Mary Beard, a professor of classics at the University of Cambridge is a well-known expert and author of a history of ancient Rome. She is also present on social media, including a blog and a Twitter feed.
Just this past December she published two talks as Women & Power: a Manifesto. https://www.amazon.com/Women-Power-Manifesto-Mary-Beard/dp/1631494759/
She traces the origins of misogyny to ancient Greek and Roman roots. Women have been prohibited from leadership roles in civic life since then, and public speech has historically been defined as inherently male.
She draws on classic and contemporary examples, including the battering of Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren.
p. 36. “It doesn’t much matter what line you take as a woman, if you venture into traditional male territory, the abuse comes anyway. It is not what you say that prompts it, it’s simply the fact that you’re saying it. And that matches the detail of the threats themselves. They include a fairly predictable menu of rape, bombing, murder and so forth. … A significant subsection is directed at silencing the woman. ‘Shut up you bitch.’ … In its crude, aggressive way, this is about keeping, or getting, women out of man’s talk.”
If you look at her Twitter feed, you’ll see that she is very familiar with the most vicious of Internet trolls, and even jokes with them in her Tweets.
In fact, if you are a student of “how bad does the trolling get,” this is one place to look. Also, take a look at responses to #MeToo messages. And “gamergate” messaging, when females in the gaming industry complained about their treatment by male peers and got death threats.
Other quotes:
p. 53 “My basic premise is that our mental, cultural template for a powerful person remains resolutely male. … To put this the other way around, we have no template for what a powerful woman looks like, except that she looks rather like a man.” [photo of Angela Merkel and Hillary Clinton in the “female politician’s uniform” of trousers—a dark pant suit.]
p. 62 [regarding the myths about Amazon women] “The basic message was that the only good Amazon was a dead one, or one that had been mastered, in the bedroom. The underlying point was that it was the duty of men to save civilization from the rule of women.”
Her point about “our mental, cultural template” echoes another favorite expert: Virginia Valian, who wrote Why So Slow? about the low numbers of women in professions. She called it our “schema,” not a “template,” and noted that our schema for a professional person (especially a scientist) was incompatible with our schema for women.
Basically, we think the idea of a powerful woman, or a professional woman, is WRONG, and NOT NATURAL.
Watch this expressed nearly every day, as women are interrupted, insulted, and banned from speaking. (For example, a Congresswoman, IN CONGRESS).
If you have time to dip into feminist classics, this is one, I think.
Mary Beard is taking unbelievable fire for speaking out. The backlash is proving her point.
Just this past December she published two talks as Women & Power: a Manifesto. https://www.amazon.com/Women-Power-Manifesto-Mary-Beard/dp/1631494759/
She traces the origins of misogyny to ancient Greek and Roman roots. Women have been prohibited from leadership roles in civic life since then, and public speech has historically been defined as inherently male.
She draws on classic and contemporary examples, including the battering of Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren.
p. 36. “It doesn’t much matter what line you take as a woman, if you venture into traditional male territory, the abuse comes anyway. It is not what you say that prompts it, it’s simply the fact that you’re saying it. And that matches the detail of the threats themselves. They include a fairly predictable menu of rape, bombing, murder and so forth. … A significant subsection is directed at silencing the woman. ‘Shut up you bitch.’ … In its crude, aggressive way, this is about keeping, or getting, women out of man’s talk.”
If you look at her Twitter feed, you’ll see that she is very familiar with the most vicious of Internet trolls, and even jokes with them in her Tweets.
In fact, if you are a student of “how bad does the trolling get,” this is one place to look. Also, take a look at responses to #MeToo messages. And “gamergate” messaging, when females in the gaming industry complained about their treatment by male peers and got death threats.
Other quotes:
p. 53 “My basic premise is that our mental, cultural template for a powerful person remains resolutely male. … To put this the other way around, we have no template for what a powerful woman looks like, except that she looks rather like a man.” [photo of Angela Merkel and Hillary Clinton in the “female politician’s uniform” of trousers—a dark pant suit.]
p. 62 [regarding the myths about Amazon women] “The basic message was that the only good Amazon was a dead one, or one that had been mastered, in the bedroom. The underlying point was that it was the duty of men to save civilization from the rule of women.”
Her point about “our mental, cultural template” echoes another favorite expert: Virginia Valian, who wrote Why So Slow? about the low numbers of women in professions. She called it our “schema,” not a “template,” and noted that our schema for a professional person (especially a scientist) was incompatible with our schema for women.
Basically, we think the idea of a powerful woman, or a professional woman, is WRONG, and NOT NATURAL.
Watch this expressed nearly every day, as women are interrupted, insulted, and banned from speaking. (For example, a Congresswoman, IN CONGRESS).
If you have time to dip into feminist classics, this is one, I think.
Mary Beard is taking unbelievable fire for speaking out. The backlash is proving her point.
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