You Have a Man’s Spirit in a Woman’s Heart’

Women Who Break Hegemonic Ideas about Femininity in Icelandic Legends

Bibliographic Data

ID8934795
AuthorsDagrún Ósk Jónsdóttir (0000-0002-8341-3403, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume132
Issue3
Pages290-312
Publication date2021-07-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueFolklore (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0015-587X • E-ISSN: 1469-8315
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0015587x.2020.1865741
OpenAlexW3199881676
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited21

This article examines the ways in which women who take on a ‘traditionally’ male role or have qualities more commonly attributed to men are presented in Icelandic folk legend collections from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Among other things, attention is paid to how women who break hegemonic ideas about femininity temporarily seem to be praised for their courage, while those who do so more permanently tend to be portrayed in a more negative light. The article thus considers the messages about and for women contained in the legends, bearing in mind that while legends tend to reflect the societies to which they belong, they can also potentially affect and shape their environments

Aesthetics · Art · Courage · Femininity · Hegemony · Icelandic · Legend · Literature · Political science · Sociology · Theology · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · History · Law · Media, Gender, and Advertising · Philosophy

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