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Two Women Who Were Arrested for Wearing Pants, 80 Years Apart
“If he orders me to change into a dress I won’t do it”
In 1852, Emma Snodgrass was arrested for “donning the breeches.” Over eighty years later, Helen Hulik was sent to jail for the same reason. A closer look at these two women and the history of pants in the United States reveals how clothing restriction was used as a tool to assert dominance and power over women.
Boston, Massachusetts, 1852
17-year-old Emma Snodgrass got national attention for wearing pants and trousers in the mid-Nineteenth Century. The Boston Herald dubbed her the “wanderer in men’s apparel,” the Daily Alta California detailed her “violent attempts to talk ‘horse,’ and do other things for which ‘fast’ boys are noted,” and the New York Daily Times reported her scandalously “donning the breeches.”
Snodgrass often defied the rules. In Boston, she worked as a clerk at a clothing company under the male name George Green. And even with the numerous newspaper articles fixated on her clothing choices, she continued wearing those “pantaloons.”
“What her motive may be for thus obstinately rejecting the habiliments of her own sex, is not known.” — New York Daily Times.
Even so, Snodgrass was arrested on numerous occasions for being caught in pants. Each time, she would be sent back to her family who lived in New York. Because of the sensational headlines, it’s unclear if any of the details surrounding her life are true, including her family. However, we know that her father held a high position in the New York Police Department, and perhaps this was one of the reasons she was never actually sent to jail.
Her friend, Harriet French, on the other hand, was not so lucky. She spent two months at Blackwell’s Island after being caught with Snodgrass. Both were found in 1852 wearing pants and pretending to be men. Yet, Snodgrass walked “scot-free” and French was sent to jail. The Tribune attributed this differential treatment to class and summed it up as “the difference between breeches without money, and breeches with.”
As for the reason why the two women chose to wear pants? French shared in an interview in 1856 that the reason she and…
