Women's Gender-Crossing in Twentieth Century British Popular Culture

二十世纪英国流行文化中的女性跨性别

• 批准号: AH/D500109/1
• 负责人: Alison Oram
• 金额: $ 2.63万
• 依托单位: University of Northampton
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2006 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FD500109%2F1
• 关键词: Women; Gender; Crossing; Twentieth; Century

Reports of gender-crossing women appeared regularly and repeatedly in the mass media from the turn of the twentieth century to the 1960s. They successfully passed as men in everyday life; working in masculine employment, perhaps marrying other women, or fighting for their country. Male impersonation was also a continuing theme in popular entertainment. Tracking the changing representation of female gender-crossing in the popular press and other cultural forms, this research will develop our knowledge about the ways in which desire between women and cross-gender identification were understood historically. It will significantly revise assumptions about the history of modern gender and sexual identities, especially lesbianism and transsexuality.Gender-crossing women are not minor figures in the history of sexuality. Continuing press reports reflect anxieties around changing gender relations and understandings of same-sex desire during the twentieth century. Until now, the dissemination of new ideas about sexuality has largely been explored in relation to professional and official discourses, including medical writings and those of the new 'science' of sexology pioneered in Britain by Havelock Ellis, and in fiction and other literature available to the educated middle class. The area of mass culture and popular sexual knowledge remains under-researched, especially for ideas about women's same-sex desire and cross-dressing.Historians have focused on two moments- the 1928 censoring of the lesbian novel The Well of Loneliness, written by the masculine-appearing Radcliffe Hall, and the 1929 trial of "Colonel Barker" for passing as a man and marrying another woman- asserting that these were key turning points in the social awareness of lesbianism and the history of transgender. While these events were undoubtedly significant, it is important to look at the whole context of stories about cross-dressing, sex change and lesbianism in the popular press and other media to judge the speed at which changes in popular knowledge and public narratives occurred. This research shows that while there might have been earlier "knowingness", it was not until after the Second World War that cross-dressing was explicitly linked to lesbianism and transsexuality in popular culture.This study surveys all the stories of cross-dressing in three mass circulation British Sunday newspapers- over 200 different reports in all -and analyses the recurring themes, explanations, language and style of the reports, placing them in the wider context of mass entertainment, especially variety theatre, and everyday medical discourses. It will develop the idea that theatrical frameworks, humor and ambiguity were important in maintaining the ostensibly innocent representation of women's gender-crossing for so long, while also contributing alongside science and medicine tomodern concepts of sexual identity.What gender-crossing women themselves had to say is also significant. While mediated by journalists and editors, their self-presentation can show which ideas about gender-crossing were current and acceptable in working-class culture, and the ways in which women could exercise agency in their own lives and actively contribute to emerging ideas about sexual identity.This research will make a major and original contribution to our understanding of a crucial period of historical change in gender relations and the development of modern ideas about sexual identity.

从世纪之交到1960年代，关于跨性别妇女的报道经常反复出现在大众媒体上。他们在日常生活中成功地通过了男人的身份;在男性职业中工作，也许娶了其他女人，或者为他们的国家而战。男性模仿也是流行娱乐中的一个持续主题。追踪女性跨性别在大众媒体和其他文化形式中的代表性变化，这项研究将发展我们对女性之间的欲望和跨性别认同的历史理解方式的知识。它将极大地修正关于现代性别和性身份历史的假设，特别是女同性恋和变性。持续不断的新闻报道反映了人们对二十世纪性别关系变化和对同性欲望理解的焦虑。到目前为止，关于性的新观念的传播主要是在专业和官方话语中进行的，包括医学著作和哈夫洛克·埃利斯在英国开创的性学新“科学”，以及小说和其他文学作品。大众文化和流行性知识领域的研究仍然不足，特别是关于女性同性欲望和变装的想法。历史学家关注两个时刻--1928年女同性恋小说《孤独之井》（The Well of Lonemore）被审查，这部小说的作者是男性化的拉德克利夫·霍尔（Radcliffe Hall），以及1929年对“巴克上校”的审判，罪名是冒充男性并与另一名女性结婚--声称这些是社会对女同性恋的认识和变性人历史的关键转折点。虽然这些事件无疑意义重大，但重要的是要看看大众报刊和其他媒体上关于变装、变性和女同性恋的故事的整个背景，以判断大众知识和公共叙事发生变化的速度。这项研究表明，虽然可能有更早的“知道”，但直到第二次世界大战后，变装才被明确地与流行文化中的女同性恋和变性联系在一起。这项研究调查了英国三家发行量很大的星期日报纸上所有关于变装的报道--总共200多篇不同的报道--并分析了报道中反复出现的主题、解释、语言和风格，将它们置于大众娱乐的更广泛背景下，特别是综艺剧院和日常医学话语。它将发展这样一种观点，即戏剧框架、幽默和模糊性在维持女性跨性别的表面上无辜的表现方面发挥了重要作用，同时也与科学和医学一起促进了现代性身份的概念。跨性别女性自己不得不说的话也很重要。在记者和编辑的调解下，他们的自我介绍可以表明哪些关于性别交叉的想法是当前的，在工人阶级文化中是可以接受的，以及妇女如何在自己的生活中行使能动性，并积极为新出现的性别认同观念做出贡献。这项研究将为我们理解性别关系历史变化的关键时期和关于性身份的现代观念