invade women\u2019s spaces and seduce men under the guise of femininity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way the show handles Klinger\u2019s sexuality furthers this rhetoric that anyone outside their gendered norm must be doing it to deceive others. Throughout the series, he uses his gender presentation to find ways into private women\u2019s spaces, claiming innocence when he\u2019s accused of invading their privacy. In this episode, he goes into Margaret\u2019s tent without asking. When she yells at him and asks what he\u2019s doing there he says, \u201cJust borrowing a little of your shampoo, Major. It\u2019s wartime. We all gotta help each other.\u201d This reinforced the idea that trans women are really men \u201cpretending\u201d in order to prey on women. Klinger crosses boundaries like this because he wants to offend the army, and in doing so he encourages the Majors\u2019 transphobia. Once again, he does this for his own gain, without regard for who else it might impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While imperfect, the show does address the absurdity of the army\u2019s regulations through Klinger\u2019s equally absurd response. The character is also using cross-dressing as a conscious protest against the war, and perhaps even military regulations. When Burns has everyone line up for morning muster in season 4 episode 1, he yells at Klinger, \u201chow dare you wear that hat while in uniform.\u201d The latter stands saluting and yells back, \u201cit\u2019s spring, sir!\u201d Even though he\u2019s protesting the U.S. military engagement in Korea, he\u2019s doing it for selfish reasons. Klinger never sees the reality of the queer people who got a Section VIII discharge. He can\u2019t empathize with them, as seen when Dr. Freedman calls him a \u201ctransvestite and a homosexual.\u201d The doctor explains how the Section VIII would stay with him, but even then he\u2019s only using it to call Klinger\u2019s bluff, and neither are expected to reflect much on the issue. Lastly, Klinger\u2019s reaction in that scene reveals a prejudice similar to that which he hopes to take advantage of. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way Klinger plays with gender is reflective of various historical examples of military men cross-dressing for entertainment. Author Jay Mechling writes about the phenomenon in his book Soldier Snapshots<\/em>, where he presents photos of various soldiers dressed as women. However, even though cross-dressing is an established and persisting form of amusement, many straight and cis men use it to further objectify women and to laugh at femininity. In many of the photos, Mechling points out how the service men grope and leer at their cross-dressing friends. Like the suggestive nature of these photos, many of the jokes about Klinger involve the men of the camp flirting with him and complimenting his body. Though it may have reflected past attitudes, the show\u2019s portrayal of cross-dressing still invites misogynistic and homophobic jokes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is all put to rest at the beginning of season 8 when the gag suddenly ends. After bouncing between duties for seven seasons, Klinger takes on the job of company clerk and stops wearing women\u2019s clothing. The show doesn\u2019t address this change directly, but it\u2019s presented as an evolution of character. He\u2019s finally taking his responsibilities seriously now that his outfit depends more heavily on him. This maturation\u2013and his heterosexuality\u2013is solidified in the finale of the show when Klinger marries a local woman and gives her one of his old dresses to wear for the wedding. This scene contrasts an earlier episode where he had married his first wife over the phone, wearing the wedding dress himself. In the finale he also puts one of his finer dresses into the camp\u2019s time capsule. These gestures represent the end of his cross-dressing for good since the war has ended, accompanied by another final declaration of heterosexuality as he marries the woman he loves.\u00a0The representation of queerness on television is incredibly influential, and laughing at queer and trans people on-screen trivializes the issues they face off screen. The idea that transness is deceptive fuels anti-trans violence, especially against trans femmes. By having a character like Klinger, who cross-dresses while still appearing very masculine, the show reinforces the transphobic view that trans women are \u201creally\u201d men, and that their \u201csexual reality\u201d must be revealed. Though there may not be a remix of M*A*S*H<\/em> (1972) given its standing as a classic sitcom, the way queerness is represented on television, especially in comedies, can vastly improve. Some queer viewers take Klinger to be the most staunch ally, others decide he was in fact queer after all, so it\u2019s not to say his character didn\u2019t do any good. But harmful representation on screen can contribute to anti-trans rhetoric and violence off-screen. By examining where Klinger\u2019s character could have been improved, we can take those critiques into account when writing new characters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jamie Farr as Corporal Klinger An earnest and clever man, the cross-dressing Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger of the television show M*A*S*H (1972) has long been…<\/p>\n

Continue ReadingPlaying Crazy in Size 12 Pumps: The Pathologization of Cross-dressing in M*A*S*H (1972)<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":7145,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-critical-updates-sp25","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/wrt118\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/wrt118\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/wrt118\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/wrt118\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7145"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/wrt118\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/wrt118\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":545,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/wrt118\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543\/revisions\/545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/wrt118\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/wrt118\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/wrt118\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}