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Abstract

This dissertation features the study of how gender norms and national identities are transgressed using items which are apparently as straightforward as dress. The main focus will be on three case studies, including: the Flapper Girls in 1920s America, Butch Lesbians and Transgender Women in post-1950s Britain and finally, veil wearing Muslim women in Algeria and France between 1830 and early 21st Century. Most specifically, I will analyse the entanglement of gender and nationalism, to understand the ways in which these expectations of femininity are projected onto women’s bodies. 

My findings during the writing of this dissertation are that across all three studies, women’s bodies are policed by nationalist perceptions of gender and held as ‘symbols of the nation’, thus often exploited regardless if they subvert or conform to such expectations. Thus, despite the vast differences and complexities between these women in the case studies, all of their bodies are used as a site of contestation and gendered nationalism, most commonly based on the ideals of men. 

In order to fully measure the impact of said policing of women’s bodies, I will be using an intersectional approach to comprehend the ways in which expectations of femininity manifest, based on race, class, sexuality and religion. The use of dress to subvert or reinforce gendered nationalism in each context will allow us to measure the ‘room for manoeuvre’ these women had, which often was minimised when the ‘sum’ of intersecting identities was larger.

Course: History - BA (Hons) - C1087

Date Deposited: 2021-07-27

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis13698.html