/r/Books is pissed off that historical female authors who were forced to publish under male pen-names are having their work republished under their real names, because apparently it's evil to assume they weren't trans

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[–]thrownawaycan 64 insightful - 9 fun64 insightful - 8 fun65 insightful - 9 fun -  (12 children)

In the comments people argue that wearing men's clothing and not behaving as proper women of the era were expected is point proof that these women were trans.

[–]MezozoicGay 68 insightful - 1 fun68 insightful - 0 fun69 insightful - 1 fun -  (11 children)

If those women were publishing under their women's name, they would not be published in the first place. And in many countries they would be put in prison for doing that.

Women just had no rights at all, there were no way for woman to do ANYTHING as woman, so the only way was is to pretend that they are a man. Those TRA are so blind in their midle class straight men privileges, that they can't even imagine what "not having rights" can possibly be, and they are thinking that women back then lived like men living right now.

Hey, even JK Rowling was publishing under men's name. Is she a trans now? All this anti-JKR movement is transphobic then!

George Eliot continued to publish as George Eliot even after her identity became known

I wonder, if that has something to do with publishers not allowing any women books to be published or not?

And "even after her identity became known" - are they thinking there was internet back then? Only few academics and aristocracy did know that. And even if with some miracle publisher decided to publish first book written by woman, I can imagine her loosing all customers if she publish under her real name.

By the way, I needed to google about George Eliot to know who it is, because in our schools, since USSR times we were studying her as Mary Ann Evans.

[–]lefterfield 46 insightful - 1 fun46 insightful - 0 fun47 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

I wonder if the historical ignorance is deliberate - it makes it easier to accept their narrative that women aren't oppressed because of our sex, but because of our "femininity." It's hard to imagine that anyone is stupid enough to think that women who published under men's names really thought they were men. Much easier to accept it as TRA propaganda or a deliberate attempt to undermine feminism.

[–]MezozoicGay 31 insightful - 4 fun31 insightful - 3 fun32 insightful - 4 fun -  (0 children)

It is just TRA propaganda and reclaiming history, but in reality it all looks more like "women could not do great things, they must've been men".

[–]Anandamide 12 insightful - 1 fun12 insightful - 0 fun13 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I think so, and not just in this regard. I was at a lecture discussing the excavation of ancient Viking graves in Scandinavia, and the primary topic was the discovery that one of the warrior-style graves contained a female body. The items buried with her indicated wealth, high-status and esteem. During Q&A, an audience member could barely contain her excitement that this woman MUST have been trans! The lecturer (Neil Price btw, excellent) politely made reference to beliefs at the time of shapeshifting into animals and all sorts of things, but this woman absolutely would not consider that perhaps, the buried woman had simply been a female warrior. The myopia was astonishing.

[–]lefterfield 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yeeeeah, I remember that story. Just incredible, the mental hoops people jump through to maintain a particular narrative.

[–]thrownawaycan 31 insightful - 8 fun31 insightful - 7 fun32 insightful - 8 fun -  (5 children)

Funny, I have seen them suggest that JKR is trans-in-denial as reason for her "sudden extreme transphobia".

Women in say, the Victorian era, did get published, but only in very specific genre (like romance) and they were considered little more than pulpy garbage. To be taken seriously by both publisher and audience, a male pen name was needed.

Their arguments of "but these people were trans!" is a long way about of saying "since they did not write pulpy garbage romance like other women, clearly they were men!"

[–]VioletRemi 26 insightful - 1 fun26 insightful - 0 fun27 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Reminded me about James Barry (Margaret Ann Bulkley), who I mentioned in other topic here. The only way to work as surgeon was to be a man. At first she just wanted to study as man (women could not study in universities), and then run to Latin America, where she could be surgeon under her real name. However, Latin America was conquered during that time, so she stayed as a man. And she did a lot of good stuff, like forcing hygiene in hospitals she was rulling. And she was either one of the first, or first person who repeatedly performed caesarean section without mother dying. Obviously she is claimed to be trans too, and main argument is "why she not said she is woman then and was playing a man?". I don't know - maybe she did not wanted tribunal and imprisonment?

[–]worried19 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Activists have claimed Barry as trans and attacked and tried to get a book cancelled because it acknowledged her as female.

https://nypost.com/2019/03/15/the-pc-censor-target-a-lesbian-author

[–]VioletRemi 8 insightful - 4 fun8 insightful - 3 fun9 insightful - 4 fun -  (0 children)

Because of course they did. I was not even doubthing they will :D

[–]terfy_delight 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Funny, I have seen them suggest that JKR is trans-in-denial as reason for her "sudden extreme transphobia".

They say this about us also bc we don't act like women. I'm not joking.

[–]thrownawaycan 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Oh I know. I'm very GNC, I get mistaken for a man by non-TRAs. This means that when I was in university, there were a lot of people trying to recruit me to be trans. If I had been younger, when I was 18 when I was mistaking my hatred for the gendered expectations of women for a hatred of women, I may have listened and decided I didn't want to be a woman. Even now, I get messages from random trans persons and groups about how I look, and I've seen things I've said or posted on egg_irl. I guess I'm a prime mark.

[–]brink 21 insightful - 7 fun21 insightful - 6 fun22 insightful - 7 fun -  (0 children)

Hey, even JK Rowling was publishing under men's name. Is she a trans now? All this anti-JKR movement is transphobic then!

I've actually seen people claiming that JKR is trans because of this. Complete lunacy.