Marcus Rediker and John Appleby are insightful and offer similar yet different perspectives on the topic of women and piracy. Rediker argues that the stereotype during the 16th and 17th centuries was that women are not physically capable of being pirates and that only a certain type of women could ever take on the challenge. He uses primary and secondary sources that validates his claim that women are less physically capable to operate a ship than men. Rediker’s chapter also analyzes Anne Bonny and Mary Read’s lives and what made them want to challenge gender roles. He concludes that the women had more male characteristics than female ones which ultimately made them ‘radical women’. John Appleby’s argues that it is not the strength of a woman that limited her but the dangers of being a woman among a community of sexist men. Appleby suggests that women tended to be only bystanders to piracy and were only involved through their fisherman husbands, retail and trade. His analysis on Johnson’s History questions the validity of Anne Bonny and Mary Read’s lives and whether Johnson made parts up to create an interesting story. Prior to reading the chapters I did not know that women had such a small role in piracy. Today women are presented as active agents in piracy through films and novels, but that is not the case. The image of female pirate warriors came from Johnson’s History based of Read and Bonny and exploited by the media. Without Johnson’s History the figure of a pirate heroine perhaps would have never
Marcus Rediker and John Appleby are insightful and offer similar yet different perspectives on the topic of women and piracy. Rediker argues that the stereotype during the 16th and 17th centuries was that women are not physically capable of being pirates and that only a certain type of women could ever take on the challenge. He uses primary and secondary sources that validates his claim that women are less physically capable to operate a ship than men. Rediker’s chapter also analyzes Anne Bonny and Mary Read’s lives and what made them want to challenge gender roles. He concludes that the women had more male characteristics than female ones which ultimately made them ‘radical women’. John Appleby’s argues that it is not the strength of a woman that limited her but the dangers of being a woman among a community of sexist men. Appleby suggests that women tended to be only bystanders to piracy and were only involved through their fisherman husbands, retail and trade. His analysis on Johnson’s History questions the validity of Anne Bonny and Mary Read’s lives and whether Johnson made parts up to create an interesting story. Prior to reading the chapters I did not know that women had such a small role in piracy. Today women are presented as active agents in piracy through films and novels, but that is not the case. The image of female pirate warriors came from Johnson’s History based of Read and Bonny and exploited by the media. Without Johnson’s History the figure of a pirate heroine perhaps would have never