The World Beyond BetterMost > Women Today

Women Who Inspire

(1/9) > >>

Lumière:


If you had to choose one woman (from the past or present, fictional or non-fictional)
as a role model, a mentor, a heroine, a source of inspiration...
Who would it be and why?  :)

Kelda:
Rosa Parks..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an African American civil rights activist whom the U.S. Congress later called "Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement".

On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James Blake's order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger.

Brokeback_Dev:
I never get tired of the Rosa Parks story.  She is an inspiration for all women yesterday and today. 

ifyoucantfixit:


   Eleanor Roosevelt,    she was a successful president, when America needed one the most.  Her
husband cheated on her, she was very unattractive personally, and she knew it.  She was a most
intelligent and caring woman.  She was all that, during the time that women were not even considered
to be more than a reflection of their husband and family.

Lumière:


If I had to choose one fictional character who inspires me..
it would be Xena.  Anyone here watch the show?





Here is an excerpt from an article that pretty much sums up why Xena (& Gabrielle) are at the top of my list...


What we owe Xena
By Cathy Young
http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/feature/2005/09/15/xena/
...

 How was Xena a female pioneer? Let me count the ways. She had no male support or regular romantic interest. She didn't, unlike Wonder Woman or the Bionic Woman, have a conventionally feminine day-to-day alternate identity, though on a mission she could pose as a Roman matron, a virgin priestess or an exotic dancer. Xena was not "strong but feminine"; she was unapologetically strong and unapologetically female, sexy and powerful, unafraid to get sweaty and dirty on the job, and all the more beautiful for it. Nor did she care about pleasing anyone: In one memorable exchange, a slick opportunist seeking to enlist Xena as an ally says, "I like you," and she shoots back, "Don't. I'm not a likable person." (As Lawless once said, Xena is "a good person who doesn't think she is.")

A flawed hero haunted by her dark past, even the "good" Xena could be angry, arrogant and, at times, driven by rage and revenge. She could also be vulnerable and tender, capable of caring and feeling deeply -- [Lucy] Lawless did a superb job of capturing this blend of toughness and vulnerability -- but those qualities always felt like aspects of her humanness, not reassurances of her womanhood. Yet while she pushed the limits of how much like a male hero a heroine could be, Xena was the first and probably is still the only action heroine who was also a mother -- not counting warrior moms who fought only to protect their young, like Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor in "Terminator 2." She was, safe to say, the only one who gave birth and breast-fed onscreen.

The show's groundbreaking depiction of women was not limited to Xena herself. Her sidekick and friend, Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor), a village girl who had left home to travel with Xena and pursue her dream of becoming a warrior, had her own heroic journey. And there were plenty of other strong female characters: the vengeance-obsessed warrior Callisto, whose family had been killed in one of warlord Xena's raids; the charismatic guru Najara, who was either a noble crusader against evil or a dangerous fanatic; Lao Ma, a fictional Chinese philosopher-empress whom the series whimsically credited with writing the Tao Te Ching; and Boadicea, Britain's historical warrior queen.

...

Xena and Gabrielle fought a variety of mostly male baddies, but they were not fighting sexism or the patriarchy. Gender, in the Xenaverse, just wasn't a big deal: No one questioned Xena's ability to fight and command, or Gabrielle's desire to be a warrior, because they were girls. Ironically, one of the few episodes that dealt explicitly with gender issues introduced a man-hating female outlaw just to teach her the lesson that it's not women vs. men, it's good people vs. bad. In fact, plenty of the show's good people were men; its primary male regular, Xena and Gabrielle's occasional tag-along, Joxer (Ted Raimi), was a comically bumbling warrior wannabe -- but also, in his own way, a true hero willing to risk his life for his friends. Meanwhile, the Amazons were not an idealized sisterhood but tribes with their own power struggles, conflicts and tyrannies. Women on "Xena" were simply human, no better or worse than men: feminism as it ought to be.  ...




Adding a little more to that...

The intense relationship between Xena & Gabrielle on the show grabbed me and intrigued me because I had never come upon a TV show at the time (or since, really) where two women loved, lived, fought together ... each describing the other as her 'soulmate'... till the very end.





That was my long-winded way of saying:  Xena kicks ass.  ;)
 

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page