Compared to a trans-femme person, who in many ways is giving up social power, Moll uses her masculine attributes to liberate herself from marriage (which many girls were forced into at a young age), domestic work, and birthing and raising children, which were the primary expectations of women during the time period. There is evidence that even many cisgender women during the time period dressed like men simply to be able to be employed; Moll utilizes her masculinity to its upmost, which gets her the job working for the “pirates”, and eventually leads her up to the top of the thievery chain as a stolen goods broker. Moll’s life of smoking, stealing, and swearing would never be illustrated by a cisgender woman during the time period; that would be obscene and much too unladylike for their
Compared to a trans-femme person, who in many ways is giving up social power, Moll uses her masculine attributes to liberate herself from marriage (which many girls were forced into at a young age), domestic work, and birthing and raising children, which were the primary expectations of women during the time period. There is evidence that even many cisgender women during the time period dressed like men simply to be able to be employed; Moll utilizes her masculinity to its upmost, which gets her the job working for the “pirates”, and eventually leads her up to the top of the thievery chain as a stolen goods broker. Moll’s life of smoking, stealing, and swearing would never be illustrated by a cisgender woman during the time period; that would be obscene and much too unladylike for their