In an essay that is AT LEAST one page, answer the following question : Did Europeans bring freedom to the Americas?-Each essay must have a thesis ,body and conclusion.-Each essay must define freedom.-Each essay must cite AT LEAST two primary sources.-Each essay must cite one video example.-Each essay must cite one article.NO OUTSIDE RESEARCH IS NEEDED FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT.VIDEO:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvhKeJ6m3rY&t=132s
b820db09e1a4b69b812c6787250ed45.jpg
5904c5e4f0c5ec9f6214c77edd1f06e.jpg
f66d47c5186a2b310314824417830d3.jpg
9a96a08289a8d805d19cfb91c3de62d.jpg
brownkatheleen.pdf
Unformatted Attachment Preview
“Changed… into the Fashion of Man”: The Politics of Sexual Difference in a SeventeenthCentury Anglo-American Settlement
Author(s): Kathleen Brown
Source: Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Oct., 1995), pp. 171-193
Published by: University of Texas Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3704121 .
Accessed: 28/01/2015 23:46
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]
.
University of Texas Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the
History of Sexuality.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 130.182.50.101 on Wed, 28 Jan 2015 23:46:09 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
“Changed. . . into the fashionof man”:The
Politicsof SexualDifferencein a SeventeenthSettlement
CenturyAnglo-American
IkATHLEENBROWN
Departmentof History
R?t,gersUniversity
IN16 2 9, THEgenderidentityof servantThomasHallstirredcon-
Virginia,a smallEntroversyamongthe residentsof Warrosquyoacke,
glishsettlementlocatedacrossthe JamesRiverfromwhatthe English
called”JamesCittie.”A recentmigrant,Hallsoon became
optimistically
A serthe subjectof rumorsconcerninghissexualideniityandbehavior.
vantman’sreportthatHall”hadlayenwitha maydof Mr.RichardBennetts”mayinitiallyhavesparkedthe inquirythatled to questionsabout
Hall’ssex.Althoughfornicationwasnot an unusualoffensein the colony-the skewedsexratioof nearlythreemento everyone womanand
servants’sexualactivities
the absenceof effectivemeansfor restraining
than that in Englands
higher
produceda bastardyratesignificantly
Hall’sresponseto the chargeandthe subsequentbehaviorof hisneighof sexual1nisconWhenallegations
borswerequiteout of the ordinary.l
ductandambiguoussexualidentityreachedthe earsof severalmarried
investigation
women,Hall’scasespiraledintoa uniquecommunity-wide
1For bastardyratesin the Chesapeake,see Lois GreenCarrand LorenaS. Walsh,”The
Maryland,”WilPlanter’sWife:The Experienceof WhiteWomenin Seventeenth-Century
li66vn6ndMaryQrterly, 3d ser.,24 (1977): 542-71; HerbertMoller,”SexComposition
and CorrelatedCulturePatternsof ColonialAmerica,”Witlio^nandKMary QHarterly, 3d
ser., 11 (1945): 113-53. For comparisonto New England,see MaryBeth Norton, “The
Evolutionof WhiteWoman’sExperience,”AznericoDnHistorical Review 89 (1984): 593619; RogerThompson,Sencin Middlesex: Popular Moresin a MassorchusettsCounty, 16491699 (Amherst,MA, 1986), pp. 13, 70.
2]
VO1.
6nO
1995
00
1043-4070/96/0602-0001$01
reSerVed
X1
rightS
Of
ChiCagOE
The
UniVerSitY
1995
bY
[JournouloftheHistoryofSencuglity
t
171
This content downloaded from 130.182.50.101 on Wed, 28 Jan 2015 23:46:09 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
172
KATHLEEN B ROWN
that eventuallycrossedthe rivcrto the colony’sGeneralCourt at
Jamestown.2
Courttestimonyrevealedthatwhilein England,Hallhadwornwomen’sclothingandperformedtraditionally
femaletaskssuch as needleworkandlacemalring.Oncein Virginia,Hallalsooccasionally
donned
femalegarb,a practicethatconfusedneighbors,masters,andplantation
captainsabouthissocialandsexualidentity.WhenaskedbyCaptainNathanielBass,Warrosquyoacke’s
mostprominentresident)”whetherhe
weremanor woeman,”Hallrepliedthathe wasboth. Confoundedby
the discrepancy
betweenHall’spurportedmaleidentityandhis appearance, anotherman inquiredwhy he worewomen’sclothes.Hall answered,”Igoe in wcomansaparellto gett a bittformyCatt.”Asrumors
continuedto circulate,Hall’scurrentmasterJohnAtkinsremainedunsureof hisnewservant’s
sex.Butthe certaintythatHallhadperpetrated
a greatwrongagainstthe residentsof Warrosquyoacke
withhisunusual
sartorial
styleled Atlrinsto approachCaptairl
Bass,”desir[ing]thathee
[Hall]mightbe punishedforhis abuse.”
Unableto resolvetheissue,Warrosquyoacke
localssentHall’scaseto
the GeneralCourtat Jamestown,
wheredetailsof the communityinvestigationandHall’spersonalhistorywererecordedbythe clerk.TwowitnessestestiSedto the community’s
multipleeffortsto gatherphysical
evidence.Hall,meanwhile,providedjusticeswitha narrative
historyof
his genderidentity.Together,thistestimonyconstitutesthe maindocumentarytrailleft by the personknownvariouslyas Thomasor ThomasineHall. Othercolonialrecordsrevealonly a few additionaldetails
aboutthisunusualservantandtheunprecedented
investigation
of Hall’s
body,sexualhistory,andidentity.3
Despitethe paucityof evidence,Hall’scasepresentsa nonetheless
richlydetailedglimpseof an earlymoderncommunity’s
responsesto
gendertransgression,
exposingto viewa multiplicity
of popularbeliefs
aboutsexualdifferenceandthe varietyof usesto whichtheycouldbe
put bygroupsof peoplewithdifferelltstakesin the socialorder.In contrastto most of the knowllEuropeancasesof gendertransgression
in
the earlymodernperiod,the brieftranscript
of the Hallcasecontainsa
vividdescriptionof the effortsof ordinarypeople(whomI definehere
2 H. R. McIlwaine,
ed., Minxtes of the Coxncil clnd Gener6llCourt of ColonioDlVi7:ginia,
2d ed. (Richmond,VA,1974), pp. 194-95 . The ThomastineHallcaseis discussedin Alden
Vaughan,”TheSadCaseof Thomas(ine)Hall,”ViCginio«Mo«,ggzineof History olnd Biorphy 86 (1978): 146-48; JonathanNed Katz, Ggy/LesDignAlnac:
A New Docnentgry
(New York,1983), pp. 71-72; Ivor Noel Hume, Mgrtin’s H?ndred (New York,1982),
pp. 133-34.
3McIlwaine,ed., pp. 194-95. Ullless otherwiseindicated,all referencesto the testimonyin the Hall casecomes fromthis source.
This content downloaded from 130.182.50.101 on Wed, 28 Jan 2015 23:46:09 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
XChgn,ged
. . . into thefgshionof gan”
173
as individuals
who did not participate
directlyin formallegal,medical,
or scientifictheorizingaboutsexualdifference)to determinea sexually
ambiguouspersorfsidentity.Facedwithanindividual
who didnot conform to conventionalgendercategories,the residentsof Warrosquyoacke gatheredempiricalevidenceabout Hall’s physicalbody. The
subsequentrleedto reporttheirfindingsto a superiorcourtcompelled
peoplewho normallydidnot articulate
theirviewson sexualdifference
to definethe essenceof malenessandfemaleness.
TheHallcasenot only
providesdocumentary
evidenceof thesebeliefs,but offersan opportunityto reconstruct
whatwe mightcall”beliefs-in-action.”
Wecanthus
analyzeeachgroup’sarticulation
of sexualdifference
bycomparing
it to
theirinvestigatory
method,theirclaims(oftenimplicit)to expertise,and
theirauthorityin the community.
Hall’scasealsooffersa uniquechanceto comparepopularconcepts
of sexualdifference,aboutwhichlittleis known,withelitemedicaland
scientificdiscourses,
aboutwhichmuchhasbeenwrittenin recentyears.
Severalscholarshavearguedthat until the earlynineteenthcentury,
medico-scientific
theoriesof sexualdifference
werenot basedon a model
of anatomical
incommensurability.
Rather,manyearlymodernmedical
theoristsandscientistsworkedwithina predominantly
Galenicframeworkthatemphasized
anatomical
parallelism
andthepotentialmutabilityof the sexes.Womenwerenot a separatesex,accordingto thismodel
of difference,butanimperfectversionof men.Lackingthe vitalheatto
developexternalgenitalia,women’sdeformedorgansremainedtucked
inside.Manyearlymodernwritersnoted,however,thatstrenuousphysical activityor mannishbehaviorcouldcausea woman’shiddentesticles
andpenisto emergesuddenly,an occurrencecontemporaries
explained
as evidenceof Nature’sunerringtendencytowarda stateof greaterperfection.4In the absenceof anyothercriticalmethodforresolvingcompeting truth claims,theoristsreassertedreceivedwisdomabout the
differentnaturesof menandwomen.Theresultant
absenceof a coherent
biologicalfoundationfor sex addedto the inherentinstabilityof con4Michel Foucault, Hercxline Barbin: Bein,g the Recently Discovered Mewoirs of a
Nineteenth-CentHry French Herphrodite
(New York, 1980), pp. vii-xvii; Stephen
Greenblatt, ‘Fiction and Friction,” in Shgkespegre6lnNegotiations: The Circ?lgtion of Socigl
Energy in Rengissance En,glc«nd,ed. Stephen Greenblatt (Berkeley, 1988), pp. 66-93; Ludmilla Jordanova, SexxoDlVisions:In,ges of Gender in ScienceazndMedicine betweenthe Ei,ghteenth gnd Twentieth Centuries (Madison, WI, 1989); Thomas Laqueur, Making Sex:Body
and Gende7frozn the Greeksto Fregd (Cambridge, MA, 1990); see also Ludmilla J. Jordanova, ed., Lorn,gucD,ges
of Ngtxre: Critical Essc«yson Science gnd LitercDt?re(New Brunswick, NJ, 1986); Ian MacLean, TheRengisso«nceNotion of Won: A Stxdy of the Fortxnes
of Scholasticis7zn
gnd Medicgl Science in EHrwpe&nIntellectxoBlLife (Cambridge, 1980),
pp. 28-46.
This content downloaded from 130.182.50.101 on Wed, 28 Jan 2015 23:46:09 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
174
KATHLEEN B ROWN
ceptsof sexualdifferenceevenas it madesuchconceptsmoreavailable
andadaptation.5
forlocalappropriation
parallelsandmutaScientificdiscoursesthatemphasizedanatomical
bilityultimatelyleft the lion’sshareof the workof producinggender
distinctionsto legalandreligiousinstitutions,localcustom,and daily
Borrowingliberallyfromreligiousandmedicaltextsthat
performance.
enshrinedgenderdifferlegalinterpreters
assumedwomen’sinferiority,
for
encesin the lawsgoverningmarriage,property,andaccountability
in
genderdifferences
crime.Christiantheologianssimilarlyreaffirmed
forreasonand
of men’sandwomen’scapacity
theirdivergentassessments
of boundaryviolationsas sinfuland defiling.In
theircondemnations
genderbounddailylife, meanwhile,familyandneighborsnaturalized
ariesby insistingon the continuityof identityestablishedandaffirmed
accorded
throughclothing,names,work,and the publicapprobation
Law,religion,andcustomthusstabilized
relationships.
to heterosexual
genderalthoughtheydidso withoutaccessto a stablebiologicalconcept
of sexualdifference.6
Whenchallengesto earlymoderncategoriesof manhoodandwomor
Europe,asin the caseof hermaphroditism
anhoodarosein Christian
fellprimarily
the burdenof explicatinggenderdifferences
transvestism,
traineddoctors
withacademically
in consultation
to the legalapparatus
and scientiScinvestigators.Legalconstructionsof genderdifference
in the medicaland
weregenerallylessambiguousthanthoseelaborated
scientificliteratureof the period,however,as the courts,whichwere
mainlyconcernedto preservecleargenderboundariesratherthanexto altertheirgenploreanomalies,hadthe powerto coerceindividuals
had a
Ratherthaninsistingthatthe hermaphrodite
derperformances.
earlymodernleanatomically,
“true”coresexthatcouldbe determined
gal authoritiesurgedthe individualto adopteithera maleor female
identity.Echoingreligiousand philosophictreatisesthat categorized
5MacLean, pp. 28-46; Peter Stallybrass and Ann Jones, “Fetishizing Gender: ConPolitics
structing the Hermaphrodite in Renaissance Europe,” in BodyGxcfrds:The Cslt?WroBl
of GenderAtnbigsity, ed. Julia Epstein and I(ristina Straub (NewYork, 1991), pp. 80-111,
esp. p. 88.
in PreM6[rrionpotence:Vitility 6Ztad
6MacLean, pp. 6-27; Pierre Darmon, TrioDl
Revolxtionary Frgnce, trans. Paul Ikeegan (London, 1985), pp. 40-58; Laqueur, pp.
122-42; Stallybrass and Jones, pp. 88-89; Mary Elizabeth Perry, Gender and Disorder in
Ec«rlyModern Seville (Princeton, NJ, 1990), pp. 123-35; Roger Thompson, “Attitudes
of
towards Homosexuality in the Seventeenth-Century New England Colonies,” Jo?,lrtz6ffi1
Asnerican St?Wdies23(1989): 27-40; Richard Godbeer, “‘The Cry of Sodom’: Discourse,
Intercourse, and Desire in Colonial New England,” Williolg and MolryQvgrterly, 3d ser.,
52 (1995): 259-86.
This content downloaded from 130.182.50.101 on Wed, 28 Jan 2015 23:46:09 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
XChoDnged
. . . into thefgshionof goDn”
175
hermaphrodites
as monsters,legaldiscoursereaffirmed
genderboundariesbyrefusingto admitsexualambiguitylegally.7
Transvestism,
whichtypicallytook the formof womendressingas
men duringthe sixteenthandseventeenthcenturies,represented
a differentsortof challenge
. Whilethehermaphrodite
embodiedtheslippery
dualismof all sexualidentitiesunderthe Galenicone-sexmodel,the
transvestite
undermined
society’sabilityto use clothingto stabilizedistinctsexualidentities.AsMarjorie
Garbernotes,transvestism
constitutes
“notjusta categorycrisisof maleandfemale,butthe crisisof category
itself,”in otherwords,a transgression
that threatensto rendersexual
taxonomymeaningless.8
Anthropologist
MaryDouglas,moreover,has
observedthe importanceof suchtaxonomyfor othersocialcategories,
aswellasfora society’sconceptsof purityandpollution.9Earlymodern
theologiansdenouncedtransvestismas a violation of prohibitions
spelledout in Deut. 22:5: “thewomanshallnot wearthatwhichpertainethunto a man,neithershalla manput on a woman’sgarment,for
allthatdo so areabominable
untothe LordthyGod.”Legalinstitutions
similarlyattemptedto police genderboundariesby punishingcrossdressingharshly.
Thepenaltiesremained
lessseverein Eng;land,
however,
withits traditionof transvestite
theater,thantheydid on the European
continent,wherethe crimewasa capitaloffense.Unlikethe hermaphrodite,whowasusuallyallowedto choosea permanent
identity,the transvestite’swrongdoingcouldbe rectifiedonlyby the restorative
powerof
punishment.
10
Complicating
the effortto retrievepopulardiscourses
of sexualdifferenceis the factthataccountsof Hall’sbodyandpast,likemostaccounts
of earlymoderngendertransgression,
werepresentedin a legalsetting
wheretheyweresubjectto theneedsofthe court.Despitethislegalcontext, the testimonyin the Hall casestillpermitsa comparison
between
7MacLean; Greenblatt, “Fiction and Friction,” pp. 66-93; Stallybrass and Jones, pp.
80-111; Darmon, pp. 40-58; Laqueur, pp. 122-42; IkatharinePark and Lorraine J. Daston, “Unnatural Conceptions: The Study of Monsters in Sixteenth- and SeventeenthCentury France and England,” Past and Present, no. 92 (1981), pp. 20-54.
8Marjorie Garber, VestedInterests: Cross-Dressin,gand Culturgt Annciety(New York,
1992), p. 17.
9Mary Douglas, Igpticit MeaninCgs:
Essaysin Anthropotogy(Boston, 1975 ), pp. xxx, 4970, and Pawrityand Danger: An Analysis of the Conceptsof Pottution and Taboo(New York,
1966), p. 5.
l°Vern L. Bullough and Bonnie Bullougha CrossDressing, Senc,and Gender (Philadelphia, 1993), pp. 94-101; Rudolf M. Dekker and I,otte C. van de Pol, The Tradition of
Fegale Transvestistnin Early Modern E?rope (New York, 1989); Jean E. Howard, “Cross
Dressing, the Theatre, and Gender Struggle in Early Modern England,” ShakespeareQuarterly 39 (1988): 181-210.
This content downloaded from 130.182.50.101 on Wed, 28 Jan 2015 23:46:09 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
176
KATHLEENB ROWN
of an ambiguousindividualand the subsecommunityexaminations
quentlegalprocess.Energeticandheterogenouscommunityinvestigationsof Hall’sidentityreflecteddifferentphilosophiesandtacticsfrom
GeneralCourt.Whilejusticesinquiredpolitely
thoseusedbyVirginia’s
intoHall’spast,seekinghistoricalanswersto thequestionof hisidentity,
personawithaggresmostof hisneighborsrespondedto hisfluctuating
sivecuriosityaboutwhatlayhiddenin his breeches.Thesettlerpopulaconsensus;no single popular
tion also had great difficultyreaching;
discourseof sexualdifferenceinformedtheir inquiries,nor did they
agreeaboutthe meaningof theirfindings.
The locationof Hall’scasein a recentlysettledEnglishcolonymay
historical
visibilityandheterogeneaccountin partforthe extraordinary
responsesto Hall.In additionto its distancefrom
ityof thecommunity’s
Warrosquyscientificandlegalauthority,
of metropolitan
the structures
As
in
mostsettleand
a
local
court.
church
oackelackedboth a parish
of authority
mentsinVirginiain the 1620s,suchformallocalinstitutions
for producing
simplydid not exist.In theirabsence,the responsibility
and maintaininggenderdistinctionfell almostentirelyto laypeople.
Popularideasaboutsexualidentityappearto havecarriedmoreweight
moresubject
in Virginiathanin England,althoughtheywereperl:laps
to challengefromotllerpopularsources.Thecolonialsiteof Hall’scase
thusservesto illuminatenot onlythevarietiesof popularbelief,butalso
interestin preservingthe
the fracturesandfissuresin the community’s
genderorder.
Perhapsthemostcompellingfeatureof Hall’scaseis Hallhim/herself.
Hall’slifedisruptedthe attemptsof justicesandneighborsaliketo treat
of
genderas a set of naturalcategories.For Hall, the “performance”
genderidentityappearedto be as malleableas a changeof clothesand
The burfor employment.
motivatedby opportunities
at leastpartially
modern
of
the
early
national
rivalries
and
commerce,
migration,
geoning
Hall’s
tO
produce
Atlanticworld,moreover,hadin manywayshelped
WhenaskedtO explainhis/hergenderidentity,Hall
complexpersonality.
in whichthevisiblesignsof genderwerenotpassive
produceda narrative
acinternalidentity,but communiques
of a naturalized,
manifestations
for publicconsumption.WhileHall
tivelyauthoredand manipulated
disseemedutterlyat easewithgenderas a choiceof self-presentation
tinctfromtheissuesof identity a postureI willexaminemorecloselyprovokedbothhis communityandthe colonialarm
his metamorphoses
identity.llDespitethe braofthe stateto discoverandaffixa permanent
11See JudithButler,”GenderTrouble,”in Feeninis/Postznodewrnisrn,ed. LindaJ. Nicholson (New York,1990), pp. 336-39, for her discussionof gender as performance.See
This content downloaded from 130.182.50.101 on Wed, 28 Jan 2015 23:46:09 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
XChanged
. . . into thef6«shion
of n”
177
zennessof Hall’stransgression
andtheimportance
of genderdifferentiation to the colonial economy,Hall receiveda comparatively
mild
punishment,raisingadditionalquestionsaboutthe significance
of this
case.
Letus turnnowto thecolonyof Virginiaandto Warrosquyoacke,
the
settlementwhereneighborsand plantationcommanders
foundHall’s
fluctuating
identityso perplexing.
l
By 1629, Virginiahadenjoyedseveralyearsof peaceandprosperity
butwasnevertheless
consideredanundesirable
anddangerousplaceby
manyEnglishmenandwomen.Twodecadesof warfare
withlocalIndiansculminated
in anIndianattackupontheEnglishpopulationin 1622,
a bloodyeventthattarnishedthe colony’searlyimageas a paradisefor
settlers.Reportsof rampant
disease,maltreated
servants,andbackbreaking labor,moreover,filteredbackto England,discouraged
femalemigrants,andexacerbated
the skewedsexratioandclimateof lawlessness
thatprevailedamongthe colony’spredominantly
young,male,andunmarriedsettlers.Thedifficulty
of attracting
dedicatedministersandsupportingchurchesin a regionwherethe sparseEuropeanpopulationwas
scatteredovermilesof riverinesettlements
ratherthanclusteredin towns
furthercontributedto the colony’sreputationfor godlessnessandimmorality.
In addition,by1629,thecolonialeconomywasISrmly
committed to theproductionof tobacco,a NewWorldtropicalcommoditythat
hadbecomefashionable
in royalandaristocratic
circlesthroughoutEurope.Despitetheeffortsof localofficialsto encourageeconomicdiversification,mostof thecolony’slandowners
devotedthemselves
to tobacco
andto procuringthelabornecessary
to itsproduction.Englishlaborers,
especiallymen,werethe preference
of mostplanters,althoughby 1629
a newcomerto VirginiamighthaveseenEnglishwomenor Africanlaborers,maleandfemale,hoeingrowsof tobacco.l2
A fledglingplantation
in a colonywhereeverything
wasrelatively
new,
also Stephen Greenblatt, Renzissgnce Self-Fashioninsg:Frotn More to Shgtespeare(Chicago,
1980), pp. 1-9.
l2Edmund S. Morgan, Agerican Slavery, Atnerican Freedotn: The Ordegl of Colonial
VirXinia (New York, 1975), pp. 3-179; Charles E. Hatch, Jr., The First Seventeen Y^egrs:
Virginia, 1607-1624 (Charlottesville, VA, 1957); Jordan Goodman, Tobo«cco
in History: The
Cultures of Dependence (New York, 1993), pp. 59-89; IkevinKelly, ” ‘In dispers’d Country
Plantations’: Settlement Pa …
Purchase answer to see full
attachment
