In response to Lady Gaga’s drag performance on the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, drag king comedian Murray Hill stated, “There is barely any visibility for FTM, drag kings and lesbians on television. There is a huge imbalance. For Lady Gaga, the biggest pop star in the world, to go on TV with millions of people watching in drag as a man and then to actually say ‘lesbian and transgender’ live is undeniably powerful and creates change. She ups the visibility big time and gets the language into the mainstream.” But, Lady Gaga, as her alter ego Jo Calderone, wasn’t the first or the last femme star to blur the gender boundaries in mainstream media. Here are some of dapperQ’s favorite images of gender-bending femme stars:

Scarlett Johansson

Cindy Crawford

Michelle Pfeiffer Chloe Sevingny

Marlene Dietrich

Diane Kruger

Kristen Stewart

Sigourney Weaver

Josephine Baker

Lady Gaga as Jo Calderone

Hillary Swank

Jessie Matthews

Sofia Coppola

Katharine Hepburn

Fan Bingbing

Barbara Streisand

Olive Thomas

Christy Turlington

Christy Turlington

Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista

Cate Blanchett

Amanda Moore

Sara Quin, Tegan Quin, Amanda Palmer, Amy Cook

Natalie Portman

Victoria Beckham

Tilda Swinton

Emma Watson

Glenn Close

Janet McTeer

Ciara (left and right)