As a modern day re-enactor, you may come across women soldiers within the ranks, and you're aware that women soldier re-enactors exist.
You may not always notice them dressed in their male attire, but maybe you notice little things about them that may make you think that they're female. The only reason you may think it's possibly a woman you see, is because you know it could be.
Soldiers of the Civil War didn't expect to find or see women soldier within the ranks, so they wouldn't be out looking for women in disguise. If a soldier had any feminine manorisms, they weren't automatically seen to be a woman, as no one expected that. They were maybe just seen as a freshed faced boy or a soldier who had been raised with many sisters and had their manorisms ! However some men have feminine ways and are not all homosexual !
Women of the time wore large hoop skirts and petitcoats, they didn't walk the streets in trousers. So people of the time didn't get to see women in trousers, unlike today. So they wouldn't be as aware of what a woman in trousers looks likes, as we are today.
Some women re-enactors maybe detected as having female manorisms of looks, but looking at period photos, it can be noted that some male soldiers do look quite feminine with their long hair and small build.
Some male re-enactors today, as back then, have more of a feminine look than some women. From the rear, men with large behinds and long hair could easily pass as a woman ! Where as women soldier re-enactors can be of normal build, tall, and have short hair. It's sometimes easier for women to look likea tyipical man than it is for some men !
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