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Article: Islands of Women and Amazons.(Review)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- off our backs
- Article date:
- October 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Off Our Backs, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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by Batya Weinbaum, University of Texas Press, 1999.
Who were the Amazons? How have they been used as symbols? This book focuses on how' people have seen the Amazons.
The ancient Greeks believed that there had been Amazons and celebrated their victory over them. As time went on, their image of the Amazons became more misogynistic, with writers such as Herodotus saying that the Amazons had a bad smell. Weinbaum suggests that the tale of the defeat of the Amazons may have' to do with a patriarchal victory over matriarchy. She suggests that the symbol of the Amazon is associated with the symbol of the Great Mother and with matriarchy.
In the ...