Living as A Man: Transgenderism and sexuality in the sixteenth century
In the midst of the Spanish Inquisition of 1587, there was a hermaphrodite named Elena de Cespedes who made a testimony in a court about her life in order to aid in her case. Elena recounts events in her life that contributed to the shaping of who she was as an individual. She had a very difficult life, and felt incapable of sharing information about her gender with anyone, even with the people to whom she was married. Since Elena lived as both a man and a woman for long periods of time in her life, and she wasn’t explicit or straightforward about how she identified, her gender identity is unclear. For the sake of simplicity, and the fact that this person is referred to as a female by most resources, female pronouns will be used for this individual.
The professional opportunity that opened up to Elena when living life as a man was taking the profession of a surgeon. For Elena, presenting herself as a man allowed her to escape the traditional confines of a woman’s occupation. She was not only able to escape having a low paying job, which allowed her to make the salary a man would have the power to earn, but she was also able to better control her finances by choosing a career with a respected and consistent income. This individual was capable of breaking out of the confines of being a traditional woman, and she challenged society’s notion of what gender really meant. She proved that gender was not the limiting factor in her ability to make money, but it was people’s perception of gender and the discrimination that comes with the theory that a woman is not as capable as a man. Elena found that she could escape this discrimination by constantly escaping from different parts of her life. She escaped from the reality of prison while she served time by choosing to present herself as a male. This would have made it easier for Elena to handle her time in jail, as she would not be treated as low as most women, nor would she be in danger of sexual abuse by portraying herself as a man. When Elena departed from prison, she disguised herself as a man once again to escape from the dangers of a common occurrence at that time. Specifically, she was hiding herself once again in an attempt to escape from a pimp named Heredia who made threats against her prior to her time in prison. By portraying herself as a man, she gained authority and lost the weakness generally associated with females. Elena continued to attempt to escape difficult situations that she came across in her life, not only in how she portrayed herself to strangers, but also in her intimate personal life.
Elena’s testimony reveals that sex in sixteenth century Spain was generally controlled by men. For example, Elena recounts that in sexual experiences while presenting herself as a man, she did not allow her wife to touch her “shameful parts.” The man was in control of the woman, in matters of what she touched, what she did, and how open and trusting the relationship would be. Another example of men controlling women is defined by the authority of a pimp. Pimps control women and convince them to participate in sexual relations with others for money. Men were not only in charge of what women did with their bodies at that time, but also whom they had sex with, and what was done with the money earned as a result. This again suggests that men were in charge of the level of intimacy in a relationship and financial decisions. Elena’s testimony also reveals that marital relations were very different in this time, and the way people interacted in relationships was dissimilar to the way people act in current day America. Relationships had to be regulated by societal rules. People who were not cisgender (such as transgender, genderfluid, bigender) could not even fathom the idea of coming out to their partners about their true gender identities. This could have been the case with Elena. This is far different than current day society, which, in many states and countries, encourages and supports gender identity through such methods as support groups with the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center, PFLAG, and others.
This source is important to the study of transgender individuals and to sexuality because although gender identity has nothing to do with sexual orientation, the study of both topics is usually grouped together. It is important to study topics like these, so individuals will gain a higher level of education on these subjects, and the ignorance and discrimination targeted towards the individuals who fall into these categories will decrease. When people have a higher level of education about hermaphrodites and people of other gender minorities, they begin to understand more about them, and their minds will often change. This testimony is important to the study of American women in general because it is about women, and women have historically had difficulty in demanding financial equality, freedom, and respect. When it comes down to it, even if they are not recognized by society as women, they are still women, and with that comes a multifaceted negative. Not only is there a lack of understanding about Elena’s gender identity, but there was now a negative in that she did not have the opportunities to financially support herself, that she would have had if she was a man. By educating people through this published source, it assists with bringing these problems to light. When a person is educated with sources like these, fear usually decreases, which in turn usually leads to decreased levels of discrimination. Most discrimination is rooted in lack of education and fear of being different. Therefore, although women are sometimes treated as second-class citizens, with increased education, a higher level of respect is sometimes earned. This source greatly adds to that education, and forces the reader to realize that this problem has existed for centuries.
The professional opportunity that opened up to Elena when living life as a man was taking the profession of a surgeon. For Elena, presenting herself as a man allowed her to escape the traditional confines of a woman’s occupation. She was not only able to escape having a low paying job, which allowed her to make the salary a man would have the power to earn, but she was also able to better control her finances by choosing a career with a respected and consistent income. This individual was capable of breaking out of the confines of being a traditional woman, and she challenged society’s notion of what gender really meant. She proved that gender was not the limiting factor in her ability to make money, but it was people’s perception of gender and the discrimination that comes with the theory that a woman is not as capable as a man. Elena found that she could escape this discrimination by constantly escaping from different parts of her life. She escaped from the reality of prison while she served time by choosing to present herself as a male. This would have made it easier for Elena to handle her time in jail, as she would not be treated as low as most women, nor would she be in danger of sexual abuse by portraying herself as a man. When Elena departed from prison, she disguised herself as a man once again to escape from the dangers of a common occurrence at that time. Specifically, she was hiding herself once again in an attempt to escape from a pimp named Heredia who made threats against her prior to her time in prison. By portraying herself as a man, she gained authority and lost the weakness generally associated with females. Elena continued to attempt to escape difficult situations that she came across in her life, not only in how she portrayed herself to strangers, but also in her intimate personal life.
Elena’s testimony reveals that sex in sixteenth century Spain was generally controlled by men. For example, Elena recounts that in sexual experiences while presenting herself as a man, she did not allow her wife to touch her “shameful parts.” The man was in control of the woman, in matters of what she touched, what she did, and how open and trusting the relationship would be. Another example of men controlling women is defined by the authority of a pimp. Pimps control women and convince them to participate in sexual relations with others for money. Men were not only in charge of what women did with their bodies at that time, but also whom they had sex with, and what was done with the money earned as a result. This again suggests that men were in charge of the level of intimacy in a relationship and financial decisions. Elena’s testimony also reveals that marital relations were very different in this time, and the way people interacted in relationships was dissimilar to the way people act in current day America. Relationships had to be regulated by societal rules. People who were not cisgender (such as transgender, genderfluid, bigender) could not even fathom the idea of coming out to their partners about their true gender identities. This could have been the case with Elena. This is far different than current day society, which, in many states and countries, encourages and supports gender identity through such methods as support groups with the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center, PFLAG, and others.
This source is important to the study of transgender individuals and to sexuality because although gender identity has nothing to do with sexual orientation, the study of both topics is usually grouped together. It is important to study topics like these, so individuals will gain a higher level of education on these subjects, and the ignorance and discrimination targeted towards the individuals who fall into these categories will decrease. When people have a higher level of education about hermaphrodites and people of other gender minorities, they begin to understand more about them, and their minds will often change. This testimony is important to the study of American women in general because it is about women, and women have historically had difficulty in demanding financial equality, freedom, and respect. When it comes down to it, even if they are not recognized by society as women, they are still women, and with that comes a multifaceted negative. Not only is there a lack of understanding about Elena’s gender identity, but there was now a negative in that she did not have the opportunities to financially support herself, that she would have had if she was a man. By educating people through this published source, it assists with bringing these problems to light. When a person is educated with sources like these, fear usually decreases, which in turn usually leads to decreased levels of discrimination. Most discrimination is rooted in lack of education and fear of being different. Therefore, although women are sometimes treated as second-class citizens, with increased education, a higher level of respect is sometimes earned. This source greatly adds to that education, and forces the reader to realize that this problem has existed for centuries.
This is a picture of Elena, the hermaphrodite who lived her life as both a woman and a man, a different periods.
These are written biographies of Elena/Eleno's life
This is a picture that suggests that Elena's going through some kind of suffering. However, the type is unknown.
Quote: "Even though time passed, the people that knew Cespedes accepted that she was living as both a man and a woman, but the fact that she married another woman held a stigma... It's interesting that Eleno/Elena lived practically all of her life with an undetermined sex." (Quote was translated to English)