Roman Empire female equivalent

[HeadChog]

Inspired by the Roman Empire thread, I wondered whether there is an equivalent thing that women think about a lot but men never do.

I reckon I think about Michael Jackson a lot more than my DH. I probably think about MJ at least 3-4 times a week.

Anyone else think about one obscure thing, unconnected with work or hobbies, a lot?

I think about the history of the Holocaust a lot and read a lot about the subject. I ask myself what would I have done if I was an ordinary Germa rather than a very ordinary Englishwoman. As I live in France I often think about the German tanks rolling past what is now my house, Would I have been brave enough to hide Jewish children for my neighbour? I know it’s weird!

I think about cranes or titanic

@meadowlass I also spend a lot of time thinking about this. I studied it in university & remain v interested & read a lot about it
I'm not Jewish but I feel a huge affinity which I can't explain.

I have visited the Jewish quarters/ ghettos in lots of cities - Venice, Prague, Budapest, Krakow, Trieste, Paris. I also wonder about how I might have reacted & whether I would have taken in people & hid them.

I find it very affecting to stand in those streets / places & imagine life there before the war. All the families & children running around & then gone.

Medieval Europe

Yup! Though not as much as my 5 year old (thanks to Horrible Histories and a trip to Italy).

I'll just be in Superdrug and think 'I wonder what Milli Vanilli or Shania Twain are doing now?'

Poor Rob (from MV) died 25 years ago, aged just 32

I think about the end of the world a lot, have done for decades and my favourite books and films are post-apocalyptic. To be clear: I don’t want the world to end, and if it did I wouldn’t want to survive, but I spend an inordinate amount of time wondering how I’d cope all alone, what I’d do about all the animals trapped in dead people’s homes, assuming domestic pets will be immune to whatever it is that killed all the people.

I’d do pretty well here in rural Devon, wood to burn, rivers to drink and wash in, wildlife and domesticated livestock to eat, but the first thing I’d do is search neighbouring farms for a gun. Even though guns aren’t a thing in the UK like they are in the US, the end of civilisation in my wild imaginings is a lawless, dangerous place, and I’d need a gun to kill food and dangerous men. (I suppose women would/could become dangerous too.) And much as I love my house, I’d probably have to move into a neighbour’s smallholding, as his water comes from a natural spring and he has a solid fuel range to cook on.

I just realized I spend a ton of time thinking about clothes and shoes that I used to have and throughout my life how to find similar again. My aunt just sent me a picture that’s about 25 years old. I loved the sweater I’m wearing in the picture. It’s going to be a long day now.

I wish there was a Shazam for clothes

What a great idea!!! Surprised it doesn’t exist.

Why I should probably do my ironing but never do
Pokemon. Like, who came up with the translated names? How do they decide what is effective against poison types? Who even came up with the idea of capturing small made up animals and making them fight each other and aiming it at kids.
And so forth.
I do think about the Roman Empire, medieval history etc a lot but that’s my job.
My husband never thinks about the Roman Empire at all. He does think a
lot about birds and birdwatching.

There was a shazam type thing for clothes etc a while ago, perhaps it still exists I'm not sure. I think it was called something like "where'd she (maybe they?) get that" I've probably fudged the name but 100% was a thing I used it many moons ago

A quick Google. There is a website called lykdat (definitely not the one I remember) that can tell you where clothes are from with an image

And there I am, actually taking this advice on board.

I also think about places I have been and obsess about going back.

@AliceOlive I also do this A LOT. I spend lots & lots of my time thinking about places I've/ we've been & usually in the context of one of my other historical or literary obsessions. It gives me great pleasure to be able to picture (remember) places in my mind when I'm reading.

And when I'm actually there & it's a place that I've read about or dreamt about I find myself almost in a strange twilight place constantly trying to 'see' or 'experience' the person or event that inspired me to fo there in the 1st place.

I love history & find this to be a very visceral & exciting experience.

I think I spend a lot of time thinking / dreaming as lots of the things mentioned on this thread have resonated deeply with me.

I read a huge amount too.

I think about Les Miserables a lot and the life of french peasants and the legal system that meant you could be imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread.
And then I look at food banks and realise that so many people would steal food today without them.
And I wonder just how far we’ve really come and if life really has improved.
Even healthcare is random now.

I want to follow Charles Dickens around London.

I don't think about anything really unless it's to do with kids/family/work. Those are my regular thoughts. Everything else is fleeting and isn't a regular thing.

@Mistressanne I'm sure there are literary historical walking tours where you can do just that!

We've done loads of them over the years, not necessarily Charles Dickens but we've followed a 'Shardlake' walking tour of London (C.S.Sansom books) & ive done a Following in the footsteps of Leopold Bloom walking tour in Dublin etc

I do too. I don't believe in magic (or any form of supernatural being/activity/powers etc) but I love the idea of being part of a secret group of women with the ability to cast spells etc. I also think about the historic treatment of women suspected of witchcraft (and whether many of them were ever really truly suspected of this, or it was just a convenient way of silencing women who refused to conform).

I also think about the patriarchy quite a bit but don't put this in the same category as the Roman Empire as it is something that directly impacts most (if not all) women every day.

Also stone circles, why they were built, what they originally looked like and whether the ideas that historians have put forward are anywhere near the truth

Regency era.

Dinosaurs.

Crispr.

Doctor Who and the greater Doctor Who extended canon (eg Torchwood but not Miracle Day because it was crap).

The Plantagenets and the royal women of that period.
Richard II and alleged sexuality.
Wars of the Roses.

So do I, but I am a big fan of time travel writing/TV so I'm not sure this is unconnected to hobbies for me. I also have a job that is connected to the past.

My thing that I think about most is probably the nuts and bolts of storytelling, tropes, narrative devices etc. I am not a writer or a critic, just an average reader and consumer of TV and films. I would LIKE to be a writer but am not actually good at it.

Well, now I WANT to think more about the Byzantine Empire! Any book recommendations?