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.
The Myth of Procne & Philomela
Jean Menzies takes a look at the Philomela and Procne myth, which demonstrated the multifaceted dangerous potential of women in Ancient Greece.
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How domestic labour is dangerous
Jackie Gulland examines the gendered history of social security policy including the dangers in recognising–or not–caring duties & domestic tasks as work.
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Celebrating South Africa’s National Women’s Day
This time last month, National Women’s Day was celebrated in South Africa. Today, Lynnda Wardle reflects personally on the cultural context of past activists.
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Prostitution in nineteenth century Britain
Using creative and academic voices, historian Lesley Hulonce examines how prostitutes in Victorian Britain were regarded as dangerous and often treated with terrible callousness by authorities.
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‘Educated, attractive, charming when she wishes’.
Ros Parr takes a look back to the mid-twentieth century at the height of the career of Indian anti-colonial activist Viyaja Lakshmi Pandit.
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Glenda Norquay explores how Scottish novelist Annie S. Swan was viewed by many as a dangerous woman by writing sentimental fiction that evoked a way of life and set of values increasingly outmoded in the modern world.
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Norwegian storyteller Georgiana Keable recounts the life and works of Wangari Mathaai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for her conservation work in Kenya.
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The follow-up to her post on women prophets of the ancient Mediterranean, Jill Marshall explores danger and prophecy in the New Testament.
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Adrienne Gerhäuser, Corinna Kawaters and the ‘Red Zora’
Katharina Karcher delves into the history of Red Zora, a German feminist group that claimed responsibility for forty-five arson attacks and bombings between the 1970s & 1990s.
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