Vashti: The Original Queen of Self-Respect
In a world where submission is often seen as the ultimate virtue for women, Queen Vashti dared to be different. This ancient Persian queen refused to be paraded in front of her husband's drunken friends, and in doing so, became an unlikely hero for modern women everywhere. Let's set the scene: King Ahasuerus (aka Xerxes) was throwing a lavish party, and he wanted to show off his queen's beauty to impress his guests with his own prestige and masculinity. But Vashti was like, "Uh, no thanks. I'm good." And with that, she became the first recorded queen to give her husband the old "talk to the hand." You know, that classic move where you dismiss someone with a flick of the wrist and a whole lot of sass. Funny thing is, my soon-to-be ex used to tell me to "talk to the hand" all the time. I guess he didn't realize he was actually training me in the ancient art of Vashti-style assertiveness! Now, some might say Vashti was disobedient or reb...