BUZZ
Colonial America offered ‘surprising possibilities to express … gender nonconformity’
The American Revolution was more than just a struggle for freedom against England. It also challenged “patriarchal authority” and traditional gender roles, according to an Amherst College history professor.
In an essay Monday at Ms Magazine, Jen Manion described several examples of Revolution-era Americans who, the professor argued, challenged what it means to be male and female.
“Revolutionary America was a time of resistance—not only to British rule but also to slavery and patriarchal authority. The revolutionary era was one of surprising possibilities to express same-sex attraction and gender nonconformity,” Manion wrote.
These early, non-conforming Americans used different language to express themselves than LGBTQ+ people do today, according to the professor.
“When those raised as girls rejected these norms and embraced occupations typically reserved for men, they were described with the modifier of ‘female,’ such as ‘female soldier’ or ‘female sailor’ or in some cases even ‘female husband,’” Manion wrote.
Because the war took so many men away from their homes, “rigid gender restrictions” became more “difficult to enforce”; therefore, individuals had more freedom to express their sexuality, the essay continued:
In this world of motion and instability, gender nonconformity could pass unnoticed—or be excused as necessity. By the time Robert Shirtliff (formerly known as Deborah Sampson) enlisted in the Continental Army, people would not have been outright shocked by such a decision. That didn’t mean it was common or easy. The Massachusetts native enlisted for the Patriot cause in 1782, serving for 17 months before being outed while hospitalized in Philadelphia. Shirtliff’s legacy as a queer/trans trailblazer is contested by the elevation of Sampson as “the first woman” to do various things, such as receive a pension for her service. These things need not be at odds, as both are true.
Another example that Manion pointed to was an obscure religious leader named Jemima Wilkinson who broke off from the Quakers and renamed herself the “genderless” Public Universal Friend:
After a near-fatal illness in 1776, the Friend declared that Jemima Wilkinson had died and that a genderless spirit now inhabited the body.
Rejecting all gendered pronouns, the Friend preached celibacy, gathered followers and traveled widely. While critics mocked and condemned the Friend, supporters respected their refusal of gender classification. Here, gender nonconformity was framed not as deception or immorality but as divine transformation—a powerful alternative in a society steeped in religious language. Revolutionary America offered the hope of a greater degree of freedom regarding gender and sexual transgression—at least for a time.
These “queer possibilities” in early American history show that “gender diversity” has been a human condition for centuries, and all hope for LGBTQ+ “belonging” is not lost, Manion wrote.
“From the very beginning, the struggle over liberty has included people who lived at the edges of gender and sexual norms,” Manion wrote. “They did not wait for recognition. They navigated ambiguity, exploited instability and carved out lives where they could. The Revolution promised freedom. Some people found it.”
Manion is a professor of history and the chair of the Department of Sexuality, Women’s and Gender Studies at Amherst, a private Massachusetts college.
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