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Though a Queen ruled England, gender equality certainly wasn't found in Elizabethan society. Everything from dress to employment followed strict gender roles, and yet there was a certain amount of room for play. There are several cases of (in)famous women who dressed as men and crossed the bounds of "acceptable behavior."
The post Women onstage and offstage in Elizabethan England appeared first on OUPblog.
In yesterday's Essentials I pointed to a story in the Styles section of The New York Times, reg. required, that picked up a thread related to the ongoing discussion around sexual orientation and gendered identity at a young age: gender bending dress... Read the rest of this post
Williams, David. The Boy in the Dress. Illustrated by Quentin Blake. Razorbill, 2009.
If Roald Dahl had written a book about a cross-dressing 12-year-old boy, it would probably have been like this. I’m not just saying that because of the Quentin Blake illustrations that will make the obvious connection in many readers’ minds. Like Dahl, David Williams uses slapstick humor and over-the-top characters in his novel for younger readers (8-11 year olds) about a young soccer player coming to terms with the fact that he is happiest when he’s wearing dresses, high heels, and make up.
Dennis, who lives with his rough-edged truck-driving dad and macho older brother, still misses his mother who left the family home a couple of years earlier. More than anything, he misses the feminine touch and sensibility she brought into his life. But the fashion magazines he hides under his mattress do more for him than to remind him of his mother: he finds he actually enjoys looking at the photos of women in fancy dresses much more than he enjoys his brother’s stash of magazines of women without clothes.
A crush on an older girl at school leads him to pursue a friendship with her, something that blossoms quickly into weekends spent together, poring over Italian Vogue, and trying on dresses. Lisa talks him into venturing out in public dressed as a girl to see if he can pass, and the two are equally thrilled when they find out he can. He takes on the persona of Denise, a French foreign exchange student living in Lisa’s house, and even works up the courage to go to school with her in drag. He successfully passes until his wig falls off in the midst of a school-yard soccer game he just couldn’t pass up. He becomes a laughingstock, and the evil headmaster expels him from school. But never fear — boys in dresses will save the day, and win the soccer cup final.
Did I mention the slapstick humor? Yes, it’s all very silly and completely implausible, but it’s great fun. And while the characters and plot line are goofy to the max, Williams never makes fun of Dennis or his cross dressing. In fact, it’s those who don’t accept him who are ridiculed most mercilessly. In middle-grade humor, that’s a welcome and refreshing twist.
this sounds fantastic and i can’t wait to read it. thanks for this excellent review! will spread the word. : )
When I first saw the headline, I thought this was a book by Roald Dahl and then I thought to myself, “isn’t he dead?” OK, obviously I was mistaken! This looks like an interesting read — I like the description of it being slapstick.
Younger children might like the idea of a family of animals — and not all the same, either. (It’s the Runt Farm books, by Amanda Lorenzo.)
The books go along with the theme that families are created in all kinds of different ways, and not every family is standard-issue. All kinds of non-traditional families (including LGBT, as well as those with foster children, for example) will readily relate to the Runt Farm youngsters: the Peep who hatches out and claims a male cat as his “mother,” the adopted Beatrice, Bloom, who’s rescued from under a heavy rock, and Clovis who gets busted out of NAARF.