![]() ![]() (Again, this is something that contemporary transgender people know all too well. It ends by asserting that not just any combination of masculine and feminine are ideal – only the right combination. Still, even this favorable portrayal has its limits. Work ethic: a willingness to help around the house and do “girl’s work if necessary” 3. Temperament: mild, gentle, and subdued 2. “In a word, girl-boys are generally so amiable and promising, that they win the esteem and love of all who know them.” Some of the traits that make them so special are: 1. Willie’s special combination of masculine and feminine are held up as models. Willie also loved to read and “preferred a book and the sewing circle to no book and a game of ball.” Unlike some stories where the author sets up the transgender child for ridicule and punishment, here Willie is the hero. ![]() The author confesses Willie’s deepest thoughts to us: “If he had spoken the truth outright to Charlie, he would have told him that he preferred to stay in the house and play doll, than to go out and have a rough-and-tumble time.” His mother noticed this propensity and often said “he ought to have been a girl.” Kids laughed at Willie and teased him, but he seemed nonplussed. They described Willie as “a mild, gentle, and beautiful boy.” Quickly we learn that many of the reasons Will has earned the nickname “girl-boy” have to do with his propensity for playing with girls and doing girl-like things such as dressing dolls. The author of “The Girl-Boy” struck a similarly celebratory tone when describing the gender transgressions of the main character, Willie. Image Courtesy of American Antiquarian Society
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