They are often represented on horseback, with long hair and arched backs, dressed in long tunics and warrior helmets, a spear or sword in their hand, ready to launch an attack. The Amazons, these mythological warriors whose first appearance in fiction dates back to theIliad of Homer, around the VIIIe century BC, were in most variations of the myth forced to regroup, found a community and take up arms to protect themselves against the enemy or to respond in some way to a failure of the men to their promises of protection and loyalty.
“Whatever the reason for the creation of this community may be, the fact remains that this myth, in all its variants, records the inconceivable by offering the first example of a community of women living single-sex. , of a “gynaecium” of powerful figures emancipated from the laws of men,” writes Pascale Joubi, doctor of French-language literature and graduate of the University of Montreal, in the essay Modern and contemporary Amazons. Resistance, fight, powerpublished earlier this fall by Nota Bene. It thus reveals an imagination that aims to be inspiring and transformative, opening our eyes to the possibilities that Western culture, built around masculine hegemony, does not allow to happen.
It was as part of her doctoral thesis that Pascale Joubi became interested in the figure of the Amazon and its contemporary manifestations in literature and the arts. “In my master’s thesis, I worked on the rewriting of myths in the work of Nelly Arcan,” she relates in an interview with Duty. One of his novels, Open to the sky (Seuil, 2007), addressed that of the Amazon. By looking into it a little more, I discovered the strong presence of myth in the evolution of becoming feminine. There was a systematic connection to be made between the Amazons and the women figures who were the first to resist a norm, whether they were the first athletes, the first to enter the job market or the pioneers of feminist movements. »
Key to understanding an era
In her essay, which focuses on a period from 1870 to 2020, the researcher demonstrates how the multiple reincarnations of the figure constitute a vector or indicator of change in the conception of feminine identity and sexual and sexual identities in general. “The figure becomes a key to understanding the upheavals that are taking place. It was used both to stigmatize women who went beyond the framework and to “empower” those who resisted. »
Thus, at different times, those who were frightened to see a movement of women outside of their functions as wife and mother resurfaced the myth to resist change and prevent the evolution of feminine identities. Pascale Joubi also recalls that the ancient version of the myth inevitably ends with a massacre of the Amazons by a hero. “For this reason, the story also becomes a form of example to follow, a way of inspiring women to lead the battles of their generation, even if the outcome was uncertain. »
Its reinterpretations by writers and artists bear witness to the evolution of ideas and political, social and identity values of which it carries, because each of them — the sportswoman, the horsewoman, the woman career, feminist, superhero or Femen — has the potential to disrupt notions of power, identity and community and to have an impact on living together and common future.
“The Amazons allow us to question our way of considering power, but also to think about another way of conceiving of the binary relationships that we have with identities, and to find a solution to the vertical and hierarchical power relationships that maintain these categories – men-women, homo-hetero, Black-White – in place,” underlines Pascale Joubi.
Identity nomadism
Furthermore, the myth allows us to test this idea that the world would be a better place to live if women were in power. “Dystopias that depict societies dominated by women are more inspired by the prehistoric myth of matriarchy. We see that this type of scenario only reproduces the usual dynamics and categories. We are always in a search for power. » However, according to the researcher, the Amazons rather give us the chance to think about a solution to this eternal war of the sexes and to work together for a sharing of power. “While power refers more to a form of authority or domination, power is on the side of force. Strength is shared. »
Pascale Joubi still underlines the importance of sorority in the myth, and in the advent of a more equitable and less binary society. ” In The second sexSimone de Beauvoir already deplored the fact that little girls did not have an example of a story or representation of female solidarity. While men go to war and fight together, women are often isolated, or even put into competition. The myth of the Amazons, who are self-sufficient and master both masculine and feminine codes, offers this example of community, and demonstrates that women are stronger when they stick together. »
Can the Amazons still serve as a guide today in the ongoing battles towards equality? “They still have things to teach us. We have not come far enough not to need figures who inspire us to fight and resist. However, we must avoid slippages. It is not desirable to live in a community where only one identity takes precedence, even if it is that of women. We must draw inspiration from the identity nomadism of the Amazons, from the capacity they have to build in a harmonious community multiple identities which will draw qualities and characteristics from the entire existing spectrum, without thinking about gender and other categories. alienating. They allow us to dream of becoming people judged and esteemed not according to our belonging to a social category – gendered, racialized, cultural – but for our intrinsic qualities as self-defined human beings. »
