Jacqueline Lapidus was active in the Paris women\u2019s movement, but submitted many of her pieces to American feminist presses (Desmoines and Nicholson 95). Lapidus was primarily a poet, but did occasionally review other feminst literary works. Her poetry was featured in WomanSpirit, Sinister Wisdom, Conditions, Heresies: A Feminist Publication on Arts & Politics, Big Mama Rag, 13th Moon, as well as Sojourner.<\/p>\n
In her work, Lapidus frequently takes a cultural canon, such a as a nursery rhyme or myth, and twists it to illuminate a feminist perspective. Sinister Wisdom\u2019s ninth issue, published in the spring of 1979, featured two of Lapidus\u2019s poems. Each took Greek stories and reimagined them under a feminist lens. The first, \u201cThirteenth Moon,\u201d mentions the Greek goddesses Persephone, Artemis, and Hera. What is most interesting is Lapidus\u2019 representation of Hera. In the third section of the poem, Lapidus writes,<\/p>\n
where Hera reigns<\/p>\n
behind her curtained face her courage flames<\/p>\n
blood simmers in her womb<\/p>\n
heavy as soup<\/p>\n
spoonful by spoonful<\/p>\n
she feeds the baby secrets<\/p>\n
it was not Zeus who lived the cycle of transformations!<\/p>\n
it was I who loved Leda \u2013 Io \u2013 Dana\u00eb! (Lapidus, \u201cThirteenth Moon,\u201d lines 33-41)<\/p>\n
In Greek mythology, Leda is the mother of Helen of Troy, the woman who was the cause of the war between Troy and Sparta (Gill). Unlike most Greek figures, Leda\u2019s genealogy is unclear: her father is known but her mother is not. Io was the first priestess of Hera, with whom Zeus, Hera\u2019s husband, became infatuated. To protect Io from Hera\u2019s wrath, Zeus turned Io into a white heifer (\u201cIo\u201d). Dana\u00eb was the mother of Perseus (\u201cDanae in Greek Mythology\u201d). Lapidus\u2019 claim that Hera was the one who loved all three of these women, has radical implications, suggesting that Hera, the goddess of marriage, is a queer woman. Typically, Artemis is the Greek symbol of queer solidarity, but when Lapidus poses Hera this way, she becomes a symbol for queer women with an entirely different set of connotations than those of Artemis. Hera is the queen of the gods of Olympus, the most powerful female goddess in the pantheon, and she is queer. For lesbians in America, this is a novel symbol of the power of lesbian women. Furthermore, in the case of Leda and Dana\u00eb, Hera is the grandmother of powerful figures: Helen, a woman capable of bringing entire nations to war, and Perseus, the slayer of the Gorgon Medusa. This correlation illuminates the power of the maternal influence, even if it is not readily apparent in this generation. In the case of Io, it paints Zeus as a jealous king who transformed Io out of spite. This parallels the way in which the patriarchy condemns queer women, and then reorients the story to paint them as the savior of the story.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/files\/2021\/12\/Lapidus-TL.png\")
Timeline of some of Jacqueline Lapidus\u2019 Features in Feminist Periodicals (1975-1980)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jacqueline Lapidus was active in the Paris women\u2019s movement, but submitted many of her pieces to American feminist presses (Desmoines and Nicholson 95). Lapidus was primarily a poet, but did occasionally review other feminst literary works. Her poetry was featured … Continue reading