History & Biography
From monarchs to military heroes, notorious to unsung, we’ll feature biographies and research on women who history labelled dangerous.
Want to shine the spotlight on a dangerous woman from times gone past? See our submissions page for contribution guidelines.
A woman of many dangers?
Artist, intelligence analyst, research psychologist, science fiction writer under a male pseudonym… Alexandra Pierce looks at the many facets of Alice.
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Their dangerous legacy in the post-Yugoslav space
The contribution of ‘partizanke’, or female partisan fighters, to the Yugoslav liberation war was unprecedented in occupied Europe. Here, Chiara Bonfiglioli explores the agency of these women and the reverberations of their actions to the present day.
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Subtle subversions of Victorian gender conventions
Laura Witz illustrates how one of Scotland’s most prolific writers, Margaret Oliphant, challenged 19th century society’s expectations of women via an unexpected route–the romance novel.
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A dangerously honest and unconventional writer
In the first of a series of posts from Scottish PEN (a centre of PEN International, the worldwide association of writers promoting literature and freedom of expression), Faith Pullin explores the life and writing of Rebecca West.
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From 5th century BCE plays to their contemporary adaptions
In the lead up to a new adaptation of Aeschylus’s ‘The Oresteia’, Olga Taxidou reflects on the dangerous women of classical Greek theatre, and the changing treatment of these characters through the centuries.
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Challenging authority, championing equality
Helen Kay explores the career, campaigns and achievements of University of Edinburgh alumna Chrystal Macmillan, who remained ‘a pleasant but dangerous woman throughout her life’.
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Reflecting on the life and work of the ‘other’ Wordsworth
Award-winning poet Marianne Boruch gives us a poem and reflection on Dorothy Wordsworth, William’s lesser known but no less talented sister.
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Catherine Wilson: a dangerous woman in UK Parliament
How were women treated in early 20th century UK Parliament? Very differently to men. Catherine Wilson decided to challenge that in a subversive way: disguise herself.
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‘Lucretia Borgia or only a boarding school miss’?
Madeleine Smith’s trial for the murder of her lover, Emile L’Angelier, in 1857, combined those twin Victorian obsessions, sex and death, in a way that not only led to questions about womanhood in general, but about the whole fabric of society.
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