Love 'em or hate 'em, they seem to be everywhere and in numbers greater than ever before! Very little in the reenacting hobby bugs me more than seeing women trying to be men and fighting in the ranks! I know, it has been upheld in a court of law that you can't discriminate by not allowing women in the ranks. That doesn't make it right!
True, there were women who disguised their identities and went off to war to fight as men. How many? No one knows, but most likely less than 1000. So, in a reenactment of even 5000, how many women should be present as soldiers. 1000/3,000,000ths, or .33%. So for every 5000 reenactors, we could have one or two women in the ranks.
These days, it seems that we have one or two in every unit! It's worse in the artillery. Some cannon crews alone have 2 or 3 women. This is BS! Plain and simple.
Civil War women soldiers had to hide their identities, and if they were discovered, out of the army they went! Some female reenactors don't even try to hide their identities.
The biggest gripe I have is the women who fight dressed as men by day, and go to the ball dressed in their ball gowns by night! The best of both worlds!? Doubtful! Pure hypocrisy? Yep! It should stop. The women who are doing it should have enough care and respect to make it stop. If we can't ban them, they should ban themselves. End of story!
2 comments:
A realistic, accurate portrayal of a woman who is documented to have hidden her sex and served as a soldier could be extremely interesting. Otherwise it gets pretty silly in a hurry.
No intent here to upset the ladies as there are plenty of them who can ride rings around me, but IMHO the only pony tails in a 19th century military formation belong on horses!
I'm sure you recall the Confederate "Cavalry Captain" who used to be a regular fixture at the wax museum. Her paste-on mustache did little to hide her ... ah ... "Rubenesque" physique!
There are interesting roles that women who want to be involved in living history could adopt. With VERY few exceptions though, being a soldier isn't one of them.
We were at Cedar Creek a couple weekends ago when my wife (who does an excellent job portraying a lady being a lady) made the comment, "You know, if women are going to portray soldiers they should at least refrain from holding hands with their husbands while doing it." Sure enough, two Confederate "soldiers" were walking through camp, hand in hand.
Just found your blog and enjoying reading it!
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