"This book is a significant contribution. . . . It is encyclopedic, and I believe includes more information, theoretical and factual, than anyone else has ever written on this theme." —Ruby Rohrlich, editor of Women in Search of Utopia: Mavericks and Myth-Makers   From the beginning, myths have told of women who lived apart from men-the Sirens who sang on the Aegean rocks, the Amazons of the Brazilian jungle, the self-reproducing women on islands in Polynesia, to mention only a few. As this theme emerged in her own fiction, Batya Weinbaum became intrigued by its persistence across time and cultures and began tracing it in literature and mythology, as well as in actual locales that are or were said to be islands of women. In this fascinating, interdisciplinary book, she explores how the myth of Amazons has served varying psychological needs in different cultures over time. Weinbaum first analyzes various historical interpretations and uses of the Amazon archetype, some designed to empower women, others created by men to disempower them. She next turns to the original Greek context, in Homer's epics and other aspects of Greek culture, and then traces how Amazons eventually evolved into negative representations of paganism. Moving from Rodriguez de Montalvo's fifteenth-century Sergas de Esplandian, which imagined an island of women in the New World, Weinbaum concludes with revealing fieldwork she conducted on Isla Mujeres (Island of Women) off the Yucatan Peninsula, which included giving birth with the participation of a native Maya midwife.

Islands of Women and Amazons: Representations and Realities

Literature & Fiction

Weinbaum, Batya

History & Criticism

University of Texas Press

"This is an especially comprehensive study of representations of the Amazon myth in various cultures and historical epochs...A particular strength of the book is its examination of how the Amazon myth has been bought, sold, and packaged to U.S. tourists in Mexico and South America, where it has been transformed from something with deep spiritual resonance to something to use as a design on a souvenir T-shirt." --Choice From the beginning, myths have told of women who lived apart from men--the Sirens who sang on the Aegean rocks, the Amazons of the Brazilian jungle, the self-reproducing women on islands in Polynesia, to mention only a few. As this theme emerged in her own fiction, Batya Weinbaum became intrigued by its persistence across time and cultures and began tracing it in literature and mythology, as well as in actual locales that are or were said to be islands of women. In this fascinating, interdisciplinary book, she explores how the myth of Amazons has served varying psychological needs in different cultures over time. Weinbaum first analyzes various historical interpretations and uses of the Amazon archetype, some designed to empower women, others created by men to disempower them. She next turns to the original Greek context, in Homer's epics and other aspects of Greek culture, and then traces how Amazons eventually evolved into negative representations of paganism. Moving from Rodriguez de Montalvo's fifteenth-century Sergas de Esplandian, which imagined an island of women in the New World, Weinbaum concludes with revealing fieldwork she conducted on Isla Mujeres (Island of Women) off the Yucatan Peninsula, which included giving birth with the participation of a native Maya midwife.

History

[Analyzes] economy in 'kin categories' - wife, father, daughter, brother....[Weinbaum] explains better than Marx the roles of each of these individuals within the economic system.--Seventh Sister

The Curious Courtship of Women's Liberation and Social

Politics & Social Sciences

Women's Studies

South End Press

Curious Courtship of Women's Liberation and Socialism

Social Sciences

South End Pr

Weinbaum's "sexual political economy" analyzes the world or work in terms of kinship categories. A classic breakthrough between the family or work divide, this very readable book spells out her original understanding of precisely how the psycho-sexual dynamics of the oedipal family are played out in the patriarchal structure of work.

Pictures of Patriarchy

Feminist Voices: The Best of Femspec's Creative Work collects the fiction and poetry that a jury judged the best published in each of the first ten years of Femspec. As Pamela Sargent writes in her introduction: ''[H]aving as many outlets as possible for feminist voices is as necessary as ever. I recall that some years after editing the Women of Wonder anthologies of science fiction by women for Vintage, in the 1970s, people would occasionally ask me if publishing such volumes was still necessary. The implied assumption underlying such a question was that this particular battle had already been won. I heard the same kinds of questions asked again after I had edited two new Women of Wonder volumes for Harcourt Brace during the 1990s. What we have, however, isn t a battle with a decisive end but is instead an ongoing struggle, as recent political controversies have shown, with whatever gains being made often in danger of being rolled back. It often seems that as soon as you re foolish enough to believe an issue has been settled, that issue once again emerges as a subject for heated debate... ''What these dissimilar and individual writers have in common is an ability and willingness to illuminate feminist concerns in their poetry and fiction while viewing them through the lenses of speculative fiction.'' Contributors include Marleen S. Barr, Lorraine Schein, Karen Alkalay-Gut, Finisia Fideli, Gina Wisker, K.A. Laity, Rebecca Lesses, Debra Jo Schleef, Doreen Russell, Barbara Minchinton, Glenis Redmond, Susan McLean, Tara Leonard, Phebe Beiser, and Jane Liddell-King.

Feminist Voices: The Best of Femspec's Creative Work

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Science Fiction

Aqueduct Press

The Island of Floating Women

LGBTQ+ Books

Clothespin Fever Pr

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

This book is a selection, in chronological order, of Leslie F. Stone’s stories relevant to the themes of gender and diversity. In addition, I include a transcript of a speech this pioneer American science fiction writer made at Baltcon in 1974, when looking back at her career. As explained in introductions to each story, these documents are relevant to current literary discussions as well as to questions of race, feminism war, and fascism in the 1930s. I assembled the collection with the hope to renew the seriousness with which this writing can be taken as a reflection of the literature and culture created in the space between the two world wars. My intention is for the book to be useful for teaching feminism “in unlikely places,” like in the early days of a genre once thought to be the domain of men; and to those involved in the research and teaching of both the history of science fiction and the interrelations between feminism and popular culture.

„THE CONQUEST OF GOLA” and other stories by Leslie F. Stone

Reference

Words, Language & Grammar

JustFiction Edition

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Weinbaum, Batya. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Weinbaum, Batya