Pirates, tankers, priests and more: 7 famous women who pretended to be men

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Not so long ago, because of the prejudices of society and because of superstitions, women could not do their favorite thing and sometimes went to extreme measures and huge sacrifices. Some of the ladies were even ready to give up their gender, and it is for this reason that they went down in history.

Saint Apollinaria - Monk Dorotheos

Being in the 5th century one of the daughters of the ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire - Flavius Anthemia - the girl gave herself completely to religion. Powerful parents wanted to marry her, but she asked them for permission to make a pilgrimage to holy places. When Apollinaria reached Alexandria, she managed to escape from her motorcade. Putting on a monastic robe, the future saint withdrew from the world into the swamps, where she spent all her time in prayer and fasting in the skete.

After some time, the girl, disguised as the monk Dorotheus, asked to be a disciple to Macarius of Egypt. There she won the respect of the brethren through her zealous service. Her sister suddenly fell ill - became "possessed". The parents sent the unfortunate woman to Macarius, who, in turn, took the patient to Apollinaria, and she healed her relative with prayers.

However, after returning home, the sister was "possessed by unclean forces," and the girl felt that she was pregnant. And outwardly, changes took place with her - her stomach and chest grew. The enraged parents demanded that the churchmen hand over the person who had done this to their daughter. Apollinaria took the blame on herself, went to her father's house, where she told her father and mother about her adventures. Then she cured her sister and returned to the monastery, where she lived until her death.

John - "Pope"

Pope John is a girl who, according to legend, occupied the highest office in the Catholic Church at the beginning of the 12th century. Having contacted a monk as a teenager, she traveled with him around the world wearing a man's attire. Her path lay from Germany to the Greek peninsula Athos - the focus of Christian monasteries. She subsequently moved to live in Rome.

Having become a novice in one of the churches, the girl first took the post of notary of the papal curia, then she was elected cardinal, and then - pontiff. According to the chronicler Jean de Mayy, the girl was in a position, and was relieved of the burden, falling from a horse during one of the ceremonies.

As punishment for her deception, they dragged her all over the city, tied to the tail of a horse, and stoned to death. According to other sources, the pope died during childbirth. For a long time, there were rumors that, in order to avoid further misunderstandings, the new candidate for the post of Pope was seated on a chair with an opening through which the genitals were visible from below.

Conquistador woman

The only daughter in the family of a Basque soldier, Catalina de Erazo was born in 1592 in San Sebastian. The four-year-old baby was sent to the monastery of the Dominican Order. For eleven long years, the girl was brought up in severity, but once, when she was once again severely beaten, she could not stand it and ran away.

Having changed into men's clothes, Catalina, after a few months of wandering, reached the port of Bilbao, where she enrolled as a cabin boy. The ship she hired sailed to Latin America, where at that time the Spaniards were fighting against the indigenous population. It is assumed that she even managed to get into the team of her own brother, who did not recognize her.

Catalina became a conquistador and was appointed lieutenant-governor for her courage in battles. Once, being wounded, she confessed to the bishop that she was not really a man. He forgave her sins, and the woman went to the monastery. Pope Urban VIII himself allowed Catalina to wear a man's attire. After an audience with the supreme church dignitary, a woman conquistador under the name Antonio returned to Mexico from Spain and went into business. She wrote an autobiographical story about her adventures.

Mary Reid - Pirate of the Caribbean

The girl, who was born in London out of wedlock to a widow, was accustomed to wearing boyish clothes from childhood, because her mother did not want her mother-in-law to find out about the true origin of the baby. A relative thought that this child was her grandson Willie by her late son. At the age of fifteen, the girl became a cadet in Flanders, but could not make a career there and therefore transferred to the cavalry regiment. Mary earned the respect of her fellow soldiers with her fearlessness and courage, but she fell in love with her “colleague” in arms. At first, a small incident came out when she began to show him signs of attention: a fellow soldier decided that "Willie" refers to people with a non-traditional sexual orientation. Then Mary had to reveal the secret. The young people got married, and the girl began to wear a woman's dress.

After the sudden death of her husband, Mary again put on a man's suit and hired a ship bound for the Caribbean. Their ship was captured by pirates, but the woman was not touched. On the ship, she met "corsair" Anne Boni and Captain Jack Rackham, and the three of them formed a pirate family. Their ship was captured, and everyone but Mary was hanged - she was not touched due to her pregnancy. The pirate died in a prison in Jamaica in 1721 at the age of 36.

Only men in jazz

Dorothy Lucille Tipton is a unique transvestite woman who managed to hide her gender even from five wives from 15 to 74 years old. And yet she managed to be a fairly well-known jazz musician.

Dorothy's parents separated, and the girl was sent to live with her aunt, who instilled in the child a love of music, teaching him to play the piano and saxophone. When the girl grew up and turned 18, she began to go to auditions for jazz bands. But everywhere Dorothy was refused because of the "wrong" gender. And then the girl began to bandage her breasts, made a short haircut and put on men's clothes. From that moment on, her life changed dramatically. New jazz man Billy Tipton is born.

With the wives "Billy" had sex with the help of dildos and told everyone that because of the disaster he had to constantly bandage his breasts. Dorothy did not strive for worldwide popularity and died in a trailer at an old age. It was a revelation for adopted children, wives and friends that their Billy - father, husband and friend - is actually a woman.

"Gusarynya" Nadezhda Durova

The future cavalry girl was born into the family of a captain and the daughter of a landowner. The mother hated her daughter from her unloved husband and even once threw her out the window when she cried for a long time. The father prudently gave the girl to hussar Astakhov for upbringing. Only at the age of five, Nadia was returned to her family, which by that time had settled in the provincial town of Sarapul. When Durova turned 18, she was married against her will. The girl fell in love with the handsome Esaul, ran away with him from her husband and little son, and wandered around Russia for six years under the guise of a batman.

She also later fled from her beloved Durov and joined the Lithuanian Uhlan regiment. As part of this military unit, the girl repeatedly participated in battles, received the St. George Cross and, oddly enough, did not shed a drop of enemy blood, although she showed courage and valor. Her relatives found her, but Tsar Alexander I himself interceded for the girl, who transferred her to Mariupol and allowed her to serve in the regiment under the name of Alexander Andreevich Alexandrov.

Nadezhda Durova took part in the Patriotic War of 1812, she was wounded in the leg by a cannonball. She even served as an orderly under Kutuzov. She retired with the rank of staff captain and spent the rest of her life with her brother in Elabuga. She did not maintain a relationship with her son. The people around her called her Alexander Andreevich and until her death she wore a man's dress.

Alexandra Rashchupkina - woman tanker

She was born and raised in Uzbekistan. She also married there and gave birth to two children who died in infancy. She worked as a tractor driver. In 1941, on the second attempt, she submitted documents for voluntary conscription into the ranks of the Red Army as Alexander Rashchupkin. While undergoing training as a tanker, she agreed with the doctor so that he would not give out her secret.

Once at the front, Alexandra, as part of the 62nd Army, fought at Stalingrad and in Poland. For three years, Rashchupkina's secret never became public. It was only when another mechanic bandaged her wound that he discovered the deception and was forced to report to the management. General Chuikov, who commanded the 62nd Army, stood up for the girl, and therefore the documents were corrected, and Alexandra was allowed to remain at the front. After the war, she met her husband and lived with him for almost 30 years a happy family life. She died in 2010 at the age of 96.

A huge resonance at one time caused Russian Jeanne d'Arc Maria Bochkareva and her women's battalion of death.