I was checking out some videos on YouTube, and came across this one. Nicole Rudolph is a fashion historian and I like to watch her and see how things have changed over the years. While watching the video I couldn’t help but think of the current fears about transgender people. People said it wasn’t scientific that women wanted to be like men, they only dressed that way to get attention. People said that this was the end of the human race.
Just because women wanted to dress differently. This kind of thing led to women’s suffrage among other things *gasp* It’s just interesting to see the parallels to today.
Turns out, the existence of Mannish Women goes back far further than our modern discussions about gender. Starting in the mid 19th century, women not only dressed in masculine clothing, but acting, speaking, and living in mannish ways, became a concern. A growing trend to embrace the fashion styles of tailored suits brought about mannish fashion in the 1890s. The “new woman” picked all of this up and added bicycles to the mix. Sometimes mannish women stood with suffrage movements and political efforts, tying together our modern image of the very un-feminine suffragette. These women weren’t always seen as ideal during the Victorian or Edwardian eras, but they persisted none-the-less. Even when “science” was being used against them or concerns over the end of society were put forward. For many, it was a simpler and more practical way of dressing. Others saw it as a completely different lifestyle and worked to throw off the expectations that had been placed on them. Embraced by a number of famous sapphic women of the early 20th century, it likely had a hand in creating the butch lesbian of today. Simply put, mannish women have been around for far longer than we realize, and the concerns over them really haven’t changed in 150 years.