Vagina dentata - Revision history

Lquilter: category:Themes and tropes by name

2010-06-07T17:52:31Z

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	[[category:Fictional technologies]]		[[category:Fictional technologies]]
	[[Category:Gender and sex themes]]		[[Category:Gender and sex themes]]

			[[category:Themes and tropes by name]]

Lquilter: cat

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cat

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	[[Category:Body themes]]		[[Category:Body themes]]
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	[[Category:~~Sexuality~~ themes]]		[[Category:Gender and sex themes]]

Lquilter: /* Vagina dentata imagery and analysis */ non-SF

2007-03-11T00:42:07Z

Vagina dentata imagery and analysis: non-SF

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	: The alien's mouths have long been the quintessential vagina dentata -- complete with a bonus phallus dentata that shoots out at will -- so Jeunet ups the ante by having Ripley tear the penile tongue out of a dead monster and offer it to Ryder as "a nice souvenir."<ref>Laura Miller, [http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/1997/11/26alien.html Return of the vagina dentata from outer space!], Salonc.om, Nov. 26, 1997 (review of "Alien Resurrection").</ref>		: The alien's mouths have long been the quintessential vagina dentata -- complete with a bonus phallus dentata that shoots out at will -- so Jeunet ups the ante by having Ripley tear the penile tongue out of a dead monster and offer it to Ryder as "a nice souvenir."<ref>Laura Miller, [http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/1997/11/26alien.html Return of the vagina dentata from outer space!], Salonc.om, Nov. 26, 1997 (review of "Alien Resurrection").</ref>

	* Piero Schivazappa's "Femina Ridens" (transl. "Frightened Woman", 1969); misogynystic millionaire kidnaps and tortures a woman; he creates a vagina dentata doorway.		* Piero Schivazappa's "Femina Ridens" (transl. "Frightened Woman", 1969; a non-SF work); misogynystic millionaire kidnaps and tortures a woman; he creates a vagina dentata doorway.

	:: [[Image:Schivazappa-FeminaRidens-VD1.jpg]] [[Image:Schivazappa-FeminaRidens-VD2.jpg]]		:: [[Image:Schivazappa-FeminaRidens-VD1.jpg]] [[Image:Schivazappa-FeminaRidens-VD2.jpg]]

Lquilter: /* Vagina dentata imagery and analysis */ added ID4 image

2007-03-11T00:28:24Z

Vagina dentata imagery and analysis: added ID4 image

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	:: [[Image:Schivazappa-FeminaRidens-VD1.jpg]] [[Image:Schivazappa-FeminaRidens-VD2.jpg]]		:: [[Image:Schivazappa-FeminaRidens-VD1.jpg]] [[Image:Schivazappa-FeminaRidens-VD2.jpg]]

	* "Independence Day"'s alien ships:		* "Independence Day"'s alien ships: [[Image:IndependenceDay-Cover.gif\|thumb\|right\|100px\|Cover of "Independence Day" DVD]]
	: Independence Day reinforces the notion that femininity is a threat to American society in its depiction of the actual alien invasion. When the alien spaceships go into attack mode, they present the viewer with the image of a vagina dentata, an age-old cultural icon which locates destruction (teeth) within the site of heterosexual masculine pleasure (the vagina). This is the sort of image Barbara Creed talks about in her book The Monstrous-Feminine, which analyzes threats to masculinity in the context of science-fiction and horror cinema. Independence Day's alien ships align themselves perfectly with her conceptualizations of the destructive feminine threat to male ideology. After parking itself conspicuously and directly over the point of the Capitol Building in Los Angeles, one of theseships opens at the underbelly to reveal, between its jagged metal teeth, a weapon extending down from it which releases its destructive rays, incinerating the skyscrapers on impact. According to Creed, the horror of science fiction's alien exterminators has, at its base, the idea that "phallocentric ideology" is "terrified at the thought that women might desire the phallus." The weapon on the alien ships is depicted as a feminine phallus. It is not Planet Earth that is under attack, but the male perogative. The aliens' attack is merely the culmination of a war that was underway long before their arrival, a war on the masculinity of the film's protagonists. President Whitmore's enervating reliance upon and care for women, Stevie Hiller's affiliation with degenerate female sexuality, Russell's emasculation at the hands of the castrating aliens/Vietnam War, and David's subjugation to the career and domestic demands of his powerful wife have all placed them, on July 2, at the feet of this awesome and unavoidable feminine power.<ref>Scott Thill, "[http://bad.eserver.org/issues/1997/31/thill.html Independence Day and the Renationalization of America]," ''Bad Subjects'', Issue #31, March 1997.</ref>		: Independence Day reinforces the notion that femininity is a threat to American society in its depiction of the actual alien invasion. When the alien spaceships go into attack mode, they present the viewer with the image of a vagina dentata, an age-old cultural icon which locates destruction (teeth) within the site of heterosexual masculine pleasure (the vagina). This is the sort of image Barbara Creed talks about in her book The Monstrous-Feminine, which analyzes threats to masculinity in the context of science-fiction and horror cinema. Independence Day's alien ships align themselves perfectly with her conceptualizations of the destructive feminine threat to male ideology. After parking itself conspicuously and directly over the point of the Capitol Building in Los Angeles, one of theseships opens at the underbelly to reveal, between its jagged metal teeth, a weapon extending down from it which releases its destructive rays, incinerating the skyscrapers on impact. According to Creed, the horror of science fiction's alien exterminators has, at its base, the idea that "phallocentric ideology" is "terrified at the thought that women might desire the phallus." The weapon on the alien ships is depicted as a feminine phallus. It is not Planet Earth that is under attack, but the male perogative. The aliens' attack is merely the culmination of a war that was underway long before their arrival, a war on the masculinity of the film's protagonists. President Whitmore's enervating reliance upon and care for women, Stevie Hiller's affiliation with degenerate female sexuality, Russell's emasculation at the hands of the castrating aliens/Vietnam War, and David's subjugation to the career and domestic demands of his powerful wife have all placed them, on July 2, at the feet of this awesome and unavoidable feminine power.<ref>Scott Thill, "[http://bad.eserver.org/issues/1997/31/thill.html Independence Day and the Renationalization of America]," ''Bad Subjects'', Issue #31, March 1997.</ref>

Lquilter: /* Vagina dentata imagery and analysis */ linking to image of aliens queen mouth

2007-03-11T00:21:50Z

Vagina dentata imagery and analysis: linking to image of aliens queen mouth

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	==Vagina dentata imagery and analysis==		==Vagina dentata imagery and analysis==
	* "[[Alien]]" and H.R. Giger's imagery generally:		* [[Image:SideshowCollectibles-14Scale-AliensQueen.jpg\|150px\|right\|thumbnail\|Image of a Sideshow Collectible version of the Alien Queen from "[[Aliens]]"; image taken from [http://www.sideshowtoy.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=082004alien review by Willie Goldman] at SideShowToy.com]] "[[Alien]]" and H.R. Giger's imagery generally:
	: The alien's mouths have long been the quintessential vagina dentata -- complete with a bonus phallus dentata that shoots out at will -- so Jeunet ups the ante by having Ripley tear the penile tongue out of a dead monster and offer it to Ryder as "a nice souvenir."<ref>Laura Miller, [http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/1997/11/26alien.html Return of the vagina dentata from outer space!], Salonc.om, Nov. 26, 1997 (review of "Alien Resurrection").</ref>		: The alien's mouths have long been the quintessential vagina dentata -- complete with a bonus phallus dentata that shoots out at will -- so Jeunet ups the ante by having Ripley tear the penile tongue out of a dead monster and offer it to Ryder as "a nice souvenir."<ref>Laura Miller, [http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/1997/11/26alien.html Return of the vagina dentata from outer space!], Salonc.om, Nov. 26, 1997 (review of "Alien Resurrection").</ref>

	* Piero Schivazappa's "Femina Ridens" (transl. "Frightened Woman", 1969); misogynystic millionaire kidnaps and tortures a woman; he creates a vagina dentata doorway.		* Piero Schivazappa's "Femina Ridens" (transl. "Frightened Woman", 1969); misogynystic millionaire kidnaps and tortures a woman; he creates a vagina dentata doorway.

Lquilter: combined sections into "further reading"

2007-03-10T23:56:52Z

combined sections into "further reading"

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	== ~~Bibliography~~ ==		== Further reading ==
	* Pat Carr, "The Vagina Dentata Motif in Nahuatl and Pueblo Mythic Narratives: A Comparative Study," ''New Scholar: An Americanist Review'' (1982), v. 8, nos. 1-2, pp. 85-101.		* Pat Carr, "The Vagina Dentata Motif in Nahuatl and Pueblo Mythic Narratives: A Comparative Study," ''New Scholar: An Americanist Review'' (1982), v. 8, nos. 1-2, pp. 85-101.
	* Leonard Cassuto. "Repulsive Attractions: 'The Raft,' the Vagina Dentata, and the Slasher Formula." in Kathleen Margaret Lant & Theresa Thompson, eds., ''Imagining the Worst: Stephen King and the Representation of Women.'' (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998), pp. 61-78.		* Leonard Cassuto. "Repulsive Attractions: 'The Raft,' the Vagina Dentata, and the Slasher Formula." in Kathleen Margaret Lant & Theresa Thompson, eds., ''Imagining the Worst: Stephen King and the Representation of Women.'' (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998), pp. 61-78.
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	* Raitt, Jill. Article on "vagina dentata," Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 48 (1980), 415-431.		* Raitt, Jill. Article on "vagina dentata," Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 48 (1980), 415-431.
	* [[Barbara Walker]]. [[The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets]]		* [[Barbara Walker]]. [[The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets]]
			* [http://goddesscafe.com/yoni/dentata.html Vagina Dentata] at The Goddess Café, Yoni Temple
			* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagina_dentata Wikipedia entry about vagina dentata]

	==References==		==References==
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	<references/></div>		<references/></div>

	~~== External Links ==~~
	* [http://goddesscafe.com/yoni/dentata.html Vagina Dentata] at The Goddess Café, Yoni Temple
	* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagina_dentata Wikipedia entry about vagina dentata]

Lquilter: /* Vagina dentata imagery and analysis */ putting images with note

2007-03-10T23:54:04Z

Vagina dentata imagery and analysis: putting images with note

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:54, 10 March 2007
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	: The alien's mouths have long been the quintessential vagina dentata -- complete with a bonus phallus dentata that shoots out at will -- so Jeunet ups the ante by having Ripley tear the penile tongue out of a dead monster and offer it to Ryder as "a nice souvenir."<ref>Laura Miller, [http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/1997/11/26alien.html Return of the vagina dentata from outer space!], Salonc.om, Nov. 26, 1997 (review of "Alien Resurrection").</ref>		: The alien's mouths have long been the quintessential vagina dentata -- complete with a bonus phallus dentata that shoots out at will -- so Jeunet ups the ante by having Ripley tear the penile tongue out of a dead monster and offer it to Ryder as "a nice souvenir."<ref>Laura Miller, [http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/1997/11/26alien.html Return of the vagina dentata from outer space!], Salonc.om, Nov. 26, 1997 (review of "Alien Resurrection").</ref>
	* Piero Schivazappa's "Femina Ridens" (transl. "Frightened Woman", 1969); misogynystic millionaire kidnaps and tortures a woman; he creates a vagina dentata doorway.		* Piero Schivazappa's "Femina Ridens" (transl. "Frightened Woman", 1969); misogynystic millionaire kidnaps and tortures a woman; he creates a vagina dentata doorway.

			:: [[Image:Schivazappa-FeminaRidens-VD1.jpg]] [[Image:Schivazappa-FeminaRidens-VD2.jpg]]

	* "Independence Day"'s alien ships:		* "Independence Day"'s alien ships:
	: Independence Day reinforces the notion that femininity is a threat to American society in its depiction of the actual alien invasion. When the alien spaceships go into attack mode, they present the viewer with the image of a vagina dentata, an age-old cultural icon which locates destruction (teeth) within the site of heterosexual masculine pleasure (the vagina). This is the sort of image Barbara Creed talks about in her book The Monstrous-Feminine, which analyzes threats to masculinity in the context of science-fiction and horror cinema. Independence Day's alien ships align themselves perfectly with her conceptualizations of the destructive feminine threat to male ideology. After parking itself conspicuously and directly over the point of the Capitol Building in Los Angeles, one of theseships opens at the underbelly to reveal, between its jagged metal teeth, a weapon extending down from it which releases its destructive rays, incinerating the skyscrapers on impact. According to Creed, the horror of science fiction's alien exterminators has, at its base, the idea that "phallocentric ideology" is "terrified at the thought that women might desire the phallus." The weapon on the alien ships is depicted as a feminine phallus. It is not Planet Earth that is under attack, but the male perogative. The aliens' attack is merely the culmination of a war that was underway long before their arrival, a war on the masculinity of the film's protagonists. President Whitmore's enervating reliance upon and care for women, Stevie Hiller's affiliation with degenerate female sexuality, Russell's emasculation at the hands of the castrating aliens/Vietnam War, and David's subjugation to the career and domestic demands of his powerful wife have all placed them, on July 2, at the feet of this awesome and unavoidable feminine power.<ref>Scott Thill, "[http://bad.eserver.org/issues/1997/31/thill.html Independence Day and the Renationalization of America]," ''Bad Subjects'', Issue #31, March 1997.</ref>		: Independence Day reinforces the notion that femininity is a threat to American society in its depiction of the actual alien invasion. When the alien spaceships go into attack mode, they present the viewer with the image of a vagina dentata, an age-old cultural icon which locates destruction (teeth) within the site of heterosexual masculine pleasure (the vagina). This is the sort of image Barbara Creed talks about in her book The Monstrous-Feminine, which analyzes threats to masculinity in the context of science-fiction and horror cinema. Independence Day's alien ships align themselves perfectly with her conceptualizations of the destructive feminine threat to male ideology. After parking itself conspicuously and directly over the point of the Capitol Building in Los Angeles, one of theseships opens at the underbelly to reveal, between its jagged metal teeth, a weapon extending down from it which releases its destructive rays, incinerating the skyscrapers on impact. According to Creed, the horror of science fiction's alien exterminators has, at its base, the idea that "phallocentric ideology" is "terrified at the thought that women might desire the phallus." The weapon on the alien ships is depicted as a feminine phallus. It is not Planet Earth that is under attack, but the male perogative. The aliens' attack is merely the culmination of a war that was underway long before their arrival, a war on the masculinity of the film's protagonists. President Whitmore's enervating reliance upon and care for women, Stevie Hiller's affiliation with degenerate female sexuality, Russell's emasculation at the hands of the castrating aliens/Vietnam War, and David's subjugation to the career and domestic demands of his powerful wife have all placed them, on July 2, at the feet of this awesome and unavoidable feminine power.<ref>Scott Thill, "[http://bad.eserver.org/issues/1997/31/thill.html Independence Day and the Renationalization of America]," ''Bad Subjects'', Issue #31, March 1997.</ref>

	~~[[Image:Schivazappa-FeminaRidens-VD1.jpg]]~~
	~~[[Image:Schivazappa-FeminaRidens-VD2.jpg]]~~

	== Examples ==		== Examples ==

Lquilter: /* Bibliography */ other refs

2007-03-10T23:51:55Z

Bibliography: other refs

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	[[Image:Schivazappa-FeminaRidens-VD1.jpg]]		[[Image:Schivazappa-FeminaRidens-VD1.jpg]]
	[[Image:Schivazappa-FeminaRidens-VD2.jpg]]		[[Image:Schivazappa-FeminaRidens-VD2.jpg]]

			== Examples ==
			* [[Tanith Lee]]'s "Weasel Bride" (fantasy)


	== Bibliography ==		== Bibliography ==
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	* Raitt, Jill. Article on "vagina dentata," Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 48 (1980), 415-431.		* Raitt, Jill. Article on "vagina dentata," Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 48 (1980), 415-431.
	* [[Barbara Walker]]. [[The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets]]		* [[Barbara Walker]]. [[The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets]]


	==References==		==References==

Lquilter: /* Examples */ moving other examples

2007-03-10T23:51:27Z

Examples: moving other examples

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	* Neal Stephenson's ''[[Snow Crash]]'' (thirteen-year-old [[Y.T.]] uses a rape defense "vagina dentata" which, unless disabled, injects a rapid-acting sedative on penetration, allowing someone to get away)		* Neal Stephenson's ''[[Snow Crash]]'' (thirteen-year-old [[Y.T.]] uses a rape defense "vagina dentata" which, unless disabled, injects a rapid-acting sedative on penetration, allowing someone to get away)

	~~== Examples ==~~
	~~=== Fantasy ===~~
	* [[Tanith Lee]]'s "Weasel Bride"

	==Vagina dentata imagery and analysis==		==Vagina dentata imagery and analysis==

Lquilter: /* Mythology and psychology */ formatting

2007-03-10T23:50:54Z

Mythology and psychology: formatting

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	A common motif in certain cultural legends and myths. For instance, the Navajo's story of "Snapping Vagina" included a vagina dentata that produced lightning. Apache and Navajo stories featured women who killed men with their toothed vaginas; the heroes could destroy them by destroying their teeth.<ref>See Carolyne Larrington, ed., ''The Feminist Companion to Mythology'' 1992, ISBN 0-04-440850-1.</ref>		A common motif in certain cultural legends and myths. For instance, the Navajo's story of "Snapping Vagina" included a vagina dentata that produced lightning. Apache and Navajo stories featured women who killed men with their toothed vaginas; the heroes could destroy them by destroying their teeth.<ref>See Carolyne Larrington, ed., ''The Feminist Companion to Mythology'' 1992, ISBN 0-04-440850-1.</ref>

	In ''[[The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets]], [[Barbara Walker]] defines the vagina dentata as:		In ''[[The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets]]'', [[Barbara Walker]] defines the vagina dentata as:

	: [T]he classic symbol of men's fear of sex, expressing the unconscious belief that a woman may eat or castrate her partner during intercourse. Freud said, "Probably no male human being is spared the terrifying shock of threatened castration at the sight of female genitals." But he had the reason wrong. The real reason for this "terrifying shock" is a mouth-symbolism, now recognized universally in myth and fantasy: "It is well-known in psychiatry that both males and females fantasize as a mouth the female's entranceway to the vagina."		: [T]he classic symbol of men's fear of sex, expressing the unconscious belief that a woman may eat or castrate her partner during intercourse. Freud said, "Probably no male human being is spared the terrifying shock of threatened castration at the sight of female genitals." But he had the reason wrong. The real reason for this "terrifying shock" is a mouth-symbolism, now recognized universally in myth and fantasy: "It is well-known in psychiatry that both males and females fantasize as a mouth the female's entranceway to the vagina."