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HelpRe: Hera (edited)
in reply to a message by Pelops
Yes, that's a great point. I think that when we do read them as lurid narratives, or as "propaganda," or ANY way we read them that is easily communicated for us ... we are always imposing some cultural distortions on them, even if only by virtue of how we define the words that were used for translation.
That's kinda my point here ... as we read character-Hera, we really can't understand "her" as she was written. So judging whether she would be an appealing namesake today - seems to me to have nothing to do with anything, except our own perceptions of our own perceptions.
If one believes that the Greek myths are part of a patriarchal and sexist culture (which we judge to be negative) and can't/shouldn't be separated from that, and that Hera can only be understood with that framework ... then there is no way to also believe that Hera can be any kind of positive symbol at all today. So what happens to the rest of the Greek myth names? Daphne? Persephone? Anthea? How can they still be cool? I think we're responsible for how we interpret any/all of them, and can't really blame the Greeks.
- mirfak
That's kinda my point here ... as we read character-Hera, we really can't understand "her" as she was written. So judging whether she would be an appealing namesake today - seems to me to have nothing to do with anything, except our own perceptions of our own perceptions.
If one believes that the Greek myths are part of a patriarchal and sexist culture (which we judge to be negative) and can't/shouldn't be separated from that, and that Hera can only be understood with that framework ... then there is no way to also believe that Hera can be any kind of positive symbol at all today. So what happens to the rest of the Greek myth names? Daphne? Persephone? Anthea? How can they still be cool? I think we're responsible for how we interpret any/all of them, and can't really blame the Greeks.
- mirfak
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