Inside the Bar, Winslow Homer, 1883; watercolor on paper. Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Women are called a lot of names. History is filled with them, especially names describing women considered loud and aggressive—fishwife, harpy, harridan, and shrew to name a few.
Let’s be honest, this isn’t just a thing of the past. That’s when these names started. But they haven’t ended there. Today, brands are choosing these very names and lending new life to the lore.
This post explores these names—fishwife, harpy, harridan, shrew—in particular. Each one has origins in the distant past and in far away places, yet has found new meaning thanks to women-owned brands, unafraid to change the narrative.
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