This is 89-1, KMUW. Nineteenth century American writers were notoriously rigid in their gender expression, or so we thought. Wichita State English professor Rebeccah Bechtold challenges that myth in today’s Why Should I Read This.
Published anonymously in The Knickerbocker in 1857, the short story “The Man Who Thought Himself a Woman” details the life and death of Japhet Colbones—a self-proclaimed “odd individual” who, although identified as male throughout the story, demonstrates a proclivity for needlework, dresses in women’s clothing, and confesses in a suicide note, “I think I am a woman.” The story’s regional flair, along with its subtle mix of pathos and humor, makes it a fascinating read all on its own. Yet it is the story’s representation of a trans-feeling subject that captures readers’ attention, offering a rare glimpse into what it might have been like for a genderqueer person living in the antebellum United States.
