MTF Crossdressing during Civil War?

[moderntrickster]

I've been on Google for hours now searching for everything within the realms of male crossdressing, victorian era and civil war as well as everything in between it seems and I'm still not getting a very good idea of what I'm looking for

Comments

[fjm]

Your biggest problem will be depilation. Shaving really wasn't that easy. Gentlemen had others do it for them. Everyone else shaved once a week, which means designer stubble. Castration really would be the only solution, but your other is to have a manservant in on the act. I'd advise making your protag blonde because it will reduce the number of shaves needed in a day.

You don't have to worry about him "passing" because the idea of a man choosing to dress as a woman was so outre (with its step down from social and political rights) that no one would think to question a rather large, gawky woman.

[moderntrickster]

It's a problem I'll have to circumvent by, like you said, having someone in on the act (which isn't a problem since I've mentioned as much vaguely in other places so far), but I can't make the MC blonde since this plot has been ongoing for two years (this is an AU of an RPG plot).

But hair growth largely depends on ethnic background - I'm Native American and I very infrequently shave - once a week, maybe. My ex-roommate's boyfriend is Italian and honestly needs to shave every single day. And it's not unreasonable for a "delicate" boy, or someone who perhaps naturally has less than normal testosterone to produce body hair at a sometimes considerably less than average rate. So there are a lot of things to factor in there.

[fjm]

But I thought your chap is upper class Southern which means that by definition he is going to be English, or Scottish.

[moderntrickster]

England and Scotland, yes. But also Wales, Ireland, France, Greece and Spain. There were also Hispanic and Native American individuals who had attained some degree of wealth in the South and it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for a prominent white man to have a biracial or Creole child who was still accepted by society. If you weren't of Celtic descent, your next best bet was usually being Cherokee.

The MC's father is Irish, but I've never said what his mother was - mostly because in the non-AU storyline, he doesn't have a mother (asexually reproduced from his "father"; he's a god) so it's always been headcanon that she was probably Native American.

[nuranar]

I've recreated 1860s women's clothing for years, so here's my take on it

[moderntrickster]

The character himself is - well, I've been using the term "delicate", but in going back to read his introductory scenes I've described him as pale, underweight, smaller than average... he was just one of those boys that was sick a lot as a child and never really developed - hence the definitely not sending off to war of it all. So a lot of the issues of body shape - height and distinctly "masculine" traits have sort of been circumvented. He would be a little tall for a girl but, like you said, he wouldn't have to worry about heels.

The tailoring of dresses is really what's interesting me about what to put him in because in looking at period costume sites/stores online (Recollections.biz is my favorite, but I don't know how accurate their stuff actually is) there are a lot of really subtle differences that I know make a huge difference. So this, everything you've just said, is a world of help to sorting out all those little differences and finding what works for him

[nuranar]

"Delicate" is a great period word to use, and I totally follow. This will make it far easier to masquerade as a woman

[moderntrickster]

I love new links! I'm going to, no doubt, spend all night looking at these. I feel shafted by not being born a girl because if I wanted to dress up, I would have to go through all the trouble of crossdressing to do it (not that I don't go through all that trouble frequently enough, but you know, period-accurate!) and it seems like a lot of work. It's still all so fun to look at, though!

And thank you for the book rec! I've actually seen it at my library, so I'm going to go see if I can pick it up pretty soon.

[kaos_sparrow]

You'd pretty much definitely want him in chokers, to disguise his Adam's apple. A capelet, like someone else mentioned. would be a good choice to give the illusion of sloped shoulders, but I'm not sure how accurate for the time period they are. He'd probably end up with a corset made for a younger girl, because unless his padding is *very* good a small bust is easier to disguise; a corset made for one would fit more naturally.

This is a really intriguing setup--I don't suppose it's readable anywhere?

[nuranar]

Ooh, I forgot about the Adam's apple. Very good point. Choker-like necklaces were only worn with evening wear and by little girls, but short stand-up collars were just becoming fashionable. Collars were often finished with a garish ribbon bow or very large brooch, too. That's a good choice. Capelets of a kind were worn in the 1850s and were very unfashionable by the 1860s; it would help with the illusion, but unfortunately make him stand out. Such a dowdy woman! If he's got the financial resources, absolutely have the corset custom made. It will suit his rib cage better with just the right amount of waist compression, and the bust can be made small with padding sewn in. Custom-made clothing was the rule for anyone with money; the ready-made clothing industry was just gaining steam, and most people still made their own or bought second- (or third-) hand.

[moderntrickster]

I think when his father's employer left for Europe he left them with a rather large sum of money as payment for taking care of final arrangements because they took off so fast - which is a detail I thought of literally last night and will have to double-check with my writing partner next time I see her, but it makes a lot of these details work better.

So while the MC's family doesn't have that much money themselves, they've came into a bit that would allow them to have the necessary things custom-made. Everything else he's been doing by hand. Mid-war, you're sort of stuck with what you have anyhow, but after it's all over the financial issue of maintaining it will be fun to try to work around (and I'm not sarcastic about that, I love finding loopholes in things).

[nuranar]

Money *always* makes these details smoother. ;) Is he going to be out in society at all? Will he have to masquerade at home as well? Actually getting the clothes may be tricky. I really can't see him doing it all himself

[transemacabre]

This may not be relevant at all, but my several-times-X-great-grandfather ran off and hid in the woods for several months to avoid having to join the Confederacy and fight in the Civil War (I dunno if recruiting was THAT active in Mississippi at the time, or if he just thought it was). His wife snuck him food and he eventually rejoined the family with no ill effects

[moderntrickster]

I'm not so much worried about how well he'll pass, but moreso the steps he would logically have to go through in living the lifestyle on a permanent basis and what medical procedures were available to him if he decided he wanted to go all the way.

I know that no one would have questioned him, because no one questioned male-male "friendships" at the time. The pervasive rumor is that Abraham Lincoln was gay, since he shared beds with two men in his lifetime and also wrote long, incredibly sappy love-letters to one of them. And no one blinked. In England, even, what we would view now as homoerotic relationships between men were perfectly normal and accepted because no one thought that an upstanding citizen could be "degenerate". So no one would think anything about a handsome woman or even a rather plan-looking woman being anything other than a handsome/rather plain-looking woman. And since relationships between men and women were as they were, there's virtually no way for anyone to find out otherwise