The Dragon Lady, Part 2

One brief announcement: I’m gonna be visiting a few blogs in coming weeks. Charles Yallowitz of Legends of Windermere will be hosting me Sunday, so look forward to that. On January 19th, my dragon character Tetheus will drop by Lisa Burton Radio on Craig Boyack’s Entertaining Stories.

It’s all to support my collection, Aunt Ursula’s Atlas. You have  bought yours, right??

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Throughout history, there have always been special words to describe a woman who had a forceful nature. Harridan, bitch, nasty woman… My personal favorite has always been Dragon Lady.

We all know that dragons are so mean, right? Bold, fierce, rapacious. Or maybe just a little bit outspoken. All the things that a woman is not supposed to be.

Although English does contain a few references to an aggressive woman as a dragon or dragoness earlier than 1900, the specific term “dragon lady” springs from the character in Terry and the Pirates. (See my last blog post.) While supposedly a villain, Dragon Lady is one of those special characters who the public really took to their hearts.

Perhaps it was the slinky outfits she wore. Perhaps it was the mystique of the Orient or the woman’s determination to make her own way. Her image was wildly popular and influential. It’s said that numerous planes in World War II had Dragon Lady nose-cone art. Dragon Lady’s character evolved from a pirate queen to a freedom fighter. Even on the occasions when the good-guys captured her, they invariably found some reason to let her go. So in the reader’s mind she remained a supreme woman, undefeated and triumphant.

As the term “dragon lady” made its way into common use, it could be applied to any woman who made a mark on the world stage — especially if she was Asian. Wives of Asian leaders and actresses playing action roles were equally styled as dragon ladies.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the flogging. The label “dragon lady,” which was intended as a put-down, morphed as much as the Dragon Lady herself had. Nowadays, “dragon lady” is as much a term of respect as an insult. You can say that dragons are vicious, malicious and cruel — or you can say they’re tough, determined and smart. Like the phrase “nasty woman,” used by Donald Trump to annoy Hillary Clinton, “dragon lady” has taken on a life of its own.