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People: "I don't read old stories to my daughters because they are outdated and sexist and women are all passive princesses waiting to be saved."

Me: I set out to read 26 traditional epics about woman heroes, and so far I have found 32.

#epics #folklore #women #storytelling #representation #WomensEpics #folktales

Dr. Zalka Csenge Virág hat dies geteilt

Chip Unicorn
Which one was your favorite?
Dr. Zalka Csenge Virág
Hard to choose! It's highlight after highlight. I am only 8 epics in, but so far the favorites were the Tale of Princess Fatima, and The Triumph of the Snake Goddess :)
Artemis
List?!

I went to a Christian college. My friend & I went to the prof after a semester of reading classical literature and said "hey, we've just talked about men. What about women?"

To his credit, the next class he wrote the names of all the female characters in the stories we'd read (or descriptions of unnamed ones) & said "let's talk about this", but this made most of our classmates scared we were doing a feminism.

Anyway that story just to say "women's epics? Yes, please!"
Ellen Bonte
I would also be interested to see a list. Three years ago, I started to deep dive into myths and legends and "passive princesses" or "evil/jealous witch" is pretty much the stereotype I encountered. But would be happy to learn more...
Dr. Zalka Csenge Virág
I think a lot of that is based on the canon that got created by collectors in the 19th century. Living folk tradition is much richer.
Ellen Bonte
Ah interesting! Thanks :)
Janet Vertesi
share the list pls!
Dr. Zalka Csenge Virág
Alright, so I am still working on the list and which ones I'll be able to read, but here is what I have right now
1/2

Follow #WomensEpics for updates

Agu-Nogon-Abakha (Buryat)
Bidasari (Malaysia)
Cilappatikaram (Tamil)
Matabagka seeks the deity of the wind (Philippines)
Epic of Siri (Tulu)
Tale of Princess Fatima (Arab)
The song of Grotti (Iceland)
Inyan Olugu (Igbo)
Hervor and Heidrek (Iceland)
Silence (France)
Gudrun (Germany)
Mṛcchakatika (India)
Manimekalai (Tamil)
Kundalakesi (Tamil)
#womensepics
Dr. Zalka Csenge Virág
#WomensEpics 2/2

The tale of the Nisan shamaness (Manchu)
Ocy-Bala (Altai)
Hi'iakaikapoliopele (Hawaii)
Queen Bertha (France)
Manasa (Bengal)
Chandravati's Ramayana (Bengal)
Umesiben Mama (Manchu)
Repunnot-un-Kur (Ainu)
Nne Mgbaafo (Igbo)
Ashima (Yi)
Juliana (Anglo-Saxon)
Sirin Mama (Sibe)

Note: this list doesn't include the stories I could not find a translation for (see earlier toots for that list)

#epics #folklore #women
#folklore #Women #epics #womensepics
Dieser Beitrag wurde bearbeitet. (3 Monate her)
Barry Goldman
how do you fit this path where women drive the story in Torah?

https://blackskimmer.blogspot.com/2008/08/sketch-of-how-women-drive-story-in.html

I first encountered it on a magical night when we studied torah till dawn for Tikun Leil Shavuout. each hour a different teacher explored a different stage in the story. it was magical by 3 4am the whole story started unfolding.

I don't think it was planned.

somewhere there must be a poetical telling of it.

Sketch Of How Women Drive The Story In The Bible

women in tora core of stories in the first five books and beyond with very consistent language, style. look at Bloom's "book of J" and Freid...
blackskimmer.blogspot.com
JoeMccon
Just spent 20 minutes looking through the owner's manual of my Nissan juke. Couldn't find any references to this.
R.Alex
do you have a link/source for these ?
Dr. Zalka Csenge Virág
Most of them have been published in English in book format, or in larger collections
Dr. Zalka Csenge Virág
let me know if you can't find one I'll get the link
R.Alex
I was interested by Silence and the Queen Bertha, because I am french and never heard of it, and I can't find anything.
Dr. Zalka Csenge Virág
https://www.google.hu/books/edition/Silence/FibAsgEACAAJ?hl=hu

Silence

This bilingual edition, a parallel text in Old French and English, is based on a reexamination of the Old French manuscript, and makes "Silence" available to specialists and students in various fields of literature and women''s studies.
Google Books
fool
When you are ready to share the results of this, I would also love to know where you searched in order to find these.
Snowshadow
I did read those books (not a steady diet of course) to my children (female and male) so I could point to those issues and explain the problems. They can be a good resouce for teaching.
BlackPixelDust: Art :autism:
Thank you I was *about* to ask for the list. 😅
I love fairy tales, folklore and mythology (etc) but yeah. Dude saving princess kinda gets old after hundreds of stories and many years.

I will be following this post yes. 👀

Edit: I have a book of (American?) Indigenous folklore. Will browse through there.
I will also check my Egyptian folklore book for reccs!
Dieser Beitrag wurde bearbeitet. (3 Monate her)
Dr. Zalka Csenge Virág
I have a Feminist Folktales series on my blog (multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com). Active women are actually very common in folklore outside of the "Disney/Grimm" canon. I am focusing on epics now bc most people only ever encounter he Iliad and the Odyssey. It is a fascinating journey.
Janis (she/her)
Love, love love this.

I will pursue these stories.

My progeny is now off at college. I approached the problem with post-processing. We always talked about what characters we identified with and why.

Entirely skipping what creates a social framework...? I dunno. I didn't think, as I was raising my kiddo, that that was wise, either. Let's face it, I'm an angry feminist, a character in our unfolding narrative, my kiddo, IMO, would be better off if she knew why.
Shantell Powell
does the book of Ruth count?
Shantell Powell
I don't know about an epic per se, but there is a long oral tradition about Sedna/Nuliajuk.
Dr. Zalka Csenge Virág
Yes! That is actually on the list too, thanks
Christine Schuhmann
Do you also have links to those? At least some of them have to be online somewhere?
Oggie
There's a scene in one of Bujold's book where a female character rants to her parents about the basic sexism of stories...but not for what you listed here, and it's always stuck out in my mind.

Specifically, she talks about how all the stories end when the woman gets married and/or has kids. They are simply done with that, and she finds that repellant.

I know this is -not- a universal truth, but it did give me a lens to think about another implicit sexist assumption.
Elisabeth M
There's a book I've got about the European sailor ballad tradition where women cross-dressed to save the day. Extremely popular vernacular plotline in the, what, 1700s
@AimeeMaroux
@Erotic Mythology (hire me) 🥂
Ampelios
My favorite story has always been Tatterhood.

An infertile queen turns to a witch who advises her that two flowers will grow under her bed, "one fair and one foul," and under no circumstances is she to eat the foul one. You see where this is going.

Anyway Tatterhood's gorgeous sister gets her head replaced by a donkey's and Tatterhood saves her and they go off for seven years of adventure before a king decides to marry Princess Pretty, who insists his son marry Tatterhood...
Fluffgar - Chaotic-Creative
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYLrn8iIYmM

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Bell-Gravestone-Bomb
thank you for providing a list :) It was my first thought after reading your original toot.
Steve
one could say people are being passive princesses while you're being a hero ✨
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