Verity: our GC symbol?

[thatdamnwoman]

After a trip to Ilfracombe last year I've been wondering about having one of my photos of Verity

www.visitilfracombe.co.uk/item/verity-by-damien-hirst/

printed on a t-shirt as a symbol of GC womanhood. Verity is visibly female, pregnant and on the anatomically exposed side of her you can see the foetus in her uterus, her milk ducts and various other details that stem from being female and XX — things that no amount of woman-face and surgery can fake.

She stands on books: science and the law. And she brandishes the sword of truth. I can't think of a more appropriate symbol.

When I've put it to various GC women I know they have been unimpressed. 'It's by a man and we need a symbol by a woman.' 'It's horrible, it shows a woman flayed.' 'Horrible image of woman.'

I'm as pissed off as the next woman that she was created by a man but since when have images of women had to be 'nice' and aesthetically pleasing? Isn't it being nice and warm and huggly that's got us into this situation? Don't we need to be strong and angry and armed with the sword of truth and supported firmly by law and science in order to be heard?

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.

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!

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.

Here.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.)

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.

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!

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

No, it's a thought-provoking sculpture as has been demonstrated here. And I repeat myself: it's about biology and biology and science are what GC analysis comes back to time and again.

I think it's all those passive 'nice' neolithic fertility goddess* figures and vulvas disguised as pretty flowers that have got us where we are today. I know that I certainly had images of the Venus of Willendorf and used to console myself that there were matriarchal times when having a big bum and being able to produce a child was respected and worshipped. Who knows, maybe she was the Kim Kardashian de sa jours.

When you actually look at the women who are doing something today in the GC movement or women activists of any time, they are not those passive figures — just as Verity isn't.

• no one knows for sure whether those figures were fertility symbols, we project what we want to onto them. I've even heard a medic propose that they might be early examples of portraying lipedema.