herstory

English

Etymology

Wordplay: blend of her +‎ history, derived as though the first syllable in history were his, the male pronoun.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɜːst(ə)ɹi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɝst(ə)ɹi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

herstory (countable and uncountable, plural herstories)

1. (slang) History that emphasizes the role of women, or that is told from a woman's (or from a feminist) point of view.
   • 1984 April 21, Pam Gordon, “'There's Always Cost': Ferron's Boston Concert”, in Gay Community News, page 17:

     "Mama's Lullaby" shared the growth of McCord's appreciation for her mother and a prayer that her infant son might someday "sing this motther song with me"; a blending of the strong herstory of women's survival with the hope that men of the future will learn to praise their own capacity for nurturance.

   • 2024 September 12, Sam Damshenas, “‘A new direction for the franchise’: Drag Race UK stars on “mind-blowing” season 6”, in Gay Times‎^[1]:

     For Dita Garbo, it’s an “honour” to make herstory as Drag Race UK’s oldest-ever queen. “The younger bitches need to be careful ‘cause we’ve got wisdom – and we’ve still got time!” (Kandy Ho is trembling.)

2. (feminism) Any historical writing by or about women.
3. Biographical material about a woman.
   • 1989, “Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, "1969 Mother Stonewall and the Golden Rats"”, in The Stonewall Reader, Penguin Classics, published 2019, →ISBN, page 107:

     Nobody thought of it as history, herstory, my-story, your-story, or our-story.

See also

• story

• awoman
• femopause
• femstruate
• huwoman

 

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “herstory”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.