cleopatra was more than just sexy
In all of my history classes in middle school and high school the only text about the women’s movement was that of the suffragette movement. The amou8nt of text devoted to this subject was relatively small compared to other subjects such as: wars, expansion, and industrialization. It is as if once women gained the right to vote everything was fixed and there no need to further discuss the subject. It really is about who writes history and what is included and what things are left out.
In Manifesta many important women in antiquity are left out. Although there are many a few come to mind. The queens that rebelled against Rome: Zenobia of Palmyra and Boudica of Britain. Also history remembers Cleopatra VII for her love affairs, looks and suicide rather than her intellectual prowess and her rule which revitalized the Egyptian economy. Livia Drusilla was the influential wife of Augustus which history often ignores. Manifesta also leaves out Queen Elizabeth I of England, who ruled solely, refused to marry and transformed England. History often “softens” these women, or dismisses their power and influence by erotizising them. An example of this softening that comes to mind is the legend of Fa Mulan; the Disney version presents a very watered down Mulan. Not the fierce fighter and leader that Maxine Hong Kingston revisits in her novel The Woman Warrior. In Manifesta many important queer women are left out. Although the Second March on Washington and Lesbian Ethics are included, Daughters of Bilitis, Stonewall, and the lesbian separatism movement are left out. Also important influential writers such as Audre Lorde and Leslie Feinberg are also not included. I think it is important to recognize queer women who have contributed not only to the women’s movement but also the glbt movement, and raised consciousness about the effects of patriarchy and of heterosexism.