February 6, 2013, by Alan Sommerstein

Lysistrata in Liberia

Her name is Leymah Gbowee, and she shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for (among other things) her role, as leader of a mass women’s movement, in bringing an end to the Liberian civil war in 2003.  The tactics employed by the movement included at least three that are strongly reminiscent of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata:  a sex strike, occupation of the building in which peace talks were dragging on inconclusively, and a threat to strip off their clothes (compare Lysistrata 637 and 686-7).  See http://leymahgbowee.com for more about Leymah and her continuing work for peace.

Posted in AristophanesReception