The Chevalier d'Eon: the Trans 18th Century Spy

“A historical figure doesn’t have to be a good person to be queer”. Good reminder that we don’t have to idolize every queer historical figure - but we should still respect their queerness. It’s okay to find comfort/validity in their queerness without hailing them a saint. Thanks for another awesome video and congrats on the new cat!

I kind of love that their mom was like "Yep, definitely born a girl." That just feels ... supportive to me.

d'Eon straight up lying about their agab is kind of iconic tbh

the moment d'Éon was treated as a woman she was labelled as too masculine - some things never change :/

Personally I don’t see what is so complicated about d’Éon’s gender identity. She didn’t want to wear women’s clothing and had good reason to want to continue wearing her uniform that she earned by serving her country, but she was pretty clear that she saw herself as a woman. Women’s clothing at the time was restricting, particularly for noble women, and it probably just didn’t suit her. We see other cis noble women who wear men’s clothing but still identify as women, as rare as it was. We see people like this today who just feel more comfortable presenting as they always have, but internally their sense of identity is different. They deserve respect all the same, not everyone has to transition or present like the societal ideal of their preferred gender identity. If I’m a downright fool, please feel free to tell me about it, but from where I stand it seems pretty clear cut.

Ah yes, when the fates present you with a cat. They are rarely a cat you would have chosen if you were choosing a cat, but they're usually more interesting. Plus karma points for accepting the fates cat.

I'm a simple man. I see Kaz Rowe uploaded, I click.

I want to say, as someone whose first language is french, that the topic of gender is even more confusing in situations like this than it seems for someone who comes from a gender neutral language like english. French is a HEAVILY gendered language. All inanimate objects even have genders and the gender of something alters the spelling of nearly every word referring to it in a sentence. There is no gender neutral pronoun in french and the idea of something being neither male nor female would be a concept particularly hard to grasp in the 1700s in France where even a chair is female. It is possible that the reason they wanted to be a woman despite not entirely feeling comfortable as one is because they knew they were not a man, and culturally, there was nothing else but those two options.

I like the decree at 11:15 being called "The Transaction" because it can easily be read as "The Trans Action", ie the royal action that officially made d'Eon trans!

it's so fascinating to see an 18th century religious framing of nonbinary gender feelings ALSO love the kitty!!!

A video with a kitty?!?! It’s like the cat distribution system has blessed us all, too 🥰

d'Eon reminds me of many transfem eggs. "Women are just so cool, right!? Like they're sooo much better than men!" Also reminds me of trans women from conservative backgrounds (and have typically come out layer in life) who are shocked to discover that misogyny still exists and now affects them.

I visited d'Eon's house a couple of years ago. In the little pamphlet I was given, the owners of the house (who I believe are the chevalier's indirect descendents), firmly denied the possibility of their transness, referring to d'Eon's apparent regret at donning women's clothes. I'm not surprised, as the chevalier complex identity defies the general population's understanding of transness, but it's really interesting to have the longer story from you, Kaz. Keep up the good work!

transness and queerness is so complex no matter what time period and that’s so interesting to me. lovely video as always!

Okay, the phrase 'Mila your womb is going to be so barren" is beyond amazing. You win.

Not going to lie, hearing that D'Eon felt trapped by womens clothing after living for so many decades as a male but deep in there heart felt female was touching and sad in equal measure. Born in the right era to understand what they were, but too early to experience better rights for women. Seeing how everyone wrote about this individual to this day, trying to lock them in a nice little box and the horrible disrespect upon passing, it kinda made me tear up. (Also I've learned to not even check what historical figures thoughts are on Jews. Its like almost always bad. Looking at you William Lloyd Garrison)

“I have been chosen by the cat distribution system” bless

I'm working on an essay proposal for my history methods class. It's on how people keep denying people like James Barry, Charley Parkhurst, and Billy Tipton as transmen and how disrespectfulit is to past and current transpeople. And how these transmen aren't cross dressers like Hannah Snell or Deborah Sampson who dressed as men to go fight in war. I came across d'eon but no offense to d'eon but they'd deserve more time and space than I had. Still seem like a dope subject to research. Also love the little meows in the back, it's so serotonin filling

on a side note they fenced against Joseph Bologne twice once as a 'man' and once as a 'woman' which is quite remarkable and they even have a picture of them both fencing which is sort of a surprise for it's time. A Black Chevalier fencing with a Trans Chevalier is sort of something that seems very progressive and feels sort of fictional compared to this era, the sense that it is radical.

THE LITTLE MEWING IN THE BACKGROUND😭😭😭