"The Female of the Species" is a poem by Rudyard Kipling originally published in 1911. [1] Its title and refrain ("The female of the species is more deadly than the male.") have inspired the titles of numerous subsequent works (see The Female of the Species (disambiguation)).
Kipling begins the poem by illustrating the greater deadliness of female bears and cobras compared to their male counterparts, and by stating that early Jesuit missionaries to North America were more frightened of Native women than male warriors. He continues by giving his thoughts on how male and female humans differ and why the female "must be deadlier than the male," saying that females can be single-minded - often to the point of being dangerous - because they were made for the supremely important purpose of perpetuating the species. An example is contained in these lines: "She who faces Death by torture for each life beneath her breast may not deal in doubt or pity, must not swerve for fact or jest. These be purely male diversions, not in these her honour dwells."
Some readers may think Kipling's description of the sometimes stubborn nature of women that makes them good mothers and wives is stating that they are therefore unsuitable to hold leadership positions in the broader community. However, careful analysis offers another iteration: Kipling writes that "man, the coward" has a "timid heart," and so may choose to exclude women from leadership positions out of fear ("fear, or foolishness, impels him"), but instead should appreciate their fortitude, strength, and bravery, and respect and appreciate the differences between the sexes.
"The Female of the Species" and its refrain have been referenced in numerous other works:
In Greek mythology, Andromeda is the daughter of the king of Aethiopia, Cepheus, and his wife, Cassiopeia. When Cassiopeia boasts that she is more beautiful than the Nereids, Poseidon sends the sea monster Cetus to ravage the coast of Aethiopia as divine punishment. Andromeda is chained to a rock as a sacrifice to sate the monster, but is saved from death by Perseus, who marries her and takes her to Greece to reign as his queen.
Filk music is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction, fantasy, and horror fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has existed since the early 1950s and been played primarily since the mid-1970s.
A femme fatale, sometimes called a maneater or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype of literature and art. Her ability to enchant, entice and hypnotize her victim with a spell was in the earliest stories seen as verging on supernatural; hence, the femme fatale today is still often described as having a power akin to an enchantress, seductress, witch, having power over men. Femmes fatales are typically villainous, or at least morally ambiguous, and always associated with a sense of mystification, and unease.
"Do not go gentle into that good night" is a poem in the form of a villanelle by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (1914–1953), and is one of his best-known works. Though first published in the journal Botteghe Oscure in 1951, the poem was written in 1947 while Thomas visited Florence with his family. Subsequent publication, along with other Thomas works, include In Country Sleep, And Other Poems and Collected Poems, 1934–1952.
"Female of the Species" is a song by English rock band Space, released as their fourth single and second single proper from their debut album, Spiders (1996), on 27 May 1996. The song reached number 14 on the UK Singles Chart and earned a silver certification from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in October 2019. It became the band's only charting single in both the United States and Canada.
Deadlier Than the Male is a 1967 British crime and mystery film. It is one of the many take-offs of James Bond produced during the 1960s, but is based on an already established detective fiction hero, Bulldog Drummond.
Leslie Fish is a folk musician, author, and anarchist political activist.
Frank Hayes is an American musician prominent within the science fiction/fantasy genre and culture known as filk. He is also an authority on information technology and, as senior news columnist for Computerworld magazine, has contributed numerous writings on the subject for more than two decades.
Ookla the Mok is a filk band fronted by Rand Bellavia and Adam English (b.1970). The two met as undergraduates while attending Houghton College in 1988, and the majority of their performances have been at science-fiction conventions or in their hometown of Buffalo, New York. The band is named after a character from the Ruby-Spears Productions cartoon Thundarr the Barbarian, created by Steve Gerber.
Steve Macdonald is an American filk singer/songwriter, who also appears at Renaissance Faires as "Gallamor the Bard". He served for several years as the Pegasus Award Evangelista, and was responsible for many changes in the award process that led to much greater participation among the voting base. He was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 2006.
Jordin T. Kare was a physicist and aerospace engineer known for his research on laser propulsion. In particular, he was responsible for Mockingbird, a conceptual design for an extremely small reusable launch vehicle, and was involved in the Clementine lunar mapping mission. Kare was also known as developer of the Sailbeam interstellar propulsion concept and, in the science fiction fan community, as a composer, performer and recording artist of filk music.
Downbelow Station is a science fiction novel by American writer C. J. Cherryh, published in 1981 by DAW Books. It won the Hugo Award in 1982, was shortlisted for a Locus Award that same year, and was named by Locus magazine as one of the top 50 science fiction novels of all time in 1987.
"Cold Iron" is a poem written by Rudyard Kipling published as the introduction to Rewards and Fairies in 1910. Not to be confused with Cold Iron.
Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff is an American sci-fi and fantasy author.
"March of Cambreadth" is the signature song of American singer, musician and songwriter Alexander James Adams, previously known as Heather Alexander. The song is well known in filk, Renaissance fair and Society for Creative Anachronism circles. It has been featured in novels by Mike Shepherd, John Ringo and S.M. Stirling. It has also been parodied extensively.
The Female of the Species may refer to:
"The Ballad of East and West" is a poem by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published in 1889, and has been much collected and anthologized since.
The shrew – an unpleasant, ill-tempered woman characterised by scolding, nagging, and aggression – is a comedic, stock character in literature and folklore, both Western and Eastern. The theme is illustrated in Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew.
The winged, divine horse Pegasus has been a prominent figure in modern popular culture.
"Deadlier Than the Male" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Scott Walker under his real name of Scott Engel with UK record producer Johnny Franz. The song was first recorded and released by Walker's pop group The Walker Brothers as their eighth single in 1966. The accompaniment was directed by Reg Guest. The song was the title track for the 1967 British action film Deadlier Than the Male which featured the character of Bulldog Drummond.