We Three Queens. A triad of royal biographies invokes womanpower

摘要

If fop culture is your barometer, confident men are brains and confident women are bitches. Princess Diana was melodramatic and manipulative; Britons want Charles to be the next King. Michael Cera can be lauded for his Zen-like poise in interviews; meanwhile his Broadway co-star Tavi Gevinson apparently epitomizes her generation's self-absorption because she revs herself up for performances by saying, "I am awesome and mighty and cannot be made small." But women have been boasting for a long time. "I am the wild horned bull coming from heaven... I am the falcon who glides over the lands... I am the jackal." Thus spoke Hatshepsut, a female pharaoh of ancient Egypt. If Hatshepsut's preening tells us anything, it's that prominent women have actually toned it down since ancient times. You don't see Miley Cyrus defending whichever outfit just raised eyebrows by saying, "Look, y'all, I'm a falcon."