Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 35937
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Bennett , Judith M. and Shannon McSheffrey
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Early, Erotic and Alien: Women Dressed as Men in Late Medieval London
  • Source: History Workshop Journal 77, ( 2014): Pages 1 - 25.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Journal Article
  • Subject (See Also): Cross Dressing Gender Waiting to be Indexed
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: British Isles
  • Century: 15-16
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations:
  • Table:
  • Abstract: In the century after 1450, thirteen women incurred the ire of London’s governors by cross-dressing as men. This is a small number of women, spread over many years, from a long time ago, and their experiences are a far cry from female cross-dressers today, whether drag kings, stone butches, trans men-in-the-making, or opera singers in trouser roles. Yet these thirteen women challenge us to rethink female cross-dressing, both in the middle ages and today. We can easily recognize what these women did so long ago: they cut their hair short; they wore men’s hats; they donned men’s clothing. But why they did these things is a different matter, and so, too, is how their behaviour was understood by those who saw them. [Reproduced from the journal page on the Project Muse website: https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/history_workshop_journal/.]
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: Concordia University (McSheffrey); University of Southern California (Bennett)
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2014.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 13633554 (print); 14774569 (online)