Dressing masculine: female sex workers' sartorial expression in early modern Italy

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My project intends to queer the history of masculinity and masculine dress in early modern history. There is evidence fora significant number of female sex workers wearing masculine attire in early modern Italy. However, there is yet to be astudy that investigates the forms that this masculine expression took and women's motivations for gender nonconformity.My aim is to fill this gap in the scholarship, and to explore the following questions. Did sex workers choose masculineattire for only professional reasons (to attract homosexual male clients, as authorities worried), or as an expression ofidentity? By extension, is there a queer and/or trans history to be brought to light here? What can sartorial expression tellus about the permeability of gender boundaries in early modern, pre-Enlightenment Europe? I intend to use acombination of syphilis hospital records, court records, popular pamphlets and travel writing as source material. Syphilishospitals recorded detailed notes on patients' attire. Since sex workers were particularly afflicted, an exploration ofsyphilis hospital records from across Italy could provide insight into how common it was for female sex workers to wearmasculine attire, what kinds of garments were worn, and their materiality. Court record accounts will be useful foruncovering sex workers' motivations for cross-dressing. Travel writing, popular pamphlets and publications will provideevidence of sartorial expression embedded in urban space.