Think being trans is a 'trend'? Consider these 18th-century 'female husbands'
Whenever the subject of transgender identities comes up today, there is a tendency for conservative politicians – perhaps most of all in the United States – to trot out a particularly specious argument: that the idea of being trans is a “new” concept, a notion that “no one” in their right mind had heard of, or would entertain, in previous eras.
At its most extreme, this argument suggests that a peculiar concoction of things is to blame for our existence – from social media, indoctrination by well-paid gender studies professors, or even an excess of supposedly hormone-altering substances, like soy or arcane chemicals, in our diets. Non-binary identities particularly confound conservatives.
This, of course, is absurd, given the fact that people who defied gender norms in notable, consistent ways – and who might well have identified as transgender today – have existed throughout human history.
Consider, for example, that in the 18th century, a landlord in England realized, to her consternation, that one of her tenants, whom she had long assumed was a swashbuckling married man, might actually, at least in her eyes, be something else entirely.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/10/transgender-history-18th-century-female-husbands
= new reply since forum marked as read
That said, the rigid societal constraints on most women of the time--especially those who were not of significant $$ means-- was such that women who could pass as men might just be tempted, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identification norms. Certainly, this was documented among Chinese coming to this country (if you were a viewer of "Hell on Wheels," that storyline in its last season was based on some historically documented incidents).
But, I don't know why anyone would assume that transgender would be a "new" phenomenon. That simply makes no sense to me--except for those seeking to exploit the issue politically. We see some evidence of gender behavior spectrum among higher primates and other species. Why would the same not have been true of humans throughout history? 
