In the last few weeks we worked on a Civic Education preoject and every group in our class chose a different topic.  We wanted to focus on misogyny in Roman Britain in relation to Queen Boudica. We became interested inxploring how misogyny has evolved in societies over the course of centuries, from the Roman period to modern times.  For our presentation, we used Thinglink, an app tool which allows you to add texts, images, audio files, videos, and a number of visual media. First of all, we uploaded a 360° picture as a background for the presentation: in our case we used a Stonehenge panoramic image. In each "box" we then added some different information about our topic, with images and respective links of our sources. Now we hope you will enjoy our work!

Misogyny can be defined as feelings of hating women, or the belief that men are much better than women. 

The rebellion of Boudica has an important place in British history. Although Boudica did not win her war, she inspired her people while showing the world the true potential and strength of women. When her husband died, he left his kingdom to be shared by both his two daughters and Nero, the new Roman Emperor. However, sharing power with women was not accepted under Roman law and it would be embarrassing for a Roman man to treat a woman as an equal. The Romans took advantage of the death of Boudica's husband. Boudica refused to watch passively as her culture and people were being oppressed, and decided to unite with other tribal forces to fight against the invaders. Her rebellion is an example of indigenous people joining forces and rising up against their oppressors. She was a strong political and military leader who was respected by the men of her culture and even by those of her enemies. Her life and her story should not be forgotten. 

In ancient Rome, the behavior of "respectable" women had to adapt to a very specific female role, the matron. Her mission was to generate sons and daughters within a controlled marriage and educate them in traditional values. From infancy, girls were trained to play this role.

Any relationship outside marriage, even if undertaken by widowed women, was considered a crime and could be punished by the leader of the family (pater familias) without the need of a trial. 

The Romans viewed women warriors as indicative of an immoral, uncivilized society, and this attitude helped to rationalize their subjugation of other peoples. Nevertheless, these women became legends.

Ancient Rome prided itself on the power of its patriarchy, and was quick to condemn women who broke boundaries and encroached upon the rights, privileges and positions of power held by men. The voices of these women were silenced, their stories transmitted by men, their characters exaggerated for literary effect. And Boudicca became one of them as a woman lived in a territory occupied by the Romans.

In imperial Rome, law, family and society combined to restrict a woman’s participation in public life, based on traditional morality and an understanding of what was best for members of a sex considered weak and unwarlike by nature. Women who appeared in military situations were seen as anomalous by this system, although exceptions did occur. 

According to the New York Times the term misogyny was born to describe the hatred towards women, however nowadays it is rather attached to the term sexism. In fact the term can also be used to describe the social differences among men and women.

The term emerged for the first time in a book of Joseph Swetnam. The 1615 tract, titled in part “The arraignment of lewd, idle, froward and unconstant women” discussed women's place in society and it included several sexist jokes.