Mamazons

Contemporary Mamazon Feminism

Many feminists, environmentalists, Wiccans, and others are inspired by attributes of the archetype of a strong independent Amazon woman. Some, such as female bodybuilders, use the Amazon symbol for the metaphor of physical strength.

A central example is Camille Paglia, who advocates and aims to live in accordance with Amazon feminism. This contemporary position draws on the Amazon myth's portrayal of girls and women as powerful and capable, and celebrates those who take strong stances against normative female roles of deference, dependence, passivity, heterosexual-ism, and frailty. Camille Paglia points to the Amazon trait of self-reliance that she feels is missing in modern feminism, and argues that women should discard victim feminism, which infantilizes them, and instead take up Amazon feminism and utilize their strengths and abilities, including their sexuality, to succeed within the existing power structure. Paglia, who is often photographed in provocative poses, has cited artists such as Madonna as true feminists because they celebrate their sensuality while also exercising power.

Mamazon feminism confronts two philosophical positions: first, any teleological (end-oriented), hierarchical, and dualistic framework that situates masculinity and femininity as opposites, and sees women as the subordinate helpmates of men; and second, the notion of a great chain (or ladder) of being, or a value hierarchy beginning with inert matter and heading upward to plant life, nonhuman animals, women, men, and ending with God or the Form of the Good. The “proper” place of blacks and homosexuals (and many others) on this ladder falls below that of white heterosexual men.

Given the above connections, when the words “mama” and “Amazon,” are connected, the result tends to connote primal and fierce “mother bear” instincts; mothering practices that are nontraditional, such as natural mothering and childbirth, lesbian mothering, and the decision to mother outside of a committed, monogamous relationship; and mother-driven political action, particularly when it is loud, angry, and assertive. The term mamazon and the group it represents are often considered threatening to conventional definitions of motherhood, and so the term is often used disparagingly, much like the slang term feminazi.

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