Gender Presentation and Identity
Approaching publication day, we’re counting down the top ten points of interest in the Gas-Lit Empire novels, as revealed in readers’ comments and questions. In the last episode I wrote about the 5th most commonly commented on topic: Cover Designs. The fourth most frequently referred to topic is:
Number 4: Gender Presentation and Gender Identity
Different reviewers have described this issue in different ways. Most commonly the protagonist is described as ‘cross dressing’, though that term is never used in any of the books. From the outset, she refers to her adoption of the appearance and manners of a man as ‘disguise’. Which it certainly is - because she is trying to hide her identity from people who would do her harm.
But there are deeper currents flowing, which are not so easily defined.
When I realised that this was going to be an aspect of the stories, I immediately thought of Twelfth Night, in which Viola disguises herself as her twin brother. I do have a fondness for the play. But that bit of plot always seemed to me ridiculous. When I was a child, I went to see a performance in Stratford. With the honesty of childhood, I thought how foolish the other characters were, since I could plainly see she was a woman in man’s clothing. I mentioned this to my father, who told me that in Shakespeare’s time only men were permitted to perform on stage. So Viola would have been a male actor playing a female character who disguised herself as a man.
Not wishing the novels to become farce, I started to read around historical examples of people who successfully passed as male, though they were assigned female at birth. There are many of these. (And, of course, there will be many more who were never ‘discovered’.) Two of the particularly interesting case studies are the pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Much has been written about them. Some people suggest they had disguised themselves as men to be able to perform male roles. Others suggest that the male presentation may have been closer to their natural gender identity. I’ve heard it suggested that for Anne Bonny it was disguise and for Mary Read it was her preferred presentation.
We will never know.
From my reading, I’d become convinced that Elizabeth passing herself as a man was entirely credible. Next I had to research the specific techniques that she might use. Much has been written about such practical questions.
Many reviewers have commented on how credible this aspect of the stories is. But from that reaction, please never imagine for a moment that I really understand it. A novelist is a trickster. We use our toolkit of illusion and misdirection to give the appearance of a fully formed understanding. The best I can say of myself is this: I know more now than I knew when I started.
But there is something substantive that happens when a novelist puts their mind into the mind of a fictional character and spends time exploring fictional situations - from the inside out, as it were. When things are working well, we get insights we might not have been able to access in other ways.
The more I wrote Elizabeth’s character, the more I realised that male and female presentations were each to some degree artificial for her. This is most clearly seen in her thoughts on the corset and the binding cloth. Each modifies her shape, one towards an idea of femininity, the other towards masculinity. Neither is her natural state. Nor are the roles that society permits for the two genders.
The novel is not a scholarly investigation. (Nor even a series of novels.) But it does have validity as an emotional investigation. One of the great strengths of the novel is its power to explore ambiguous areas of discourse without having to decide on a position.
In the Queen of All Crows, Elizabeth is explicitly challenged on this question. Male and female are presented to her as options and she is asked which set of clothes she would choose if there was no need of disguise and no one was looking. I’m not going to reveal her answer here. But I will tell you that even as she speaks it, she doesn’t know whether she is telling the truth or not.
You can read all the articles in this series here: https://www.facebook.com/gaslitempire/
Number 4: Gender Presentation and Gender Identity
Different reviewers have described this issue in different ways. Most commonly the protagonist is described as ‘cross dressing’, though that term is never used in any of the books. From the outset, she refers to her adoption of the appearance and manners of a man as ‘disguise’. Which it certainly is - because she is trying to hide her identity from people who would do her harm.
But there are deeper currents flowing, which are not so easily defined.
When I realised that this was going to be an aspect of the stories, I immediately thought of Twelfth Night, in which Viola disguises herself as her twin brother. I do have a fondness for the play. But that bit of plot always seemed to me ridiculous. When I was a child, I went to see a performance in Stratford. With the honesty of childhood, I thought how foolish the other characters were, since I could plainly see she was a woman in man’s clothing. I mentioned this to my father, who told me that in Shakespeare’s time only men were permitted to perform on stage. So Viola would have been a male actor playing a female character who disguised herself as a man.
Not wishing the novels to become farce, I started to read around historical examples of people who successfully passed as male, though they were assigned female at birth. There are many of these. (And, of course, there will be many more who were never ‘discovered’.) Two of the particularly interesting case studies are the pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Much has been written about them. Some people suggest they had disguised themselves as men to be able to perform male roles. Others suggest that the male presentation may have been closer to their natural gender identity. I’ve heard it suggested that for Anne Bonny it was disguise and for Mary Read it was her preferred presentation.
We will never know.
From my reading, I’d become convinced that Elizabeth passing herself as a man was entirely credible. Next I had to research the specific techniques that she might use. Much has been written about such practical questions.
Many reviewers have commented on how credible this aspect of the stories is. But from that reaction, please never imagine for a moment that I really understand it. A novelist is a trickster. We use our toolkit of illusion and misdirection to give the appearance of a fully formed understanding. The best I can say of myself is this: I know more now than I knew when I started.
But there is something substantive that happens when a novelist puts their mind into the mind of a fictional character and spends time exploring fictional situations - from the inside out, as it were. When things are working well, we get insights we might not have been able to access in other ways.
The more I wrote Elizabeth’s character, the more I realised that male and female presentations were each to some degree artificial for her. This is most clearly seen in her thoughts on the corset and the binding cloth. Each modifies her shape, one towards an idea of femininity, the other towards masculinity. Neither is her natural state. Nor are the roles that society permits for the two genders.
The novel is not a scholarly investigation. (Nor even a series of novels.) But it does have validity as an emotional investigation. One of the great strengths of the novel is its power to explore ambiguous areas of discourse without having to decide on a position.
In the Queen of All Crows, Elizabeth is explicitly challenged on this question. Male and female are presented to her as options and she is asked which set of clothes she would choose if there was no need of disguise and no one was looking. I’m not going to reveal her answer here. But I will tell you that even as she speaks it, she doesn’t know whether she is telling the truth or not.
You can read all the articles in this series here: https://www.facebook.com/gaslitempire/
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