Strike a (groinless) pose

So apparently people buy these "pose" sketches.  Look at the one on the left, following the line of the woman's right leg. The only possible conclusion is that the male lover has no groin whatsoever, and possibly no pelvis either.  It's a bit frightening IMHO.

The Snake

Most images in art of a woman and a snake are Eve, and the snake is a force of evil.  Which is all a bit hard on the snake... and the woman.  About the only other female figure in art shown with a serpent is Hygieia.

Hygieia is the daughter of the god of Medicine, Asklepius--Goddess of preserving health and leanliness. Like Asklepius she is often pictured with the snake, and also a medicine bowl.  Because snakes dwell in the earth they were seen as representing the soul and the wisdom of ancestors dwelling in Hades (the sleeping place of all the dead, not the Christian place for punishing the non-righteous.)

In my opinion we need fewer portraits of Eve, and more of Hygieai.

Why Are Our Minds in the Gutter

When I frequent Failblog, Cake Wrecks and other such blogs with funny pictures, one of the common themes seems to be "things that look like phalluses". It seems like plenty of pictures and objects have been created with a perfectly innocent intent--that now cause outbreaked of unseemly tittering.

Are we becoming more obsessed with the resemblance of anything oblong to the male generative organ? Or did people always note these accidental resemblances, but the internet gives us a relatively anonymous way to share these observations? Or are our minds descending further into the gutter with each succeeding generation? (who will think of the children!)

And why is it that anything oblong is quickly seen as phallic, but only a fairly limited number of things that are "negatively oblong" (a.k.a. some kind of hole) are seen as obviously vagina-like? In any case, when I saw the label pictured to the right in a toilet stall, you can guess what I thought. Or if you can't, it isn't people in general getting more juvenile and genital-obsessed, it's just me.

Somerset Witch project

I picked up a copy of the craft magazine Somerset Studio. One of the Halloween projects shown is a silhouette of the black house with various vintage and antique pictures of women in the windows and an orange background. A small excerpt with one example is shown in the cover (right). The artist describes the house as "occupied by a coven of diabolic witches".

All of the pictures are middle-aged or older, without cosmetics or fancily styled hair, and most have serious expressions. This is, of course, standard for portrait photography from the turn of the last century--when most women were capable of crafts rather more demanding than can accomplished with a hot glue gun and a stencil set. But all they are, in the eyes of this artist, are witches.

Never mind that they are, or were, ordinary, real people. Never mind the historical role of witchcraft accusations as a way of vilifying and even murdering unacceptably independent, unconventional or inconvenient women. Smiling, young, blonde, beautiful, heavily styled women are good. Older, serious, brunette, average looking, plainly dressed women are witches.

Some things never change.

5 Weirdest Animal-Related Pinups

#5) Unbearable Lightness of Bimbo: A manically cheerful blonde rides a gloomy, rather anthropomorphized, polar bear. Fortunately she seems to have a custom made halter for the purpose.

#4) A New Kind of Bunny: Polly Borland riffs on the animal motives of pinup posing--with spooky results.



#3) Things not to do with Photoshop: Meercat Manor will never be the same....
#2) "Macro": step away from Google. You don't really want to know.



#1) I am probably sick for even categorising this artwork as a pinup. But... oh well. I am having trouble finding the original, does anyone remember the artist's name?

Haka, Deux

I previously noted evidence of mainstream disrespect in the UK for the Haka. On that occasion it was the BBC, now followed up by a pointless ridiculing of the Haka by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

I think, rather sadly, of the support New Zealand has given to tours of our country by the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the veneration of Shakespeare in general which remains a compulsory part of our school curriculum. But the time has long past where on culture art is "high" and anothers "low".

The Haka is also a historical and living artistic creation. As artists the producer and players should have had some notion that the Haka is, as such, due respect and under legal protection from abuse (having been recognised by the NZ government as the property of Ngati Toa).

Comic as Pinup...

Looking through the latest releases it occurs to me that comics are one of the most vibrant continuations of pinup art. Not coy, kitch or retro, but serious pinup art. Yes, you can also read them for the stories and not all of the art is pure cheese/beef-cake. But honestly, I like pinup and the Lycra costume cliche was invented for a reason.



That said the female characters seem to be given the pinup treatment far more often. If I scan the covers, there are certainly exceptions, but female heroes are far more often posed in a static, near bare pose. The male characters are more often portrayes as active, dynamically foreshortened, conventionally clothed or face close-up (females typically get a face+cleavage closeup).



The male characters also display a wider range of physical types and ages. There are not very many visibly middle-aged, small-breasted or warmly dressed heroines. Yes, the males show the greatest excesses of 'roidy physique, but there also also slight, older, shorter and rather average-looking male heroes.

I like pinups, but lean towards wanting a pinup male and a hero female. So I have to wonder when the comic industry will ever offer a product equally accessible to female readers--who are the most spendthrift and voracious readers of almost every other literary format. Comics may reflect their audience but the also create it.

So isn't it about time the big boys like DC and Marvel gave us less the of Barbie comics (remember Princess bloody Amethyst?) and bouncy bondage-bitch styled Batwomen, and more heroines we can actually relate to a little... and perhaps beefcake sidekicks posed on the cover?

See Also:
Super Pinups - Making the World a Safer, Sexier Place
The Pinup Shop Update: Super Strong, Super Smart, Super Sexy

Haka: Not "Odd"

Once upon a time the British went all over the world collecting "exotic" specimens and generally going on about how weird everyone else in the world was. And it seems that this aspect of their culture persists in behaviors such as putting the Maori Haka in their "Odd Box" along with chocolate pedicures, a stoat freaking out and the philharmonic orchestra doing a comedy piece with whoopie cushions. The coverage itself was no more than mildly condescending but the exhibition of the Haka as an oddity is just not respectful--especially with no effort made at all to understand its real purpose and meaning.

I wondered for a moment if this post was off topic, but it isn't. This blog deals less with "women" and more with gender. And the Haka is not a curiosity, it is a dance and demonstration that is a crucial part of performing both masculinity and femininity within Maori culture. The dance types referred to more generally as Kapa Haka include the Haka which is a challenge made to a visiting group to determine their intentions, they come in male and female forms and range from a rejoicing welcome to a prelude to battle (or an attempt to avoid it by demonstrating overwhelming prowess).

The All Blacks (national rugby team) use a ceremonial Haka, Ka Mate. Other Haka for women include Ka Panapana and Ake Ake Kia Kaha. These dances are every bit as important and meaningful as a national anthem, flag, religious icon or prayer. And the Maori performers are taking them to the UK with goodwill and respect. Perhaps they should receive the same in return? The Haka is, at its very heart, a statement that these are people worthy of respect.


Ka Panapana

A ra ra!
Ka panapana,
A ha ha
Ka rekareka tonu taku ngakau
Ki nga mana ririki
i pohatu whakapiri
Kia haeramai te takitini,
Kia haeramai te takimano,
Kia pare-taitokotia ki Rawhiti ... A ra ra,

It is throbbing!
A ha ha!
My heart is throbbing with delight
for the common people,
like stones stuck together
They've come in their multitudes
They've come in their thousands
and alighted upon the Eastern sea.


Ka Mate

Ka mate, ka mate
Ka ora, Ka ora
Tēnei te tangata pūhuruhuru
Nāna nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te rā
Ā upane, ka upane
Ā upane, ka upane
Whiti te rā, hī!

'Tis death, 'tis death
'Tis life, 'tis life
This the hairy man that stands here
who brought the sun and caused it to shine
A step upward, another step upward
A step upward, another step upward
The sun shines!