There was a theatrical counterpart to the real life cross-dressing women discussed in the previous chapter. It had become the fashion for women to play certain types of male roles on stage, under the cover term “breeches parts”. This was part of the contradictory acceptance/rejection of women in male disguise. Acceptability was not related to how well the disguise was pulled off: “masculine” clothing among fashionable women (such as riding habits) might be mocked while women discovered after passing completely as soldiers might be lauded.
trouser roles
This is a technical term for a female actor portraying a male character on stage. It includes both roles that are more typically played by male actors, and ones that are specifically designed to be filled by female actors. The overt nature of this type of cross-dressing provided an acceptable context for women spectators to experience erotic attraction to other women.
LHMP entry
This article concerns an individual who may more properly be interpreted as transgender, however as noted a number of times before, in a historic context where heteronormativity is so strong as to impede the ability to self-define as a woman-oriented woman, interpretation can be ambiguous.
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