Transvestism, which is usually defined in terms of psychopathology, must also be examined in terms of status gain and loss. This appears most obvious in an examination of the lives of the transvestite saints whose legends and myths help set Western attitudes toward transvestism. All of these saints were female, and by implication females could only gain by donning the clothes of the male. Males, on the other hand, lost status if they wore items of female apparel, and the only way society could justify such a loss was through attaching erotic connotations to such conduct which made it both dangerous and sinful.