Why doesn’t anyone talk about Boudica anymore? Or how about Theodora? Why is Cleopatra remembered as a seductress, and not as a multilingual diplomat and ruler of a major ancient civilization? Where are my Boudica dolls, my anticipated films about the lives of Theodora and Cleopatra? Will my future daughters know their names readily and seek to emulate their strength, dignity, intelligence, leadership and determination? What about their peers?
I worry for the latter. I know if I have daughters, I can at least try to teach them about the great women in history - the leaders, the fighters, the “uppity women,” as author Vicki Leon would call them. There have been many throughout history, far more than even she has been able to catalogue in her book series, and each woman serves as an example of true womanhood - the good and the bad. (Boudica, for example, avenged her flogging and her daughters’ rape at the hands of Roman occupiers by having her armies destroy Roman towns and kill any Roman who didn’t manage to escape.) I want to learn more about these women, and I want to pass that knowledge on. But what of other girls? What do they have?
Paris Hilton, it would seem. Paris Hilton, Anna Nicole Smith, Pamela Anderson, Britney Spears, and a seemingly never-ending list of wild women. But not wild in the sense of the women who blazed so many trails so long ago. Instead, they are wild in their conduct, their partying and promiscuity, their lack of self-respect and lack of respect for others. They’re everything I’d pray my daughters would never be, but we still give them room on the front page. Worse yet, few parents anymore bat an eye when their daughters set out to dress, talk and act like these less-than-stellar examples. Why?
People offer plenty of shallow excuses - standards have changed, it’s what’s “in” right now, girls will be ostracized if they don’t participate. But the most puzzling answer is that somehow, the behavior exhibited by the likes of Hilton and Spears is liberating and a form of feminism. Men, it is argued, can engage in this sort of behavior with no consequence or subsequent stigma, but women cannot. Is this not sexism? Why can’t women do the same things as men? The questions of double standards, societal expectations and the upbringing of our sons aside, this final excuse also begs a deeper and more serious question - why, after so many thousands of years, does our society still fear powerful women?
America seems to think of heiresses, models, actresses and singers as powerful, but are they really? We seem to like them best when they are partying, saying moronic things in interviews, being indecent in public. We like them when they’re hooked on their drugs of choice - and keep in mind that not all drugs are substances. Taken from this perspective, these women are not powerful at all - in fact, they’re rather harmless. They have no causes but themselves, and that keeps them powerless. What would happen, I wonder, if one of them got serious about something? What if they suddenly decided to study law, or undertook a lobbying campaign? Would they still be on the news? Would their cleaner, more respectable antics still pique interest? Or would we change the channel, click another link, or find another magazine, eager to put the thought of a powerful woman out of our mind and search for another harmless, mindless pin-up girl?
Which brings us back to Boudica, Theodora and Cleopatra. What would it take for society to remember, admire and honor them? How do we convince our media that we want to hear their stories, as well as the stories of the thousands or even millions of women who are fighting to leave this world better than they found it? You could argue that it would take a miracle or a complete change in cultural norms. You could even say that it would be impossible, that we’re too far gone to change.
Or you could pick up a book, watch a documentary and learn. Think. Perhaps change your perspective. And if you have children, teach them well.
