As I mentioned in the podcast interview, I was first introduced to the topic of female cross-dressing in eighteenth-century literature in a graduate seminar on the eighteenth-century novel. We also read works from popular print culture like The Female Husband by Henry Fielding. I was stunned and excited to see so much gender non-conformity in the past! I had to know more.
The image above is an illustration of the whipping of Mary/George Hamilton, aka the "Female Husband"--an image that I found while conducting research for my dissertation. The crazy thing is that the image is from 1813 by Isaac Cruikshank--while Hamilton's story appeared 60 years earlier! As I continued my research for the dissertation, I was really struck by how popular images are of female cross-dressers. This image and 8 others made it into my book, and I'm so grateful that I was able to include so many amazing images. This topic is really the gift that keeps on giving. I'll always be thankful that I pursued a topic I am truly passionate about, one that intrigues me, because, in the end, it really has been 10 years since I started my dissertation research! To learn more, listen to the podcast or check out my Women's History Event lecture, as recorded on YouTube.
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AuthorUla Lukszo Klein is the author of Sapphic Crossings, and this blog provides a sneak peek into the book, as well as related content. Archives
April 2021
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