Violent Femme

In the 6th century BC, Tomyris rises to become Queen of the Massagatae, a confederation of nomads who roam the Eurasian steppe just east of the Caspian Sea. The culture of these fierce Scythians insists that women fight alongside men in battle.

When her husband is killed in battle Cyrus the Great, leader of the Persian Empire, who has amassed lands from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indus River, attempts to force Tomyris into a marriage and a merger. She not only refuses, but battles and defeats the world’s greatest warrior. “In order to survive now so that our people may thrive later, I must be brutal. That is how men have ruled. That is how they have thrived, and it is time for this woman to do the same.”

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Always outspoken against the patriarchy, in 1974 at age 11 Phoolan Devi is considered a trouble-maker. She is married off and sent several hundred miles away from her home in Ghura Ka Purwa, India. By age 17 she escapes her abusive husband and joins a gang of dacoits. She eventually forms her own gang and carries out Robinhood-type crimes.

In 1981, she survives an attack by rivals who beat, rape, and leave her for dead. She seeks revenge by executing her attackers in what comes to be known as the Behmai Massacre, and she is forced to go on the lam. But now she’s become a heroic outlaw figure of sorts—the underdog, the Bandit Queen— and she is protected by the lower castes. To many poor and brutalized women, Phoolan is a hero.

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In the early 1800s Ching Shih goes from being a poor girl in the Guangdong province of China, to becoming a high class prostitute to the region’s elite She then marries an already successful pirate and grows his business three-fold in three years. When he dies in 1807, Ching Shih establishes a strict set of rules and solidifies her power over the Red Flag Fleet. She triples the fleet once more to 1800 ships and 75,000 pirates, battles three countries, and ultimately comes out the biggest winner.

“If you rape anyone without permission from your squadron leader, you will be decapitated and disposed of in the ocean. If you loot a town or ship or otherwise harass those who have paid tribute to the fleet, you will be decapitated and disposed of in the ocean.”

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Boudicca (also known as Boadicea and Boudica) was Queen of the Iceni people on the island of Britannia. The Romans had conquered and occupied much of the island and around 60-61 AD, after her husband’s death, the occupying forces redoubled their savagery against her people. They confiscated Iceni wealth and killed indiscriminately. They flogged Boudicca and raped her daughters in the market square.

Boudicca bided her time and galvanized her forces. She also managed to bring together other tribes of Britannia to mount a rebellion against the Roman occupiers. Spurred by revenge she was successful for a while, regaining much of the land the Iceni had lost. Although ultimately defeated, she remains a symbol for British unity to this day because of her bravery.

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Comandanta Ramona became the nom de guerre for the Mayan woman who saw injustice all around when she looked at the way women were treated in her community and the way the Mexican government treated her people, an indigenous population in southern Mexico. Setting aside dreams of having her own family, she instead dedicated her entire to fighting for more rights and freedoms for her impoverished people, who lived in Chiapas. She joined the EZLN, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, and rose to become one of seven commanders within the organization. She helped recruit more and more women until the army consisted of one-third women. Comandanta Ramona also fought for also fought for and gained women's rights within her community. She created the Revolutionary Women's Law, which consisted of 10 provisions designed to give women more rights, freedom, and put them on a more equal footing with men within their communities and families.