The Tradition of Female Transvestism in Early Modern EuropeIn 17th and 18th century Europe, especially Holland, England and Germany, so many women chose to dress and live as men, that an underground tradition of female transvestism within the popular culture can be detected. This study, based upon 119 well-documented Dutch cases of female transvestism, is the first of its kind and tells us how these women adapted to male life and why, once discovered, reactions to them were both fierce and varied. It also explores the reasons why they chose to change gender. Special attention is devoted to transvestism by one partner as the only way in which lesbian love was conceiveable in this period. |
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Page 32
... Europe for enlisting in the army or signing onto the fleet : sheer poverty . A medieval proverb goes that for men who had become destitute , there were always two possibilities left : they could become monks or soldiers . After the ...
... Europe for enlisting in the army or signing onto the fleet : sheer poverty . A medieval proverb goes that for men who had become destitute , there were always two possibilities left : they could become monks or soldiers . After the ...
Page 40
... Europe distinguished itself from other , non - European traditional societies , where institutionalised possibilities did , or still do , exist for those who wish to join the ranks of the opposite sex . An excursion into anthropology ...
... Europe distinguished itself from other , non - European traditional societies , where institutionalised possibilities did , or still do , exist for those who wish to join the ranks of the opposite sex . An excursion into anthropology ...
Page 45
... Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries . By far the greater part of our women were unmarried , and cross- dressing served them as a means to maintain their virginal state , or in any case , to avoid having to marry . 42 In ...
... Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries . By far the greater part of our women were unmarried , and cross- dressing served them as a means to maintain their virginal state , or in any case , to avoid having to marry . 42 In ...
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adventures Amsterdam RA Anna ARA VOC army arrested autobiography Barbara Adriaens biography Breda C. R. Boxer Catalina de Erauso Chapter concerning Cornelia court criminal Dekker Den Haag discovered disguised women dressed in men's Dutch Republic Dutch translation eighteenth century Elisabeth English entry Europe example female cross-dressing female sailors female soldier female transvestism femmes gender Geschiedenis Gijsse girl Gouda Haag Haarlem Hannah Snell Hendrickje hermaphroditism Heroine Hilletje Holland homosexuality husband Indies Jacobs Johanna judicial archives Kersteman Leiden lesbian living London lover male homosexuals Maria van Antwerpen Maritgen Jans marriage married Mary Ann Talbot Meer motives Netherlands Nieuwe nineteenth century Paris Pieter popular prison prostitutes punishment reactions reality relationship Renée Bordereau role Rotterdam sentence seventeenth and eighteenth seventeenth century ship sodomy songs story sworn virgins theme tradition of female transsexuality transvestism trial tribady Trijn Jurriaens Trijntje Universiteitsbibliotheek Amsterdam virginity VOC reis VOC-sailor VOC-soldier Willem woman