Strippers and the objectification of women

[Ichingcarpenter]

Last edited Mon Feb 24, 2014, 12:46 PM - Edit history (1)

OK so much for strippers now


The OBJECTification of women

Venus Figurines


Figure 1: Images of figurines and their geographic origins. Images are shown in the same (random) order and numbered, as they were for the questionnaire study. (1) Willendorf’s Venus (Rhine/Danube), (2) Lespugue Venus (Pyrenees/Aquitaine), (3) Laussel Venus (Pyrenees/Aquitaine), (4) Dolní Věstonice Venus (Rhine/Danube), (5) Gagarino no. 4 Venus (Russia), (6) Moravany Venus (Rhine/Danube), (7) Kostenki 1. Statuette no. 3 (Russia), (8) Grimaldi nVenus (Italy), (9) Chiozza di Scandiano Venus (Italy), (10) Petrkovice Venus (Rhine/Danube), (11) Modern sculpture (N. America), (12) Eleesivitchi Venus (Russia); (13) Savignano Venus (Italy), (14) The so-called “Brassempouy Venus” (Pyrenees/Aquitaine), (15) Hohle Fels Venus (SW Germany).


http://www.hindawi.com/journals/janthro/2011/569120/


http://www.donsmaps.com/venus.html


The Cave Art Debate

The discovery of a 40,000-year old figurine reignites debate among archaeologists about the origins—and true purpose—of art



The oldest sculpture of a human being is so small it could be hidden in your fist. Carved out of mammoth ivory, the 40,000-year-old figurine clearly represents a woman, with ballooning breasts and elaborately carved genitalia. The head, arms and legs are merely suggested. “You couldn’t get more female than this,” says Nicholas Conard, the Ohio-born archaeologist whose University of Tübingen team found the sculpture at the bottom of a vaulted cave in southwestern Germany in the fall of 2008. “Head and legs don’t matter. This is about sex, reproduction.”

The discovery of the “Venus of Hohle Fels”—named by Conard for the cave where it was found—made news around the world. Headlines called the busty statuette “prehistoric porn.” But the Venus renews a serious scholarly debate that has flared now and then since Stone Age figurines—including a waterfowl, lions and mammoths—were first discovered early last century at Hohle Fels and nearby caves. Were these literal representations of the surrounding world? Or artworks created to express emotions or abstract ideas?

Some experts viewed such pieces as “hunting magic”—representations of sought-after game animals and, therefore, survival tools, not works of art. The problem is, many of the figurines discovered so far—predators such as lions and bears—don’t correspond to what prehistoric people ate. (Their diet consisted largely of reindeer, bison and horse meat, according to bones that archaeologists have found.) Others perceive some prehistoric figurines—including a half-lion, half-man —not as imaginative works but literal depictions of hallucinations experienced by tribal shamans.

The Venus has prompted new thinking, encouraging some scholars to focus on what the figure tells us about prehistoric perceptions of beauty and obesity. Anthropologists at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, recently published a study arguing that corpulent figurines symbolized the hope for a well-nourished community.







Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-cave-art-debate-100617099/#ixzz2uFsOzVpH
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And finally a really good documentary by Historian Bettany Hughes. visits a world where goddesses ruled the heavens and earth, and reveals why our ancestors thought of the divine as female. Travelling across the Mediterranean and the Near East, Bettany goes to remote places, where she encounters fearsome goddesses who controlled life and death. And she ends up in modern-day India, where the goddess is still a powerful force for thousands of Hindus. Immersing herself in the excitement of the Durga Puja festival, Bettany experiences goddess worship first-hand, and finds out what the goddess means to her devotees.


She even goes to Gobeki Tepe and shows a woman figure I had not seen before.

[libodem]

1. Go Goddess!

Long before the Patriarchy, the Mother Goddess, was revered as the Deity, and early societies were Matriarchal.

The time is ripe for a revival of Feminine energy.

[Hissyspit]

2. The figures should not be taken as literal representations.

[Ichingcarpenter]

4. Neither is Barbie....LOL

Anyway I wanted to take a different turn on this GD debate with a little history,art and science. I have always been fascinated by neolithic culture.

The Documentary is very recent and shows one of these figurines in Turkey that if you see the backside its rather deathly showing her bones whereas the front is atypical of the venus figure.

[Hissyspit]

5. Appreciated. Another BBC documentary (a year and a half before Hohle Fels discovery):

[Ichingcarpenter]

8. A good BBC documentary

As usual they leave the US behind in not underestimating the intelligence of their viewer

[Autumn]

3. The Venus Figurines are beautiful, but you are soooo in trouble for the

first part. I'm happy to be rec #5

[Exultant Democracy]

6. If Venus really was a goddess, she would be at her most powerful today with all the worship she gets

from teenage boys on the internet.

[rrneck]

7. Good stuff. Thanks for posting. nt

[Tuesday Afternoon]

9. you are welcome

[Sarah Ibarruri]

10. Yes indeed. I like the idea of an undenigrated female force in life

It's a great balance for the planet.

[ismnotwasm]

11. Great post

I however, am now headed to the hardware store to play a little prank...