Be a Man! (c. 1700)

AZ_Dawn said:

One of my characters is a female pirate. She went to sea disguised as a man and was found out, but continues to dress like a man.

What would being disguised as a man with anything resembling success entail back then? How could they hide some of the more noticeable female activities (once-a-month issues, why "Bob" doesn't use the head the same way the other guys do, etc.)? If it helps, she's tall for a woman, somewhat small-chested, and has an alto voice (think Toni Braxton).

Also, what was society's opinion of a known woman who dressed as a man? Crazy weirdo? Loose woman? Lesbian? What would they think of any alleged boyfriend of hers? Anything else I should know? The opinions can be for landlubbers as well as seafarers.

Thanks!

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A weird suggestion, but I recommend reading Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, or get a copy of the Trevor Nun movie on DVD.

There are a number of theories about Mary Read and Anne Bonney. One is that it was never exactly a secret, but the story worked better that way for readers back home.

That said, there are quite a few women who passed as men (and men who passed as women) back in the old days, albeit not in such constricted circumstances. Only a couple spring to mind. There was Nadezha Durova, who was an officer in a Russian cavalry regiment. She later served openly as a woman, doing courier service at Borodino. The Cavalry Maiden is her autobiography.

Libbie Custer's memoir Boots & Saddles mentions a Mexican laundress married to a 7th Cavalry trooper. On her demise, she was found to be a lady with a difference.

These might give you some ideas, even if they aren't quite on the mark.

AZ_Dawn said:

One of my characters is a female pirate. She went to sea disguised as a man and was found out, but continues to dress like a man.

What would being disguised as a man with anything resembling success entail back then? How could they hide some of the more noticeable female activities (once-a-month issues, why "Bob" doesn't use the head the same way the other guys do, etc.)? If it helps, she's tall for a woman, somewhat small-chested, and has an alto voice (think Toni Braxton).

Also, what was society's opinion of a known woman who dressed as a man? Crazy weirdo? Loose woman? Lesbian? What would they think of any alleged boyfriend of hers? Anything else I should know? The opinions can be for landlubbers as well as seafarers.

Thanks!

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Definatly a loose woman. She would be no governor's daughter seeking her lost love, a lowly blacksmith. That's all Disney.

I'm not familiar with female pirates, but I do believe some did get away with dressing up as a man. She'd have to be careful about it though, but I'm sure you're well aware of that.

Also, to be a man she:

must be swift as a coursing river
With all the force of a great typhoon
With all the strength of a raging fire
Mysterious as the dark side of the moon

Sorry, I had to do that.

It really wasn't necessary for a women to pretend to be a man in order to be a pirate. A fair number of pirates were openly women.

All the crew cared about was how successful the captain was in obtaining booty, and how he or she shared it. Movies give a poor impression of what a pirate captain actually was. He or she remained captain only as long as everything went well.

But women have been pirates for nearly as long as piracy has been around.

I also highly recommend reading Celica Rees's Pirates! Very good AW historical fiction.

She's picked the right time for it. In 17th and early18th century Europe, at any rate, cross-dressing women who did 'spirited and martial' things were actually celebrated, and there were plays and songs written about them. The only unforgiveable 'crime', I'm afraid, was to be a lesbian. (Plus ca change...)

They'd have been a lot less keen on the piracy, though. As James says, there were woman pirates anyway, and the public were quite happy to see them hang.

As for how she could do it, your best source would be John A Lynne's excellent 'Women, Armies and Warfare in Early Modern Europe', which covers women who successfully masqueraded as men in the armies.

The key issues were:

Voice and lack of facial hair
This was always dealt with by pretending to be a young adolescent. The snag, of course, is that it meant a woman couldn't stay more than a couple of years with a regiment/crew without someone getting suspicious.

Breasts
Various solutions, from bandaging/strapping to drinking a 'chemical potion' that reduced the size of the breasts. The greatest risk was during exercise, and in 1761 Maruerite Goubler was discovered when she danced with her companions at Mardi Gras - and they noticed her bouncing breasts.

Urination
The obvious solution in an emergency was to pretend to be defecating rather than urinating, so that no-one questioned the trousers-down thing. Longer term, however, at least two women devised a special 'tube' arrangement so they could piss standing up with the boys. Catharina Linck had a 'leather-covered horn' which she wore strapped to her naked body, which enabled her to pass so successfully she even married a woman. It still wasn't perfect. Her wife apparently said 'Other men can piss quite a way, but you always piss on your shoes.'

Menstruation
This was the big one, as the usual 'rag' method was hardly proof against the closeness of contact with other soldiers - and would be even less so on a crowded pirate vessel. One woman was so desperate she used to force an argument with her NCO every month in order to be placed in the privacy of the guardhouse once a week. However, women did succeed in hiding it, some for a long time, and although they were coy about revealing their method it seems likely they were actually using a form of early tampon.

That's all I can find, I'm afraid. But it's a great subject, and I look forward to seeing the finished result!

Louise

If she's a pirate then she's going to be on the low rung of the society ladder.

Remember a woman's sphere was hearth and home. Women were expected to get married and bring up the children.

I would imagine--but I can't say for sure--that a woman who turned to piracy would be seen as something like a prostitute. She might not actually be sleeping around, but if word gets out that she's a girl her reputation is going to go WAY down. And then of course there's the whole thing about her breaking the law to be a pirate...

Also, while loose did mean no lacings, it also meant women of the lower class who could not afford said corsets/stays. If its in the 1700s then we'd be talking about stays. However, I don't think your character would have either.

I think there would be a lot of variables. In general, those crews, from what I've read, were in very close contact. The ships they preferred were small and fast, with months at sea. Living quarters would be tight, maybe sharing bunks. But some ships were captured merchantmen, with a lot of space.

In good weather, she could sleep on deck. Elimination would be no real problem, since they used the poop deck and she could wait until that large stretch was empty.

And, like has been stated, there were ships where women were openly accepted. Then there were jobs that would get her away from working as a deckhand. Maybe an assistant navigator or other officer?

Since the ships recruited by a more or less Democratic process, there were probably hookers on many of them. Such women might well be used in fighting. A woman could wield a blunderbuss with the best of them, though positions that demanded strength, such as swinging a sword, might be beyond the capacity of most of them.

In any case, if openly a woman, I wouldn't want to bet on any attempt of chastity. I don't think it would be possible, in such close quarters, to keep up the pretense very long.

I'll bet there was quite a bit of homosexuality on those ships, the weaker crewmen being forced into that position. Sooner or later, someone would grope her and the secret would be out. Men will be men and they were rough men. Look at any jail or prison where such men are confined in close proximity for long periods.

Charlie

Remember, too, that her pirate-ship companions probably wouldn't have been the most honorable sailors out there. It's one thing to go to port and do some illegal stuff while trying to make the most of your off time, but it's another entirely to hop on board a vessel whose sole purpose is looting and destroying. That takes a certain kind of character--or a certain kind of desperation.

So you're locking your MC on a ship with...well, basically low-level mobsters who haven't seen their wives/mistresses/hookers in a few months. (Go read some stories about what happened to women at the hands of seasoned criminals on mixed-gender prison transports to the Gulags if you want a more recent example of women locked in close quarters with desperate and ethically challenged men.) I would bet that if she's pretending to be a man and gets "found out," she'll probably wind up falling victim to some sort of sexual violence or other, no matter how kick-ass she is. She has to sleep sometime, she probably can't fight off any more than three guys on her own without a weapon, and sneaky cross-dressing or gender-bending could even be a deal-breaker for the friends who might otherwise protect her.

You could always create some horrible superstition that would make them keep away from her. Make them think she's a witch who could shrivel their weasels! Just give her a third nipple and she's golden.

MeretSeger said:

You could always create some horrible superstition that would make them keep away from her. Make them think she's a witch who could shrivel their weasels! Just give her a third nipple and she's golden.

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bahahaha

That or a mole...or a carrot for a nose

I love reading what everyone has to say about this. My own MC is a cross-dressing girl (really, he thinks of himself as a boy/man) and the very reason he doesn't go to sea is for fear of his secret being discovered under such cramped conditions. (Mine is 19th century, but still...)