What’s Your Feminism I.Q.? by Barbara Ardinger

Let’s begin a new year by finding out what we know about feminist history and goddess scholarship. Take this little quiz and find out where you stand as a Feminism/Goddess Scholar. (It’s okay to laugh at some of the choices. Laughing shows you’re paying attention.)

1. Who wrote When God Was a Woman?

            a. Ernest Hemingway                         b. Merlin Stone

            c. Sharyn McCrumb                           d. Isabel Allende

2. In 1943, S.J. Perelman, Kurt Weill, and Ogden Nash created a popular Broadway musical titled One Touch of…

            a. Juno                                                 b. Isis

            c. Venus                                              d. Durga

3. Which of these books was not written by Carol Christ?

            a. Odyssey with the Goddess              b. She Who Changes

            c. Laughter of Aphrodite                    d. The Alphabet Versus the Goddess

4. The Feminine Mystique (1963) sparked the second feminist wave. Who wrote this book?

            a. Betty Friedan                                  b. Gloria Steinem

            c. Terry Pratchett                                d. Francine Prose

5. In which of these novels do we meet modern women who worship the Goddess?

            a. Bel Canto                                        b. Secret Lives

            c. Little Women                                   d. Wyrd Sisters

6. Who won election to Congress in 1972 using the campaign slogan “a woman’s place is in the House”?

            a. Shirley Chisholm                            b. Liz Cheney

            c. Bella Abzug                                    d. Jeannette Rankin

7. Who is the author of The Spiral Dance?

            a. Starhawk                                         b. Max Dashu

            c. Patricia Monaghan                          d. Fred Astaire

8. Who is the urban shaman who creates and leads public rituals in New York City?

            a. Donna Henes                                   b. Luisah Teish

            c. Miss Piggy                                      d. Angelina Jolie

9. Dianic Wicca, created in 1971 during the second women’s movement, is a spiritual path for “womyn-born womyn.” Who is our founder?

            a. Caitlyn Jenner                                 b. Z. Budapest

            c. Elphaba and Glinda                        d. Doreen Valiente

10. Which of the following adjectives is the most fitting replacement for “seminal” (which contains semen!)?

            a. Avuncular                                       b. Oracular

            c. Ovular                                             d. Titular

11. Which of the following is the primary symbol of, it is often said, the True Goddess of the United States?

            a. The Statue of Liberty                      b. The Emmy statuette

            c. The St. Louis Arch                        d. The Women’s Building in Los Angeles

12. On which mountain did (do) Hera and her sisters and daughters dwell?

            a. Mount Rushmore                            b. Mont Blanc

            c. Mount Olympus                              d. Mount Meru

13. Who is the greatest of all modern Goddess scholars?

            a. Germaine Greer                              b. Marija Gimbutas

            c. Emma Goldman                              d. Dion Fortune

Answers: 1 b. 2 c. 3 d. 4 a. 5 b. 6 c. 7 a. 8 a. 9 b. 10 c. 11 a. 12 c. 13 b.

Sophia, Goddess of Wisdom

BIO

Barbara Ardinger, Ph.D. (barbaraardinger.com), is the author of Secret Lives, a novel about crones and other magical folks, Pagan Every Day, a unique daybook of daily meditations, and other books. She really enjoys writing her monthly blogs for FAR. Her work has also been published in devotionals to Isis, Athena, and Brigid. Barbara’s day job is freelance editing for people who have good ideas but don’t want to embarrass themselves in print. To date, she has edited more than 400 books, both fiction and nonfiction, on a wide range of topics. She lives in Long Beach, California, with her rescued calico cat, Schroedinger.

Author: Barbara Ardinger

Barbara Ardinger, Ph.D. (www.barbaraardinger.com), is a published author and freelance editor. Her newest book is Secret Lives, a novel about grandmothers who do magic. Her earlier nonfiction books include the daybook Pagan Every Day, Finding New Goddesses (a pun-filled parody of goddess encyclopedias), and Goddess Meditations. When she can get away from the computer, she goes to the theater as often as possible—she loves musical theater and movies in which people sing and dance. She is also an active CERT (Community Emergency Rescue Team) volunteer and a member (and occasional secretary pro-tem) of a neighborhood organization that focuses on code enforcement and safety for citizens. She has been an AIDS emotional support volunteer and a literacy volunteer. She is an active member of the neopagan community and is well known for the rituals she creates and leads.

10 thoughts on “What’s Your Feminism I.Q.? by Barbara Ardinger”

    1. Thanks. I had a lot of fun writing this quiz. I’m sure that the FAR community will pick all the right answers. Happy New Year, y’all!

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    2. Good to hear Brigid has not been forgotten. She was the Celtic-Irish goddess of fertility, with her feast day on 1 February. February (Fevre, the month of fever) is the month when women in advanced pregnancy need to shed heat. Fortunately it is a cold month in Europe.

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    3. The centre of the Brigid cult was in Kildare. In Britain the Bride Well was famous. You will find it on a map of Britain by looking in the index. Her people called themselves ‘the Brigan’. The English called them ‘Brigands’. The Christians were unable to shake Brigid (often shortened to Breed, Bride, I had an Auntie Bridie) out of the hearts of the Celtic Britons so they made her a Christian saint and martyr.

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  2. Ernest Hemingway! I laughed, Barbara and was delighted that you provided the answers to these questions because a couple I was unsure of and a couple I did not know…I remember going to the Statue of Liberty with my little brother and my dad and climbing all those spiral stairs… I was very little the first time (my dad was carrying my little brother) but the child knew that this Lady was very important to my father…Much much later I learned that when my father’s family immigrated from Italy to this country my dad was 12 years old. He told me that the statue of Liberty was the first memory he had of coming into the harbor on a ship…I still love that story.

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    1. I wrote Secret Lives. https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Lives-Barbara-Ardinger/dp/1466251786/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=barbara+ardinger&qid=1641142573&s=books&sr=1-5 It’s my second novel. When I still lived in Orange Co., the characters in the book lived in Anaheim. When I moved to Long Beach (before I wrote the final draft), I moved most of the characters to Long Beach. I could drive you to where most of the women live. I enjoyed writing that novel. And I had lots of fun writing this little quiz.

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