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Women and Other Monsters

Building a New Mythology

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Women and Other Monsters

Written by: Jess Zimmerman
Narrated by: Vanessa Moyen
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About this listen

A fresh cultural analysis of female monsters from Greek mythology, and an invitation for all women to reclaim these stories as inspiration for a more wild, more “monstrous” version of feminism

The folklore that has shaped our dominant culture teems with frightening female creatures. In our language, in our stories (many written by men), we underline the idea that women who step out of bounds - who are angry or greedy or ambitious, who are overtly sexual or not sexy enough - aren’t just outside the norm. They’re unnatural. Monstrous. But maybe, the traits we’ve been told make us dangerous and undesirable are actually our greatest strengths.

Through fresh analysis of 11 female monsters, including Medusa, the Harpies, the Furies, and the Sphinx, Jess Zimmerman takes us on an illuminating feminist journey through mythology. She guides women (and others) to reexamine their relationships with traits like hunger, anger, ugliness, and ambition, teaching readers to embrace a new image of the female hero: one that looks a lot like a monster, with the agency and power to match.

Often, women try to avoid the feeling of monstrousness, of being grotesquely alien, by tamping down those qualities that we’re told fall outside the bounds of natural femininity. But monsters also get to do what other female characters - damsels, love interests, and even most heroines - do not. Monsters get to be complete, unrestrained, and larger than life. Today, women are becoming increasingly aware of the ways rules and socially constructed expectations have diminished us. After seeing where compliance gets us - harassed, shut out, and ruled by predators - women have never been more ready to become repellent, fearsome, and ravenous.

©2021 Jess Zimmerman (P)2021 Beacon Press
Customs & Traditions Gender Studies Women Mythology
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What the critics say

"A graceful stylist who casts a wide literary and geographical net, Zimmerman can make nearly anything interesting.... Nearly every page, however, brings fresh insights into age-old myths or tragicomic observations on 21st-century womanhood.... A sparkling and perceptive critique of ancient ideas that still hold women back.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

"A fresh look at female-coded monsters from mythology offers insight about embracing characteristics that people fear.” (Shelf Awareness)

“An engaging parsing that addresses the ways that sexism and misogyny constrain women, a provocative weaving of the personal and the political.” (The Progressive)

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