Throughout history, masculinity has been viewed as superior to and more powerful than femininity. This power structure is seen in the gender hierarchies present in many different cultures and societies, and various historians and social theorists have described this and attempted to explain the impact on gender roles. Jean E. Howard, a professor at Columbia University, described one example of the gender system’s impacts in early modern England through her discussion of crossdressing. In her article “Crossdressing, The Theatre, and Gender Struggle in Early Modern England,” Howards explains how women were seen as naturally inferior to men, and for this reason, men who dressed as women were shameful for forfeiting their superior societal status.
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The challenges to the gender system become more frequent as time goes on due to changing social environment. However, because the gender hierarchy continues to exist, there continue to be challenges to the system. One example of this is women crossdressing in early modern England. Howard explains that by crossdressing, women in Shakespearean England were trying to gain the privileges enjoyed by their male counterparts. Queen Elizabeth I used a similar strategy to obtain the power and respect afforded to kings at the time. In order to establish herself as an important and respectable governing power, Elizabeth I called herself a king and made efforts to present herself as a male ruler to the public and Parliament (Heisch). Elizabeth I even says, “I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a King of England too” (Heisch 53). Elizabeth I wanted to have the full status of a monarch of England and went to great lengths to ensure others saw her as the equal of a king as well. While feminism was barely beginning to develop during the Elizabethan era, the twentieth century brought about significant developments in women’s rights, specifically in Europe and the United States (de Beauvoir.) The rise in feminism demonstrates women’s desire to equality and access to it. Women became more willing to express their desire for and to fight for equal …show more content…
By strengthening their association with masculinity and decreasing their link to femininity, women lay claim to status enjoyed by men. In early modern England, women who crossdressed tried to acquire the status of men by presenting themselves as male (Howard). This “threatened a normative social order,” and women who were bold enough to attempt this were “punished for their audacity” (418). Similarly, although Queen Elizabeth I of England did not publicly crossdress and was of a significantly higher social class than those who did, she identified herself as a king or a male ruler frequently in order to obtain the power that was normally held by a male ruler. In her article, de Beauvoir confirms that this relates to modern times as well. In her discussion of how women are defined in relation to men, she mentions that in order to become independent and gain full equality, women must break their dependence on men. However, this means taking on the roles previously filled by men in their lives. They essentially must become more masculine to achieve
The challenges to the gender system become more frequent as time goes on due to changing social environment. However, because the gender hierarchy continues to exist, there continue to be challenges to the system. One example of this is women crossdressing in early modern England. Howard explains that by crossdressing, women in Shakespearean England were trying to gain the privileges enjoyed by their male counterparts. Queen Elizabeth I used a similar strategy to obtain the power and respect afforded to kings at the time. In order to establish herself as an important and respectable governing power, Elizabeth I called herself a king and made efforts to present herself as a male ruler to the public and Parliament (Heisch). Elizabeth I even says, “I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a King of England too” (Heisch 53). Elizabeth I wanted to have the full status of a monarch of England and went to great lengths to ensure others saw her as the equal of a king as well. While feminism was barely beginning to develop during the Elizabethan era, the twentieth century brought about significant developments in women’s rights, specifically in Europe and the United States (de Beauvoir.) The rise in feminism demonstrates women’s desire to equality and access to it. Women became more willing to express their desire for and to fight for equal …show more content…
By strengthening their association with masculinity and decreasing their link to femininity, women lay claim to status enjoyed by men. In early modern England, women who crossdressed tried to acquire the status of men by presenting themselves as male (Howard). This “threatened a normative social order,” and women who were bold enough to attempt this were “punished for their audacity” (418). Similarly, although Queen Elizabeth I of England did not publicly crossdress and was of a significantly higher social class than those who did, she identified herself as a king or a male ruler frequently in order to obtain the power that was normally held by a male ruler. In her article, de Beauvoir confirms that this relates to modern times as well. In her discussion of how women are defined in relation to men, she mentions that in order to become independent and gain full equality, women must break their dependence on men. However, this means taking on the roles previously filled by men in their lives. They essentially must become more masculine to achieve