Catalina de Erauso

• I wish that I could have read this book in its original Spanish, I might when I have the time! In the translator's notes, Steptos talks about how she would refer to herself in masculine and feminine forms. I am courisous as to when she would do that.
• One thing that shocked me about this account was the amount of violence that she committed. She killed three men over being called a cuckold. I was glad to learn in class discussion that I was not the only one who was a bit incredulous about HOW violent she was.
• This does shed an interesting light onto gender roles at these times. She was obviously more comfortable in in men's clothing, but was that because she enjoyed being perceived as a man or because she enjoyed perceiving herself as a man? Or perhaps both? One thing that I find interesting is that she gained widespread acceptance after her true sex was found out. Spain under the Counterreformation was not exactly a bastion of progressive thought. I would think that she would have had a harder time finding acceptance. Perhaps it was because she "retained her virginity" as she told the pope.
• Was Erauso a lesbian? There are hints of it in the reading, when she "rubs the inside of a girl's leg"at the enragement of her father. I cannot help but feel that particular line must be mistranslated or perhaps there is a colloquial meaning in Spanish or Basque that escapes English translation. She may have had little to no sexual preference at all, preferring violence and vagabondage instead.
• One thing that I find interesting was that she was not fighting for woem's rights or equality for women, although by besting many men in combat she may have helped popular perceptions at the time.