MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

Warfare was seen as a masculine activity and was largely viewed as the ideal masculine activity, through which “manhood” was demonstrated in the middle ages. Accounts of warfare in medieval texts were interspersed with references to gender that equated fighting ability with virility. Throughout the middle ages the men who failed in warfare were considered “effeminate” and were subjected to ridicule. However, prior to the thirteenth century there was a gender system in place that enabled women to be warriors but this system transformed as a result of economic and social changes (McLaughlin 4). Despite these changing views, there are several women warriors recorded in medieval sources. In addition to the accounts of female Vikings fighting alongside men and the feats of Joan of Arc, there were also many women warriors of the crusades. For example, “a number of women also fought alongside of male crusaders—and sometimes in male disguise—on the battlefields of the Middle East” (McLaughlin 7). Additionally, some accounts state that Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine “appeared at Vézelay dressed like an Amazon galloping through the crowds on a white horse, urging them to join the crusades” (Women and the Crusades). Many scholars have argued that medieval women warriors or medievalesque women warriors portrayed in contemporary bio epics, fictional films and television tend to be highly sexualized and/or portrayed as monstrous. While these arguments are valid, in my paper I will argue that there are also films and television shows that have medieval or medievalesque women warriors that are not sexualized and/or presented as monstrous. For example, although Game of Thrones has several sexualized and/or monstrous female characters, there are also many women warriors that are neither monstrous or sexualized such as Arya Stark, Brienne of Tarth, Yara Greyjoy, Osha and Meera Reed.