Thread by @gender_library

EXTREMELY LENGTHY THREAD: trends in attitudes to crossdressing in Great Britain and Ireland between around 1810 and 1850 (+some rampant speculation). #histsex #genderhistory #lgbthistory #archives 1/

Disclaimer: I am not an historian. I don't know to what extent I have rediscovered the wheel, here. If you are an historian (or not!) and find this interesting, please email GCLL, and I'll compile what sources I saved. It's all from the British Newspaper Archive. 2/

Irritatingly, given I was not looking to write a paper, I didn't save some of the stuff that caught my eye. In particular, I didn't save a letter to an editor about crossdressing to beg. Additionally, BNA doesn't catch everything! This is limited in scope. 3/

Final disclaimer: this thread contains a few points about what is now called transmisogyny. One story in particular is extremely violent. 4/

Most of the writing I have seen on 19thC crossdressers is on FtM crossdressers who had relationships with women. I have less to say on FtM crossdressing, but should mention that I didn't just find 'heterosexual' relationships among the figures I located pre-1850. 5/

One FtM crossdresser was pregnant. Another was a sailor reputed to have married his captain (after a previous engagement to a woman). The literature may focus too much on the 'female husband'. 6/

Other speculation: a lot of female husbands were outted on death. Ones I found & others. They were also typically working class - so their widows lacked social power. Maybe upper class FHs and the 'male wives' we don't really see had partners able to insist on no autopsy etc. 7/

The trends I observed were largely in MtF crossdressing. In particular, newspapers had three explanations for it, broadly mutually exclusive. They were all criminal. Roughly chronologically: 1. Robbery&violent crime. 2. Begging. 3. Prostitution. 8/

I found NO references to prostitution, even veiled, prior to 1833. An 1833 case hints at it, but a magistrate regards evidence as too scant for an inquiry. Contrast this with 1840s cases where people were transported to make a point. I need to follow this up in court records. 9/

Regardless, *reporting* only began to view MtF crossdressing as sexually charged in the 30s, afaict, and this only takes off as the dominant views in the 40s. By which point judges are talking about it as being increasingly common, gotta nip it in the bud, etc. 10/

Before then, you have two explanations. The first is linked to the sheer number of men crossdressing to commit crime. Why was that a thing? I think I know. They could wear veils, for one. I also suspect large groups of women were less suspicious than groups of men. 11/

Plus, there are a couple workers' movements (Rebeccaites+Rockites) crossdressing. With reports on these and crossdressing criminals being ubiquitous (seriously, from about 1810, there's millions), public may well have regarded the two as strongly linked. 12/

In the 1830s, there's another strain to this: it develops into (I kid you not) 'Male beggars are crossdressing to make you give them more money!' Because women would find women more sympathetic. 13/

Unlike violent crime, I can find no reports of this *actually happening*, but it was v. strong in the public imagination. How can I tell? In 1838, a beggar died. She was choking, and her 'masculine features' caused bystanders to assume she was a begging crossdresser. 14/

She was not in fact a crossdresser, and there was an inquiry reported on in the papers. Coroner seemed horrified no one intervened, given ample opportunity (indoor space- people could see!!!). She even had a child with her. 15/

Basically, the received wisdom re: MtF crossdressing underwent a DRAMATIC shift in the 1830s. I cannot overstate the degree to which coverage changed over the course of that decade. 16/

There were some widely reported cases (e.g. Lavinia/Eliza Edwards, 1833) that may have influenced this. In general, it's hard to find 'identity'-related persistent cases before 1830. Then it's extremely easy. 17/

Does this remind you of other eras in which trans people became hypervisible, and were subjected to violence as a result? Because I can't stop thinking about it. 18/

My other find that I thought was just amazing, was a 19th century nonbinary person in northern England. Like, he was seemingly permitted to live an ambiguously gendered life! His obit mentions that he was 'of that class of beings styled hermaphrodite', did men's work- 19/

-and wore women's clothing... besides his men's cap. It uses a male name and pronouns for him. You can see him on my crossdresser map: James Clough, died 1826. 20/

He is not the only one. A trial for robbery of a 'hermaphrodite' with both male and female names is mentioned in an Irish paper. Amusing trials were typically given in detail, but this was just a couple of lines in the middle of a list. 21/

It may be that a specific type of intersexuality (or perceived intersexuality) validated their presentations (most genital ambiguity is reported as 'inclining' one way or another, validating an essentially binary gender), or it may be something else, but these folks existed. 22/

Linking to @eeskidmore's work, I think this is also very local vs national. Clough's matter of fact obit got picked up by national papers and eagerly reprinted. I'd like to do some quantitative stuff on how far stories spread, but I don't have access to non BNA UK newspapers! 23/

That's all for now! Hope this has been interesting, and please do check out the Historical Crossdresser Map/ consider donating. That way I can spend less time fundraising and more time making the map less messy, and also get you all the trans lit you deserve. 24/24

P.S. I really need an Australian co-conspirator to follow up on crossdressers who were transporred (not all records are online), if that sounds like a fun project for anyone.