Women Rock the Olympics

What is a hero? How does one become a hero?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary a hero has three definitions.

1. A person, typically a man. who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities (e.g. a war hero).
2. The chief male character in a book, play or film, who is typically identified with good qualities and with whom the reader is expected to sympathize.
3. (In mythology and folklore) a person of superhuman qualities and often semi-divine origin, in particular one whose exploits were the subject of ancient greek myths (e.g. Superman – he was greek right? Perhaps Heracles is a better example here).

Female heroes are of course called ‘heroines.’ I am going to overrule Oxford on this one and use ‘hero’ for both male and female heroes.

I’ve been thinking about how loosely we throw around this term these days. I’ve also been thinking about the inequity with which the term is applied and how often it is used for political purposes. Most recently two events have brought this to the fore in my mind.  [Read more…]