Lysistrata

[lis-uh-strah-tuh, lahy-sis-truh-tuh]

noun

1. a comedy (411 b.c.) by Aristophanes.

Lysistrata

1. An ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes. The title character persuades the women of Athens (see also Athens) and Sparta, which are at war, to refuse sexual contact with their husbands until the two cities make peace.

Example Sentences

As a comic device, a philosophical tactic and a social weapon, it has been around for a long time, going back at least back to Aristophanes’ “Lysistrata” and including the 1729 “A Modest Proposal,” in which Jonathan Swift suggests that the Irish poor might improve their financial situation by selling their children to the rich for food.

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Comedies like “The Acharnians” and “Lysistrata” critiqued ongoing wars, while “The Knights” ridiculed demagogues such as Cleon.

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For example, Bannon’s musings on the 4B movement, in which women refrain from sex with men as a form of political protest, included framing it as comporting with the themes of Lysistrata and the rejection of traditional society.

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Since liberals cannot help but show off their college degrees, the 4B movement is being compared to the ancient Greek comedy "Lysistrata," in which Aristophanes imagines a community of women withholding sex from men, in hopes of bringing an end to war.

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While the anti-4B side argues that women can persuade men to change by manipulating them with sex, the Lysistrata camp believes men can be convinced by deprivation.

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