Some say the word “Amazon” derived from Greek, meaning “without breasts.” Others prefer to derive “Amazon” from Armenian, meaning “moon-women.” Of course, I didn’t know any of that when I was six and wanted to be an Amazon when I grew up. I was fascinated by their strength and fighting skills. A few years later I was crushed when I read that Amazons only existed in myth.
Yet there are experts searching enthusiastically for archaeological evidence that Amazons existed just as there are experts equally enthusiastic that Amazons exist only in the realms of popular myth. Real or myth, political or religious, there are common elements to the Amazonian legends that are intriguing to us women who live outside societal expectations of what it means to be a heterosexual woman. Proving the existence of Amazons is as elusive as it once was to prove that women have a G spot or are capable of ejaculation.
I remember when I was a child watching a TV commercial for a popular cheap perfume where a sexy woman sang about bringing home the bacon, frying it up in the pan and never letting him forget he was a man. My child’s curiosity wondered, “If she could buy and cook her own food, why did she need the man?” As an adolescent, I heard about the modern myths of the “career track,” “the mommy track,” and the looming “biological clock.”
In my early twenties, I figured I must not be a “real” heterosexual woman since society repeatedly told me that such women wanted to get married, have kids, wear makeup 24/7, and wear so-called sexy, uncomfortable clothes and shoes. And starting robustly with my generation, there was an assumption that women would do all that and pursue higher education and a career. When and how were real heterosexual women going to accomplish all that? Even if we did, that would not be a guarantee that we’d be respected, especially if one is a woman of color.
Just like my favorite slave heroine, Sojourner Truth, who lamented in her famous “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech about the notions of womanhood since she labored like a beast of burden and bore 13 children and occasionally the lash yet was never invited to stand upon the pedestal of femininity.
Amazons reportedly lived in all-female societies where they only sought sexual interaction with men once a year. The female babies were cherished and raised to be the next generation of Amazons. Some myths state that Amazon girls had their right breast removed at age nine so it wouldn’t interfere with their archery skills. Other myths say that Amazons wore a leather restraint over their right breast or that the massive buildup of their back and shoulder muscles just made it appear that their right breast had been removed. And the fate of the male babies born to Amazons? According to the various myths, newborn sons were either killed, maimed so they wouldn’t grow up to overpower women and kept on as servants, or returned to their father.
Despite this annual mass impregnation of Amazons, they considered themselves to be virgin warriors because men could not claim Amazonian vaginas as their property through marriage. If you think that’s a strange way of defining virginity, think about the myriad of virginity definitions swirling around today’s society. Is she a virgin if she’s only had oral sex and/or anal sex? Is she still a virgin if her hymen is no longer intact after a nonsexual activity? Is she still a virgin if she never consented to sex but was raped? Is she still a virgin if she’s only had female lovers? Does the word “virgin” also apply to males? Now, after looking at some of the shaky assumptions we currently make about what constitutes a virgin, the only thing that’s curious about the Amazonian definition is that women defined it. If they actually existed, that is.
For his 9th task, Hercules had to steal the Amazon queen’s girdle. Hippolyta’s girdle was a snake made of metal or leather and signified female sexuality, suggesting that female sexual power was deadly. The loss of Hippolyta’s girdle meant the loss of Amazonian independence. The defeat of the Amazons was the start of another myth, the Dorian Invasion that displaced the ancient Greek goddess and nature worship with the Greek classic patriarchy. In a classical Greek wedding ceremony, the groom loosened his bride’s girdle to signal the end of her virginity and the beginning of her fertility to her husband. Since Athenian women had so little freedom during classical Greek times, the Amazonian myth is speculated to have been created to show that an all-female rebellion had already occurred and had ended in the female warriors’ defeat.
Yet, aren’t we women still fighting battles to secure our vaginas? Couldn’t we consider Senator Wendy Davis a modern-day Amazon, who instead of wielding a bow and arrow, came armed with a back brace and powerful words to fight with conservative male republicans? After all, some conservative male republicans don’t even want the word “vagina” uttered in their presence, but they’ll surely agree to heavily regulate them.
After being raped by Poseidon, Medusa’s beautiful hair was replaced by venomous snakes that would turn an onlooker to stone. One modern interpretation is that no man could gaze upon or handle such powerful uncontrolled female sexuality on display.
As daughters of Ares, the god of war, Amazons were women who fought for their autonomy. Whether there was a bona fide Amazon society no longer concerns me. “Sex” has been defined as what’s between one’s legs and “gender” has been defined as what’s between one’s ears. Amazons are among us. I accept myself for who I am. A modern-day Amazon.