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In our time, a person who puts on clothes more characteristic of the opposite sex can hardly surprise anyone. Now a lot of people who are dissatisfied with their gender identity are happy to use the possibilities of modern medicine and change their gender.
However, all this became possible not so long ago, while throughout the history of mankind people were born who, not wanting to put up with what mother nature had done to them, wore clothes, adopted habits and were engaged in a business characteristic of the opposite sex.
In this compilation, we will talk about the 10 most famous women who pretended to be men during their lifetime.
10 Billy Tipton
Billy Lee Tipton is a famous American pianist and saxophonist. In fact, this celebrated jazz musician was born a woman and was named Dorothy Lucille Tipton.
But already in his mature years, he got himself male documents and went to work in a jazz ensemble, leaving for Kansas City (Missouri).
Incredibly, his secret did not prevent him from marrying as many as five times! Billy told each of his wives that he was forced to wear a bandage for life, which allegedly was the result of an experienced car accident. The same explained the impossibility of having children, although he nevertheless became the father of three adopted boys. In 1989, Billy died of a stomach ulcer. And only then the whole truth about his gender was revealed to his family.
9. Mary Ann Talbot
Mary Ann Evans is a famous English writer who published her works all her life under the male pseudonym George Eliot.
The future writer was born into a poor, but very respected bourgeois English family. Her father worked as a manager in other people’s estates, and also had his own farm.
Real fame for Mary Ann Talbot after the publication of her novel “Middlemarch”.
The writer died in 1880 as a result of pneumonia.
8. Hua Mulan
Hua Mulan is a character in a famous Chinese poem. According to the plot, this girl went to war instead of her elderly father, pretending to be a man.
The poem “The Song of Mulan” was written in the XNUMXth century, but the original version has not survived to this day, in contrast to the later interpretation, recorded in the collection of the XNUMXth century. Whether Hua Mulan had a real prototype is unknown to this day.
7. Dorothy Lawrence
The biography of this woman clearly shows what sacrifices have to be made by those who want to become a real journalist. Dorothy had to change into a man’s suit and go to the front lines, only to become a war correspondent and be able to cover events directly from the battlefield.
However, this adventure ended in a trial and accusations of espionage. But, according to Dorothy herself, it was worth it. All that she had to endure at the front, she later described in her autobiographical book, The Only Female Soldier in England.
6. Popess Joanna
Popess Jonna is a legendary and semi-mythical historical figure who supposedly occupied the papal throne under the name John VIII. In the currently accepted list of popes, the name John VIII refers to the real pope who ruled in a later period.
According to legend, at the age of 12, this girl met with a monk from the monastery of Fulda and went with him, dressed in men’s clothes, to the holy Mount Athos.
After long wanderings, she settled in Rome, where she first served as notary of the Curia, then as a cardinal, and finally as the Pope.
And she successfully managed to hide her gender, until during one of the processions she went into labor, as a result of which she died (or was killed by the participants in the procession, discouraged by the monstrous deceit).
5. Catalina Eraso
This legendary woman was born into a Basque family. All the men in her family were soldiers in the city of San Sebastian. From the age of four, she was brought up in a Dominican monastery, so that if no one married her, she could take the tonsure.
When she was fifteen years old, she was severely beaten by the nuns, which prompted the girl to take decisive action – she fled the monastery, dressed in a man’s dress.
For several months she wandered around Spain, hiring for various people, and calling herself Francisco de Loyola. In Bilbao, she entered the service as a cabin boy on a ship that was heading for the New World.
Arriving in the city of Concepción in Chile, she entered the military service under the name of Alonso Diaz Ramirez de Guzman. In the Araucan War, she took part in the battles under the command of several captains.
Catalina during the performance of military duty fully showed courage in battle. One of her notable merits was the repulsion of the Spanish flag from the Indians. For this, the girl was appointed lieutenant-governor and held this post for five years.
She knew how to handle weapons well, took part in many battles and duels. A severe injury forced her to reveal her true gender to Bishop Agustín de Carvajal. Having received forgiveness from him, she hid in a monastery.
4. Nadezhda Durova
Durova, Nadezhda Andreevna – staff captain of the army, writer. This woman became the prototype of the famous Shura Azarova from the “Hussar Ballad”.
This woman was born in 1783. Her father was a hussar captain. From the first years of her life, Nadezhda found herself in a saturated military environment. The girl was distinguished by her energetic character and she preferred horseback riding to playing with dolls.
As soon as the girl reached the age of majority, she was immediately married. Of course, this marriage union was unhappy, so Nadezhda very quickly left her husband, leaving him a little son.
Having dressed in a man’s suit and cut her hair, she decides to leave after her true lover, portraying him as a batman for those around her.
To avoid exposure, the woman had to leave the captain and ask for a place in the lancer regiment. There she entered under the fictitious name of Alexander Vasilyevich Sokolov.
In the course of military duty, Nadezhda was awarded several military awards and the title of Army Staff Captain.
2. Francis Clayton
This young lady became famous for the fact that, under the name of Jack Williams, she fought on the side of the Union (northern states) during the American Civil War.
It was not difficult for her to impersonate a man as a man: in addition to her tall and thin physique, she was subject to all male vices – drinking alcohol, smoking and abuse. But, despite this, her deceit was revealed, after which she had to leave the military service.
2. James Barry
James Miranda Stuart Barry was an English physician and military surgeon who served for a long time in South Africa. At the end of his medical career, he is inspector general.
He was involved in the treatment of the wounded and sick of the British military, as well as improving the standard of living of the indigenous people of Africa. His main professional achievement is considered to be the first caesarean section performed on the African continent, during which both the mother and the child survived.
Barry’s true gender became known to the public and his colleagues only after his death.
1. Joan of Arc
An amazing biography of Joan of Arc, canonized by the Catholic Church, haunts neither historians nor theologians.
Literary works, paintings, films, performances and musical works are dedicated to the legendary liberator of the French lands. There is no city in France where the name of this martyr would not be immortalized.
As a 17-year-old illiterate girl, she became the commander-in-chief of the French troops, who, under her command, defeated the British army.
At that time, a woman who wore a man’s dress was not only condemned, but could even be executed for heresy. However, an exception was made for Jeanne in her native country.
But, for her judges, who subsequently sentenced her to death by burning, her wearing male military ammunition became an additional argument in favor of her guilt.