Wasilla High School has a piece of art called “The Warrior Within” on display. The artists describe it this way:
Emerging from the powerful stone form are two warrior shields encircled by glowing feathers,” the description says, adding the art is a monument to the warrior spirit. “The bronze shield has a hand impression showing ‘good deeds.’ The aluminum shield has a flame symbol representing the ‘spark of inspiration.’ The stone form represents the strong material from which a warrior is made.
And here’s what it looks like:
I suppose one might think it looks very vaguely like a vulva, if you squint and don’t know much about anatomy and kinda ignore all the details to the point where any oval is going to be interpreted as a vagina. Or if you just have a dirty mind.
So of course the high school has now covered it with a sheet. The sniggering philistines of Wasilla lose again; if they think they will silence criticism of their town because they have a vulva sculpture, they instead get to have us laughing at them for being close-minded prudes and censorious prigs.
Relax, people. Go with it. It’s a shield, but if you think it looks like a vulva, even better — that’s a lovely symbol, too. Just think…it could have been a sheela-na-gig, instead.
That’s from a Christian church, by the way. Just in case someone there thinks it’s godless and profane.
‘The bronze shield has a hand impression showing “good deeds.”‘
Fingerplay is a good deed, indeed.
Rev up your comedy engines, jokesfans. It’s time for HUMOR!
I honestly did not see anything remotely sexual about it until you pointed it out, so I apparently do not have a dirty mind. How disappointing.
You exhibitionist!
‘Just think…it could have been a sheela-na-gig, instead.’
Come on, she could just be repairing her plumbing with huge pliers.
Hunh. Yeah, I guess I’ve been working on native american cultural stuff and got lost from the beavis/butthead school of thought. I immediately saw the intersecting circles (venn diagram overlap of worlds) honour feathers, and the hand, a common motif of pictographic art, signifiying well…lots of things, none of them harhar. the stone goes with the pictographic permanence, bronze is a yellow metal with more staying power than copper (I presume the aluminum shield with flame is on the other side of the sculpture in the picture?) ahm…uhm, stopping now.
Interesting how people’s pattern seeking gets expressed as someone’s jungian symbol sexual anxiety. Given that big sculptures like that don’t appear ‘poof’ out of thin air and the purchasers saw the design before it ever landed on the campus grounds, whose mental prudery exploded and when? When adolescent humour got ribald about stylized simulacrity? When someone said we teach only abstinence in this school? When someone decided it’s a female symbol and women can’t be warriors because Gender?
But in any case, the school has now thrown a prophylactic sheath over it. Ok then.
Has someone told them banning art on ‘degenerate’ grounds *always* makes interest in it go away?
I have a dirty mind and I didn’t see it.
Oh… I always thought the sheila-na-gigs were pre-christian, but who cares?
Yup. Everything roughly shaped like an eye placed vertically is a vagina. Just like everything longer than it is wide is a penis. So, I guess this thing is a doubly offensive vagina-penis! Who would’ve guessed that the town that gave us Sarah Palin would take it upon themselves to crusade against such Horrors?
I hope those poor Wasilla high schoolers never look into their pussycats’ eyes… “Quick, drape a sheet over the house cat!”
Guess I’m a pervert, as I saw a vulva right away. Of course, PZ’s intro immediately got me thinking there must be something about this image the caused a problem with the religious idiots, so maybe my subconscious jumped to the appropriate answer. Still, as Freud said, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
I think that the more you repress your sexuality (because the Bible says so), the more your mind is going to pattern match on what you see as a threat. Maybe we should expect some news stories about images of sexual organs on burnt toast. Nah, they were probably immediately eaten.
I too thought “cat’s eye”.. guess I better get out more.
Good grief, they covered it? Incredible. From which, I suppose, we can conclude that school officials in Wasilla have minds fully as depraved as Prof. M’s. [Now there’s a scary thought. Think of the chirren!]
But then what can you expect of someone who thinks a hotel boasting the world’s largest chocolate fountain is a reason to go there rather than a reason not to?
Yup, Cybercmdr does indeed have a dirty mind.
Does putting a sheet over it constitute prophylactic use? What about a sheet over the Washington Monument? Would the Santorums disapprove? So many questions to wrestle with in America. I need to watch “Reality TV Stars”…oh, wait…damn…no TV! No Stars!! No Reality!!!
I sort of saw a vulva, that is, I could sort of guess why it was being discussed. I have no idea if I’d seen it if I, for instance, just walked by . But yes, it’s a bit tiring for genitals or some titter-producing posturing to be seen everywhere. Internet is responsible to some extent, because at least one person will say it 9 times out of 10.
Still, if it gets to be too much of a joke, well, it’s curtains, or at least draping. Beaver College changed its name, because sometimes you just have to know when to give up.
Glen Davidson
Fucking idiots.
I wonder if the school has also banned donuts and bagels. And, just to cover all their bases, they better not let anyone bring a banana to school as part of their lunch. And hot dogs should definitely be banned from the cafeteria’s menu…
@15 Glen
‘Still, if it gets to be too much of a joke, well, it’s curtains, or at least draping.’
Or maybe a shag.
Um, looks rather cold and hard…. But you never know what a few shots could do.
Glen Davidson
All I can say is…
If your vagina looks like that then you may need to see a doctor. If you think a vagina looks like that then you need to go see planned parenthood regarding some classes.
Also if it is a vagina and they have covered it up, then is it censorship or underwear?
I applaud this brilliant method of making students take interest in a piece of art they would otherwise ignore.
I was raised by my foul-minded father. I immediately saw a vulva.
Damn.
When I first saw it I thought, “Who designed this, Georgia O’Keeffe?”
So kind of christianity to give us the inspiration for the goatse guy some ~800 years in advance of the internet. So typical of them to disapprove of anyone else displaying a vagina, however incidentally it may be.
Nah – give a useful sex education demonstration by unrolling a giant condom onto it.
@25 KG
A thought: a sculpture that resembles a vulva appears, they cover it.
If the Washington Monument is enveloped in a condom, guess who’ll want to take it off?
As a happy owner of a vulva, if you’d asked me what body part this resembles, I’d have said an eye.
Christian churches often included pagean figures and parts of places of worship into their design. This both proved that their god was more powerfull than the old gods and it made transitioning easier. After all you could still worship your pagean gods and not be burned at the stake for it.
The old church in my hometown has some roman gods included and the stone on which the altair stands is the old celtic altair.
Why don’t they just place an aspirin where the knees would be? Problem solved.
Despite the irishy name, sile-na-gigs aren’t unique to Ireland, and nobody seems quite sure where the “gig” part of the name comes from. However, when (correctly) pronounced “gee”, oh that brings me back, because that was the word we sniggering youngsters used at school for a girl’s you-know-what. There was this poor guy whose name was Conor McGee, but he was only ever called Pat, or Ulick.
Shades of ’58 Edsel.
They actually covered that up? Really? I may not be the proud possessor of one, but I am still pretty sure that a vulva looks nothing like that whatsoever*.
Upon reading this article, my first thought was how depressing it was that modern day America is a society that is still so ridulously prudish**. Afterall, what kind of idiot would cover up such a thing for so tenuous a connection to female genitalia? It is nearly as ridiculous as the Victorians attaching skirts to table legs to cover up their ‘ankles’*** – but then I remembered; we are dealing with xians. And when xians are in the mix, weird sexual hangups really are par for the course. I suppose it is fortunate that the only covered it up, rather than trying to dynamite the ‘slutty’ sculpture.
—————————————————————-
* As a side note, the idea that women have a grasping third hand concealed in there somewhere is enough to give a chap nightmares.
** We Brits are supposed to be the comedic, sex-obsessed prudes, remember?
*** The Victorians seemed to have shared a near-universal
ankle fetish for some reason, such that exposure even to a stylised version carved in wood apparently risked wild orges breaking out hither and yon, or something. Don’t get me wrong, I like the curve of a graceful feminine ankle as much as the next bloke (well, it would seem not as much as the next Victorian era bloke), but this seems to be going a bit far.
For all things SheelaNaGig goto
http://www.sheelanagig.org/
Living in a country where these statues are common I was surprised to find out how much I knew about them wasn’t actually so.
Should they cover up all thoose suggestivly shaped american footballs at the school as well ?
My first thought was “yoni”, so there you go.
It would look more like a penis if covered, so should someone complain that they’re being sexist? ;)
Looks like someone’s trapped in a golf ball, which is peeking through a vertical ellipse*, which has patches of something along its periphery. Near the top, two round curves meet.
At first I saw a lace-up sack. Then symbolic anatomy. Then noticing the lower two arcs, the intersecting full circles popped out. Now I keep seeing an overfilled bag of golf balls.
That sheela-na-gig’s obviously programming in lisp. Nothing naughty there.
* Whatever the term is for a vesica piscis that doesn’t overlap enough to reach the circles’ center points.
I think the people of Wasilla should:
a) Acknowledge that there is, or at least could be in some people’s minds, a passing resemblance of their statue to a vulva.
b) Be proud of their statue and this association, and thus celebrate vulvas and their owners everywhere.
c) Rename the school that bears this statue “Lady Parts High”. The football team could be called the Fighting Clitorises, coaching could then perhaps focus on evasive running play. Goooooooo Clits!
Louis
fullyladenswallow #30
That was my thought as well. I suppose I’m just showing my age.
At least they included the clitoris. Amirite?!
Louis @ 35;
I can just imagine Palin’s head exploding at the very thought…
I believe this sniny new internet belongs to you.
Gregory, #38,
Thanks, man. I just have this horrendous series of comedy commentary phrases running in my head at the moment. I may need to start drinking heavily to make the voices go away…
“Oh and that’s some slippery running from the quarterback!”
“Those Clits sure are hard to pin down!”
“Oooh dear that’s some deep penetration from the opposition, but wait, the Clits have fought back, expelling them from near the end zone”.
I’ll stop now before I make any jokes about “coming from behind”. I’m very ashamed of myself.
Louis
P.S. This is, as you note, all dedicated to Sarah Palin of course. I just want to see her support the Fighting Clits. Not for any kinky reason, I don’t fancy Sarah Palin, but I just want to see that wink become a really severe nervous twitch.
It is pretty ugly. I suggest covering it for aesthetic reasons. If the can make a good sculpture of a vagina, I’m all for it.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:Condom_on_Obelisk,_Buenos_Aires.jpg
International Aids Awareness Day, Buenos Aires 2005
This is how and when and why you’re supposed to (temporarily) cover up public art with reference to sex, dammit, not like these idiots.
If you have the right kind of imagination it looks like somebody attempting to give birth to a strawberry.
Louis @ 39;
You’re welcome.
This, naturally, needs to be delivered in the rapid-fire style of sports commentators for maximum effect. The only thing that spoils the effect is the lack of unintended homoeroticism one comes to associate with some of the more chest-beating varieties of male team sports.
Probably a good idea.
If it helps, then remember that you aren’t alone on your mind going there. And it also has a delicious element of mocking American football, which is pratically sacrilege in its own right in many parts of the US, or so I hear, and I do so enjoy poking fun at religion and pseudo-religion alike…
Whether one’s sexual aesthetic runs toward a Sarah Palin type of woman or not, her politics are still poisonous, her statements are still bigoted and fairly dripping with teh stoopid, and her ignorance is still terrifying to behold – all of which are good enough reasons to want to see that annoying wink turn into the type of involuntary, stress-induced nervous tic you describe.
If you turn it 90 degrees, doesn’t resemble it the christian fish symbol? That explains a lot…
“What fools these mortals be!” – Puck
Ah, Sheila-Na-Gig, one of my favorite bands: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuCokVnVbBw
I think it looks more like someone slit a hole in the side of a burrito, but there is a definite vulvar shape to the opening, it’s true.
Tis Himself, OM #36
“I suppose I’m just showing my age.”
That’s quite alright, there are youngins who still ask me who the Beatles were.
Hope those poor people never have to visit Europe – they would have one heart attack after the other.
In the town I currently live in here in Germany, we have a fountain placed very prominently in one of the major shopping areas downtown where most of the city’s visitors will pass it. Kids play in it in the summer. Officially, it’s called the “fountain of the joy of life”, but here it’s pretty much known as the “porn fountain”, as an inside joke among residents. A bunch of sculptures of naked people, animals mating, etc. I would love for those people to see it… :-)
Sort of reminds me of the spot in front of the library here at Missouri, where there is a big circular tarp with the university’s logo on it, surrounded by poles. It’s there to cover up the big intricate tiger mosaic underneath, which predictably failed to survive foot traffic and Missouri winters. It will likely remain there for years while the artist and university fight over whose fault it is.
Only this is even sadder.
I wonder whether students could just whip the damn tarp off. Or if the school has it anchored into the ground. Wouldn’t that be a delight to explain to anyone visiting the school. Sure hope it doesn’t reflect negatively on the quality of education one might get there.
At first it doesn’t look like a vulva, then someone said does and now everyone is all about sheets.
Are they not capable of being happy unless they have unless they have something to panic about or shake their fist at?
Y’know a cross turned upside down looks like a penis with gonads. It’s hard to see but I say it does so it must be true.
So everybody ready?…….3……..2…….1
THE CROSS IS A PENIS!!! PANIC!!! WHERE’S THE SHEET? OH MY EYES!!
This reminds me of an episode from “Everybody Loves Raymond”, where Ray’s mom made a similar statue and everyone but her could see a resemblance to the female body part.
Well, I knew somebody had to be watching “Raymond”.
I thought ALL art was Freudian at some level. What’s the surprise here?
Want to see a real public art disaster?
http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Sanjose/Quetzy/quetzy.html
Students from the local college used to decorate it with fake flies on it on a regular basis.
@ #51
The Ancient Egyptian symbol the Ankh is thought by some to represent a penis and a vagina seperated by a horizontal line. Although this appears plausible, I am not sure how well supported by evidence this idea is. Still, it is quite a fun meme to spread among Christians who wear an Ankh instead of a crucifix because they don’t know the difference.
I think we should defer to an expert on the Native American art of the region to tell us if there is intentional vulva symbolism. Of course, some things are universal, and the yoni (Indian term for it) is found in most cultures.
The ankh: I learned it in art history as the “loop of life.” Sometimes gods are seen holding just a loop, just like a piece of cord crossed at the ends. Such an object was possibly unwieldy for ritual use, so a handle was added, creating the sceptre-like ankh.
While reading the Wikipedia article on Sheela na gig I encountered a link to another article about “hunky punks”.
It was not what I thought it might be.
Huh I remember in the wicca days someone saying it was a combination of a yonic and phallic symbol.
I’d love to see what they’d do with a mandorla
I think it’s high time we introduced a line of inverted burqas specially formulated for Christians–to protect them from the nasty vulva-esque world out there. That should take care of the real problem here.
Looks like a cloaca, like an egg is being laid. Is that wrong? Am I wrong?
It indeed represents a vulva: you can easily see the symbolic representation of the legs and the Holy Spirit hovering above the clitoris. But the underlying message is deeper: the hand symbolises “Stop!”. In other words, it is a chaste message directed at all those horny males that try to stick their dicks in any sculpture they come across, suffering great pain in the process.
Don’t know quite what to make of the moustached anus, though. Any art historian around?
That’s hilarious, because the first thing that came to my mind was Total Recall (because of the hand print). “Quade, start the reactor…”
So who really has the dirty mind?
seriously, the second thing that would’ve come to mind is a vertically slanted eye. I’d have to plowed outta my gord to think that looks anything like a vulva. wtf is wrong with these people?
I could kind of see a vulva, but only due to knowing that it had to be something like that due to the Washington monument part.
I’m starting to think that the puritanical religious folks have the dirtiest minds of all of us, because they certainly see sexual deviancy in more places than normal people. All that prudery must be resulting in a lot pent up sexual tension or something.
Maybe the religious right needs to a hold themselves an orgy. It might make them calm down a bit.
Grimalkin, my sentiments definitely.
When I say I’d have to be plowed, I mean so plowed that the statue of liberty looks hot and that yeah, that kinda looks like a vulva.
These people on the other hand are so fucking repressed that they have got to be in more dire need of hand jobs than any other people in existence.
For instance, I read the saddest post on fstdt.net the other day.
According to the post this particular fundy was not only a 40 or something year old unmarried virgin, but was violently opposed to whackin it because it is ‘teh sinful,’ and fucking loathes anyone who has actually been gettin any outside of religious bondage/wedlock.
Over here in the UK even the Christians are happy to display genitalia in stone form. On their churches.
Lincoln Cathedral has some nice erect penises (Link to my Flickr account – contains a stone penis) and even acts of sodomy and fellatio.
Sorry if anyone is SHOCKED by this depravity on display above the entrance to a place of worship
I didn’t realize before that Tim Tebow routinely grips a vulva held under another man’s buttocks. Surely this is the Devil’s work.
All I could think of was “Oh dammit it’s Wall Face where the HELL is Popoie I need a Lv.7 Earth Slide spell NOW dammit!” This is because I am a dooooorrrrrrrrk.
The high school has most likely covered it with that ubiquitous Alaskan cover-all, the blue tarp:
http://lastfrontiergarden.blogspot.com/2010/12/oh-alaska-twelve-tarps-of-christmas.html