A Coalition of Queer Classicists and Allies
Queer Representations and Receptions of Amazons
LCC Panel, 2022 Annual Meeting of the SCS, San Francisco
Organizers: Walter D. Penrose, Jr., San Diego State University (wpenrose@sdsu.edu) and Sarah Brucia Breitenfeld, University of Washington (sbreiten@uw.edu)
The legends of the Amazons have captivated the imagination for thousands of years. Part of the intrigue lies in the perception that Amazons either rejected men or ruled over them. According to the fifth-century tragic playwright Aeschylus, the Amazons were both *stuganores *“man-spurning,” and *anandroi *“man-less” (*Prometheus Bound *723-4; *Suppliant Women *287).
According to the fourth-century orator Lysias, the Amazons were “esteemed more as men on account of their courage [*eupsuchia*] than as women on account of their nature [*phusis*],” due to the fact that they defeated many men in battle (2.4). The idea of man-spurning warrior women handed down to us by the Greeks has been received and celebrated by queer folx and used to inspire and create non-traditional senses of community over the ages. This panel will investigate the reception of the Amazon myths in various queer contexts, broadly defined. Some possible topics may include (but are by no means limited to):
- Amazon legends and queerness
- Amazons and homoeroticism in literature and art
- The use of the Amazon legends as a site/symbol of resistance in Lesbian Feminism
- The identification of queer women with the Amazon *labrys*
- Amazons and transgender and/or non-binary identification
- The use of the term Amazon to refer to lesbian, gender diverse,
- and/or queer women
- Representations of Amazons with queer implications in comics, television, film, games, and/or other media
Please send an anonymous abstract following SCS guidelines as an attachment (with your name and contact information in the email only) to Andrea Fishman (fishandrea@gmail.com) by March 15, 2021. Please direct any questions to Walter Penrose, Jr. (wpenrose@sdsu.edu) and Sarah Brucia Breitenfeld (sbreiten@uw.edu).