“There is nothing succulent about these women,” the conqueror lamented as he surveyed his scowling, battle-scarred captives. “Nothing soft.” His native guide offered an incredulous stare before mastering himself. “Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there, sir.” --- ## ANALYSIS _Succulent_ is a pretty dark piece compared to most of what I write, at least if you think through the potential implications, but I do not want to dwell too much on [whether rape is inevitable in war](https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/05/is-rape-inevitable-in-war/239480/), or [various examples of wartime sexual violence in antiquity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wartime_sexual_violence#Antiquity). I prefer to imagine a happy ending for the captured women (and since I’m the author, I’m sure I’ll write one at some point). So instead, I want to focus on the conqueror’s complaint. I was inspired by [The Amazons](https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691147208/the-amazons) by Adrienne Mayor, which I’m still working my way through. It’s a great book that does a lot of work proving that feminist history is _real_ history, not anachronistic nonsense made up by wishful thinkers. One of the more interesting aspects I’ve found is the tension between Athenian ideals of perfect womanhood and their attraction to the idea of the Amazon woman. While [the degree to which the Spartans had a warrior culture tends to be a bit overblown in pop culture](https://acoup.blog/2019/08/16/collections-this-isnt-sparta-part-i-spartan-school/), primary source records from Athenians criticizing Spartan politics and lifestyles indicate that compared to contemporary cultures, the Athenians preferred their wives home-bound, pale, plump, and largely out of sight. [Socrates was a terrible husband](https://classicalwisdom.com/people/philosophers/five-reasons-socrates-terrible-husband/); in general the Athenian perspective on women makes me grit my teeth. So it's interesting that the narrative of the strong, exotic Amazon remained enticing for Athenians, even if they could never quite bring themselves to allow Amazons a happy ending in the stories they told. It's not like Athenians didn't know about strong women. Women warriors, women _leaders_ existed in contemporary cultures and there is a wealth of evidence that in the later years of the Hellenistic world, men like Alexander met with — and was in fact related to — strong women war leaders. [Scythian ideals of womanhood](https://www.rejectedprincesses.com/princesses/tirgatao) were pretty far from the Amazon norms, though. In fact, the phrase “bouncing breasts, big as melons” was used as an insult in (some—[the term is a bit of a catch-all](https://www.rejectedprincesses.com/blog/ask-jason/on-tirgatao-and-scythian-ethnicity)) Scythian cultures, because unbound breasts were so far outside the norms of what would have been functional for women with such active lifestyles. Yet despite the myths promulgated by Greeks who couldn’t fathom the lifestyles of women who lived as equal partners with their men, or even sometimes formed all-female raiding bands under a female leader, Scythian women still loved, raised children, and cared for their loved ones. The conqueror in _Succulent,_ like [many people confronted with strong women, mistakenly believes that strength is incompatible with gentleness](https://fortune.com/2015/09/16/how-executive-women-avoid-being-called-the-b-word/), and is furthermore disappointed with the physique of the women he has captured. Like the Scythians of the Eurasian plains, they favor slender, athletic physiques — and as with the ancients, different cultures in the modern era consider different physiques fashionable. This phenomenon is obviously not limited to the different attitudes of Greeks vs. Scythians. The Science of People article showcasing [how standards of beauty changed throughout history](https://www.scienceofpeople.com/beauty-standards/) is fascinating. Ancient Egyptians favored slender women with high waists and narrow shoulders, and allowed women to be fairly independent. During the Han Dynasty, Chinese beauty standards prioritized large eyes, pale skin, and small waists. The Italian Renaissance, by contrast, considered full, rounded, ample bodies to be symbols of prestige. In a perfect world, the captives in _Succulent_, I, and thousands of other women, wouldn’t have to care what fashion dictates. The sad reality, though, is that many of us are [captive to its whims and preferences](https://www.askamanager.org/2021/07/how-can-i-look-more-polished-at-work.html), in our [personal and professional lives](https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-halo-effect-2795906).