Why do most languages have something like a word that sounds like mama that means mother? Etymology, the study of the history of language and words, tells us part of the story, but biology tells us the other part. And we really can figure out why some things come to stand for other things, […]
Iconic K: Kindred Kali
“The phrase “kindred spirit” evokes for women who grew up reading the stories of the adventures and misadventures of Anne Shirley Anne Shirley a young woman, an orphan, who desperately wants to have a shared relationship that is a true and lasting connection between people as deep as a connection of kin but as individually affirming […]
Iconic G: Generation of Women's Generational Icons
In this post from the A to Z compendium of The Feminine Icon. We are at the letter G today. I decided to look at the way we have associated whole groups of women with a single term that captures some element of what has changed for women in a specific time period. Most things […]
Iconic F: The Fairy Lights of Marie Curie
F is obviously for female and feminine, but also for a woman’s passion for research and discovery as exemplified by the Fairy Lights of Madame Marie Curie. “One of our joys was to go into our workroom at night; we then perceived on all sides the feebly luminous silhouettes of the bottles or capsules containing […]
Iconic E: Erinnyes are Furious
I gave serious thought to doing the Every Woman thing, or even Every Town for Gun Safety, but decided the stretch would be possible but not fun. Then, I had an epiphany, I remembered that the Furies were first called Erinyes. Furies were not females to be messed with. According to Robert Graves in, The […]
Iconic D: Diapers, Yes, Diapers
I decided to have fun with the A to Z challenge this year. So as I was searching for the perfect Icon to discuss for my The Iconic Feminine, entry D, the only iconic female, real or mythic, that I found interesting was Delilah. Sampson’s downfall. Blame the woman, cast her as the harlot, a […]