Category: Herstory

My mum, my mountain: Hana Te Hemara – E-Tangata

“Mum was an articulate, visionary, and fearless woman. She was the biggest driver of the petition for reo Māori to be included in the school curriculum . . . She did all that organising from her kitchen table.” — Ramari Jackson.

Fifty years ago this month, on September 14, 1972, Hana Te Hemara presented a petition on the steps of Parliament calling for reo Māori to be permitted in our schools. It was a radical act that set in motion the modern movement to revitalise te reo Māori.

Hana was married to activist Syd Jackson. Together they were founding members of Ngā Tamatoa and parents to Ramari and Pura.

In this conversation, their daughter Ramari tells Connie Buchanan about her memories of her mum. She says Hana’s passion for the petition was born out of  anguish at the loss of her language, and explains why this is the first time she’s talked about her mum publicly.

Source: My mum, my mountain: Hana Te Hemara – E-Tangata

OPINION: Transitioning Dead Women – Reduxx

According to historian Bettany Hughes, of all written and recorded history, only 0.5% is about women despite women consistently making up about 50% of the population.

But that hasn’t stopped the trans-historians of trans-history. Armed with sexist stereotypes, they have been marching through history’s great women, so kindly “correcting” the record of their lives where they have determined one or another wasn’t sufficiently “womanly” enough. All in the name of smashing the gender binary, of course.

The most recent example of this is the Sainted Joan of Arc. Joan was a French heroine that led the French army to victory against the English in 1429, purportedly after receiving divine guidance to do so. As she led troops into battle, she donned more practical men’s clothes and armor. After being captured by the English in 1430, she was tried in a kangaroo court on charges of witchcraft, heresy, and defying the divine law for having dressed as a man. She was burned alive in 1431 at the age of 19.

An incredible story of an inspiring, powerful woman.

… Until now.

On August 11, London-based theatre Shakespeare’s Globe announced it’s upcoming play I, Joan, which would re-write her story to make her non-binary who utilized ‘they/them’ pronouns.

While it is true that Joan defied the world’s expectations of her, play writer Charlie Josephine’s implication that she was less of a woman for doing so only reinforces these societal expectations of what a woman should be.

Calling Joan “they” instead of “she” does nothing to question the gender binary. Rather than acknowledging that Joan was a woman who overcame the expectations imposed upon her because of her sex, Joesphine suggests that being a woman is nothing more than adherence to those very expectations.

Unfortunately, Joan is not the only woman who has had her womanhood stripped from her for not conforming to their stereotypical sex-role.

A blog post referred to the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale, by he/him pronouns because she sometimes called herself a “man of action” and a “man of science,” and had a close, documented relationship with a female friend. They argued that it was far more likely that she was a man than a lesbian.

The author of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, has also been described as “trans” by both activists and Queer news outlet LGBTQ Nation. A tweet from earlier this year wracked up over 34,000 likes after a round-bespectacled gender special firmly declared Alcott was transgender.

Source: OPINION: Transitioning Dead Women – Reduxx

JK Rowling ridicules Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre for portraying Joan of Arc as non-binary | Daily Mail Online

Harry Potter author JK Rowling has ridiculed the Globe Theatre’s portrayal of Joan of Arc as non-binary after women’s rights campaigners said the switch was ‘insulting and damaging’.

  • Harry Potter writer and women’s rights campaigner JK Rowling entered debate
  • Feminists today denounced new non-binary portrayal as offensive and sexist 
  • Joan of Arc will have ‘them/they’ pronouns, MailOnline exclusively revealed
  • Historical icon is female and a saint honoured for her bravery fighting for France
  • Theatre had defended production and suggested Shakespeare would agree

And while Ms Rowling’s entry to the debate was the lightest of touches, it will be seen as hugely significant to supporters of her views and causes.

It came after a Twitter user criticised The Globe’s new I, Joan production.

Her remark of ‘Coming next: Napoleon was a woman because he was defeated at Waterloo’ was liked by Ms Rowling on the social media timeline.

It came moments after Heather Binning from Women’s Rights Network told MailOnline the play was damaging to women.

She said: ‘This demonstrates just how our arts and creative industries have taken on the woke mantle without realising that ‘being kind’ to one group of people actually hurts and damages another important and fundamental group.

‘Joan of Arc was female. Her early years were spent cooking and cleaning and looking after the animals. When she was 10 she had a vision that she was to fight for France. In order to do this she took on the outward appearance of being male.

‘This had nothing to do with ‘feelings’ and everything to do with the biological reality and disadvantage that being female brought. Many women throughout the ages have had to adopt ‘maleness’ in order to be taken seriously and advance their ambition.

Source: JK Rowling ridicules Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre for portraying Joan of Arc as non-binary | Daily Mail Online

The story behind the giant bronze Amazon statue in Benin – Face2Face Africa

The strength of the Beninese woman in modern history was reasserted this week in the West Africa nation when the President of Benin, Patrice Talon, unveiled a giant Amazon statue.

It’s a 30-meter statue made of bronze and situated in Benin’s capital of Cotonou. It’s christened ‘Esplanade des Amazones’. For many Beninese, it represents Queen Tassi Hangbe who ruled alongside her brother in 1700, while for followers of oral history, it’s the Beninese Amazon, a legion of she-warriors who defended the Dahomey kingdom (present-day Benin) and her people fearlessly.

Oral tradition traces the emergence of the Amazons of Benin to the crude impact of the slave trade. This compelled a culture of grooming girls in the art of war. By the 1800s, the number of she-warriors in Dahomey was estimated in the thousands.

Another version of history traces the roots of the Amazons to Queen Hangbe who ruled after the death of her twin brother, King Akaba. She is credited for building an army of spinster warriors who were recruited and trained at an early age.

Their initial role was royal bodyguards until they were conscripted into an army by King Gezo between 1818 and 1858. They embodied women empowerment in all their endeavors as they sought to outshine men in every aspect of their life. They were considered well organized, better trained and braver than their male counterparts.

The Amazons, to many, represent the feminine strength and the voice of women in an underrepresented society.

Source: The story behind the giant bronze Amazon statue in Benin – Face2Face Africa

Julie Burchill: In an age where women’s very existence is being denied, this glorious show of bold femininity can change the world – The Mail

Yesterday even I woke with a dart of joy. The Lionesses had won!
In an age when women’s very existence is being denied and we’re being robbed of our hard-won gains – from toilets to trophies – by angry trans activists; at a time when our bodies are commodified and picked apart like never before thanks to social media, these bold young women have clawed out new territory. Their spirit signifies new freedoms, new potential for women everywhere.

Nowhere was this more apparent when listening to the poignant words of the so-called ‘Lost Lionesses’ of the 1971 Women’s World Cup. They were the first unofficial England women’s team in the days after a 50-year ban on women’s football was lifted.

Isn’t it incredible to think that, until recently, women’s football was as good as illegal?!

The FA will be all over women’s football now, of course, sensing the vast amounts of money to be made from ‘merch’ [merchandising] but, considering their historical attempts to destroy the women’s game, this feels like much too little, much too late.

Source: Julie Burchill: In an age where women’s very existence is being denied, this glorious show of bold femininity can change the world – The Mail

Where Women Reign: An Intimate Look Inside a Rare Kingdom

In the shadow of the Himalayan mountains, at the edge of the lush, expansive Luga Lake, live the Mosuo people. Their complex social structure is said to be one of the last semi-matriarchal societies in the world, following a maternal bloodline and the practice of “walking marriage.” Women may choose and change partners as they wish, a structure that favors female agency over male dependence.

The matriarchs Klüppel met were “often very funny, and very active”, at odds with the German culture she is used to. “I saw an 80-year-old women carrying things I could no way carry myself,” she says. “Their bodies are really tense with power. I realized that physical strength really depends on what you do with your body – the women have more strength than the men!”

Though female dominance in the workspace is a rarity elsewhere in the world, the Mosuo’s “walking marriage” system is arguably the most unique – and exoticized – part of their culture. Progressively feminist or selectively misandrous, depending on how you look at it, tradition dictates that the Mosuo women’s partners only visit them at night, and these partners have very little to do with their children’s upbringing. Mosuo children stay with their mother’s families for life, and as such, the woman is the head of the household.

At a time when female empowerment is the global topic de jour, it seems painfully ironic that a culture where women truly prevail is on a steady decline.

Source: Where Women Reign: An Intimate Look Inside a Rare Kingdom

Meet The Aerospace Engineer Who Saved Apollo 13 While Giving Birth To Jack Black

Although Jack Black has over 160 acting credits to his name, his mother’s career is arguably even more impressive than his. Did you know that Black’s mother, Judith Love Cohen, helped create the system that rescued the Apollo 13 astronauts? Not only that, but Judith Love Cohen called her boss from the hospital to help finish the problem before giving birth to Jack Black? Here, we break down the impressive life of Judith Love Cohen, proving that she is truly a queen that deserves more recognition

Source: Meet The Aerospace Engineer Who Saved Apollo 13 While Giving Birth To Jack Black

Should Feminists Work with the Right?

We’re caught between a cock and a hard place.

Today, politically engaged women have two depressing options. We can align with parties on the left which refuse to recognize the existence of women let alone our humanity. Or we can work alongside the right, which in the US means with those who force women to become mothers and then leave them financially unsupported. Any self-respecting woman can’t fail but to feel unsatisfied and sullied by this grubby, and notably binary decision.

Compared to feminism, malestream politics is simple. For Marxists, people are bracketed according to their relationship with the means of production – this is naturally based on the male as default. The productivity of women as mothers has largely been seen as an inconvenience by the traditional left and an endpoint by the religious right. Arguably, in this way feminists have always sat outside of the patriarchal powerplay that is party politics.

But now many feel a sense of urgency, a need to stop an impending disaster by any means necessary. Fifty years on from the championing of PIE & NAMBLA, today’s mainstream left is still driven by male fetishes and the redistribution of resources has slipped down the agenda. Instead, those who believe themselves progressive advocate for our daughters to be sold into prostitution, for the sterilization of youth, and for the destruction of the category of ‘woman’. Whether this is a greater or lesser threat than the rolling-back of abortion rights is arguably a matter of personal morality and priorities.

It is understandable that some women feel anger that feminists have aligned with the right. We should not have had to make a pragmatic alliance with those who in other circumstances would relegate us to home and hearth. But to others what is happening to the rights of women and the bodies of children is an emergency that demands drastic measures. Given this, the rage of feminists embedded on the left towards those whose tactics differ seems misplaced. After-all, when men overcome ideological differences in pursuit of a common goal it is recognized as politics.

Ultimately, it would be more productive if we were to offer each other a little leeway. Whether one opts to work with the nihilistic perverts on the left to protect bodily autonomy, or the anti-abortionists to protect society from pornography or transgenderism, is irrelevant in the end. We didn’t make the rules within which we’re forced to play, nor did we choose the game.

Source: Should Feminists Work with the Right?

Anne Aly first female Muslim minister in history-making front bench

Thirteen women, the most since Federation, and the first Muslim ministers will be sworn in today as members of the most diverse government front bench in history.

A ministerial bench of 30 will be sworn into reshuffled portfolios at Government House on Wednesday including the newest elevation to cabinet, Clare O’Neil (home affairs and cybersecurity), and ministers taking on new portfolios – Tanya Plibersek (environment and water) and Amanda Rishworth (social services).

Proportionally, women will account for nearly 45 per cent of the first Albanese ministry, exceeding the previous government’s high watermark of just over 30 per cent and 30 per cent in the final Rudd ministry.

Source: Anne Aly first female Muslim minister in history-making front bench

Mary Anning: Lyme Regis fossil hunter’s statue unveiled – BBC News

A seafront statue of palaeontologist Mary Anning has been unveiled in her hometown of Lyme Regis, Dorset.

Anning’s discoveries in the early 19th Century helped shape scientific understanding of prehistoric life, but her work was never properly recognised.

Anning, whose life inspired the feature film Ammonite, was never fully credited for her discoveries due to the fact she was woman and because of her social status.

Painting of Mary Anning wearing a bonnet and a large green coat

Source: Mary Anning: Lyme Regis fossil hunter’s statue unveiled – BBC News