Wicked Woman of the Bible: Jezebel

Today we are featuring our very first guest blogger post by Femina Prudentia! Femina Prudentia was one of my very first twitter friends, and we ran into one another on twitter over a diabolical obsession with the book the 48 Laws of Power. I asked her to write a guest post about one of the baddest bitches that she can think of, and today you'll get to read who she has chosen:


When I was first asked to write this, I searched and searched trying to find qualities of a Bad Ass Femme wrapped up in one person. My search included:

• A Fine-Tuned Mind
  
• Boldness and Courage 
  
• Strong Leadership Abilities
  
• Assertive Personality
  
• Royal Lineage
  

I’m sure at this point most of you reading this would agree that these are certainly the qualities of Bad Ass Femmes from Hatshepsut to Angela Merkel* (*Royal lineage undetermined). You would also agree that if you wanted to become a Bad Ass Femme these are the qualities you would wish to carry and probably study every self-help book or attend every training out there to obtain these qualities. Right? Of course you would!

My Bad Ass Femme pick of the week goes to a woman who has all of these qualities and really needs no introduction. Even if you don't know her story, you probably still associate her name with great evil: Jezebel!

Jezebel’s story is one of the most fascinating stories I’ve ever read in the Old Testament. She was a woman who was determined to get what she wanted by any means necessary. Her fine-tuned mind, boldness and courage, strong leadership abilities, and assertive personality were a force not to be reckoned with during her reign as Queen.

Jezebel was a Phoenician princess who became the Queen of Israel after marrying King Ahab, who she somehow managed to turn away from the one true God towards worshipping the Canaanite god, Ba-al. (Man pussy is a powerful thing… LOL). 

Using her strong leadership abilities, Jezebel rose to a powerful position within her husband’s government where she imposed laws she felt were important in the development of the country, which included eliminating the representatives of God (i.e., prophets). One of her strongest beliefs was that her husband King Ahab had the right to possess anything he wanted. In addition to managing her husband, she also controlled 850 assorted pagan priests. 

In the First Book of Kings, Jezebel used her assertive personality to draw believers of God to become the followers of her Canaanite god, Ba-al.  After the Great Showdown between Elijah, a prophet of God, and the Prophets of the Canaanite god Ba-al,  Elijah won back the people’s faith in God by challenging the Ba-al's prophets to a battle of God vs Ba-al. This battle resulted in the killing of 450 prophets of the Canaanite god. 

After the showdown, Jezebel sent a message to Elijah saying: 
May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them. (i.e., the dead prophets)  

Even with God on his side, Jezebel’s boldness and courage scared the crap out of Elijah. In the story, Elijah ran for his life. He eventually dumped his servant, started traveling alone and then asked God to take his life. Now that’s a Treacherous Bad Ass Femme to have a man praying to God for death!

On another occasion, Jezebel also exercised her fine-tuned mind to devise a scheme to help her wuss of a husband secure a vineyard that was next to the palace. One day after King Ahad was denied the vineyard he entered the palace sullen and displeased. He lay down on his bed, turned away his face, and would eat no food. No good wife wants to see her husband unhappy, so Jezebel devised an evil scheme to have the owner of the vineyard killed. She then told her husband,   “Arise, and take possession of the vineyard!”.

For the life of me I could never understand why Jezebel (in the Old Testament) was referred to as a whore. I have yet to read a story where she slept with anyone other than her husband. 

Growing up in church the most infamous story of Jezebel was her death, (2 Kings 9:30-37). Jezebel was thrown out the window, trampled by horses and eaten by dogs. Moments before her death, Jezebel knew she was getting ready to be killed by King Jehu. When she heard he was there she put on eye makeup and fixed her hair. To me this verse in the story tells a hell of a lot about her character. Her courage was SO strong that during her last minutes her hand was steady enough to apply eye make up. That’s a courageous, emotionally detached, Bad Ass Femme!

Jezebel may rank as the most evil woman in the Bible. She used her fine-tuned mind to devise evil schemes, her courage and boldness to commit murder, her leadership skills to take over the throne, and assertiveness to draw people away from God. 

If only we were able to focus on her qualities (i.e., fine-tuned mind; boldness and courage; strong leadership abilities; assertive personality) and NOT on what she used such qualities to achieve,  we might find that most of us have a little Jezebel inside waiting to be unleashed!

Thank you Femina Prudentia for your contribution! You can find Femina on Twitter, or can read her new blog about scorned women and other evil bitches! I'll hold my tongue as to why Jezebel's been labeled a whore, but we all know that's what "they" all call strong women, isn't it?

~In Honor Of My Amazing Single Mother~

Over the weekend I would like to take the time to celebrate mothers, including single mothers and pseudo-mothers (i.e., women who have not been my mother but have mothered me in very important ways). I'd like to kick off my little series with a post about my mother and the amazing strength that she has demonstrated her entire life, overcoming obstacles that many of us can't even imagine.

My mother is a survivor and the biggest bad ass that I've ever known. She survived a horrible and abusive childhood, a debilitating car accident which resulted in a broken back, a divorce with two small children, and many other obstacles. 

She was born to a woman who had eight girls and two boys. One of the boys died when he was jumping on the bed; he jumped out of the window and literally fell to death at my grandmother's feet. For many years, my grandmother tried to have another boy, which resulted in her having more girls than she was able to care for until she finally had another boy. My mother and her sisters say of the day that the final boy was born that "a prince was born".

When my mother was growing up, my grandmother emotionally and mentally deteriorated. All of my cousins and I know that she suffered from mental illness, but no one (including my mother) will acknowledge it. My grandmother ran away from a husband and got shot in the arm as she was escaping with her children. She married another man who ended up being a child molester. She finally married a decent man, who she settled down and raised "the boy" with. 

My grandmother, her husband, and "the boy" lived in one house and my mother and her sisters were forced to live in a house next door. The house had no electricity and no plumbing. My mother and her sisters went the bathroom in coffee cans, and they rigged up a long extension cord from my grandmother's house and slept with a blow dryer under the covers in order to keep them warm. My grandmother would literally put a lock on the refrigerator door to keep the girls out of the fridge, and she would make elaborate dinners for her husband and "the boy". My mother would eat cupcakes that her sister brought home from one of her jobs.

My mother refuses to discuss anything about her childhood. The few details that I have managed to piece together, I have learned from my aunts and two of my mother's childhood friends: 

• My grandmother would let men come around and molest the girls. When I recently asked my mother about this, she said that she was never molested because she was too mean and all the men were scared of her because she would "beat them off of her". One of my mother's childhood friends says that my mother is full of shit.  Something makes me suspect that my mother might be telling the truth though.
• My mother and her younger brother went to the same school and when it was raining my grandmother would pick up "the boy" and make my mother walk in the rain for three miles. My grandmother would wave at her.
• My grandmother was apparently the mother straight out of the movie "Carrie". They say that my grandmother called my mother a whore the moment that she started walking. My mother's friends like to tell about the time that my mother started her period-my grandmother beat her with a wet mop and told her that she was a whore and could now get pregnant from the boys.

When my mother went to school she found no solace from her abusive home. She was bullied by her teachers and slapped with a ruler and had her braids pulled for speaking Spanish. My mother recalls that one of her teachers told her that she shouldn't go to college because Mexicans weren't very smart. Her high school counselor recommended that she work in the fields picking vegetables before she got pregnant, although she had the highest grades in her class. I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. Nonetheless, my mother told me that she never felt bad about her language or culture, despite what many of her teachers frequently told her.

My mother ran away from home when she was sixteen and got married to my father when she was eighteen. My father had an affair while my mother was pregnant with her second child, and my father left her for another woman when I was three and my little sister was two weeks old. My father complied with picking us up when he had to, but he would often refuse to pay his child support. My mother was uneducated and had a working class job; my father had a graduate degree and eventually became a stock broker. My father would often quit his job when my mother would take him to court to make him pay his child support.

When I was growing up, my mother literally wore holes in her shoes so that we would have food to eat. She hid her car in the garage at my aunt's house when she was unable to pay the car payment. She would work very long hours with multiple jobs in order to send us to dancing lessons, baseball practice, tennis lessons and many other luxuries. She always said that she wanted her daughters to have what she never had. 

When I was eight years old, I came home from school one day and my mother never came home. My father came to pick me up and told me that my mother was in the hospital because she broke her back. She was driving home from work in the rain, her car hydroplaned and she rolled off of a hill.  My mother had no seatbelts in the car at the time. As the car rolled over and over, my mother told me later that all she could think about was who was going to take care of her children.

My mother stayed in the hospital for months, and the doctors told us that if she would have broken two more vertebrates then she probably would have been paralyzed or would have died. When my mother finally came home, she couldn't work and she had to lay on a special type of mattress. Initially she couldn't take care of us, and my sister and I would have to get ourselves ready for school and cook and clean. After a couple of months she was able to walk, but she couldn't carry or hold anything. I have vivid memories of my sister and I carrying the milk cartons home from the store because they were too heavy for her to carry.

My mother suffered through intense pain for the rest of her life and frequent surgeries. To this day she has to get in a contraption that hangs on her door and stretches out her neck and back. There have been times when her back freezes and she literally can't get out of the bed for a week. 

Through all this, my mother managed to raise two intelligent and successful daughters with minimal help from a man. She gets up every day in pain and puts a smile on her face to work all day long. She has suffered many other setbacks, but for the sake of time I won't get into them. 

Every time that my mother pisses me off with her bullshit, I'm going to remind myself how amazing she is and how much she has influenced me into being a strong, independent, take-no-nonsense type of woman. Hear me roar. 

The gift that I will be giving her is a large painting by Frida Kahlo named "The Broken Column". I've blogged about Frida Kahlo in the past, and one of the main components of my lifelong love affair with Frida is in large part due to her story of strength and survival when breaking her back, much like my mother's story of perseverance. 

Happy Mother's Day to all the single mothers and/or mothers who have beat the odds!! 

¡Feliz día de la madre!

This is the Frida Kahlo "The Broken Column" painting that I'm giving to my mom:

Upcoming Guest Bloggers

I'm really excited about my upcoming guest bloggers. I choose them both because I like their little sassy style.

One of the guest bloggers is Femina Prudentia who is my fellow Merlot-drinking and 48-Laws-of- Power-reading partner in crime. She's one of the few women who can possibly drink me under the table. Until she gets her blog that she's been working on up and going, you can find her on twitter. I've never crossed paths with another woman who has read and studied the 48 Laws of Power just as I have, until I met her. It's my mission in life to persuade other women to read the book. Buy the damn book already-from my store, that is!

The other guest blogger is Pinksugacupcake, who I also met on twitter. I like her sassy little style and I was totally smitten when I read her post about her love for plotting and scheming to bring her professor down. If it's one thing I admire, it's a woman who knows how to plot and scheme!! It's my mission in life to empower and corrupt Pink Suga, one step at a time.

Stay tuned for their posts!! If there is anyone else who has any great ideas or propositions and want to write a guest post, contact me. Men are welcome also!!

~Bad Ass Women Can Just Walk Away~

Bad ass women have no problem with kicking a man to the curb if they are a waste of our precious time . 

I like the video 'Shut Up' by the Black Eyed Peas-I especially like how she goes off on the guy at the end of the video, and I like that she grabs her crotch like she's got some big ole balls. Because she does.

You can check out the video by clicking here.

You remember that the next time some jackass is being an energy vampire, ladies.

What's on Your Book Shelf?

A number of months ago, I bought the book Women Without Men: A  Novel of Modern Iran, written by Shahrnush Parsipur. It's been sitting around on my book shelf for months and today I decided that I would pick it up and read it. I just finished the first chapter and it's pretty good, but then again I am really a sucker for Iranian history, literature and film. 

I was just looking at the back cover and I noticed that the author, Shahrnush Parsipur, was imprisoned twice in Iran and spent over four years in prison. The book was banned in the 1990s in Iran for Parsipur's frank discussions of virginity and women's sexuality. She's currently living in exile in the United States. Now that's a bad ass women if I've ever heard of one. Imagine that-being such a daring little bad ass that it got her thrown into the Islamic Republic of Iran's political prison.  I suppose I am making assumptions that she's one tough lady; I'll hold off on making any more such statements until I learn more about her. 

As we speak I've got my little bad-ass-woman-loving "research assistant" investigating more about her. Let's see what interesting information he can dig up! Stay tuned for more information (provided she has a good story to tell). 

I'll let you know what you think of the book as soon as I am finished with it! In the meantime, you can read more about it or buy it here.

What are you reading??

Badass Bitch of the Day: P!nk

I'd have to say that one of my favorite badass women is the musician P!nk. She's so tough with her badass tattoos, sassy attitude, and wicked sense of humor. Here are a few of my favorite videos by her:

Stupid Girls: A video poking fun at superficial women.

So What: A song about her separation with her husband. I'd have to say that her husband (Carey Hart) is pretty high up on my list of men who love badass women for starring in this video with her after they had separated. Apparently they've recently gotten back together.

Please Don't Leave Me: Ha, I don't even know what to say about this one! You'll have to watch it for yourself. I really love her sense of humor.

Sober: A song about sobriety. 

Trouble: Badass Pink kicks ass and breaks out of jail. 

Dear Mr. President:  A political statement to President Bush. 

U and Ur Hand: She's just a badass, plain and simple. I love all her outfits in this video.

You can buy her compact discs or individual songs at the Bad Ass Femmes store. Enjoy!!

Great Minds Think Alike

Lately I have been meeting so many other bad-ass women (and a few men) who have been making suggestions to me about some women who should be featured, some movies, books, etc. Well, if you have a great idea about something then leave a comment here or email me at redharlot(at)yahoo(dot)com. I've been thinking about having some male or female guest bloggers if anyone is interested. My very first bad-ass bitch guest blogger is currently writing up something that will be posted next week. If so, hit me up. Ciao!

Frida Kahlo: Woman of Myth, Contradiction and Resilience

This quote by Sandra Cisneros sums up in many ways how I see Frida Kahlo's (and my, of course) life: 

I am the woman of myth and bullshit. 

(True. I authored some of it.)

I built my little house of ill repute.

Brick by brick. Labored,

loved and masoned it.

Sandra Cisneros, "Loose Woman"

I've decided that I am going to blog to my heart's content about the woman who I consider to be one of the most significant historical figures to have influenced my life. This is the second post in my Frida Kahlo series. You can read my introduction and view some samples of her artwork here. 

Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is an unconventional woman of myth, contradiction, and resiliency. Born as Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón on June 6, 1907, Frida often claimed that she was born in 1910, the year of the Mexican Revolution. Frida was daughter to father Guillermo Kahlo, a German immigrant, and Mexican mother Matilde Calderón. Frida often claimed that her father was Jewish, although other sources have claimed that her father was Lutheran. Often stating that she was born with an uncanny artistic ability at an early age, she has also claimed to have discovered painting out of boredom as an adult when recovering from a tragic accident.

As a child and young woman Frida Kahlo was the quintessential bad-ass in many ways. She was a prankster and tomboy who loved to box and ride her bike around with a boy's knapsack when other little girls were learning how to be proper ladies. A survivor of polio at the age of six, she became accustomed to being teased and isolated from her classmates at an early age. at the age of fifteen, Frida was one of only thirty-five young women accepted to attend the prestigious National Preparatory high school. She mainly associated with young men, claiming that that she was irritated by the gossip and pettiness associated with many girls. 

As a young woman, Frida often wore her hair short and dressed in masculine clothing. The following picture from 1926 shows Frida (to the left) in a suit standing with her hand in her pocket:

During her high school years, Kahlo earned a reputation for being a promiscuous young woman. In a letter written to her boyfriend she wrote, "Although I have said I love you to many, and I have had dates with and kissed others, underneath it all I never loved anyone but you". In another letter to her boyfriend she wrote:

I went around with Agustina Reyna all day, according to what she says, she no longer wants to be with me much, because you told her that she was the same or worse than me, and that is a great disparagement for her, and I agree with her, since I am beginning to realize that Mr. Olmedo was telling the truth when he said that I am not worth a cent,  that is to say for all those who once called themselves my friends, because to myself, naturally I am worth much more than a cent because I like myself the way that I am. 

The fact is that no one wants to be my friend because I have lost my reputation, something that I cannot remedy. I will have to be friends with those who like me just the way that I am...

...even if to you I am worth nothing, to myself I am worth more than many other girls...

(Source: Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo)

Considering that she was writing this to a man in 1925, I'd have to say that she was one little bad-ass in my eyes. I'm always a sucker for women who make no apologies for their sexuality and/or promiscuity.

Coming Soon:

• The tragic accident that debilitated her for the rest of her life
• Her unconventional and open marriage to artist Diego Rivera
• Torrid love affairs with men and women
• Contradictions of masculinity and femininity, independence and vulnerability, beauty and pain
• More about the myth and bullshit that she and others created regarding her life

An Unconventional Woman of Her Time-Frida Kahlo

If I had to pick one woman of all time who has significantly influenced my life, I would have to say hands-down that the woman would most definitely be the rebellious Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. I've admired everything about her since the first moment that I ever learned about her many years ago. I'm in the process of typing up a blog post about Frida for those who don't know of her, or who know little about her. Frida Kahlo is significant to me in so many ways-it's about much more to me than just her art. To me she represents the independently unconventional woman-a survivor of polio and a debilitating accident, infidelity, sexual liberation, radical politics, and much, much more. From the moment that I laid eyes on her art, her masculine femininity, and learned about her deliciously scandalous open marriage to Diego Rivera she's been one of my life-long obsessions. If you love strong, feisty, unconventional women, then you are going to fall in love with Frida Kahlo!

While I am working on the post, check out this video of some of her art:

Don't you just love the song that is playing in the video? It's performed by Lila Downs, another bad ass folk singer who I plan on blogging about later because she's got an amazing story herself. You can buy the song for a minimal cost off of Amazon.

You can also check out some of her pictures and some quotes by Frida or other people about Frida here:

More to come....

Bad-Ass Bitch of the Day: Sista Queen

Check out Sista Queen's "Try Being a Lady" spoken word performance:

Here are some of my favorite phrases:

"Try being a lady? ...use me as your trophy so you can parade me...use my vagina to only birth babies...be your damsel in distress so a brother can save me"

"if my tongue was a trigger, you'd have been shot...get real-I'm gonna stay inappropriate until I fucking rot...I don't talk about love, I don't talk about sex, I don't talk about things that'll put your dick on erect"

"I'm gonna get a sex change so you and half of america can suck my dick!"

Who Are Your Favorite Scandalous Women of Ill Repute?

I haven't updated here in a while because I have been having so much fun posting on some of my other projects that I have been working on.

I named this blog "bad-ass femmes" because I want to blog about unconventional women who have not fit the traditional mold-women who have bucked convention and broken the rules. While I realize that the lesbian community uses the term femme to classify a particular type of lesbian, my blog won't only address lesbians. I was thinking of the word femme in the sense of all females. If there are some bad-ass lesbian femmes out there, point me in their direction and I'll blog about them too!

I would have to say that my favorite bad-ass of all time is...Frida Kahlo. I've got tons to say about her, but I will save it for another post...

Who are some of your favorite wild women of history, literature, popular culture??