We take our name from the ancient Greek myth of Daphne and Apollo:

Daphne was a beautiful young maiden walking in the forest and Apollo, the god of sun and light, saw her and fell madly in lust. He tried to force himself on her, so she ran away through the forest. But she was a girl and he was a god, and he quickly caught up to her, so she cried out to her father, the river god, for help. She didn’t ask him to strike down Apollo. She didn’t ask him to quell the lust in Apollo’s heart. She didn’t ask him to root Apollo’s feet to the ground, so that he would no longer be able to give chase. Instead, she cried out to her father, “Change and destroy this body which has given too much delight!” and her father heard her and answered her prayer. In that instant, he changed her into a laurel tree. No more voice, no more body to provoke sin, no more woman. When Apollo saw that his love had been transformed, he plucked some leaves from a branch and made the laurel his symbol from that day forward.

The Laurel Society uses the symbol of the laurel leaf in order to reclaim it for Daphne. It was never Apollo’s to have. A woman shouldn’t be punished for the sins of man, for the lusts of man. If a man cannot control himself it is his duty to answer to God, not ours. We will not be dead stumps in the forest. We will fight for women’s rights until our dying breaths.