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This ridiculously misleading.
The source for this is text from the National Portrait Gallery (see link), and is being used by shon to imply that Mary Wollstencroft accepted Chevalier d’Éon as a woman despite knowing he was a man really.
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https://www.npg.org.uk/research/new-research-on-the-collection/the-chevalier-deon.php#:~:text=D'Eon%20reputedly%20attended%20cross,as%20a%20man%20in%20London.&text=In%20England%20there%20was%20constant,Eon%20to%20be%20a%20woman. https://twitter.com/shonfaye/status/1326555721979277312
The source for this is text from the National Portrait Gallery (see link), and is being used by shon to imply that Mary Wollstencroft accepted Chevalier d’Éon as a woman despite knowing he was a man really.
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https://www.npg.org.uk/research/new-research-on-the-collection/the-chevalier-deon.php#:~:text=D'Eon%20reputedly%20attended%20cross,as%20a%20man%20in%20London.&text=In%20England%20there%20was%20constant,Eon%20to%20be%20a%20woman. https://twitter.com/shonfaye/status/1326555721979277312
On the contrary, Mary (with others) clearly thought d'Éon - who we've no reason to think she met - was actually female, which is how he's included in Rights of Woman (listed as an exceptional woman alongside others, like Sappho, who transcended the limitations of their sex)
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By contrast, we know others met him and did not think agree. James Boswell said “she appeared to me a man in woman’s clothes”; while Horace Walpole found noted "her hands and arms seem not to have participated of the change of sexes but are fitter to carry a chair than a fan”
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The matter was finally resolved in May 1810 by autospy, with surgeon Thomas Copeland identifying his "male organs in every respect perfectly formed"
People have debated since whether d'Éon was intersex and/or trans; but the point here is Mary Wollstencroft thought he was female
People have debated since whether d'Éon was intersex and/or trans; but the point here is Mary Wollstencroft thought he was female
A supposed historian is responding behind a block. 'Mikaela' is apparently unaware of d'Éon's campaign while in London to persuade everyone he'd been born female but forced to live as a boy in France.
So successful was he that a betting pool on the London Stock Exchange
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So successful was he that a betting pool on the London Stock Exchange
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as to his sex was started.
This explains Mary's (and others') mistaken idea that he was a woman and the portrait - and early career - posted.
The truth is more interesting that the anachronistic fiction. D'Éon's conduct parallels the tall tales of contemporary cross dressers.
This explains Mary's (and others') mistaken idea that he was a woman and the portrait - and early career - posted.
The truth is more interesting that the anachronistic fiction. D'Éon's conduct parallels the tall tales of contemporary cross dressers.
A final note:
In 1777 (15 years before A Vindication of the Rights of Women!) d’Eon had been recognised as a woman by the French Government, which also believed his claims about being born female (but disguised as a boy by family in order to keep the in-laws' inheritance)
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In 1777 (15 years before A Vindication of the Rights of Women!) d’Eon had been recognised as a woman by the French Government, which also believed his claims about being born female (but disguised as a boy by family in order to keep the in-laws' inheritance)
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Ironically, d’Eon resented the inevitable retirement - due to the patriarchal norms of the time - that followed such a pronouncement, having hoped to continue working as a diplomat.
...which brings us full circle to his final three decades he lived as if a woman in London.
...which brings us full circle to his final three decades he lived as if a woman in London.
