Hidden Women: Assuming Male Identities
September 27, 2009
by Karen
|The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
At the beginning of the semester, I went to speak with my advisor in the history department. Classes were not yet in the full swing, so we chatted about books and authors. I learned something very surprising about two authors whose pennames were Andre Norton and James Tiptree Jr. I learned that they were women.
I have always heard of Andre Norton; this was the first time I heard of James Tiptree Jr. I never knew until then that Andre was actually a woman. I had been aware that the Bronte sisters originally used male pennames, but I was shocked to discover that two women whose careers spanned the 1900s also hid themselves behind a male identity.
Alice Bradley
James Tiptree Jr was born in 1915 as Alice Bradley. She was also a prolific writer, but according to the wikipedia article, she was more on the tragic side of writing whereas Andre/Alice Norton was more optimistic. She died in 1987.
My conversation with my history advisor made me wonder: how many women have hidden behind male identities? I am also reminded of Mary Read who in the early 1700s disguised herself as Mark Read; under a male identity, she fought in the British forces and eventually became a pirate. Just how many more hidden women such as these three are there in the vast history of humanity?
Mary Shelley first published Frankenstein anonymously and people assumed it was written by a man.
Karen, if you follow your interest to discover hidden female artists work, i predict, you will be very busy. very important work.
I remember having come across many stories on female musicians either publishing under a male pseudonym or as anonymous. since I don’t recall specific names, I googled “female musicians pf you follow ublishing anonymous”
found another varient of silencing female artistic talent. Productions were mistakenly attributed to male musicians of the time. Here is the story of Rebecca Clarke and there is a new society whose single purpose is to publish her works, see below:
Rebecca Clarke 1886-1979
Clarke’s shorter solo pieces, written for herself or her friends to play, can be compared to similar works by Frank Bridge or Arnold Bax. Morpheus (1917-18), for example, develops a single melody through colouristic devices such as pentatonic glissandos on the piano and artificial harmonics on the violin. Her best known works, the Viola Sonata (1919) and the Piano Trio (1921), are powerful and expansive examples of post-Romantic sonata form influenced by the German tradition. The clarity of texture and Impressionist vocabulary of these pieces suggest comparisons with Franck and Debussy. One contemporary report implies that during the anonymous Coolidge competition, some judges mistakenly identified the Viola Sonata as written by Ravel, while The Daily Telegraph supposed ‘Rebecca Clarke’ to be a pseudonym for Ernest Bloch. Later chamber works include two pieces for string quartet. Sections of Comodo et amabile (1924) feature a buoyant lilting melody that surrounds a constructivist interior made up of short motifs, polymetric rhythms, polytonal harmonies and taut contrapuntal writing. The intense Poem (1926) merges a single pervasive motif with the harmony and texture of Debussy, fusing French colour with German depth. The Prelude, Allegro and Pastorale for clarinet and viola (1941) explores a neo-classical idiom. With its driving momentum, the Allegro can be compared to Stravinsky. The poignant melody of the Pastorale is emphasized by a stark undulating accompaniment. The Dumka (?1941), with its unusual scoring for violin, viola and piano, was probably written for Clarke and family members to play. It not only employs the 3 + 3 + 2 rhythms used in Dvorák’s trio of the same name, but also incorporates other gestures reminiscent of Eastern European folk music. Clarke was both familiar with Bartók’s music and editing a book on Martinu at the time of its composition.
Much of Clarke’s music was never published and remains the property of her estate. Her difficulties in publishing the Piano Trio, documented in her diaries, may have discouraged her from pursuing publication of later works. Although she has been identified as among the most important British composers of the interwar years, a complete understanding of her significance will only be reached when more of her music is available for study. The Viola Sonata has been recorded many times, and the Piano Trio and many songs are also available on recordings. The publication in 1998 and 1999 of three of her many heretofore unpublished works raise hope of wider availability of more of her work in the future.
About the Rebecca Clarke Society
The Rebecca Clarke Society was founded in 2000 as a non-profit organization incorporated in Massachusetts. We are federally recognized with 501(C) 3 status, and all donations are fully tax deductible. Our mission is to honor the life and work of composer and violist Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) by promoting interest in her and her music. We encourage and support performances and recordings of her music, publication of her music and writings, and scholarship concerning Clarke and her music.
found a journalist hiding under male pen name in the women’s history museum
Female writers with male pen names
“The new nation’s first “unisex” periodical, Gentlemen and Ladies’ Country Magazine, began in 1784, the year after the American Revolution ended. It included articles specifically for women and requested submissions by women writers.
In May of that year, Judith Sargent Murray a member of the Massachusetts elite, submitted an article on women’s rights to Gentlemen and Ladies’. The piece was published under the pen name “Constantia.” Her essay asserted women’s rationality over stereotypes of their intellectual inferiority and demanded greater opportunities for women’s education. By 1792, Murray had launched two essay series for Massachusetts Magazine under a male pen name, “The Gleaner,” in which she continued to assert her feminist ideology.”
Tiptree’s short story ‘The Women Men Don’t See’ is a must-read for feminists for its unequivocal authentic female voice.
http://web.archive.org/web/200.....ree21.html
It’s beyond ironic that Alice Bradley wrote some of the most feminist works in the science fiction genre under a male moniker and even corresponded with other writers about feminism, among them Ursula K.Le Guin, while putting on a male persona. After she was found out, she confessed that the freedom of writing as man actually helped her find her voice as a woman; she was no longer constrained by the expectations placed on a woman when she was writing as a man. Many women lose their first name when putting their work in front of the public, like J. K. Rowling, and I admit I do it whenever I can at work just to avoid the inevitable bs of being the non-default gender in a mostly male profession.
I think people who assume the identity of the opposite gender are fascinating regardless of whether it’s a woman living as a man or a man living as a woman. There are different issues in either case but I think we can learn a lot from stepping outside our own perspective no matter what it is. For instance, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve lived more and more of a gay lifestyle. An interesting side effect of this is that I have a lot more real friends who are men. It has broadened my horizons considerably. Of course, it’s also important to fight the stereotype that women can’t do certain things as well as men by showing that some men actually were women. I think the more we can find out about the hidden lives of women, the better. Things are rarely as they appear on the surface.
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