August 26, 2009

Cotillion Club members gathered on car for a group portrait


I'm fascinated by this photo. Back then, men weren't allowed at most on-campus social events at the FSCW. The Cotillion Club members were gals who dressed in men's clothing for dances, escorting their bosom friends, if you will.

Florida State College for Women, Tallahassee, Florida
1930
from the State Library & Archives of Florida

6 comments:

Sarcastic Bastard said...

I like this one, and I like your new site.

Love,

SB

That Hank said...

Thanks. I keep seeing pictures I want to show folks, so I figured - why the hell not?

Lois said...

These old photos of FSCW are funny! My parents started attending FSU the first year it was coeducational.

That Hank said...

If you follow the link, you can find a ton of photos from those days. Heck, maybe there's one of your folks!

Steph(anie) said...

I've always thought women dressed in drag were sexy... is there another word for when women do it? DRessed As Girl doesn't seem all that accurate.

That Hank said...

Well, that's one of those false derivations, like To Insure Prompt Service or For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. Made up after the term was already in use. Far as I can tell, "drag" was coined in the 1800s and referred to the dresses worn by guys in British vaudeville, which dragged the ground.

But as far as I know, it's drag, these days, for either gender dressing as the other. No different terms. I've seen good drag kings and terrible ones - same as queens.