Anasyrma
Anasyrma (
Anasyrma may be a deliberately provocative self-exposing of one's naked
Greek antiquity
Ritual jesting and intimate exposure were common in the cults of
Terracotta
Apotropaic effect of nakedness
Many historical references suggest that anasyrma had dramatic or supernatural effect—positive or negative.
According to folklore, women lifted their skirts to chase off enemies in Ireland and China.[5] A story from The Irish Times (September 23, 1977) reported a potentially violent incident involving several men, which was averted by a woman exposing her genitals to the attackers. According to Balkan folklore, when it rained too much, women would run into the fields and lift their skirts to scare the gods and end the rain.[6] Maimonides also mentions this ritual to ward off the rain while expressing his disapproval. Stripping away clothing was perceived as creating a "raw" state closer to nature than society, facilitating interaction with supernatural entities.[7] In Jean de La Fontaine's Nouveaux Contes (1674), a demon is repulsed by the sight of a woman lifting her skirt. Associated carvings, called sheela na gigs, were common on medieval churches in northern Europe and the British Isles.
In some nations of Africa, a woman stripping naked and displaying herself is still considered a curse and a means to ward off evil.[8]
In Nigeria, during mass protests against the petroleum industry, women displayed themselves in anasyrma.[9] Leymah Gbowee used anasyrma when trying to bring peace during the Second Liberian Civil War.[10]
See also
- Can-can – Music-hall dance
- Exhibitionism (Martymachlia)
- Indecent exposure – Public indecency involving nudity
- Mooning – Display of the buttocks
- Nudity and protest – Use of the nude human form to further political or social change
- Pantsing – The act of pulling down a person's trousers
- Upskirt – Nonconsensual photographs under a person's skirt
References
- ISBN 978-0813534558.
- ^ Aileen Ajootian. "Hermaphroditos ανασυρόμενος: Revealing the Body" (PDF). University of Mississippi. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-16. Retrieved 2012-08-01.
- Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
- ISBN 9780722216163.
- ^ "10 Questions: Miriam Robbins Dexter on the Power of Female Display". UCLA Program on Central Asia. October 6, 2010. Archived from the original on September 19, 2015. Retrieved 2012-08-01.
- ^ "Marina Abramovic: Balkan Erotic Epic". New York: Sean Kelly Gallery. December 9, 2005.
- .
- ^ Alexis Okeowo (March 21, 2011). "The Ivory Coast Effect". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2011-03-22.
- ^ Geraldine Sealey. "Naked Ploy Is Latest Threat in Oil Wars". ABC News. Archived from the original on 2018-07-01. Retrieved 2019-11-03.
- ^ Kevin Conley (December 2008). "The Rabble Rousers". O, The Oprah Magazine. Retrieved 2012-08-01.
Sources
- Marilyn A. Katz (February 13, 2000). "CCIV 110 / Spring 2000 / Women in Ancient Greece: Background Notes: Homeric hymn to Demeter". Wesleyan University. Archived from the original on July 29, 2010. Retrieved June 5, 2006.
- Weber-Lehmann, C. (1997/2000)) "Anasyrma und Götterhochzeit. Ein orientalisches Motiv im nacharchaischen Etrurien", in: Akten des Kolloquiums zum Thema: Der Orient und Etrurien. Zum Phänomen des 'Orientalisierens' im westlichen Mittelmeerraum. Tübingen.
- Dexter, Miriam Robbins, and ISBN 9781604976748
Further reading
- Blackledge, Catherine (2020). Raising the Skirt: The Unsung Power of the Vagina. Hachette UK, ISBN 147461583X
- Hairston, Julia L. (Autumn 2000) "Skirting the Issue: Machiavelli's Caterina Sforza", Renaissance Quarterly. Vol. 53, No. 3., pp. 687–712.
- Marcovich, M. (September 1986) "Demeter, Baubo, Iacchus, and a Redactor", Vigiliae Christianae. Vol. 40, No. 3. pp. 294–301.
- Morris, Ellen F. (2007). "Sacred and Obscene Laughter in 'The Contendings of Horus and Seth', in Egyptian Inversions of Everyday Life, and in the Context of Cultic Competition". In Schneider, Thomas; Szpakowska, Kasia. Egyptian Stories: A British Egyptological Tribute to Alan B. Lloyd on the Occasion of His Retirement. Ugarit-Verlag. ISBN 978-3934628946
- Säflund, Gösta. (1963) Aphrodite Kallipygos, Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm, Sweden.
- Stoichita, Victor I.; Anna Maria Coderch. (1999) Goya: The Last Carnival, Reaktion Books. pp. 118. ISBN 1-86189-045-1
- Thomson De Grummond, Nancy. (2006) Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology. ISBN 1-931707-86-3
- Zeitlin, Froma I. (1982) Cultic models of the female: Rites of Dionysos and Demeter, Arethusa. pp. 144–145.
External links
- Media related to Anasyrma at Wikimedia Commons
- The dictionary definition of anasyrma at Wiktionary
- Of Skirts and Figs and Sheela-na-gigs (Naples: Life, Death & Miracles)
- Anasyromene figurines [1] [2] (British Museum Collections)
- Anasyromene figurines [3] Archived 2020-06-21 at the Wayback Machine [4] Archived 2020-06-22 at the Wayback Machine (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
- Warding Off Danger: Protective Power of the Vulva
- Gymnastique Pourquoi les vulves font-elles peur? - Arte