It Is Probably The Dirty Story Of History: That Catherine The
It is probably the dirty story of history: that Catherine the Great (1727-1796), the lusty ruler of Russia, was so wild with sexual desire that one day she was screwing a horse when the harness broke and killed her. It's simply not true. Catherine liked officers of the Imperial Horse Guard, not the horses. Yes, Catherine also liked sex - one of her favorite toasts was "God grant us our desires and grant them quickly." This ruler of a vast empire had a dozen documented lovers (really, male mistresses) over her thirty-four years in power. But she had them one after another. This level of sexual consumption would hardly rate a footnote for most male monarchs; in fact, their virility might have been questioned. What was unusual about Catherine was how organized she was in selecting her lovers. She had a lady-in-waiting sample the man's prowess in bed and then she had a British doctor examine him for diseases. The young officer would soon be given 100,000 rubles and a country estate. No doubt what roiled foreign diplomats was that this woman, who was pretty when young, grew stout and gray, and at age sixty-two was still taking the likes of twenty-one-year-old Platon Zuboff to bed. That bred jealousies and rumormongering, and tales of horses. Actually, Catherine was one of the greatest and toughest female monarchs of all time: this German-born princess plotted the death of her dotty husband, Czar Peter III, she expanded the borders of Russia, crushed rebellions, built gorgeous palaces, and was a generous patron of the arts, corresponding personally with Voltaire and Diderot. How did she die? Catherine suffered a stroke on her way to the water closet and died on a straw mat three days later, with eyewitnesses there.
- "Catherine the Great and the Horse" from An Underground Education by Richard Zacks
More Posts from Jackassjamboree and Others
I feel like I am living in the twilight zone. Literally thousands of Palestinians are dead, hundreds still missing under the rubble, Palestinians being captured and tortured in the West Bank, Israel saying “oh we’re going to ramp up our bombing” and tonight being the worst night of bombing to date and all I hear is “both sides both sides both sides both sides-“ I feel like I’m going mad
seems blatantly obvious that authoritarian fascists mostly hate transgender people simply for the deliberate infertility involved in some medical transitions & yet some women whom the fascists want gestating all those future soldiers are just plain stupid enough to believe the fox is there to guard the henhouse. yeah yeah sure "defending women". btw show us your genitals if you want to participate in 7th grade hockey because we have to protect girls. maybe if you had more than five brain cells to rub together you would be capable of reasoning this one out: they want to ban abortion for the exact same reason they want to litigate being transgender out of existence and you are the definition of a useful idiot
join praxis now - discord - github
listgrrrl:
Tumblr for Ashley Day!
Laleh Seddigh, the first female race car driver in Iran
For more than 600 years, following King Odoacer's overthrow of the last Western Roman Emperor in 476 when he officially became the King of Italy - no army based in Italy had ever defeated the German invaders.
That is until Matilde Di Canossa accomplished what seemed like an impossible undertaking. Among her many great accomplishments, her defeat of the Holy Roman Emperor - Henry IV - was a major turning point for the Catholic Church, for Western Europe and for Italy. It earned her the honorific "Madonna of War" or as she is also known, "Gran Contessa" and "Gran Duchessa" - The Grand Countess and the Grand Duchess. For indeed, she held legal claim over both titles and more.
Hey not to be a downer but just so we’re all aware the Supreme Court just voted to criminalize homelessness and gut every administrative agency that keeps corporations from poisoning our food water and air
treasuredthings:
statue of Sophie Auguste Friederike (Catherine the Great)
if you're feeling powerless right now—and god knows I am—here's a reminder you can donate to the National Network of Abortion Funds, the Trans Law Center, Gaza Soup Kitchen, the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, and hundreds of other charities that will work to mitigate the damage that has been and will continue to be inflicted
life continues. we still have the capacity to do good, important work. that matters
