![]() The crone is the archetypal wise woman, associated with magic, the supernatural, darkness and the underworld. In mythology, the crone is the third, and most powerful, phase of a woman’s life, following maiden and mother. The labrys was adopted by the feminist and ‘goddess’ movements of the 1970s and 80s, and many women wore double axe labrys jewellery, or had labrys tattoos to symbolise female power.īack then, Battleaxe wore her own silver labrys pendant – here it is – somewhat tarnished now. It is depicted on many vases, seals and in statues where it accompanies, or is held by, a goddess or high priestess. In the Cretan Minoan civilisation, which reached its peak around 2000 BCE, the ‘labrys’ or double-headed axe was used as a farming implement. Visigoths, but many feminist writers portrayed axes as symbols of the female divine, or Mother Earth Goddess, in early matriarchal cultures. Wielded to deadly effect by archetypal enemies such as Vikings, or We think of actual battleaxes as sharp, savage weapons of war, frequently Of course we can’t omit Boudicca, in her knife-wheeled chariot, another popular image of female power. They are tall, strong, beautiful women with flowing drapery covering their armour, wearing helmets, carrying shields, swords, spears or tridents. Minerva’s Greek counterpart is Athena, and images of all three goddesses are hard to tell apart. Leaving aside her modern imperialistic connotations, Britannia was a Romano-Celtic goddess, adopted by Roman Britain as its national symbol and closely associated with the goddess Minerva. These images derive directly from portrayals of mythological warrior goddesses, such as our own Britannia. They appear as noble armed crusaders, fighting the good fight for justice. Interestingly, in their own propaganda, the women activists of the temperance and suffrage movements portrayed themselves very differently. The sight of women engaged in angry, frequently violent protests shocked and horrified society.Ĭontemporary anti-suffrage cartoons clearly show the development of stereotypical Battleaxe characteristics: suffragettes as aggressive, loud, ugly, sexless, man-hating harridans who had the temerity to speak out and demand what they saw as their rights. Her ‘hatchetations’ were widely parodied in cartoons and on postcards – see below.īoth in America and in Britain, the temperance movement had close links with the women’s suffrage movement, and both used direct action protest as a way of publicising and progressing their causes. In later life she came to England, lecturing in music halls as well as chapels, financing her travels by selling souvenir hatchets, and promoting her approach. She set about her work armed with a hatchet. Carrie was a large, formidable Christian woman, who believed she had a divine mission to promote temperance by physically destroying bars. Nineteenth-century American temperance campaigner Carrie Nation can be credited with popularising the ‘Battleaxe’. ![]() Temperance and Suffrage – the birth of the Battleaxe In the meantime, let’s look at how the ‘Battleaxe’ stereotype came about. Whatever you think of Mrs May, she is actually quite elegant.īut can Battleaxes be reclaimed? Later in this post I’ve set out the characteristics which I think might define a battleaxe, but it’ll be just my opinion. Ugh.What a truly horrible description of an older woman. She even did a bit of a shampoo-advert pose on theĭoorstep for the snappers. Normally she has herselfĭriven to the door of No 10 but yesterday the BMW dropped her at theīottom of the street and she waddled up the pavement swinging her hipsĪs best she could. Meeting this morning she put on quite a show. Mail, when my eye was caught by this, written by the even viler Quentin Letts. I was in the cafe in Sainsbury’s about a week ago, leafing through the vile Daily I don’t want this post to be an anti-men diatribe, but I can’t avoid mentioning the dislike of female power that some men exhibit, and the particularly disagreeable combination of fear, contempt and ridicule that surrounds powerful older women. Many of the above words are commonly used to describe powerful women, or women who stick their heads above the parapet. ![]() The Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘Battleaxe’ as a ‘formidably aggressive older woman’, and gives these synonyms: harridan, dragon, crone, witch, hag, hatchet-face, ogress, gorgon, old bag, hellcat, harpy, virago, bitch, shrew, scold. What is a Battleaxe? Where does the term come from? Can we describe these women leaders as Battleaxes? ![]() Our new woman Prime Minister joins the increasing numbers of women leaders, plus we also have a female Home Secretary and a female Lord Chancellor. Ken Clarke’s recent description of Theresa May as a ‘bloody difficult woman’ increased her popularity ratings. ![]()
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