Erauso Women

Erauso refuses to accept these defined social roles and breaks free to change her appearance and personality in accordance with the masculine code of the 17th century. She began by cutting her hair and creating man’s clothes from her own. A fitting analogy to creating a man’s life out of hers. She became "a well-dressed young bachelor" (Erauso 7). When we compare this upbringing to that of her brothers, we see a significant difference. Her brother was allowed to choose what he wished to do. He choose to join the Army and travel the world (Erauso 18). We see typical male occupations as Erauso leads her life as a man. At certain points she is a page, a soldier, a clerk, and one could argue a homeless rogue. These are all very male jobs because they exemplified what it meant to be a man in that era. These …show more content…
We see many instances of her gambling addiction, short temper, and willingness to kill. It is because of these behaviors that Erauso had many encounters with the law and many duels and fights ending in the murder of her opponent. This again shows many of the behaviors that were acceptable by men in the 17th century. Men are seen as more violent than women. Perhaps this also still holds true today. In today’s society, men are seen as more violent than women and if a domestic violence occurs, most people just assume that the male is at fault. A great example of just how engulfed in the role of a male that Erauso was is when she gets into fights with men who call her a “cuckold” (Erauso 40). A cuckold is a man whose wife is cheating on. It is an insult to a man’s honor. By her fighting the man over this shows that that either she is truly insulted over it because she believes she is a man now or to keep up with her male disguise. This shows that men are violent and must defend their honor. This term also shows how woman are viewed as property and that it is the man’s fault if the wife