Strong women have long struck terror in many people — the unfortunate result of this fear is that some people routinely kill any strong women they encounter, even those that pose no threat.
Strong women, feared in the United States since colonial days (Benjamin Franklin called them “felons”), have frequently been the target of organized “witch hunts”.
Some people might think that the fewer strong women there are, the better, but like all genders, women have their place in the ecosystem. “Lots of people kill them, and only then look to see if they are dangerous,” laments female expert Bill Haast. “Leave ’em alone,” he pleads. “If you do, they’ll leave you alone. Women are always acting in defense; they’re not acting out of aggression.”
There’s another, more selfish reason we should leave strong women alone: they might someday save our lives.
The above is an edited exert from the PPS article "Rattlesnake Roundup" (click HERE to read the original article).
As you may have guessed, I replaced the word "rattlesnake" in the article with "strong women" and voila! It still reads well and, in my mind, I can hear my misogynist relatives spouting similar sentiments.
I did this an experiment to see if strong women have any relationship to how rattlesnakes are seen and managed in our society, and they do.
Readers of my blog know that I've started painting portraits and now I have an idea...I'm going to focus on portraits of strong Northeastern New Mexican women and create a collection titled "Rattlesnakes". I've already started my 2nd portrait and I have a 3rd lined up for this fall.