Verity: our GC symbol?

That sculpture is fucking hideous. Not in a thought provoking way.

I love verity. I've seen her lots of times and she never fails to impress.

I'd never hear of this sculpture before reading this post and it's stunning. Would make an epic tattoo for the really brave!

Love this idea!

And in response to Awning's comment, I don't think we should hide the magic and power of motherhood because it might be "triggering." I've had two miscarriages, and yes, in the months following my losses, it was difficult at times for me to celebrate pregnancy and babies for others. That said, I see a LOT of babies (work) and I had to find a way to separate my grief from other's experiences. In time, I discovered that sharing in their joy helped me heal.

Women are brave and strong and face incredible loss, adversity, and hardship. That's not to say we should be insensitive, but choosing not to honor women's innate ability to bring forth life is exactly what many misogynists want.

Meh...

I wasn't familiar with Verity, and I do appreciate you sharing these thoughts. I can see the appeal of a fierce warrior goddess (and the power to carry and bring forth life is incredible), but not this rendition. It's creepy and she is way too sexualized. Nipples pointing to the sky in a very gravid woman? I don't think so. I see a LOT of breasts in my line of work and that's just not what a woman's body looks like.

Artist probably likes porn. (I know nothing about him.)

In fact, I think he's looked at the work of people like Vesalius and Jan van Calcar when he's created this piece.

(Have to scroll down to find the images)

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Vesalius

If I'm honest OP I do agree with all your original points. I was clouded by his 'coloured in' version as the no pubic hair really grated on me.

But he does give a big nod towards the artists of the past who studied anatomy and science; da Vinci, Stubbs etc. The development of medical anatomical knowledge - and medicine - would have got nowhere without artists creating anatomical drawings and they often had the bodies acting as if alive, decorated with various scenes. So she walks right out of one of these images. I do see it firstly with these eyes, and standing for truth and being pregnant all do have extremely pertinent points to what we are talking about GC wise.

At the same time, I'm starting to see art through "other" eyes and there's misogyny by the bucket load within art. I wish I could remember a small publication I came across for my dissertation but it was essentially someone's PhD on "dead women in art" - why are dead women so popular in art? And naked etc. And on top of this I would prefer an artist chosen in this way to be female.

I saw an interesting documentary recently that mentioned ancient sculptures that were assumed to be fertility goddesses. It suggested that modern people are assuming they're fertility goddesses because of their swollen bellies and breasts and because we're not used to women being revered for our achievements in more recent history.

But if you look at the sculptures carefully, many seem to be women's bodies that are larger not due to pregnancy but due to being older (and presumably well fed and having had multiple children). It asked - are these in fact the elders? Older women being venerated for their leadership, not their fertility necessarily?

ZebrasAreBras this picture you posted reminded me of this. My body looks a lot like this, these days! I'm not pregnant, I'm middle aged.

It's so gutting that men are making such headway with this whole "I identify as a woman, I am a woman" nonsense.

They will never be women. Woman has been worshipped, envied and oppressed precisely because of her fertility, her biological function. That biological function doesn't mean she likes barbies, and pink, or hasn't got the same intelligence as a man. It just is her biology. She can get pregnant. She can give birth. And males - as if they haven't got enough going for them already, being the dominant sex class, being physically stronger, physically more aggressive - they cannot be allowed to appropriate womanhood too.

Here.

Some of the early sculptures of the earth goddess are beautiful.

www.google.com/search?q=earth+goddess+sculptures&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjC_aXIjqnjAhVbWxUIHXQ9DE4Q_AUIECgB&biw=727&bih=770

Quite a few of the gc feminists I follow on twitter have them as their avatar.

I love Verity, had never seen her before but don't think she would make a good symbol.

The uterus sticking the middle finger up would though!

That's great to hear LassOfFyvie. I absolutely love Women's Art. It's been a complete revelation to me which is why I keep linking it here.

Erythronium I've just got to the end of the women's art Twitter thread. Thank you for posting it. I don't think there was a single work which I didn't find more interesting than Hirst's statue. And I'm not one to talk up work just because it's by a woman. The images were witty, thought- provoking and original.

I've downloaded and saved so many images.

Possibly Verity needs to be seen in the flesh, as it were to appreciate it , but a naked , pregnant woman isn't terribly original.

ByGrabtharsHammer what a sane normal person you are.Such a refreshing relief from so much histrionic and/ or crass bullshit.

Big seconds to that

My grief around child bearing has lead me to wail and gnash my teeth and my women friends have cried with me. It's all part of living and grieving and I don't hold with having to be 'tougher than that'. Let's allow us to be human.

The Serbian war I think it was, where soldiers would tie pregnant women to trees and cut out their babies and leave them to die on the tree

Actually you just know that Hirst's whole career has been working up to displaying a dismembered, disembowelled woman.

Now he's where he is he can do it without comment and no-one will think about what they're looking at.

I hadn't seen those before. Thanks LassOfFyvie.

Also, Georgia o'Keefe is amazing

I don't like it, sorry. She's naked and looks like she's about to fight someone and pregnant women are so vulnerable they always get hurt in war. I hate the one of the pregnant woman with her skin ripped off.

How about this one I took in Japan

I thought the women’s lib symbol was clenched fist inside the womb sign? or am I decades out of date, genuine question!

Erythronium

This is fun:
twitter.com/womensart1/status/1146401968937721857

I like that one by far the most. It's a bit like Niki de Sainte Phalle's sculptures.

This is fun:

twitter.com/womensart1/status/1146401968937721857

Naked women unfortunately might be rather a good symbol, given that most MTF trans keep their penis and testicles. There'd be a bit of cognitive dissonance if that was on display.