Figure 1.-- his CDV was taken at the studio of William Wright, Bethnal Green, London about 1880. The subject is unidentified. This boy has not yet been breached, but rides his hobby horse astride. Image courtesy of the MD collection.
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Figure 1.-- his CDV was taken at the studio of William Wright, Bethnal Green, London about 1880. The subject is unidentified. This boy has not yet been breached, but rides his hobby horse astride. Image courtesy of the MD collection. |
As a result of the association of boys and hobby horses, they are a useful indicator in interpreting gender in these images. A HBC reader agrees, writing, "One does not see many little girls on hobby horses. I have seen some on hobby horse but in a side saddle position. You do, however, find older girls on real horses." We believe, for example, that a child in a dress siting astride a hobbyhorse or stuffed animal may liked be a boy. A good example here is a family portrit of the French De Lesseps family. We have, however, insufficent information at this time to say with authority that this is a strong indicator.
As a result of the association of boys and hobby horses, they are a useful indicator in interpreting gender in these images. We note quite a wide age range of boys on hobby horses of various descriptions. We also note boys wearing a wide variety oif clothes. Many were not yet breached. Some are quite young. Others seem older than you would expect to be still riding them. Perhaps they were old friends from early childhood or perhaps it was more accepted for older boys to divert themselves with hobby horses. We believe, for example, that a child in a dress siting astride a hobbyhorse or stuffed animal may likely be a boy. A good example here is a family portrit of the French De Lesseps family. We have, however, insufficent information at this time to say with authority that this is a strong indicator. Many of the available images are not identified. For those images that are identified, vurtually all of the children in skirted garments riding astride are boys. We do not some boys in skirted garments posed side saddle, but we are not sure why.
HBC has noted relatively few image of girls on hobby horses. Almost always, the few immages that we can identify as girls are riding side saddle. A HBC reader agrees, writing, "One does not see many little girls on hobby horses. I have seen some on hobby horse in both side saddle and astride positions. You do find quite a few portraits of girls on real horses and here there is not the same disparity between boys and girls." HBC has noted the same trends. There are relatively few portraits of girls on hobby horses. These portraits show girls in both side saddle and astride positions. The number of portraits on actiual horses seem more evenly divided between boys and girls. These portraits show girls riding ide saddle.
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