Mean Girls in History: Women Who Fought Tooth and Claw |
Despite the popular tropes, boys aren't always naughty, and girls aren't always nice.
Research suggests women are slightly more agreeable, altruistic and prosocial than men.
In history, women have fought tooth and claw with poisoned daggers and hired armies to defend their families.
Boys are naughty, girls are nice. Boys are tough, girls are soft. Boys are snips and snails and puppy dog tails; girls are everything nice. So go the tropes.
And the research labs back them up. Women are a bit more agreeable, altruistic, empathetic, compassionate, and prosocial than men. The curves overlap, but neuroimages, physiological measurements, experimental tasks, and self-reports suggest that girls tend to be nicer than boys.
History suggests otherwise. Not all girls are sugar and spice. Some have access to scramasaxes. Some hoard poison boxes. Some hire mercenary armies.
Consider Livia Drusilla.
On the 30th of October, in 39 BC, the first Roman emperor, the man-who-would-be-called Augustus, divorced his wife. On the same day, his only daughter, Julia, was born. She became well-read and quick-witted, well-connected and well-liked; she was empathetic and kind. But she partied hard. There were rumors about orgies in the middle of the city. There were stories about late nights in the forum near the statue of Marsyas, the pipe-playing satyr who was a symbol of freedom, where she made herself available to the most eligible men in Rome. There was gossip about Julius Antonius, who was one of Mark Antony’s sons. The ax fell when Julia was a widow of just 36. Charged with adulterium filiae et consilia parricidii: adultery and plotting to assassinate her father, Julia was shipped off to Ventotene, a waterless hunk of volcanic rock near the Bay of Naples, where she was denied wine and men. She never saw Rome again. Her mother, Scribonia, tagged........