Pauline Greenhill's paper in Ballads into Books (ed. Sigrid Rieuwerts
and Tom Cheesman, Bern: Peter Lang, 1997) discusses a version of the
"Whose gonna kiss your ruby red lips" formula (cf "Lass of Roch Royal"
Child 76) in which the heroine responds -- "Sister's gonna kiss my ruby
red lips / And I don't need no man." Pauline has also presented papers
on cross-dressing ballads, but I don't know if any of these have been
published yet. Julia Kelso a graduate student in Memorial University
of Newfoundland's Department of Folklore has also written on this
topic, though again I can't say whether she has published.
Several postings have alluded to the prevalence of homosexuality among
seafarers, and it's worth pointing out that the one solid ethnography
of the merchant marine under sail -- Knut Weibust's _Deep Sea Sailors:
A Study in Maritime Ethnology_ -- states that homosexuality was rare
aboard vessels. Whether Weibust's informants were telling him the
truth, however, may be a different matter.
Cheers
Jamie
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