Saxon a spectrum

[IcakethereforeIam]

More batshittery in academia

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/03/anglo-saxon-warriors-transgender-liverpool-university/

https://archive.ph/zoRIx

Tooth decay is female coded, who knew? While the rough tough girls transmen were out (and proud) fighting for Odin, the lads transwomen were plaiting their/them hair and eating sweeties 🙄

Why must the conclusion be, they were trans rather than, our modern gender stereotypes are clearly bollocks, and women have always been more capable than we gave them credit for?

Again, we've always been gender non conforming, as humans. We need to look at where the concept of 'conformity' came from in the first place.

What a bizarre way to consider women and men who didn't conform to our modern ideas of what women and men did in ancient civilisations.

I was under the impression that applying modern interpretations onto historical settings was not the done thing by historians?

It is also really irritating that sex based stereotypes are being enforced here, under the idiotic guise that this historian is somehow being progressive.

So, a whole theory based on 2 burials, one of which was 'possibly female'? Ok then.

That writer is a tutor! God help the students!

FFS, there are plentiful examples of women hunters, warriors and chiefs from prehistoric sites. Just use the definition of woman = adult human female instead of trying to ascribe some restrictive gendered stereotypes

Academics, please recognise and challenge your underlying assumptions - shouldn't that be the least we can expect?!

I wonder what his PHD title could possibly be ...

Id guess in battle as well they weren't taking the time to go oh hang on Stephan had Marions sword on him when he died. God knows where his is But we buried her on Wednesday. Shall we dig her up and see if she's got buried with his swords by accident?

We've all seen Vikings; who can forget shield-maiden Lagertha? 😀 I'm sure there's been female warriors in cultures world-wide. Are these loons just doing it for the headlines?

What a daft article! Sets itself up to be taken down with the greatest of ease e.g. hold the front page: women warriors existed. Duh.
A barn door to the banjo of common sense.
The comments are unsparing☺

Even worse, the WI has invited them as a speaker.

it is such tiresome tripe. Seriously.

File this with the Mary Rose nit-combs, I suppose.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YpGnzfd8KGs
What would they make of the shero of this song who was a gallant sailor and 'a maiden all the while'.
Unlike other versions of this song, she doesn't enlist to follow her lover, she seems to do it just for the hell of it ☺ I love the last verse, where she says she'll happily 'put off my hat and feathers and I'll run the rigging again'.
I'm a bit disappointed about the fine lady in London grassing her up to the captain, though...

(The singer is Tríona Ní Dhomnaill, sister of the equally great Maighréad and the late Micheál, and founder member of the influential 70s group Skara Brae.

The Anglo-Saxons and the later Vikings culture wasn’t as restrictive by sex as other contemporary and later cultures. There were indeed women warriors, and rune carvers. There were indeed men sorcerers and weavers (typically female occupations). The article only covers a few of the now dozens of DNA tests on remains that were previously recorded as male or female based on grave goods alone but DNA tests have shown they were the opposite sex from that expected by the sexist archaeologists of the past.

Their presence though doesn’t mean that women warriors and rune carvers were living as men or that men sorcerers/weavers were living as women. We cannot even say if they had a similar concept of gender that we have today (not likely). In addition, gender is an internal identity, the only way to know with any certainty if anyone long dead was similar to the transgender concept of today is to read their words (or runes) on the subject.

Vikings had some really interesting ideas around the social status of widows as well. Basically, they retained their social status and inherited directly from their husbands. Trying to crowbar our modern views of societal roles onto 1000-year old Norse society doesn't work!

The theory has been put forward by James Davison, a PhD candidate and tutor of medieval history at the University of Liverpool, who also convenes the TransHistorical Conference.*

So Mr Davison has skin in the game and a conference to sell. Colour me shocked.

No, you absolute effing numpty, having women warriors and men sitting around eating bonbons doesn't make anyone trans. It means gender roles vary through cultures and eras, which anyone with half a brain would know.

Trans is a recent cultural invention. Gender non-conforming is a tale as old as time, and does not need retrofitting to squeeze into new ideologies.

Exactly!

Wherever there are gender stereotypes there will also be non conformity.

And the more rigid the gender stereotypes are, my guess is that the non conformity starts to be a prescripted, controlled aspect of culture too. For example forced trans in Iran, or other cultures with specific "third gender" roles in order to deal with homosexuality or allow women to run households.

Some of the delights from last year's conference:

Trans*Historical 2023 Conference, Online, University of Liverpool, 10-11 July 2023 — International Center of Medieval Art

I mean “TransHistorical” is at least accurate, because what they’re doing can’t be described as History.

Children used to know (sadly they’re probably taught this twaddle now) not to try imposing modern socio-cultural norms/ideas/constructs/interpretations etc onto the past. A grown adult not simply indulging in, but actively promoting, this twaddle, is deeply depressing.

I am most disappointed this is not about the Heavy Metal band from Barnsley.

😁

They've all got long hair though and I'm sure at least one of them used to wear a bit of eyeliner, so they're probably women.

So human remains designated as male in the 1950s excavations had feminine grave goods and dental decay suggesting high status?

Maybe some DNA testing could take the guesswork out of this?

Something not dissimilar was found in Finland - turns out the individual had Klinefelters.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/33A89DB1D7E4900F017833D87C997D3D/S1461957121000309a.pdf/woman_with_a_sword_weapon_grave_at_suontaka_vesitorninmaki_finland.pdf

James Davison he/him was not always a he/him.