Dallas Berka, “Female Husbands: Long-Lost Stories of Trans and Queer Victorian Lives (1760-1905)”
Mentor: Lisa Hager, Arts & Humanities
Poster #16

History shows that humans have been exploring various aspects of sexuality and gender identity long before they even had words to describe the concepts. In studying female husbands, we can use modern transgender and queer theories to make comparisons between the lives of Victorian-era individuals who were assigned female at birth but wholly embraced lives as men/husbands, and the lives of present-day trans and queer individuals. In sharing their stories, we can help give validity to the lives of people whose existences were spun into narratives generated by the newspapers of the time, rather than through their own voices. Many issues that female husbands faced back then are still relevant to the struggles of present-day trans and queer individuals. Sensationalized journalism helped to curate and dictate public opinion of female husbands. This form of coverage rarely ever accounted for the viewpoint of the female husband; instead, the opinions of everyone surrounding them were what mattered. Pronoun use varied greatly depending on the known details of the female husband, and these details tended to revolve around physical sex characteristics (which the public felt entitled to know) as opposed to how they publicly identified. Keeping one’s sex assigned at birth a secret was crucial for a female husband’s safety and survival, and many of these revelations were only discovered after the examination of their bodies upon their deaths. It is for these reasons and many more that we must continue to seek out and share the lived experiences of all LGBTQ+ individuals. Oppressive forces ultimately aim to make marginalized groups feel alone and powerless, but fostering community through storytelling is one way to reclaim our strength and muscle through an increasingly difficult cultural climate.