Category Archives: sexism

(ALMOST) ANONYMOUS SAMURAI WARRIOR QUEENS

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Watching the Smithsonian program, “Samurai Warrior Queens,” I found myself, again, marveling at how anonymous the historians (?mostly male) kept women’s contributions — anonymous. I am reading the kokinshū for the sequel to Pillow Book of the Flower Samurai, which I am currently calling The Samurai’s Daughter. The kokinshū is a massive Imperial collection of poetry from  the early 10th century. And the translators/authors of this fabulous book speak of this very thing. The anonymity of women and their contributions.     In the kokinshū many of the poems’… Continue reading →

THE FEMALE HERO—ARCHETYPES and STEREOTYPES

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Departure of the Amazons by Deruet,  1620

I was going to continue this sequence of blogs with villains, but came across an article in the April Smithsonian called, “The First Wonder Women.” Amanda Foreman’s article discusses the more modern “Wonder Woman” comics persona and her upcoming presence or lack thereof in the upcoming movie, “Batman vs. Superman.” Not that favorably, either.                                     Foreman continues backwards in time until she arrives at one of my favorites:… Continue reading →

New Year, Old Thoughts

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Empress Jingu

I want to share with you a line from one of my poems: Sexism is the last racism What do I mean by this? Sexism has proved itself to be the last bastion of prejudice. From the first question we ask when babies are born, “boy or girl?” to the language we speak, the way we act (which for my money is also language), to legal and political rights and privileges. This is every country, every nation, everywhere. male forms If you’re questioning this, good.… Continue reading →