That being said, even though Clarke knew little about the subject matter, his words and suggestions were very interesting - it was just a shame it had absolutely nothing to do with my subject matter (another disheartening point). I explained from the top my line of thought, creating a character, how I wanted to do it, etc. and I ended up mentioning and showing my original designs for the character - the regency uniforms. I mentioned how I enjoyed military uniforms, especially historical ones and so on, before going off and saying how instead I wanted to focus on something different, and hence I went into the Jacobean side of things.
The impression I got was he chose to pretty much blank out the rest of what I said. He mentioned going to the Globe was very good, and showed I put in hard work, and then he said "You may want to look into this or ignore it altogether" Obviously, I was a littler apprehensive about hearing what he had to say after that remark. At which point he went on a massive tirade about military uniforms, how they had different meanings nowadays since we (ordinary citizens) are not involved in wars, it is the army that deal with them, and therefore wars and ergo uniforms do not mean the same thing anymore.
His notes I was given:
- Military clothing connotations
- Regimes
- Dick Jewell - Kinky Galinky, 80's
- Old Vic
- Boy George/Leigh Bowery/80's
- Beatles Sgt. Pepper Cover
- Wearing propaganda - book
That being said, it did strike a thought for me as I remembered an event that happened fairly recently in regards to historical military and so on. As said I have always been a fan of military uniforms, historical military campaigns and so on. When I was younger - about the age of eleven, I was watching a historical documentary on television which had reenacted scenes in it. I said to my dad how I wished to be in such scenes and I wondered how they got people to do it. At which point my dad pointed out to me that there were such things as historical reenactment societies and I could always research them and get involved if I wanted to. Which I did. Unfortunately, at the age of eleven there are few companies that are willing to take you on with an adult, much less on your own. Also, where I am from, Sussex, there are few historical battlegrounds and historical buildings about that do not involve the Vikings, Saxons or Medieval Knights - as much as I enjoy this history, I have little interest to join a society where I run around in chainmail all day. So I left it for many years, hoping to eventually get involved in a society when I was older, and able to get to places by myself. Unforauntely, due to College and eventually University, I was not able to take a look until quite recently when I knew I would be leaving education at the end of this year, and would have some more time to persue historical reenacting as a hobby.
Immediately a found a list of numerous websites for Napoleonic Reenactment groups throughout England - as that was the period of military history I am interested in the most (I adore the height of regimental discipline, the wonderful array of uniforms - as it was for me, when military attire was at its most ornate and decorative - where war was almost an event for a gentlemen to dress in their finaries, as they would for dinner or some other highly proper event). Much to my frustration however, there were many groups that stated on their websites how women who wanted to join could only be 'camp followers' and not be involved in the army ranks whatsoever. (To me, a 'camp follower' essentially accumulates to being a 'groupie' which is not what I wanted to do. I want to get involved in the fighting, I want to shoot rifles and muskets and march with the men in glorious uniforms). Most websites however did not specify, and I sent plenty of emails out to them in hope to get a response about whether I could join as a girl. All of them said no, most of them stating 'it is not historically accurate'.
Of course, I was very angry about this, 'not historically accurate'? Had a black man asked to join, would they also have said no because it was 'not historically accurate'? I also sent emails stating that I was happy to pretend to be a boy for events. I sent photos of me in my male costumes, bound, with fake facial hair and make up to make myself look more manly, saying I would happily be assumed to be a boy and leave it at that. Again, all the replies I got refused my entry, stating that 'there was no historical evidence to suggest a girl dressed as a boy in our particular regiment'. Firstly, I had told them to assume I was not a girl for events, and that I would happily be considered a boy - not a girl dressed as a boy. Secondly, there are plenty of instances of female crossdressers involved in the army, such as Nadezhda Andreyevna Durova [Russian], Friederike Krüger [Prussian], Anna Lühring [Prussian] and James Barry [British] plus more which I haven't researched more in-depth as of yet. I have to say, I was genuinely shocked, and rather upset, that after so many years of looking forward to joining something so much, suddenly I was refused to do what I wanted, simply because of my gender. That is the most frustrating thing. I am not allowed to do something because of my genetics, something I cannot physically change. I understand the need for historical accuracy, however, when I have stated that I am happy to present myself as a boy at all times, I see little need for there to be complete refusal. I can bind my breasts and pack my trousers to appear as a man, and yet, simply because on its most basic level, I am still a girl, my position in a fake, historical army, I am refused. It is historical, but we are still in the modern day. There is supposed to be equality between genders and yet, due to 'historical accuracy' I am only allowed to swoon as a camp follower instead of doing what I really want to do.
The feelings that stirred up in me during this experience really got me angry. Perhaps it would be interesting to do a project on that for Phase 3? Or perhaps it is too late to rethink things. At the moment, I have so far ceased my attempts to join a historical reenactment society as quite frankly, I do not want to join a group that would refuse my attendance simply due to the fact I have breasts and no penis. (Though my friends had suggested to me I turn up dressed as a boy anyway and see what they say and do - though I do not feel I have the confidence to do that).
I have to say after these experiences I wouldn't mind researching military uniforms (and maybe making them in the future) or considering the viewpoint of gender in the military throughout history - or researching further into crossdressers of the Napoleonic Wars perhaps but really, right now I do not have the time to suddenly do a massive U-turn in my Phase 2 bit of the project. Maybe I'll reconsider Phase 3. However, I don't want to seem like I'm flailing over the place. I shall have a discussion at my next tutorial appointment for Phase 3. But for now I'm still working on my Jacobean outfit - which is going very well.
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