Kyra Cornelius Kramer > Quotes

“Dogs were both feared, in their guise as tools of war and as guards, yet loathed as contemptible dung eaters. That is why so many insults, even today, link the word “dog” with someone who is being conveyed as both a threateningly evil and/or disgusting object. Note that the word “bitch” is still thrown like a verbal rock at women who seem to be usurping masculine traits, such as competiveness or aggression (Hazelton, 2009:173).”
― Kyra Cornelius Kramer, The Jezebel Effect: Why the Slut Shaming of Famous Queens Still Matters

“As a result of deuteronomistic editing, the idea that God has both a male and a female aspect was not just removed from the orthodox belief system, the very concept of it was lost to believers because they decreed that it never existed in the first place. The veneration of Asherah was repackaged as having always been counter to the will of Yahweh and having never been an acceptable part of Yahwism.”
― Kyra Cornelius Kramer, The Jezebel Effect: Why the Slut Shaming of Famous Queens Still Matters

“Quickening was crucial, because most people believed that the fetus did not receive a soul until the time when it could be felt moving (Hull, 1996:105). This understanding of ensoulment didn't change until the nineteenth century, when Pope Pius IX decided that souls entered the embryo at conception (Simon, 1998:2).”
― Kyra Cornelius Kramer, Blood Will Tell: A Medical Explanation of the Tyranny of Henry VIII

“Without a soul the fetus was not really a 'person' to the people of the Tudor time period. There was even doubt whether a fetus could be considered 'alive' prior to the quickening.”
― Kyra Cornelius Kramer, Blood Will Tell: A Medical Explanation of the Tyranny of Henry VIII

“There is a fixed social ideology about illnesses that are transmitted through sexual activity; there is an assumption that they are indicators of wanton lasciviousness on the part of the infected person, as opposed to being the unfortunate consequences of sex with a single infected partner.”
― Kyra Cornelius Kramer, Blood Will Tell: A Medical Explanation of the Tyranny of Henry VIII

“women are socially constructed as sexually disinterested and biologically driven to be chaste, any woman who does not conform to these ideologies is, by cultural definition, “abnormal”.  Even in modern times, these abnormal women are often punished for their deviant sexuality, usually with name calling and forms of social ostracization.”
― Kyra Cornelius Kramer, Blood Will Tell: A Medical Explanation of the Tyranny of Henry VIII

“There is a persistent myth that women, but not men, must be in an emotionally fulfilling relationship in order to enjoy sex. No matter how frequently it is scientifically disproved, this idea that women and men are inherently different in regards to sex and love, with its attendant belief that women are “naturally monogamous”, continually rises from its grave, like a zombie, and staggers across the landscape of the popular media (Daniluk, 2003:213-215; Bay-Cheng, 2006:209).”
― Kyra Cornelius Kramer, Blood Will Tell: A Medical Explanation of the Tyranny of Henry VIII