Gender Swapped Greek Myths

Product Information

The result is a collection of stories where the woman isn't sitting around waiting to be rescued, or waiting for years for her beloved to return, or pliably taking whatever fate is dished out for her by the men around her. The tales of Ancient Greece have stood the test of time. They are brilliant stories, perfect for performing, reading aloud or alone. These sagas are filled with quests, romance, family feuds, births, deaths, comedy, tragedy, gods, monsters, betrothals, betrayals and battles. I used to be fascinated by Greek mythology, but, even as a teenager, knew that they were fiction and a reflection of a long-gone society. That's one of the things that made them interesting.

When I was reading kid’s versions of the Greek myths I was bizarrely naive. Or perhaps just ordinary levels of naive for a child that age. I had to make my own inferences and deductions about sexism and misogyny from my reading material - and I think I did a pretty good job all things considered, but it drove me a bit nuts that nobody ever talked about it. She is coming!” cried Thesea, and she ran forward to meet the beast. The seven bachelors shrieked, but tried to stand up bravely and face their fate; and the six young women stood together with firm-set teeth and clenched fists, ready to fight to the last. Given that all the gods are products of incestuous relationships and many of the rapes take place in the form of animals I can honestly say Greek myth never seemed that relevant to my idea of gender.Following the incredible success of Gender Swapped Fairy Tales they have taken that same simple step. They haven’t rewritten the stories in this book. They haven’t reimagined the endings, or reinvented characters. What they have done is switch all the genders.

They’re talking to me on a video call, sitting on their bed, “like John and Yoko”, laughs Fransman, letting slip a little unconscious bias, which she readily confesses to. It comes out when she’s with her four-year-old daughter, too, “referring to animals as male – Hello Mr Magpie – or assuming the school photographer is a man, and I think I’m a switched on card-carrying feminist!” In true mythology style Gender Swapped Greek Myths does just that. Sirens are now male, luring heroines to their deaths. Icara and her mother fly too close to the sun and men we’d underworld queens. These stories thousands of years old have stood the test of time, and with their age old themes of loss, love and sacrifice, still impact our lives and new stories written today.As a child I remember being puzzled and a bit annoyed by having to read Greek and Roman myths and legends and tales of gods. They seemed very silly as well as somewhat disturbing. But then I found the Catholic doctrine I was brought up with silly and disturbing too. However, personally I think that some of the stories were told in a slightly confusing way. Some of them I had to reread a few times because the plot was slightly confusing me (although this may just be because Greek myths are confusing in themselves, I’m not sure).... Read Full Review Following the incredible success of Gender Swapped Fairy Tales they have taken that same simple step. They haven't rewritten the stories in this book. They haven't reimagined the endings, or reinvented characters. What they have done is switch all the genders.

Karrie Fransman writes and draws visual stories and comics that have been published in The Guardian, The Times, The BBC, Time Out, The Telegraph, The New Statesman, The Young Vic, Psychologies Magazine, The Arts Council and The Goethe Institute. She published two graphic novels with Penguin Random House.'The House That Groaned', and the award winning 'Death of the Artist'. She developed an award winning comic about a teenage refugee, for The British Red Cross, created a 2 storey installation for Southbank Centre and was commissioned to make a 'Selves Portrait' for an exhibition with Manchester Art Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. You can see more of her work at karriefransman.com This is me. Jennie. I am a 44 year old, home educating mummy, passionate about picture books, children's literature and learning through play.

Karrie Fransman, Jonathan Plackett Press Reviews

In my opinion, this is a very interesting and very unusual concept, which is really intriguing and fresh.

Most of the gender swapping in the text is completed with a computer program, an algorithm. This blew William’s mind and he is now having a lot of fun trying to gender swap Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Tales of King Arthur and Robin Hood among others. The concept and the digital element has totally captured his interest and he wants to read some of his favourite, classic books with the gender swaps. It has really got both him and I thinking about everything that we read. It is hard to put into words how clever these books are and for me to explain why these gender swapped myths and the original Gender Swapped Fairy Tales are so important. William, my 12 year old son, and I share a love of mythology and history. We have built over the years a collection of books filled with a wide range of retellings of the stories of Greek mythology.Of course names had to be changed, but since many Greek names have both male and female versions, this was not too hard to adjust for. Where not they made sure it was still a valid change in keeping with the myths themselves.