- Vagina dentata
"Vagina dentata" is
Latin for "tooth edvagina ". Various cultures have folk tales about women with toothed vaginas, frequently told ascautionary tale s warning of the dangers of sex with strange women.Cultural basis
The vagina dentata appears in the
myth s of several cultures. Erich Neumann relays one such myth in which “A fish inhabits the vagina of the Terrible Mother; the hero is the man who overcomes the Terrible Mother, breaks the teeth out of her vagina, and so makes her into a woman.” [cite book| first=Erich| last=Neumann| year=1955| title=The Great Mother| pages=168| location=Princeton | publisher=Princeton University Press| coauthors=translated by Ralph Manheim]The myth appears for example in the second of the three sequences of founding
Maori myths, where the hero, Māui, has to enter the goddess of night and deathHinenuitepo through her toothed vagina to try and pluck her heart, in an attempt to make mankind immortal. He fails and becomes the first man to die. [citation| title = Maori Mythology| publisher = Aotearoa |URL=http://my.opera.com/AOTEAROA./blog/2007/05/16/maori-mythology | ]The legend also appears in the mythology of the Chaco and
Guiana tribes. In some versions, the hero leaves one tooth. [cite book | last = Leach | first = Maria | title = Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend | publisher = Funk & Wagnalls | location = New York | year = 1972 | isbn = 0308400909 | pages = 1152 | chapter = vagina dentata | others = entry by Erminie W. Voegelin ]In his book, "The Wimp Factor", Stephen J. Ducat expresses the view that these myths express the threat sexual intercourse poses for men who, although entering triumphantly, always leave diminished. The myth is also popularized in the movie "Teeth", starring
Jess Weixler . [cite book
last = Ducat
first = Stephen J.
title = The Wimp Factor
publisher = Beacon Press
date=2004
location = Boston
pages = 115-149 ]The vagina dentata has proven a captivating image for many artists and writers, particularly among surrealist or psychoanalytic works. It has been partially realized in the RapeX
anti-rape device .References
See also
* "Teeth" - A 2007 Sundance film in which a girl has teeth in her vagina.
* "Lady Terminator " - a film in which a woman keeps a snake in her vagina for the same purpose.
* "The Image of the Beast (1968) -Philip Jose Farmer " - One of the 3 Herald Childe novels. "Private investigator Herald Childe watches a snuff movie of his partner being brutally murdered. The subsequent pursuit of his killers takes him through the LA smog and into a waking nightmare of sexual brutality and supernatural bestiality: the most extreme and disturbing case of his career." One of the protagonists has a snake like creature in her vagina.External links
* [http://www.healthcentral.com/DrDean/Deanfulltexttopics.cfm?ID=13198 Dr. Dean Edell Health Central]
* [http://www.matthewhunt.com/cunt/reappropriation.html Vagina dentata cultural history]
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