Moll Cutpurse Research Paper

Moll Cutpurse: The Power of Gender Performativity Moll Cutpurse defies the traditional idea of femininity by dressing in men’s clothing, doing activities that were traditionally forbidden for women to partake in (e.g. smoking tobacco, pimping, swearing, stealing and reselling stolen goods), and using her intelligence and personality to trick men. This cumulatively aided her over time and put her into a position of power in both of her career fields. Although it is obvious she cross-dresses as a form of self-expression, she primarily does it for socioeconomic power and monetary wealth. Just think; would she even be employed outside of the home if she was conventionally dressed and behaved “as a woman”? Moll Cutpurse is one of many examples of gender performativity and the social power that it holds. As stated by feminist philosopher Judith Butler, gender is created through a repeated set of acts that are paired with the “gendered stylization of the body” (Butler xv). Gender is an internalized characteristic that everyone possesses and subconsciously performs. In more …show more content…
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