Women & Power

Love at last sight

it is the unquestionable mess that women make of power in Greek myth that justifies their exclusion from it in real life, and justifies the rule of men

It is not what you say that prompts it, it’s simply the fact that you’re saying it

For a start it doesn’t much matter what line you take as a woman, if you venture into traditional male territory, the abuse comes anyway

classical traditions have provided us with a powerful template for thinking about public speech, and for deciding what counts as good oratory or bad, persuasive or not, and whose speech is to be given space to be heard

But a significant subsection is directed at silencing the woman.

For a start it doesn’t much matter what line you take as a woman, if you venture into traditional male territory, the abuse comes anyway. It is not what you say that prompts it, it’s simply the fact that you’re saying it

I’m not saying that women’s voices raised in support of women’s causes were not, or are not, important (someone has to speak up for women); but it remains the case that women’s public speech has for centuries been ‘niched’ into that area

classical traditions have provided us with a powerful template for thinking about public speech, and for deciding what counts as good oratory or bad, persuasive or not, and whose speech is to be given space to be heard. And gender is obviously an important part of that mix

it remains the fact that our own traditions of debate and public speaking, their conventions and rules, still lie very much in the shadow of the classical world