scholarly journals Where Children Are Born: Centipedes and Feminine Sexuality in Ancient Mesoamerica

2020 ◽  
pp. 206-235
Author(s):  
Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos
Keyword(s):  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Chavoshian ◽  
Sophia Park

Along with the recent development of various theories of the body, Lacan’s body theory aligns with postmodern thinkers such as Michael Foucault and Maurice Merlot-Ponti, who consider body social not biological. Lacan emphasizes the body of the Real, the passive condition of the body in terms of formation, identity, and understanding. Then, this condition of body shapes further in the condition of bodies of women and laborers under patriarchy and capitalism, respectively. Lacan’s ‘not all’ position, which comes from the logical square, allows women to question patriarchy’s system and alternatives of sexual identities. Lacan’s approach to feminine sexuality can be applied to women’s spirituality, emphasizing multiple narratives of body and sexual identities, including gender roles. In the social discernment and analysis in the liberation theology, we can employ the capitalist discourse, which provides a tool to understand how people are manipulated by late capitalist society, not knowing it. Lacan’s theory of ‘a body without a head’ reflects the current condition of the human body, which manifests lack, yet including some possibilities for transforming society.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 110
Author(s):  
José Martín Amenabar Beitia

ResumenEl presente trabajo constituye una aproximación psicológica a la mutilación genital femenina, dándose a conocer las motivaciones, expectativas y fantasías que la sustentan y que, por cierto, ponen de relieve como elemento medular el miedo del hombre ante la sexualidad femenina. El análisis del mito de la vagina dentada es muy ilustrativo al respecto. Por otra parte, como ejemplificación de la problemática abordada, se toma en consideración el relato aportado por una mujer sobre la mutilación genital padecida siendo niña y el gran sufrimiento que ello le causó. Y, por último, se incorporan ciertas reflexiones que inspiraron este artículo.Palabras clave: Mutilación genital femenina, clitoridectomía, infibulación, miedo a la mujer, mitología, vagina dentada, sexualidad femenina.English title: Male fears and female genital mutilation Abstract: This paper takes a psychological approach to genital feminine mutilation, showing the motivations, expectations and fantasies that sustain it, and which demonstrate that men’s fear of feminine sexuality is a fundamental element underpinning the practice. Analysis of the myth of the toothed vagina is illustrative and pertinent. It must be viewed alongside a woman’s evidence concerning her genital mutilation in infancy, and her ongoing resultant suffering. In conclusion, mention will be made of some reflections that prompted this paper.Key words: Genital feminine mutilation, clitoridectomy, infibulation, fear of the woman, mythology, toothed vagina, feminine sexuality.


Author(s):  
Manon Hedenborg White

The study analyzes constructions of femininity and feminine sexuality in interpretations of the goddess Babalon, a central deity in the British occultist Aleister Crowley’s (1875–1947) religion Thelema. Babalon is based on Crowley’s positive reinterpretation of the biblical Whore of Babylon and symbolizes liberated female sexuality and the spiritual modality of passionate union with existence. Analyzing historical and contemporary written sources, qualitative interviews, and ethnographic fieldwork in the Anglo-American esoteric milieu, the study traces interpretations of Babalon from the works of Crowley and some of his key disciples—including the rocket scientist John Whiteside “Jack” Parsons and the enigmatic British occultist Kenneth Grant—from the fin-de-siècle to the present. From the 1990s onward, female and LGBTQ esotericists have challenged historical interpretations of Babalon, drawing on feminist and queer thought and conceptualizing femininity in new ways. Femininity has held a problematic position in feminist theory, often being associated with lack, artifice, and restriction. However, the present study—which assumes that femininities are neither exclusively heterosexual nor limited to women—indicates how interpretations of Babalon have both built on and challenged dominant gender logics. As the first academic monograph to analyze Crowley’s and his followers’ ideas from the perspective of gender, this book contributes to the underexplored study of gender in Western esotericism. By analyzing the development of a misogynistic biblical symbol into an image of feminine sexual freedom, the study also sheds light on interactions between Western esotericism and broader cultural and sociopolitical trends.


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