Wild Things! The Wild Woman Archetype
By Kitty Quinn, Photographed by Milan Lazovski, Makeup by Kitty Quinn, Styled by Milan Lazovski and Kitty Quinn, Models: Taelor Krzciok and Vi Nicholson
Independent, dynamic and ambitious are just a few adjectives that could be used to describe the highly magnetic and complex wild woman archetype. She takes the best qualities of her sister archetypes— independent like the wise woman, a force to be reckoned with like the mother and ethereal like the maiden. However, something unique to her is societal sexualization and her subsequent juxtaposing refusal to be sexualized by displaying more masculine behavioral patterns. The wild woman is a highly turbulent and constantly evolving enigma, using traumatic life events in order to evaluate who she is, what her morals are and what she stands for. Unlike any other archetype, the wild woman cannot be pinned down.
The origin of the wild woman has roots in Greek mythology with Artemis, the virgin goddess of nature and the hunt— also known as Diana within Roman mythology. She is most famous for two things, one being never marrying and the other is killing the only man who ever saw her naked. Above anything else, her independence was perhaps the most vital part of her being. However, this is just one example of hundreds throughout history. The wild woman was there independently, rather than as a consort. She was not there to help make a man’s life easier but to exist just because she could.
The wild woman has become the default archetype to categorize a character into when she cannot cleanly fit into one of the more mundane archetypes. She is complex and self-aware— she has a past and has let that define her whether it be for good or for bad. While other archetypes focus more on the ego of a female character, the wild woman is beyond that. While it's easy to picture the archetype as a feral or hysterical woman, she is nothing of the sort. Both men and women have felt that the appreciation for women should be kept hushed, save for the love of one’s mother or a woman’s face on the cover of a magazine. The wild woman shows real women that there doesn’t have to be an untapped, feral part of her being, but rather an all-encompassing way of living that can be so powerful to discover in oneself.
Archetypes like the blonde bombshell have proved to be negative to the overall collective view of women, but the wild woman archetype has actually proved itself to be more beneficial towards women— both socially and emotionally. Over time, the imposed roles of women have varied greatly, but in any case, have always been restrictive. By connecting back to the core wild woman roots that all women have stowed away deep in their psyche, there is a new element of freedom and self-discovery that can be unlocked. The wild woman is a reminder that it's okay to fail, but one mustn't lose their courage. It’s taking back your voice and being unapologetic about it. Use your intuition, even if it sometimes feels illogical. While a wild woman is independent, there’s no expectation that you have to be one hundred percent of the time. Women don’t owe anyone complacency. The wild woman is a reminder to women that they don’t have to pretend any more but to just be, and their path will find them.
If nothing else, the wild woman is a reminder to all women to cast aside ancient fears of rejection and live just to live. Perhaps it’s her unapologetic complexity or her roots buried deep within every woman— regardless, she shows that any sign of failure does not diminish a woman’s independence, but rather strengthens it. The inner wild woman is calling out to all women, but only if they choose to hear.
