Which is the Rooster, Which is the Hen?

Introduction by Jonathan Ned Katz. Copyright (c) by Jonathan Ned Katz, 2008.

Postcards collected by Marshall Weeks and dating to the early twentieth-century present satirical images of women who wore "mannish" shoes, shirts, collars, ties, and coats, who smoked, went to bars, and who moved independently in the world. Other cards portray effeminate men and, specifically, those then called "fairies" and "pansies."

These popular culture images express the same feeling of threat to ideals of traditional "femininity" and "masculinity" found in that era's medical journal articles and newspaper accounts of gender difference and sexual "abnormality." For how to think about these images historically, please see "Looking at Images" after the postcard display.[1]

An early recording on the same theme as the postcards presents the song "Masculine Women & Feminine Men." The singer asks: "Which is the rooster, which is the hen?"

For a recording by Frank Harris (Irving Kaufman) (Columbia 569D, 1/29/26), look for the little red speakers on QueerMusicHeritage.com and learn the song's history.