It takes more than a volcano to stop this lady … the feminisation of natural disasters
Lawks a’mercy, you go on holiday to a volcanic island in the middle of nowhere and what happens, eh? Ruddy great volcano eruption that’s what!
I’ll put up a pic or two in a bit but suffice to say my sojourn to Middle Earth, er, Iceland, which ended with a mad dash to capture one of the few flights from Iceland, a train journey from Glasgow and an interview with CNN, means I have been rather light on the old posting front. But I promise that will soon change as there is much to write on. Madness! Whoopie pies! Women’s magazines! And other things with words! So keep posted!
Meanwhile, I wonder how many volcanoes have female names? I thought of Mt Helena, but others? I remember they had to start being more equitable with naming hurricanes and tropical storms because so many were named after women (Katrina etc)
I mention this because an Iranian cleric decided yesterday that earthquakes were women’s fault apparently for being so promiscuous. It’s an issue that has ancient roots, blaming women – and most specifically their sexuality – for natural phenomenae and disasters. Crop failures in medieval times blamed on witches, women thrown into volcanoes to appease the gods etc. But in the past few days (and I’d link if I could remember) on at least two occasions I’ve seen articles where the volcano was, of not referred to as a she, then mentioned as a force of Mother nature and HER wrath. It’s a tad depressing we do not seem to have moved on from this.
It may seem harmless, only a little thing to get worked up about, but as a friend of mine said ‘it starts with the little things’. Or in this case, bloody great catastrophic lava spewing ash-billowing things …
I believe Channel 4 has commissioned a quick turnaround doco on the Iceland Volcano – so maybe they will tackle the feminisation of natural disasters?
Interesting point though – bad in that we are aligned to routes of all evil/madness/disasters/insert own – but then again, GREAT that we are deemed to be so powerful and effective
I think that men say that bad things are the fault of women because they know the truth….
I was thinking the same thing as getsiobhanny. It’s too bad to be blamed for things like this, but, if you’re gonna get blamed, its nice its something so powerful and awesome (in the older sense of the word). As much as women have been accused and restricted in ancient cultures, it was not uncommon in some places for women to be seen as powerful spiritual forces within a community. This has been true in Judaism, some tribes in ancient Europe, Egypt, etc. Since the recognition didn’t lead to reverence, but fear driven oppression in many cases, it is easy to see the link between this and blaming women for natural disasters.
interesting theory indeed.
Interesting theory indeed. Need reconsideration though.
Just as a “did you know…” thing, in Arabic most words that describe unfortunate events, negative feelings, disastres, etc are of the feminine gender. coincidence? I think not. Andd another funny tid-bit… in japanese the kanji character for “misery” comes from the image of a woman under a roof
). I study foregn languages and things like these are usually the first we remember.
Sorry but the first thing you studier of foreign languages remembered in this case is wrong. Misery is not the character you are thinking of. Woman under a roof in Japanese can mean peace, quiet (as well as “cheap”). There is a sexual-politics point to be made but not what you said.
Anymys, that is very interesting and I didn’t know that! I know the word ‘hysteria’ stems from the greek word for womb, tho. Etymology rocks!
Hello, I agree that it’s unfortunate (to say the least!) that disasters and other terrifying things are often named after women… and I am all in favor of equal opportunity naming of catastrophes… but I just wanted to remind you that many good things are named in the female form (in languages that have this distinction) as well… The most beautiful ships are named after women, in many languages, and ancient religions, the earth, nature, spring and all other natural good is also female (Demeter, Persephone, Gaia, Mother Nature, Mother Earth…), Liberty is rendered as a woman, and many national personifications are female (Columbia, Britannia, Italia Turrita, Marianne..) and these are just off the top of my head…
So while it is an unfortunate fact that the odds are almost always stacked against women in any context, in this case we should remember that the most beautiful things are also often named after women…
(when it comes to places like Iran, so much is wrong there, what did you expect from them?)
The word hysteria is directly connected to the word for womb because it was a medical condition brought on my deforming the womb by women wearing extremely restrictive corsets for most of their adult lives, and literally throwing off their hormonal balance because of it. And then of course, it was the individual, not the social construction of beauty that was blamed. Great post, anymys, as a feminist blogger also affected by this natural disaster (now stranded in the UK!) I feel a special kinship with you.
Totally agree that it’s annoying, but a few counterpoints:
– Hurricanes do get both boy and girls names, at least in the U.S.
– The twin volcanoes that loom over Mexico City are named after a woman and a man, and several of the other volcanoes in Mexico have no gender-based names.
And…one positive interpretation of this is: Maybe forces of nature get female associations because they are so powerful and inspiring, while also a little fearsome.
It’s actually “Mt. Saint Helens” – definitely female. The other US Pacific Northwest Volcanoes are female, too, even if their names are literally male (Mt. Adams) or named after famous (well, sort of) males (Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainier). Some of us call Mt. Ranier “the big girl.”
I wonder if the feminization of natural disasters happens, at least in part, because on the other side of that there are “man-made” disasters, like wars, massive oil-spills and the like. You know, stuff getting blown up, destroyed, or just made messy. Typical guy behavior… Just thinking out loud. Good post.
~J.
Alfrofdull, good point, at least justice seems to be on our side!
Joy, I did not know that about Mexico City, I like the fact its looked on by both gender twins
And J thankyou re correction and an interesting juxtaposition with ‘man-made’ disasters, tempted to say ‘well, we’ll let them have that one’ but it’s an interesting argument on gender and the disasters we inflict ourselves.
And kiwi Milano I hope you manage to get home soon!
Good post. I was thinking of such names in this part of the world (India)
Almost all rivers have female names – Ganga, Cauveri, Narmada, etc, but a few have male names – Krishna, Bhrahmaputra etc. even mountains have male and female names. Nanda being female, Shiv ling is male.
thanks Rohit, also interesting – I didn’t know Ganga (Ganges?) was a feminine name!
Congrats on this post being featured on the main page. At least when it comes to hurricanes and tropical storms, there’s gender equity– they alternate the gender. Hurricane Hugo, for example, hit my city, Charleston, SC, in the 1980s, and who can forget Hurricane Andrew smashing Florida in the 1990s?
Blaming women for an earthquake is sexist. Thats why there are equal rights, you can’t change mother nature. Nor can you change why God is referred to him in the bible. It is an age old discussion and there is no complete way to have equality between men and women. Not in this life at least, because of people like you whole debate this over and over again.
I hope the people stuck in EU get a flight soon.
Remain.Simple
lol! indeed… the wrath of women…. and lucky you for having made it back safe!
I suggest you study your Barthes and stop confusing the signifier with the signified!
Ecofeminists of course argued in the 80s that men portrayed women as closer to nature in order better to justify the control of both. Carolyn Merchant was good on the subject.
I know the hurricane thing was from back in the day when sailors were naming them…and sailors allegedly name everything female.
Personally, I see it as an honor to be compared to something as powerfully awesome as a volcano. Not to mention–Mother Nature.
Any kind of fundie cleric, on the other hand–massive idiot.
i think that naming nature after a woman is nice, because, it shows that nature is in control of things – actually if you look at it, the female of any species, is the superior and is what keeps the species going… the male is usually the drone that serves just one function…
so naming natural disasters after women is not a bad thing – it’s got to be taken in the positive sense… ancient cultures have always named things related to nature with feminine names – in India, for example, all our rivers and most mountains and nature related things are named after women… so as much as the river provides to the billion odd people on the sub-continent during times of flood she destroys – the Hindu God, Shiva, who is termed as the destroyer, is male… Also, Sakthi (Parvathi) without whom Shiva doesn’t exist and vice versa is female – she provides the power… And there are goddesses for wealth (Lakshmi) and learning and the arts (Saraswati) etc. These are higher sensibilties in any civilization and are female…
So splitting hairs over naming natural calamities female is not really the matter and would not add to worsen the status of women – it’s just how a perons is brought up is what really matters…
India’s state of Kerala has a very matriarchal society and has many gay men and women too.. How can one explain that? Is that wrong? Is that right? Sometimes, we dissect too much and get caught in the details and lose out on the bigger picture…
Have you read “The Shack” by William Paul Young? We have God as a woman in this piece of fiction…
It’s ok to name natural phenomena after women – it only makes people realise that women are the superior of the species – though, i’d like to think that it takes 2 (both male and female – shiva and parvati) to tango…
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