Referencia completa: Vázquez García, Francisco y Cleminson, Richard: ‘“Inseparables”: Tobacco Workers in Seville and Female Homoeroticism at the End of the Nineteenth Century», Journal of the History of Sexuality, 31 (1), pp. 28-58

Se explora, a partir de un estudio de caso, la neutralización de las masculinidades femeninas de las cigarreras entre finales del siglo XIX y comienzos del XX.

In Spain, in the large factories where many adult women are employed, especially in the great tobacco factory at Seville, Lesbian relationships seem to be not uncommon. Here the women work in an atmosphere which in summer is so hot that they throw off the greater part of their clothing, to such an extent that a bell is rung whenever a visitor is introduced into a work-room, in order to warn the workers. Such an environment predisposes to the formation of homosexual relationships. When I was in Spain some years ago an incident occurred at the Seville Fábrica de Tabacos which attracted much attention in the newspapers, and, though it was regarded as unusual, it throws light on the life of the workers. One morning as the women were entering the work-room and amid the usual scene of animation changing their Manila shawls for the light costume worn during work, one drew out a small clasp-knife and, attacking another, rapidly inflicted six or seven wounds on her face and neck, threatening to kill anyone who approached. Both these cigarreras were superior workers, engaged in the most skilled kind of work, and had been at the factory for many years. In appearance they were described as presenting a striking contrast: the aggressor, who was 48 years of age, was of masculine air, tall and thin, with an expression of firm determination on her wrinkled face; the victim, on the other hand, whose age was 30, was plump and good-looking and of pleasing disposition. The reason at first assigned for the attack on the younger woman was that her mother had insulted the elder woman’s son. It appeared, however, that a close friendship has existed between the two women, that latterly the younger woman had formed a friendship with the forewoman of her work-room, and that the elder woman was frustrated by the accidental absence of the forewoman that day. The significance of this Spanish case of female homoeroticism has so far not been remarked upon by researchers. As in other cases of sexual inversion that involved women from a working-class background, in contrast to those involving middle-class or aristocratic women, Ellis likened female sexual inversion to criminality and particularly to the existence of jealousy.

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