WomensStuff

If I were to ask you who the most successful pirate in history was, I'm guessing you'd come up with names like Captain Kidd or Blackbeard or any number of others of that crowd in the Caribbean. But what if I told you that history's most successful pirate was in China, and was a woman? Would that surprise you? Intrigue you?

Prepare to be intrigued as I introduce you then, today, to one of the single most feared pirates in all of history: Zheng Yi Sao (this is the name I will be using here; she went by others), the pirate queen who was hunted by not one, not two, but three imperial powers, yet who retired peacefully and died not of violence, but of old age.

Humble Beginnings

Zheng Yi Sao—born 石阳 (Shí Yáng) in approximately 1775 somewhere around Xinhui, Guangdong—was a Tanka who worked as a prostitute-later-procurer on a floating Tanka brothel in Guangdong (or so the story goes).

Marriage

Details of her early life are not well-documented, but what is know is that around 1801 she married the ~~pirate~~ privateer Zheng Yi. (Her name literally means "Zheng Yi's wife". Welcome to patriarchy.) A year after their marriage, Zheng Yi took over a pirate fleet from a captured and executed cousin and became, after some heavy infighting among the pirates off the coast of Guangdong, and with the natural organizational skills of Zheng Yi Sao, the commander of a unified fleet of pirates. By 1805 Zheng Yi and Zheng Yi Sao had wrangled together a confederation of pirates with colour-coded fleets of red, black, blue, white, yellow, and purple. Commanding the massive Red Fleet of … You know what? This is too much about her husband and not enough about who we really want to talk about. Let's move on.

Inherited Command

Short version: Zheng Yi, by now the head of the confederation, with his adoptive son Zhang Bao now commanding the Red Fleet, was blown overboard in a gale in 1807 and died. Zheng Yi Sao effectively inherited the loose control her husband had had over the confederation, and Zhang Bao took formal command over the Red Fleet. After entering into a sexual relation with Zhang Bao she cemented control over the pirate confederacy and became the queen of the pirates she would later be famous for.

Queen

Year after year Zheng Yi Sao got more and more ambitious and ruthless. She incorporated cast-iron discipline among the pirates with harsh penalties for everything from theft of booty to rape of female captives. Despite a major setback in 1809 with the absolute destruction of the White Fleet, she became such a terror to the Chinese authorities (and the East India Tea Company), destroying fleet after fleet sent to engage her confederacy, that the Chinese empire looked to "barbarian" empires to help.

The Portuguese agreed to help and managed to blockade the Red Fleet in 1809 … only for the two imperial powers to be fought to a standstill and stalemate as unfavourable winds kept the pirates from breaking free. Finally the winds changed and the fleet broke free, humiliating two imperial powers in their wake.

The Winds of Change

In 1810, seemingly at the height of its power, the confederacy surrendered to the Great Qing. The motives for this surrender are unclear, but it is speculated that the confederacy was in such a powerful state that it could dictate the terms of its surrender and the Qing would gladly agree to them just to finally be rid of the scourge that was harrying their coastlines and rivers. Other theories suggest that upon the British entering the fray Zheng Yi Sao saw the writing on the wall and knew it was time to quit while she was ahead.

Surrender

On April 20, 1810, Zheng Yi Sao and her adoptive stepson Zhang Bao officially surrendered with 17,318 pirates, 226 ships, 1,315 cannons, and 2,798 assorted weapons. (24 of those ships and 1,433 of the pirates were under her personal command.) Zhang Bao was awarded the rank of lieutenant, and was allowed to retain a private fleet of up to 30 ships. The pair were also given permission to officially marry. (Don't think too hard on this.) Pardons were issued to all of the surrendering pirates, and the regular seamen were given pork, wine, and money along with a general amnesty.

Along with that amnesty, Zheng Yi Sao was also given land in Guangdong where she operated a successful gambling house.

Post-surrender Life

Not a lot is known in detail about Zheng Yi Sao's post-surrender life. It is known that she gave birth to a son in 1813. It is also known that she gave birth to a daughter, but little else is known about her. (Welcome to patriarchy.) Aside from a legal case (which was dismissed by the emperor) over some money, she led a pretty unremarkable life, dying in 1844 at the age of 68-69, having run a successful (and infamous) gambling hall on Hainan in the intervening time.

Influence

For a woman almost completely unknown in the west, Zheng Yi Sao has had an enduring fascination and appeal here in the east. She appears as a character in films, in television, in literature, in graphic novels, and in video games. Scholarly works have been written about here from shortly after her death onward. Places have been named (both officially and unofficially) after her. She has cemented her place in history ... and justly so.

Oh, and that thumbnail image for this essay? That's the only known photograph of the great pirate queen herself.

Take a recipe leave a recipe.

Just saw the post about baked goods and thought it might be nice to have a place for people to list some favorite recipes. Would love to see a mix of more complicated ones and some more simple ones so don't just share your fanciest. Share your favorites!

Hi girlss! 💖 I am looking for a new curl iron and there are soooo many options. I. AM. SO. LOST. 😭 Some are super expensive and some super cheap. I don’t want to pay too much but also I don’t want to cheap out

I was wondering if you have any recommendations ! What do you use and would you recommend it? Do you use any heat protection ? If so what? 😇 If you have any other suggestions for curling your hair I am all ears !

I appreciate any suggestion :)

I've been more active in online spaces recently and I am just astounded at the number of times I'll be several comments deep with another person and a man will just jump in responding to us both with the least relevant most inflammatory take. The gender of the person I'm talking to is never relevant, but it's always a guy that interjects. I know the internet is a public forum, and I guess there's more guys on some platforms than women, but it's just shocking how often it has happened. We'll be talking about baking and some guy will come in and say that it actually costs more to bake bread at home or clothes and some guy will come in to say actually both our styles are bad. It's not even a sexist thing I don't think, I just think women are socialized more with a live and let live mentality and men are socialized to believe that everyone should hear their opinion. I don't really have any solutions. I always want to reply with something snarky about how we're not asking him or how his comment doesn't need to be shared, but I don't want to invite harassment. Their comments get upvotes or reacts in agreement and it just feels targeted. Like two people were having a casual chat and this guy comes in and derails and gets positive attention for it. I'm just venting now because it just happened in a gaming discord and I don't really have people irl who understand how these communities are helpful and how that kind of community reaction is ostracizing.

Hey all! If anyone is interested in moderating (even if you can only do a few weeks), please DM me answering the following questions:

1. Why would you like to mod WomensStuff?
2. What direction would you take the community in?
3. What hours of the day can you do? Please include timezone
4. What is your gender?
5. Do you agree to uphold the rules?

[ This is women-only community. If you do not identify as a woman, please do not comment. Thank you. ]

It absolutely upsets me is that when I bring up women's issues, I often get met with "Men experience that, too!", and that takes away from the attention an issue needs.

This is not me playing to win the "victim olympics", I'm just saying that men really need to listen and realize how exactly women are being treated in these scenarios and why they feel it needs to be brought to attention.

Example: medical discrimination / not having your health being taken seriously as a woman. Do men experience it? Sure! But men absolutely DO NOT experience this in the same way/volume that women do.

Did you know that many clinics will not allow you to get a hysterectomy or your tubed tied without the permission of your spouse? If you are single, they may refuse altogether because "what if your partner wants kids someday?" A HYPOTHETICAL MAN HAS MORE POWER OVER YOUR BODY THAN YOU DO!!!!

Pain being dismissed as "hysterics". Being constantly told that any medical symptoms you are experiencing are a result of """anxiety""". Dismissive of painful menstruation and/or pregnancy, because "woman have been doing this for thousands of years!" Refusing autism diagnosis because "it's not typically a girl thing".. I could go on.

This is not limited to experiences within the medical field. It's.... loooots of things.

Like, fuck.. it's okay to not understand the experience of others. It's like when I hear folks say "Everyone is a little bit OCD! Everyone experiences that sometimes!" like...... no??? Absolutely fucking not, you have no idea what OCD is like, and you're being an insensitive idiot by saying "eVeRyOnEs A lITtLe BiT—" NO THEY'RE FUCKING NOT!

Men face their own issues. Sometimes men's & women's issues overlap. Sometimes there's a little overlap, but women face a much greater degree of fuckery over the issue than men do, and vice versa. That's okay. Just don't invalidate that it may be a larger issue for women than it may be for men.

That's all.

Thought outside the box at work? Kept your kids busy over Easter? Crafted? Whatever it is we wanna know!

WOMEN ONLY COMMUNITY MEN PLEASE DONT COMMENT

No word count, so your idea of short is fine

Disclaimer: I am not in any way involved in Indyx as a business. I use the free functions available on the app and have never used the paid services. I will only be discussing the features that are available for free.

Indyx is available in your app store of choice for apple or android. It allows you to take photos of the individual items in your wardrobe, then mix and match them to create outfits. Their photo program automatically removes the background from images and works really well. Here is a crazy outfit I put together for an 80s night concert.

You can add information with each item such as date purchased and price paid, and for each time you “wear" an outfit (by adding it to your calendar) the app will calculate your price-per-wear.

You can create groups of items. For example, when packing for a trip, I plan outfits and put all the items I want to bring for them on one list. It helps me create a little capsule wardrobe so I can use items in multiple ways and save packing space.

You can also create a wishlist for items you're interested in buying. This has been one of the most helpful features for me. Sometimes I think an item will be perfect for me, but when I add a photo of it to Indyx and try to create outfits with the things I already own, I realize it doesn't quite work and would not be economical for me to buy. The app has definitely saved me money.

I like to save inspirational outfits on pinterest, then see if I can build something similar with what I own. That also helps me identify gaps in my wardrobe. After saving a bunch of outfits with a navy shirt, I knew I needed to get one.

I label my outfits based on what temperature I would wear them in (cold, cool, warm, hot) and sort them each day to find something weather-appropriate.

Or I decide I want to wear a specific pair of pants or an accessory. I can navigate to that an item and see all the outfits I've created with it, and select one.

Or let's say you've got an outfit that you want to pick out matching purple jewelry for. Sort by jewelry and purple to narrow down your options.

I once misplaced a ring and was able to look on my calendar to see when I last wore it. Sure enough, it was in the pocket of the pants I wore that day.

I've been using Indyx for over a year now. I don't have to sift through my closet or end up only wearing the same few things because they're the only ones in front of my face. If you enjoy putting outfits together, it's a lot of fun, especially when you do add a new item. The developers have made a lot of changes and are still working on features. They are very responsive to issues and feedback.

Some things that used to be free are now behind a pay wall and I expect most new features will be as well. The devs point out that when an app is totally free, that means the product is probably you, and they want the app and their services to be the product, not their users. According to their newsletter, their average user earns between $100-150,000 yearly, which is far, far higher than me, so I'm not really their target customer. But the app is still super useful and fun for me.

If anyone has questions or would like tips for using it or taking good photos, please ask in comments.

I love this space and I keep wanting to share photos of outfits I have put together, but I don't know how to do that in a way that protects my privacy ... It seems like a lot of effort to use software to edit the photos to make them safe to share, for example.

I was wanting to check with the community and see how women solve this problem generally, and maybe brainstorm a list of ideas of ways to safely share selfies / photos, here were some ideas I had:

• take photos with neutral backgrounds that don't disclose private information (e.g. location)
• use something like an emoji to cover up face
• find a way to share the photo in a password protected way (with what service?), and only distribute the password to users you trust (unclear on the logistics here)
• share the photo with an expiration feature, e.g. allowing only a certain number of times to view it (Signal has a feature like this) or that expires after some amount of time

Was wondering how you all find online spaces for women where it's safe to share outfits.

I know on Reddit, some of the subreddits for finding a good bra make every post a spoiler, making it harder for prurient men to easily browse and preview photos, etc.

Talk of sex, rape and violence

Given birth? Battled through school? Fought for yourself or someone else? All women have been warriors, tell us how you have below!

April is stress awareness month. What little changes have you made that have helped?

Answer the question, then ask the next in the same comment. Either reply to the comment below or add your own.

Household chores overwhelming you? Big picture problems? Anxious about parenting? April ie stress awareness month so tell us below!

Remember no politics

Whether it's the enormous ruby ring Nanna left you or the dangling SpongeBob earrings you got from the flea market, what's the jewelry you have that makes people stop and say "wow I LOVE that"?

Came up with a great idea at work? Managed to maneuvere your child through an issue? Whatever it is, tell us here!

Was it about a person? How to deal with something at work? Tell us here!

They are $300. Would you buy them? Would you wear them if they were free?