Zheng Yi Sao (1775–1844; right) as depicted in 1836
Although the majority of pirates in history have been men,[1] there are around a hundred known examples of female pirates,[2][a] about forty of whom were active in the Golden Age of Piracy.[4] Some women have been pirate captains and some have commanded entire pirate fleets. Among the most powerful pirate women were figures such as Zheng Yi Sao (1775–1844) and Huang Bamei (1906–1982), both of whom led tens of thousands of pirates.[5][6]
In addition to the few that were pirates themselves, women have also historically been more heavily involved in piracy through secondary roles, interacting with pirates through being smugglers, lenders of money, purchasers of stolen goods, tavern keepers and prostitutes, and through having been family members of both pirates and victims.[1][7] Some women also married pirates and turned their homes or establishments into piratical safe havens.[8] Through women in these secondary roles, pirates were strongly supported by the agency of women.[9] Some influential women, including monarchs such as Elizabeth I of England (r. 1558–1603), have also acted as powerful patrons of pirates.[1] Although they have received little academic attention, women still occupy these important secondary roles in contemporary piracy. Piracy off the coast of Somalia is for instance supported to a large extent by on-shore women who participate in transportation, housing and recruitment.[10]
Seafaring in general has historically been a highly masculine-gendered activity.[11] Women who became pirates at times disguised themselves as men in order to do so since they were otherwise rarely allowed on pirate ships. On many ships in the Golden Age of Piracy, women were prohibited by the ship's contract (required to be signed by all crew members) due to being seen as bad luck and due to fears that the male crew members would fight over the women. Many famous female pirates, such as Anne Bonny (disappeared after 28 November 1720) and Mary Read (died April 1721), accordingly dressed and acted as men.[12] Since the gender of many pirate women was only exposed after they were caught, it is possible that there were more women in piracy than is otherwise indicated by surviving sources.[13]
In addition to historical female pirates, women in piracy have also frequently appeared in legends and folklore. The earliest legendary female pirate is perhaps Atalanta of Greek mythology, who according to legend joined the Argonauts in the years before the Trojan War.[14]Scandinavian folklore and mythology, though the tales themselves are unverified, includes numerous female warriors (shield-maidens) who command ships and fleets.[15] Female pirates have had varying roles in modern fiction, often reflecting cultural norms and traditions. Beginning in the 20th century, fictional pirate women have sometimes been romanticized as symbols of female liberty.[16]
Historical fictional depictions of pirate women have often reflected stereotypes of their times concerning not only women but also women in power.[98] Depictions of female pirates in A General History of the Pyrates (1724) for instance showcase a degree of unease.[98] Illustrations in a Dutch 1725 edition of the book depict female pirates as unpleasant and bare-chested, trampling on figures representing justice and commerce.[98] Pirate fiction grew increasingly popular in the mid-18th century and among the many tales written were novels starring female pirates.[99] Several such narratives with women pirates and warriors were often highly formulaic, with the women going to sea or war in order to either win or regain the affection of a man.[100] Some tales saw female pirates exceeding their male counterparts in courage, skill and virtue.[99] Some works, such as Fanny Campbell, the Female Pirate Captain (1844), included great adventures but also ended with the central woman finding a man and settling down, perhaps an attempt to not conflict too much with traditional notions of femininty.[101]
In the 20th century, fictional pirate women sometimes became symbols of feminism and female liberty; whereas male pirates were often used to tell stories of escape from wage slavery, female pirates illustrated escape from gender subordination.[16] Such romanticization of pirates, whether male or female, is not grounded in history since pirates were typically violent criminals, thieves and murderers.[102] An early work in this tradition is F. Tennyson Jesse's Moonraker (1927), wherein the pirate captain Lovel is revealed to be a woman with strong ideals on female liberty.[16] Still, there also continued to be stories wherein women were seduced by pirates, such as the 1944 film Frenchman's Creek, and films wherein female pirates seduced men, such as Anne of the Indies (1951).[16] Anne Providence, the main character of Anne of the Indies, was the first famous female pirate in film.[103]
The female pirate is sometimes cast as a feminist, or even an anarchist, icon.[16]Ulrike Ottinger's 1978 film Madame X: An Absolute Ruler is about several women from different career backgrounds joining the pirate crew of "Madame X" above the Chinese ship Orlando[104] and was inspired by the Chinese pirate women of the early 20th century.[105] Among the various messages of the film were a critique of patriarchal and hierarchical power structures.[104] The Pirates of the Caribbean film series includes several female pirates,[106] most notably Elizabeth Swann. Although Swann is included in some stereotypical scenes and begins as a damsel in distress, she is turned into a courageous pirate and heroine over the course of the film series.[107] Both Swann and the other female pirate Anamaria are depicted in Pirates of the Caribbean as cross-dressing, recalling real historical pirate women who did the same.[103]
See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Female pirates.
^The exact number differs depending on whether legendary figures are included and on how "pirate" is defined. Some scholars for instance include mythological figures such as Atalanta and privateers such as Louise Antonini (1771–1861) and Julienne David (1773–1843).[2] Some figures once viewed as pirates, such as Charlotte Badger (1778–after 1843) have also been demonstrated to have been victims of highly fictionalized sensationalism.[3]
^ a b c d e f g h i jAlthough there were Viking warrior women,[25][26][27] attested both by military equipment found in the graves of women and texts describing women as among the Viking invaders,[15] the women named in the Gesta Danorum are considered legendary and unverified on account of the unreliability of the work itself. The Gesta Danorum was written in the 12th/13th century partially as a work of royal propaganda[28] and is not considered a reliable historical account for the centuries before its own time, though portions of it may be distorted retellings of earlier sources.[29]
References
^ a b cPowell 2015, Chapter 6.
^ a b cZuidhoek 2022, p. 3.
^Hardie 2019, p. 84.
^ a b cHollick 2017, Were Women There in the Golden Age of Piracy?.
^ a b cZuidhoek 2022, p. 163.
^ a b c dKlausmann, Meinzerin & Kuhn 1997, pp. 54–55.
^Pennell 2001, p. 284.
^Pennell 2001, pp. 289–290.
^Gilmer 2019, p. 372.
^Gilmer 2019, pp. 371–372, 383.
^Appleby 2013, p. 191.
^Pennell 2001, pp. 285, 303.
^ a b cRediker 2011, p. 112.
^Zuidhoek 2022, p. 48.
^ a b c d eMueller-Vollmer & Wolf 2022, p. 216.
^ a b c d eParker 2013, Pirate Utopianism.
^ a b cKlausmann, Meinzerin & Kuhn 1997, p. 69.
^ a bZuidhoek 2022, p. 273.
^Klausmann, Meinzerin & Kuhn 1997, p. 31.
^ a bZuidhoek 2022, p. 43.
^Klausmann, Meinzerin & Kuhn 1997, p. 81.
^Zuidhoek 2022, pp. 768–769.
^Stanley et al. 1995, p. 74.
^ a bZuidhoek 2022, p. 707.
^ a b c d e f g h i j kDuncombe 2017, Gatekeepers of Valhalla.
^Hedenstierna-Jonson et al. 2017, p. 853.
^Price et al. 2019, pp. 189–192.
^Hermanson 2013, p. 110.
^Sawyer 2003, p. 17.
^ a b c d eZuidhoek 2022, pp. 27–28.
^ a bSharp 2002, p. 22.
^Zuidhoek 2022, p. 352.
^ a b cHarrison Lindbergh 2017, p. 262.
^ a b cMondschein 2017, p. 151.
^Klausmann, Meinzerin & Kuhn 1997, pp. 117–120.
^Zuidhoek 2022, p. 79.
^Sharp 2002, pp. 31–37.
^Klausmann, Meinzerin & Kuhn 1997, pp. 97–99.
^ a bKlausmann, Meinzerin & Kuhn 1997, p. 149.
^ a b c dSharp 2002, pp. 42–47.
^Klausmann, Meinzerin & Kuhn 1997, p. 146.
^ a bZuidhoek 2022, p. 782.
^Klausmann, Meinzerin & Kuhn 1997, p. 151.
^Zuidhoek 2022, p. 549.
^Probasco 2017, p. 223.
^Druett 2001, pp. 52–53.
^Compton 2013, p. 48.
^ a b cDuncombe 2017, The Golden Age.
^Zuidhoek 2022, p. 725.
^Zuidhoek 2022, p. 212.
^Zuidhoek 2022, p. 75.
^Little 2016.
^Streifert Eikeland 2014, p. 371.
^ a bZuidhoek 2022, p. 493.
^Edwards 2012, pp. 54–55.
^ a bZuidhoek 2022, p. 98.
^ a b cStefoff 2014, p. 19.
^Stefoff 2014, p. 21.
^ a bZuidhoek 2022, pp. 98–99.
^ a bZuidhoek 2022, p. 657.
^Stefoff 2014, p. 20.
^Theophilus 2013, p. 225.
^Theophilus 2013, pp. 225–226.
^ a bZuidhoek 2022, p. 87.
^Jameson, J. F. (Ed.). (1923). Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents. New York: The Macmillan Company. (pp. 395-378).
^ Stanley, J. (1996). Bold in Her Breeches: Women Pirates Across the Ages (p. 143). London; San Francisco: Pandora.
^De Pauw, Linda Grant. (1982). Seafaring Women. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, pp. 60-61.
^Duncombe 2017, Veterans of the American Wars.
^Allison 2012, pp. 631–633.
^Murray 1987, p. 71.
^Zuidhoek 2022, pp. 163–164.
^Murray 2001, p. 258.
^Zuidhoek 2022, p. 164.
^Zuidhoek 2022, p. 446.
^Zuidhoek 2022, p. 445.
^Greenwood & Boissery 2000, p. 73.
^Zuidhoek 2022, p. 26.
^Wolke 2015, 1700- och 1800-talen.
^Tingdal 2020.
^ a bZuidhoek 2022, p. 21.
^ a bLim 2011, p. 283.
^Zuidhoek 2022, p. 830.
^Zuidhoek 2022, p. 85.
^Arsovska & Allum 2014, p. 4.
^Owen 2021, p. 19.
^Macintyre 2011, p. 20.
^Batterberry & Batterberry 1998, p. 105.
^Gosse 2012, p. 281.
^Stanley et al. 1995, pp. 243–244.
^Duncombe 2017, Evil Incarnate and the Dragon Lady.
^Zuidhoek 2022, p. 465.
^ a bGuo 2019, p. 6–31.
^Zuidhoek 2022, p. 407.
^ a bStanley et al. 1995, p. 268.
^Zuidhoek 2022, p. 37.
^Stanley et al. 1995, pp. 264, 270.
^Fontana 2012, The Philippines.
^ a b cLincoln 2015, 'Stand and Deliver': The Pirate Inheritance.
^ a bWilliams & Edwards 2001, p. 357.
^Mann 2018.
^Ganser 2020, pp. 116–117.
^Sharp 2002, p. 12.
^ a bSteinhoff 2011, p. 80.
^ a bLangford 2012, p. 182.
^Rickels 2008, p. 116.
^Holston & Winchester 2018, p. 228.
^Zhanial 2019, p. 270.
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