How female cross-dressing intrigued the British literary world with Ula Klein
Check the book out here https://amzn.to/3cuWmcM
Interview Timeline
Ula Lukszo Klein is Director of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh. She recently published a book on women cross-dressing in 18th century British literature and we spoke about the book and the subject. Sapphic Crossings: Cross-Dressing Women in Eighteenth-Century British Literature (Peculiar Bodies) (University of Virginia Press, 2021)
Note: This episode is rated Parental Guidance due to sexual references.
0:39 – Ula talks about how she got into writing on cross-dressing in 18th century British literature.
2:19 – Ula talks about how she focuses the book.
4:37 – Ula talks about modern female cross-dressing.
7:02 – Ula talks about reasons for cross-dressing in the past.
11:26 – Ula talks about how to differentiate between lesbianism and transgender identity in historic literature.
15:26 – Ula talks about the laws at the time about cross-dressing.
18:17 – Ula talks about the clothes worn by cross-dressers.
21:24 – Ula talks about women acting on stage.
22:46 – Ula talks about men having women dress as men.
25:07 – Ula talks about hair length, tattoos, jewelry and gender.
28:18 – Ula talks about the openness of this literature.
31:31 – Ula talks about Gothic literature and cross-dressing.
33:42 – Ula talks about being surprised at how often women would find cross-dressers attractive.
36:03 – Ula talks about Joan of Arc and the Amazon myth.
38:10 – Ula talks about her research.
42:34 – Ula talks about the use of make-up.
44:30 – Ula talks about gender norms at this time.
47:54 – Ula talks about sexuality at this time.
48:54 – Ula talks about wanting to know more about the real women who cross-dressed.
52:12 – Ula talks about one story that really moved her in the research.
1:03:26 – Ula talks about how she improved her writing style.
1:06:28 – Ula talks about 18th century tourism and queer people engaged in travel.
1:10:05 – Ula is on twitter @kleinula and at sapphiccrossings.weebly.com. She also talks about painting Star Wars art.
Links of interest
https://amzn.to/3cuWmcM
https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/5438
https://twitter.com/kleinula
https://sapphiccrossings.weebly.com/
Contact Information
For more “Full Contact Nerd” please follow me at crisalvarez.com, on Facebook at CrisAlvarezFCN, on youtube at Cris Alvarez on twitter @CrisAlvarezFCN, on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi, and on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Stitcher / Spotify for the podcast. Please see historyrabbithole.com for a list of my dozen or so blogs and podcasts. You’re sure to find something you like.