Fourteen year old Austrian Archduchess Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna married the future King Louis XVI of France by proxy on 19 April 1770, and the bride’s name was officially changed to the Francophone pronunciation of Marie Antoinette … a name still associated with extravagance, foolishness, and tragedy. Marie Antoinette became the Queen of France and of Navarre… Read more Marie Antoinette’s Wedding Day
Renée of France, the youngest and second surviving daughter of King Louis XII of France and Anne of Brittany, was born on 25 October 1510. Like the other women in her family, Renée of France would show her mettle from an early age … which included religious devotion, a stainless-steel spine, and the kind of… Read more Renée of France
William Henry Cavendish Cavendish-Bentinck was born on 14 April 1738, the eldest son and heir of William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland and Margaret Cavendish-Harley. The newborn had an illustrious future ahead of him. Not only would he be the 3rd Duke of Portland, he would hold every title of British nobility – Duke, Marquess,… Read more Happy Birthday to the Queen’s Ancestor, Regency Era Prime Minister William Cavendish-Bentinck
Empress Matilda (AKA Maude), widow of Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, wife of Geoffery of Anjou, and heir to King Henry I, became “Lady of the English” on 7 April 1141. However, when she went to be annointed as the new queen in Westminster Abbey, the people of London and her cousin’s wife rallied against… Read more Warring Matilda
I am in a bit of a quandary. Wither do I dither, you may ask? You see, it is International Women’s Day, many women are on strike for A Day Without Women, and there are too many things I want to blog about on this topic. On the one hand, I could blog about Jane… Read more International Women’s Day and Squirrels
Netflix has released a new documentary entitled Audrie and Daisy that is an “unflinching account of high-school sexual assault and trial by social media”. This documentary was important to me for several reasons, including because I have written about these young rape victims in my book The Jezebel Effect. In the book I explained that:… Read more Audrie and Daisy and Slut Shaming
In my book The Jezebel Effect I discuss how female politicians are slut shamed in a way male leaders are not: Any woman can be slut shamed, but what happens when a woman gets real power and/or prestige in her community? Does the slut shaming increase? Yes and no. If they are maintaining the sociocultural… Read more Brace Yourself For the Slut Shaming Onslaught
I love the meme that goes around social media roughly wondering, “If May the Fourth is Star Wars Day, and the next day is Cinco de Mayo, then is the day after that the Revenge of the Sixth?” Ah, the pun is very punny. Notwithstanding the joke, some pretty bad stuff has gone down on… Read more The Dark Side and the Sound of Silence
Today, I had planned on discussing the birth and death of Elizabeth of York. Alas, I feel as though I must discuss Beyoncé’s performance at the 2016 Super Bowl before it and its civil rights message loses cultural focus. First, a celebration of one’s heritage and ancestry only seems to be problematic in America when… Read more Beyoncé and Entertainment as a Site of Resistance
As part of another skirmish in the war on women, some Men’s Rights Activists (MRAs) have formed a movement dedicated to trying to bully women into remaining virgins lest they never, ever marry. These MRAs are on various forms of social media demanding that all men band together and declare that if a woman cannot… Read more Cherry Bomb