Crossdresser Archetypes: What Is Your Feminine Persona?
By Domina Doll
Have you ever had your Tarot cards read? Well, archetypes are a lot like the cards in the major arcana of the Tarot (the Queen, Priestess, the Lovers) and can tell you much about your personality and behaviors, as well as the positive and shadow parts of your overall persona.
Archetypes are universal, primordial symbols in the human psyche that play a role in influencing our true nature. Introduced by the psychiatrist Carl Jung, archetypes are derived from the collective unconscious and transcend both cultures and time.
The easier way to think about archetypes is in fairy tales. The Charming Prince (Hero archetype), the Evil Queen (Cruel Mother archetype) and the Princess (Damsel in Distress) are all familiar archetypes.
Archetypes can give us insight but are also fun to play with.
What Is Your Crossdresser Archetype?
How do you find out which Crossdresser Archetype you are? Read through the 11 personality types below and see which ones resonate with you. You will likely be drawn to one or more archetypes, the strongest being your dominant persona, while the others make up your secondary and third characteristics.
The Innocent Maiden
The innocent maiden archetype is associated with the chaste virgin who is pure, naïve, and kind of heart. This type of person enjoys quiet time alone, is more of an introvert, leans toward the conservative and is inexperienced in love. She is the type of crossdresser who is closeted, who often cross dresses only in secret. If she gets up the courage to dress herself en femme, it is usually wearing only panties or stockings, something she can conceal beneath her exterior clothing.
On the positive side she is friendly, sweet and innocent. She makes for a loyal, trustworthy friend and has a generous nature. She is also represented by the mild and meek, girl-next-door persona who is pretty, but often overlooked for the flashier or sexier archetypes. The star of Netflix’s Riverdale, Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper, embodies the Innocent Maiden persona.
On the shadow side, the Maiden’s innocence can make her vulnerable to others who take advantage of her.
The Frilly Princess
The Frilly Princess is one of the easiest archetypes to identify. She is the ultimate Cinderella, who wants a Prince Charming to sweep her off her feet and take her away. She is characterized by an ultra feminine persona who is whimsical in nature, frilly and often frivolous, and longs for romance. She tends to be passive, waiting for others to fulfill her dreams. A modern-day character that represents her well is the British actress Lily James, star of Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella.
Her physical appearance is very important to her, and she loves to dress in extremely feminine, fashionable clothes and actually lives for this experience every chance she can get. She prefers sensual satins and silks, lacy undergarments, sparkles and glitters, and colors like pink or other pastels.
While the Frilly Princess may be seen to have many negative characteristics, she is often fun, enjoys life, and is able to give her heart unconditionally to her lover. She has a tendency to fall deeply in love very easily, and ends up getting her heart broken often.
On the shadow side, she may be codependent, expecting others to rescue her.
The Sultry Slut
Every crossdresser dreams of being the Sultry Slut–at least secretly–who has a sensual appetite for all of life’s pleasures. The Sultry Slut is earthly, carnal, and hedonistic, like the wild woman who can’t be tamed. She enjoys fine wines, good food, beautiful flowers and invokes all of her senses. Sex is one of the most important aspects of her life and it’s something that she continually pursues, often regardless of her boundaries (if she even has any), in an effort to be loved. But she is also a fickle lover and quickly bores of her latest conquests, only to go searching again and again for the newest lover and adventure. Madonna is the epitome of this archetype.
Physically, she oozes sexuality, is voluptuous and often dresses in revealing clothes. She likes to be the center of attention, and lures people with her physical beauty and natural charms. She takes pride in being a sexy, wanton lover and will do anything to please someone in the bedroom.
Like the Greek pleasure-seeking god, Dionysus, the slut revels in joyful abandon, is passionate, playful, and has a zest for life, pursuing pleasure without shame or guilt.
On the shadow side, the Sultry Slut can be over-indulgent, challenging and edgy, so may clash with other personas who don’t see her depth.
The Mysterious Vamp
If you have ever watched the films noir of the 40s, then you know this archetype. She is the femme fatale, who embodies the mysterious, enchanting, and seductive woman whose charms her lovers. In modern times, she can be seen as the Dominatrix, Enchantress or Vampire personality type who is secretive, dramatic, erotic, and embraces her dark side.
The Vamp has the gift of being able to easily influence others, transform situations to her advantage, and can often be a visionary. She can also be paradoxical in character, often reinventing herself to suit her situation like a chimera.
Physically, she indulges in dark elegance, leather and spandex, tight, streamlined dresses, thigh-high boots or stilettos, and dramatic make-up. She can also channel formal business attire, polished suits, with a sometimes androgynous appearance. German-born American actress Marlene Dietrich, a true femme fatale of the 20s, 30s, and 40s, is the modern-day archetype of the Vamp.
Her shadow aspect, she may have a fear of abandonment and can form codependent relationships.
The Queen Diva
The Queen Diva is like the Prima Donna who enjoys being the center of attention. She savors her independence, freedom and autonomy. She is often a wise philosopher, a talented debater, and enjoys imparting her wisdom onto others. Like a true Queen, she represents power and authority and is often a natural leader or politician who tends to attract a multitude of followers. She is a take-charge sort of person who is charismatic, passionate, and uses her power as the benevolent Queen to aid others, as long as they go along with her will. The Queen is often outspoken, bold, and like a sharp sword can cut through the crap. The Queen is also a pioneer of new ideas, like the Sage.
As a Diva, she enjoys flaunting herself in flashy or outrageous clothes and showing off. Her Queen aspect is graceful and may enjoy regal attire, lots of jewelry, sequins, feathers, and faux furs. She has a taste for luxury and the expensive things in life. Because of this she can also be shallow and image conscious. Beyonce’s image is a shining example of the Queen Diva archetype.
As a lover, she can be very giving and loyal, as long as she maintains control in that relationship.
In her shadow aspect, she can be overbearing, controlling, and defensive, particularly when another challenges her authority.
The Sex Goddess
While the Sex Goddess shares many characteristics with the Sultry Slut, like a true Goddess, this persona loves to be worshipped. Because she oozes sensuality and femininity, she is able to mesmerize men and appeal to their libido.
The Sex Goddess enjoys all the finest things in life: expensive clothes, fine arts, beauty… and is creative, expressive and sometimes even eccentric.
Physically, she has exaggerated sexual attributes, and an otherworldliness about her, or that certain je ne sais quoi appeal that you can’t quite put your finger on. Marilyn Monroe is the iconic sex goddess persona. Other qualities include a playful demeanor, vivaciousness, and eagerness to please. The Sex Goddess loves to be wooed with expensive gifts by powerful men in leadership roles. She seeks her freedom of adventure and has a spontaneous nature.
In her shadow aspect she can be overindulgent, obsessive and sometimes self-destructive.
The Sophisticated Flirt
The Sophisticated Flirt is the ultimate coquette who loves to tease and leave her potential lovers wanting more. She is highly sophisticated, intelligent, practical, curious and logical. She enjoys playing with men’s affections for money and power. She is elegant, worldly, a socialite, a diplomat and has an air of mystery about her. Jacqueline “Jackie” Kennedy Onassis is the Sophisticate personified. She is uber charming, a seductive confidante, witty and excels in conversations. The Sophisticate always seems calm and cool and relies on her intuition to feel out a situation. She is excellent at conveying her intentions without needing to say a word. She is very ambitious in nature and usually gets what she wants.
This persona is graceful, dignified, poised, and has discriminating tastes. Her appearance is often both conservative, yet eccentric, with a rebellious streak. In the Tarot, she would be characterized by the High Priestess.
Because of her disarming nature, the Sophisticated Flirt often overwhelms her suitors, and needs a strong, confident partner who is not easily manipulated. While she likes being in control, she seeks a partner who can be her equal in all ways.
In her shadow aspect, she can seem aloof and unemotional.
The Submissive Slave Girl
The Submissive Slave Girl is very giving, lives to please others, especially sexually, and represents the complete absence of power and self-authority. She enjoys being told what to wear, what to eat, what to do and has difficulty making her own choices in life. She gains pleasure in offering herself up to her dominant partner, knowing that she is being a good girl and completely obedient. Yvonne De Carlo in Slave Girl (1947) epitomizes the 40’s sexy slave girl look.
Although the Slave Girl wants to be told what to wear, she is happiest when naked and wearing only a collar. Adding a butt plug, chastity device and some well-worn welts and bruises on her behind that she can flaunt to her Master or Mistress also gives her gratification.
The Slave Girl longs to be used for her partner’s pleasure and hates to be ignored. She would rather be severely punished than ignored and for that reason can sometimes instigate reasons to be reprimanded, just to ensure she gets the craved attention she seeks. In this way, although she seems powerless, she actually wields power by getting what she needs.
The dark shadow side of the Slave Girl is that she can easily be manipulated and too trusting of others.
The Sissy Servant
The Sissy Servant is similar to the Submissive Slave Girl in that she likes to please and be of service. However, she does this not for sexual reasons, but because she enjoys servitude. She finds value in her diligent nature, hard work and attention to detail. The Servant takes pride in her work, enjoys domestic tasks, and will spends hours cleaning the grooves between the bathroom tiles until they sparkle and shine to ensure that everything is perfect and that her Master or Mistress will be pleased.
She also takes pride in her appearance, in being neat and tidy, and enjoys wearing maid outfits or ironed uniforms. Her only wish is to please and be of service, so she is quite capable of becoming a part of the background during a dinner party, or just another pattern in the wallpaper.
She is compassionate, empathetic, loving and nurturing, as well as self-sacrificing. She is a devoted friend and employee, patient, industrious and revels in mundane activities that take up a major part of her days. She is selfless and serves without the expectation of a reward.
Her shadow side is that she can over give to the point of neglecting herself and her own needs.
The Sassy Schoolgirl
The Sassy Schoolgirl, as you might have guessed, is youthful, playful, passionate, excitable, bursting with energy, and optimistic. Being a bit mischievous, she likes to play games, including role-playing. She is often the Muse and likes to be creative and experimental, while unleashing her impish self with true abandon.
The Sassy Schoolgirl enjoys dressing in the typical schoolgirl type uniforms: short skirts, knee highs, Mary Jane shoes, pigtails. She is typified by Britney Spears’ icon pop song and video, “Baby One More Time” as a popular teen idol persona, who is “innocently” provocative, but doesn’t realize the consequences of wielding her own sexual superpowers. She is a psychological dichotomy, shedding her innocence for sexual promiscuity as she becomes “hot for teacher.”
On the shadow side, she may have a fear of growing up and loosing her innocence.
The Gender Blender
The androgynous Gender Blender persona is a combination of masculine and feminine characteristics to create an ambiguous form that does not conform to social restriction of conventional gender norms. Instead, they create their own unique, individualized persona by pushing boundaries of gender expression. Androgynous individuals may refer to themselves as non-binary, genderqueer, trans, or agender (no gender). Androgyny may be expressed regardless to biological sex, gender identity or gender expression.
Gender Blenders flaunt all rules about “male” and “female” presentation and wear whatever makes them feel good. This may or may not include wigs, makeup, nail polish, or accessories. They combine male and female clothes without apology and don’t try to conform to a gender-specific look or fantasize about “passing” as a woman. Examples of androgynous personas in real life include David Bowie, Stephen Tyler, Frank-N-Furter (Rocky Horror Picture Show), and actor Billy Porter.
Gender Blenders enjoy breaking the rules and social restraints. They value individual expression, are creative, artistic, often talented in the arts, image conscious, and boldly unique. They don’t care what other people think of them and embrace nonconformity. They are often mysterious, otherworldly, highly intelligent, experimental, curious, very private in their personal lives, but outgoing and performative in their social life. They are often mythic, transformative, and enjoy reinventing themselves to suit how they are feeling, or depending on the situation, sometimes flamboyant, and other times understated like a shapeshifter. Gender fluid individuals are able to integrate both their masculine and feminine qualities, yin and yang, into the primordial archetype of the Hieros Gamos.
Romantically they can often get along with any gender, and often choose lovers based on personality rather than genitalia. They enjoy experimental sexual activities, and may be interested in tantra, BDSM, kink, alternative lifestyles, and sex magick. They often make great lovers due to their experimental nature. Others may be asexual and not interested in sex as a physical pursuit, preferring spiritual transformation and enlightenment.
On the shadow side of the spectrum, this persona is often misunderstood.
Conclusion
So, there you have the most popular 11 Crossdresser Archetypes. Which one(s) do you resonate with most?
Circle of Q members can share their thoughts in the private discussions area.
