Modern, scientific man has written women out of history

[clfh@mastodon.green]

@gimulnautti Or the dominators extract rent where they can and 'liquidate' community-built assets where they can't.

[ahltorp@mastodon.nu]

@gerrymcgovern Many women were warriors, yes, but to say that ”half of samurai were women” is as obvious as saying half of any hereditary group is/was women. Samurai was the social class.

[drchaos@sauropods.win]

@ahltorp @gerrymcgovern Yes. That. And apparently this is lost on many....

[marshray@infosec.exchange]

@drchaos @ahltorp @gerrymcgovern Just deceptive clickbait IMO

[luc0x61@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@gerrymcgovern Unfortunately, if you read well the article about samurai women, it doesn't recall a role too far from a male-dominated culture.
Maybe, what's notable is that our modern, western, patriarchal society inferred that the role of a samurai was male exclusive. This discover then changes our view, but doesn't shake the modern Japanese society.

[shadowfals@mastodon.otherworldsink.com]

@ahltorp except that's not obvious from media featuring samurai. The weapons, armor, attire, tools, and training of samurai women are often left out of historical records and references, which imply these things were relevant only to men.

For the same reason, there's a note currently on Wikipedia's "Homosexuality in Japan" page saying, "This article is missing information about female homosexuality in historical Japan."

@gerrymcgovern

[ahltorp@mastodon.nu]

@marshray @drchaos @gerrymcgovern Women were regularly educated in fighting, I think that’s quite uncontested, but most were probably educated with a focus on defence, although that’s murkier, and has probably been made murky by misogyny.

During the whole Edo period, I would say most samurai focus was on ”appropriate behaviour, etiquette and the right cultural preparation”, regardless of sex. But I’m prepared to be challenged by the course I’m starting tomorrow in Edo era history.

[marshray@infosec.exchange]

@ahltorp @drchaos @gerrymcgovern “They were a vital part of the elite order”

Look at the original post and consider whether that usage of ‘samurai’ fits with the other four examples given.

It’s a shameless motte-and-bailey, clickbait-and-switch, underhanded tactic by The Independent.

[ahltorp@mastodon.nu]

@shadowfals @gerrymcgovern From a Japanese perspective, I would say it’s obvious that samurai was a social class, and that the women were as much samurai as the men. Europeans mangling this is their own problem.

But then there is the issue of what type of military education and engagement samurai women had, and there I think there are internal Japanese problems in the historical records, based on misogyny.

But also, ”samurai” were two very different things before and after 1600.

[einalex@chaos.social]

@marshray You're missing the point. The point is not so much "women were warriors" it is "our reductive telling of history* is heavily tilted to disregard most of what is important, and so our idea of what 'samurai' means, is just plain wrong."

We're so used to "hero stories" and main characters that we're oblivious to this.

*) let's be honest, this is true for the stories we tell today.

@drchaos @ahltorp @gerrymcgovern