Phosphorescence

by Julia Baird

The mark of a civilised woman, too, is to doubt the wisdom received from men for so long — it’s remarkable how ancient and modern texts alike read differently when women have the chance to interpret them. The mark of a civilised person is to recognise that for a long time what we understood to be history — and theology — was history of the few written by the few, and that the voices and experiences of women, the disabled, the poor, the discriminated against, the queer, the black, the colonised and the ‘other’ have been seen through eyes that never understood what it was like to walk in their shoes, or dance in their bodies, or fight to be free from prejudice. Myths and ideologies have permeated every inch of our written histories, and there is a need for constant rethinking, revisiting and revision to shed stereotypes of the past and allow a full, bustling, diverse experience of history to be heard. We need to constantly doubt what we are taught and what we read.