THE AMAZON CONNECTION
Text © Thomas Gramstad
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
This is a guide to online resources about Amazons. The Amazon Connection aims to cover the entire spectrum of meaning that has been attributed to the term Amazon:
Amazon feminism is dedicated to the image of the female hero in fiction and in fact, as it is expressed in art and literature, in the physiques and feats of female athletes, and in sexual values and practices.
Amazon feminism is concerned about physical equality and is opposed to gender role stereotypes and discrimination against women based on assumptions that women are supposed to be, look or behave as if they are passive, weak and physically helpless.
Amazon feminism rejects the idea that certain characteristics or
interests are inherently masculine (or feminine), and upholds and
explores a vision of heroic womanhood. Amazon feminism supports and
celebrates female strength athletes, martial artists, soldiers/women
in combat, firefighters, lumberjacks, astronauts, powerlifters etc.
See also the soc.feminism terminologies file at
http://www.cs.uu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/feminism/terms.html
I intend to keep on expanding and maintaining this page as a reliable source for material about ancient, contemporary, and future Amazons, from the real world as well as from mythology, art, literature and fantasy. If you think you know about a URL that ought to be included here, please do tell me: thomas@ifi.uio.no.
I'm the editor of the Amazons International newsletter. Read more about the newsletter, how to subscribe etc. here: http://home.nuug.no/~thomas/lists/amazons.html. The newsletter is archived here: http://home.nuug.no/~thomas/ai/, and at http://www.etext.org/Politics/Amazons.Intl/, and at http://www.TheValkyrie.com/stories/ai/index.htm.
My article, The Female Hero: A Randian-Feminist Synthesis
is available here:
http://home.nuug.no/~thomas/po/female-hero.html.
(Thomas Gramstad unites Ayn Rand's concept of heroism with modern
feminism, arriving at a radical yet ancient vision of the Amazon
as the ultimate hero. Includes discussions of postandrogyny and
nonpatriarchal sexualities.)
A large scale version of The Amazon Warrior above is here: http://home.nuug.no/~thomas/amazon.html.
Svein Olav Nyberg's Strong Women page is at
http://www.nonserviam.com/women/index.html.
I'm in the process of dividing the Amazon materials into the following sections:
IN THE MEDIA, NEWS & TRENDS
HISTORY, CULTURE & MYTHOLOGY
ART, ESTHETICS, PERSONAL AND CULTURAL VISIONS
PHILOSOPHY, IDEOLOGY, SOCIAL ISSUES
GODDESS SPIRITUALITY & PAGANISM
AMAZON NATIONS
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
FILMS & ACTRESSES
PIPPI LONGSTOCKING
XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS
WONDER WOMAN
MODESTY BLAISE
COMICS, GENERAL
MARTIAL ARTS
BOXING & WRESTLING
BODYBUILDING & POWERLIFTING
FITNESS AND SPORTS, GENERAL
SCIENCE, COMPUTERS, NRRDGRRLS
SPECIAL INTERESTS
MISCELLANEOUS AND CURRENTLY UNSORTED
MISSING LINKS
New breed of female icons offers 'Grrl Power!'
http://www.cnn.com/2001/SHOWBIZ/News/05/08/us.tough.girls.ap/index.html
More Women Embracing Warrior Princess Within
http://chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/article/0,2669,CTT-28043827,FF.html
(Chicago Tribune, February 4, 2001)
Badass Girls on Film: Is it a good thing when women beat the crap
out of men at the movies?
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2001/01/22/women_warriors/print.html
(Salon Magazine, January 22, 2001)
Attack of the Sexy-Tough Women: In movies & TV, sisters are
kicking butt for themselves
http://nydailynews.com/2000-10-19/New_York_Now/Movies/a-84799.asp?last6days=1
(New York Daily News, October 19, 2000)
Charlie's Dude: Director McG on why his "Charlie's Angels" is a
kung fu "The Breakfast Club" with one part "Grease," some "Singin'
in the Rain" and a bit of "Rocky."
http://www.salon.com/ent/col/srag/2000/11/16/mcg/index.html
(Salon Magazine, November 16, 2000)
"Charlie's Angels": Who cares about the fate of privacy, of all
things, when you can watch three sexy babes stamp out crime in
zip-off suits and high-heeled boots?
http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2000/11/03/charlies/index.html
(Salon Magazine, November 3, 2000)
Gladiatrix
http://www.gladiatrix.info/
(The history of female gladiators in ancient Rome, a beautiful and
interesting site.)
Lothene Experimental Archaeology: Women as Warriors in History
http://www.lothene.demon.co.uk/others/women.html
Charlotte Quinn's
Amazonia with lots of archaeological, historical and
mythological stuff, and images of Amazons from ancient art,
sculpture and architecture
Robin Weare's Warrior
Goddesses and Amazons page
Amazons
- Mysteries of Ancient History and Archaeology
Diotima - Materials for the Study of Women & Gender in the Ancient
World
Mythology
Project (CLA 212 Classics Course)
Amazons
(a selection of historical Amazons)
Gender and
Immortality: Heroines in Ancient Greek Myth and Cult
The Amazons (an article in Lesbian life discussing the
culture of the historical Amazons of the Antiquity)
Warrior Women of the Eurasian Steppes (an article in
Archaelogy about the recently discovered Amazon burial
mounds in Pokrovka, Russia)
Were
Amazons More Than Myth? Evidence Unearthed (Washington Post
article, July 31 1997)
Arachne's Real Amazons
NetZine
The Labrys as
Amazon symbol
ART, ESTHETICS, PERSONAL AND CULTURAL VISIONS
Nathalie Gassel: Writer and Athlete
http://www.nathaliegassel.fr.fm/
The Battle of the Amazons (a classical painting by Rubens)
Natasha Vita More - Transhuman Body
Who is Devi?
http://www.asia.si.edu/devi/whoisdevi.htm
(Online version of a catalogue for an exhibition of goddess religion
in India - concise and beautiful introduction to the goddesses of India)
Devi Durga - poetry for the Indian Goddess of Destruction and Victory
http://www.swordoftruth.com/swordoftruth/multimedia/devidurga/devidurga.html
Shri Durga Devi
http://www.hubcom.com/tantric/durga.htm
The Sisters of the Queer Pagan Punk Order
http://www.vinland.org/scamp/nuns/
SpiritAmazon
http://www.spiritamazon.com/
(A tribe or virtual community inspired by and dedicated to Amazon
spirituality and values)
The Goddess Circle
House of The Goddess Center for Pagan Wombyn (ARB/HoTGCPW)
WombynSpace Calendar of Events
RCG-I Women's Thealogical Institute Cella Priestess Training Program
GlitteringPhoenix (GP) AnarchaFeminism OnLine
Artemis ReBorn (a Dedicated Circle of The Re-Formed Congregation of the Goddess - International)
Dianic Area Co-Ordinators for the Goddess 2000 Project
Elizabeth Arveda Kissling: Skating on Thin Ice: Why Tonya Harding Could Never Be America's Ice Princess (A very perceptive article about the real meaning, in terms of gender and femininity, of the Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan scandal. Don't miss this!)
The Millennium Kick Ass Women's Movement
Feminista (The Online Journal of Feminist Construction)
Matriarch's Way Journal
http://www.artemiscreations.com/mwjournal/
(A journal exploring female rule past, present and future)
Woman Worship
http://www.womanworship.co.uk/
(A site dedicated to the worship and adoration of woman. Within
these pages you will find fact and fiction, literature and imagery
all respectfully committed to this theme.)
Cyborg Feminism (Donna Haraway's fusion of Woman, Machine and Animal)
Justice is a Woman With a Sword
Kikizine
http://www.houseoffun.com/action/kikizine
(A personal zine by Sarah Dyer, many interesting articles about
feminist empowerment; the zine's name of course refers to the movie
Kiki's delivery service - see under films below.)
Amazon Worlds
http://www.AmazonWorlds.com/
(the place Amazons call home)
Feminist Science Fiction & Fantasy http://www.feministsf.org/
The Lightbearer (Donna Gillespie's novel)
The Darkover Site (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine
Cynthia Gonsalves' Shrine to the Warrior Goddess (Science Fiction books featuring Amazon warriors)
Read the Rhush -- Becky J. Rhush
http://www.freewebs.com/rhush/index.htm
Amazon Heroic Fantasy (A critical overview by Jessica Amanda Salmonson)
The Works of Jessica Amanda Salmonson
Clyde Caldwell # 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Amazons (Art by Michael Whelan, book cover for Amazons anthology)
Babes With Blades
http://www.babeswithblades.org
(An all-female stage combat troupe, attempting to do for the stage
what Xena and Buffy have done for film and TV.)
Hannibal - forum for strong women on the screen, and against censorship
Angela Bassett pictures from Strange Days: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Review of Strange Days (This is one of very few reviews that gives Angela Bassett the credit she deserves for creating one of the most memorable female heroes ever seen on a screen.)
Angela Bassett filmography and biography
An unofficial Angela Bassett home page (At last the well-deserved tributes are coming.)
Celebsite's Angela Bassett page
An unofficial Linda Hamilton page
Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein) in Aliens
Ming-Na Wen home page
Geena Davis, The Long Kiss Goodnight
More Geena Davis: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
G.I. Jane (Don't miss this movie!)
More G.I. Jane (a more or less official site)
Dina Meyer in Starship Troopers: 1, 2, 3, 4
The Pippi mailing list
http://www.egroups.com/group/pippi/
Pippi kicks ass
http://www.blairmag.com/blair3/pippi/pippi.html
Pippi Moves into Villa Villekulla (excerpt)
http://www.interlog.com/~wings/jane/a_lindgren/pippi.html
(Translation by Florence Lamborn)
More Pippi excerpts
http://www.brunching.com/features/pippi.html
Astrid Lindgren's World
http://www.alv.se/
(This site is mostly in Swedish, but also some English pages)
A theatre production of Pippi
http://homepages.dstream.net/qct/pippi.html
Girlpower og børneanarki (Grrl Power and child anarchy)
http://www.scope.dk/film/pippi/anmeldelser.html
(Danish review of the first Pippi movie)
Is Pippi Antichrist?
http://members.aol.com/rtvdave/pippi.html
(David Nagel about "the red-haired harbinger of the Apocalypse")
MCAs official Xena-site:
http://www.mca.com/tv/xena/
Xena Online Resources (XOR) at Xenite.org:
http://www.xenite.org/xor/home.shtml
Xena FAQ:
http://www.whoosh.org/faq/
The alt.tv.xena (ATX) newsgroup FAQ:
http://freespace.virgin.net/p.hilling/atx-faq.htm
Articles and lots of info:
http://www.xenafan.com/articles/
Whoosh! magazine
(insightful articles of an academic
nature about all aspects of Xena: Warrior Princess, published by
the International Association for Xena Studies. Highly
recommended.)
http://www.whoosh.org/
The Xena Info Center (XIC):
http://www.artemista.com/
The Official Xena: Warrior Princess Fan Club:
http://www.creationent.com/
Tom's Xenafan site:
http://www.xenafan.com/
Carol's Xena site:
http://www.klio.net/XENA/
Xena's Warrior Ensemble
http://www.crosswinds.net/~amphipolis/ensemble/ensemble.htm
The Xena + Hong Kong Connection:
http://www.sister13.com/
Xena & paganism, and the Theology of Xena
http://www.witchvox.com/media/xena.html
Xena and Gabrielle's Little Adventures:
http://xenite.simplenet.com/xandg/index.html
The Xena webring
http://home.san.rr.com/xenasubtextcomic/xenawebring/
WarriorHaze
http://www.warriorhaze.com/index.html
Midnight Xenites
http://rivendell.fortunecity.com/sword/333/
Wrestle With Me Xena
http://www.bank-b-gone.com/xena.html
The Essential Lao Ma
http://www.crosswinds.net/~amphipolis/laoma/l
The Hudson Leick (Callisto) site:
The
http://www.hudsonleickfan.com/
Callisto's Fun Page
http://www.electricferret.com/callisto/
Xena UK's Tribute to Xena: Warrior Princess
http://www.xantiadivine.co.uk
Amphipolis - The Xena Fan Club of Greece
http://www.crosswinds.net/~amphipolis/
Xenadu - The Norwegian Xena Fan Club
http://home.nuug.no/~thomas/lister/xena.html
The Wonder Woman WebringWonder Woman Art Gallery
Themyscira (Even more Wonder Woman!)
Action Girl
http://www.houseoffun.com/action/
(A terrific funny and feminist comic by Sarah Dyer)
Femforce
http://www.accomics.com/
Galaxies of Wonder Comics - Bad Girls
http://members.aol.com/GalxyWondr/comics/bad.html
Good Girl Art Quarterly
http://members.aol.com/GAReprints/ggaq.htm
(Out of Print Series; reprints of classic heroine series)
Jungle Girls
http://members.aol.com/GAReprints/jungleg.htm
(Classic Golden Age Comics)
Sharon "Superbody" Steele
http://www.amazonwrestling.com/
The Mighty Kat:
http://www.mightykat.net/
- natural athlete of unnatural strength
Female-bodybuilders.org
http://www.female-bodybuilders.org/
Biographies and picture galleries of female bodybuilders.
The Female Bodybuilder Gallery
From Abject to Object: Women's Bodybuilding - Marcia Ian's PostModern Culture article about gender and muscles.
The Bodybuilding Grotesque: Krista Scott-Dixon on The Female Bodybuilder, Gender Trangression, and Designations of Deviance
Women's Powerlifting PagesAnn Marie Crooks 1
The Femuscle mailing list, aka Women's Bodybuilding Forum, a forum founded by Pete J Suters and Thomas Gramstad, now residing at majordomo@cybermuscle.com)
Kathy Meyers' web site
Nicole Bass' web site
Images of Muscular Women (Article by Doug Aoki on the cultural meaning of female bodybuilders)
Women on Steroids (Article by John Romano)
Compromising Positions: The Portrayal of Women in Bodybuilding Magazines (Article by Sidney Eve Matrix)
Athletic vs. Pornographic Eroticism: How Muscle Magazines Compromize Female Athletes and Delegitimize the Sport of Bodybuilding in the Public Eye (article by Leslie Heywood in Mesomorphosis Interactive, June 1998, Vol. 1, No. 1)
The Valkyries (These are the people who invented the phrase "A Hard Woman is Good to Find". Check out what they mean by that!)
Athletic Resume of Cynthia Morrison
Signa York - The Iron Princess
http://www.signayork.com/
Saka's Shrine
http://hometown.aol.com/sakagoddess/myhomepage/profile.html
http://www.athleticwomen.com/
Celebrating the beauty and accomplishments of the athletic woman
Melpomene Institute (specializes in research related to how exercise and sport participation effects the well-being of girls and women)
Karen Andes, the Fitness Fairy web site
The WISHPERD (Women in Sport, Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance) mailing list
Girljock magazine
The Amazon Portfolio
http://www.amazonportfolio.com/
Women & Competition (from Sportsjones)
Go, girl! magazine (for strong bodies and strong minds)
Bonobo Sex and Society (Scientific American article about how the behavior and characteristics of our most closely related primate species challenges assumptions about male supremacy in human evolution).
Wrestling Fun
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Sideline/7161/
Mika Toughy's web site
http://www.mikatoughy.com/mika/homepage.htm
Awefilms (A film and video production company featuring massive female bodybuilders, sexy fitness models and female martial artists in action adventure, sci-fi and fantasy.)
Builtmore Productions
Amazon Queen Rayne
http://www.amazonqueenrayne.com/
Flexible Productions (The World of Beautiful Muscular Women)
Mile High Mikayla's web site
http://www.geocities.com/milehighmikayla/FAQ.html
(The 6'3" powerhouse Mikayla)
Mary McKee's Body Communication
Mariah Burton Nelson's web site
Raising Our Athletic Daughters: How Sports Can Build Self-Esteem and Save Girls' Lives (Sportsjones Review)
Anya Poulsen's Chicks Rock page (Women in Rock)
Joan Jett's web site
http://www.joanjett.com/
Gloria Brame's WWW pages
Zarka (a role playing character of Lise Hamre's)
Rathbun's Musclewomen fantasy page
Amazons and Witches (Art by Boris Vallejo)
Octobriana (a British cult comic)
Heartless Bitches International
The Art of Cheryl Stewart
The Bobbie Phillips fan page
The Fitness Babes and Muscle Women page
The Women of Marvel Comics page
FAKK Pictures Collection (Heavy Metal-type fantasy art)
The Catwoman fan page
The Minerva Center (Women & The Military, discussion threads)
The Scarlet Witch fan page
Firestar (Daniel Thomas' web site)
Ms. Zrinka (6'6")
Do you want your name on the Amazon Connection? If you find a dead link anywhere on this page, and you find its new location and tell me about it, I'll thank you on this page.
Last update: August 28 2006
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