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manion_female_husbands [2026/04/09 22:35] – [Chapter 6: The Activists] ccochra2manion_female_husbands [2026/04/10 01:02] (current) – 76.78.172.129
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 The English courts felt they had to make an example of Hamilton because in being able to seduce a woman and imitate heterosexual penetrative sex, they were a danger to the social order. There was an absence of a stable biological concept of sexual difference rather law, religion, and custom governed the difference in gender roles but Hamilton challenged this. Their crime was also significant because it endangered a respectable woman's honor and no one wanted this to happen to their daughters, nieces, sisters, etc. There was also an emphasis on policing intimate acts to prevent social and moral corruption. (Katherine Hamilton) The English courts felt they had to make an example of Hamilton because in being able to seduce a woman and imitate heterosexual penetrative sex, they were a danger to the social order. There was an absence of a stable biological concept of sexual difference rather law, religion, and custom governed the difference in gender roles but Hamilton challenged this. Their crime was also significant because it endangered a respectable woman's honor and no one wanted this to happen to their daughters, nieces, sisters, etc. There was also an emphasis on policing intimate acts to prevent social and moral corruption. (Katherine Hamilton)
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 +The English court felt threatened that they allowed someone like Hamilton to slip through the cracks and live their young lives generally unnoticed or unconsidered since the idea of one "transing gender" was not something they would have often considered. I think the reason the punishment needed to be so severe is because they thought the acts that Charles Hamilton had been able to accomplish would throw the people into a state of disorder but make it seem like other moments like this are almost allowed. why Mary price sold Hamilton out remains a mystery and she was able to assert her power quickly in her testimony as to how she wouldn't have known Hamilton is not a man very easily. (Tea Aliu)
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 +People in society at thus time did give themselves room to play with differing ideas of self expression such as masquerade balls or the not uncommon practice of people wearing the opposite genders garments at carnivals. It is the act of having sex with the same gender and being able to have relationships and marriages with the same gender that was not allowed and seen as vile acts. (Tea Aliu)
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 Fielding claimed that Hamilton had been a woman who's female lover cheated on them with a man which led Hamilton to begin to present as a man. Manion explains that this implies that in order to be with a woman one must be a man. Hamilton must conform, but in this case not their sexuality from desiring women to men but their gender expression from as a woman to as a man. This means that although Fielding's narrative is mostly false, it implies that in this historical setting gender expression was secondary to sexuality. It was not possible for two feminine women to be together, one always had to be the opposite gender regardless of their sex. However while this transing gender may have been presented as the solution to homosexuality, it was not accepted and people who transed their gender faced persecution once they were found out. (Katherine Hamilton) Fielding claimed that Hamilton had been a woman who's female lover cheated on them with a man which led Hamilton to begin to present as a man. Manion explains that this implies that in order to be with a woman one must be a man. Hamilton must conform, but in this case not their sexuality from desiring women to men but their gender expression from as a woman to as a man. This means that although Fielding's narrative is mostly false, it implies that in this historical setting gender expression was secondary to sexuality. It was not possible for two feminine women to be together, one always had to be the opposite gender regardless of their sex. However while this transing gender may have been presented as the solution to homosexuality, it was not accepted and people who transed their gender faced persecution once they were found out. (Katherine Hamilton)
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 One of the common things mentions throughout the book is the legal side, that being how to prosecute female husbands when they are not technically doing anything illegal. What was mentioned a few times, was vagrancy. The concept of being in disguise as a basis for vagrancy charges was interesting given it kind of went against the common thinking of female husbands as being men until exposed or if they were not in good standing within their community. It also alludes to certain class distinctions as vagrancy is a specifically lower class condition.(Hannah Covin) One of the common things mentions throughout the book is the legal side, that being how to prosecute female husbands when they are not technically doing anything illegal. What was mentioned a few times, was vagrancy. The concept of being in disguise as a basis for vagrancy charges was interesting given it kind of went against the common thinking of female husbands as being men until exposed or if they were not in good standing within their community. It also alludes to certain class distinctions as vagrancy is a specifically lower class condition.(Hannah Covin)
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 +The nature of which they are "dealing with" female husbands seem to involve some sort of psychological terrorism and it has been mentioned a couple of times that the fact that people like Howe and Hamilton were Abe to make something of themselves and amass wealth is something that aggravated the law a lot. It seems ike there is more to the aggression at hand At face value, the female husbands are being punished simply for deviating from the norm. At a distance, people are mad that a biological woman was able to make something of themselves and people had a hard time grappling with the fact that women can do the same types of tasks that a man can. (Tea Aliu)
  
 ===== Chapter 3: The Sailors and the Soldiers ===== ===== Chapter 3: The Sailors and the Soldiers =====
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 Discussing the biographical trajectory of Joseph Lobdell, J. Marion analyzes the examination conducted by Dr. Wise at the Willard Asylum. This case study is particularly important, as it demonstrates a shifting attitude toward female husbands through the development of medical discourse. For example, Dr. Wise argued that J. Lobdell suffered from a case of sexual perversion. This claim interpreted Lobdell’s choice to live as a female husband on the basis of same-sex sexual desire rather than gender identity. In addition, Dr. Wise appears to have reinforced his argument by referring to Lobdell’s aggressive behavior toward women at the asylum. This shift from the issue of gender to that of sexuality has also been noted by George Chauncey in his study of Gay New York. Dr. Wise’s examination does not follow exactly Chauncey’s defined chronology, but it is possible that the case of J. Lobdell represents one of the earliest manifestations of this dynamic. - Nikolai Kotkov Discussing the biographical trajectory of Joseph Lobdell, J. Marion analyzes the examination conducted by Dr. Wise at the Willard Asylum. This case study is particularly important, as it demonstrates a shifting attitude toward female husbands through the development of medical discourse. For example, Dr. Wise argued that J. Lobdell suffered from a case of sexual perversion. This claim interpreted Lobdell’s choice to live as a female husband on the basis of same-sex sexual desire rather than gender identity. In addition, Dr. Wise appears to have reinforced his argument by referring to Lobdell’s aggressive behavior toward women at the asylum. This shift from the issue of gender to that of sexuality has also been noted by George Chauncey in his study of Gay New York. Dr. Wise’s examination does not follow exactly Chauncey’s defined chronology, but it is possible that the case of J. Lobdell represents one of the earliest manifestations of this dynamic. - Nikolai Kotkov
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 +Manion also lays out that class differences played a big role in the lives of female husbands in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She brings up the question: is the female husband a product of a rural, working-class understanding of men? How much does the environment of that society influence how female husbands lived and were percieved by those around them. She also highlights the different oppertunity that working class female husbands had that upper class ones did not. It is virtually impossible for a more upper class, well known woman to go to the town one over, dress in men's clothes, and change her identity to that of a man. Hiowever, working-class women had more leeway. They pften came from more rural areas and were significantly less well known than more higher society women, letting them go unrecognized by those in a new town. This provided more security and less risk of getting caught and exposed. -Caroline Cochran
  
 ===== Chapter 8: The End of a Category ===== ===== Chapter 8: The End of a Category =====
  
 As women's same sex desire came to occupy a new place in the public imagination, the role of the female husband became less relevant. Female husbands, even as their relationships could be interpreted as those of lesbian ancestors, relied on transing gender to define their role in society. Their transing of gender was what allowed them to be in those relationships in the first place, and their marriage solidified their social role as men. In the midst of changing cultural conceptions of sexuality that made relationships between women visible, the female husband as an expression for same-sex desire became less relevant, at least in the way that the public understood these relationships. (Cameron Spivy) As women's same sex desire came to occupy a new place in the public imagination, the role of the female husband became less relevant. Female husbands, even as their relationships could be interpreted as those of lesbian ancestors, relied on transing gender to define their role in society. Their transing of gender was what allowed them to be in those relationships in the first place, and their marriage solidified their social role as men. In the midst of changing cultural conceptions of sexuality that made relationships between women visible, the female husband as an expression for same-sex desire became less relevant, at least in the way that the public understood these relationships. (Cameron Spivy)
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