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{This is a mini installment for the Pagan Blog Project}
There is an excellent rant over at Three Shouts on a Hilltop about "Celtic" imagery sold in a Pagan shop that I found myself furiously nodding my head in agreement to {although as an aside, I was under a similar impression as a commenter over there in regards to The Morrígan}. One subject briefly touched on in the post was about Goddesses being portrayed as "sexy" when it is probably inappropriate.
I mean Brigid bare breasted and in a suggestive pose? Really? If it were Flidais I would get it; when it comes to Brigid, I think that this sculpture by Eric Klinert is more fitting.
Perhaps it is just me, but there seems to be a growing trend where Goddesses are being sexualized just to make them marketable. It seems like more and more they are either a pretty young thing, or a not-so-frumpy older lass donning some killer curves.
Or companies are trying to shoehorn every Goddess into the neo-Pagan concept of the "maiden, mother, crone". Take this statue for instance, which is being marketed as a "Native American Triple Goddess statue". Ummm. Hmmmm. That is almost as bad as a print I saw being sold in Toronto entitled Native American Chakra Yoni Goddess a few years back. And that was just plain messed up.
What I suppose pisses me off the most about this shit is that people actual endorse it with their money. In droves. It's no wonder that there are folks who are trying to distance themselves from the larger neo-Pagan movement.
Sláinte!
Laurel
7 comments:
Thank you for this! Also, thanks for the link to a more appropriate Brigid statue. I have been looking for one that wasn't so... naked.
I wish I were more sculpturally inclined, I'd make my own. In my mind, a typical household shrine from the past would most likely have been filled with handmade items, anyway.
But don't you know?! The Gawdess is all about fertility, therefore, every goddess should be sexualised because really different "goddesses" were just the ignorant Ancients way of trying to make sense of The Gawdess!
/sarcasm
Aaahhh, omg. TOTAL pet peeve of mine. I just... "Native American triple goddess"? Really? Really.
Oy, vey.
The homogenization of Pagan deities - and religions - is just awful to me. It's a horrible thing, to just gloss over the important differences, the things that make us all unique and fascinating, and paint us all with the same dull, shallow brush. To take rich, deep cultures and religions and rip from them everything that makes them what they are.
Great post, anyway.
Laurel,
Very nicely put and even as a male I have to agree with this
Too many 'crone' images I've seen are more "young gal with lines on the face" rather than my personal view
I think 'crone' and I get an image of my grandmother - overweight, silver hair, lines on face and hands - but a twinkle in the eye and a smile on the lips
Of course the male deity images are just as bad - you either get the testosterone laden he-men or the wizened old graybeard. What happened to the slovenly, obese, drunkard who only gets gals cause he plies them with wine (Dionysus); or the ugly, misshaped troll who's only claim to fame is he make beautiful trinkets (Hephaestus)
Bring some reality back to deity images, don't resort to the common denominator cause you think you'll make sales that way.
Rhyshadow, I think glorifying date rape is not a statue-worthy idea.
" What happened to the slovenly, obese, drunkard who only gets gals cause he plies them with wine (Dionysus)"
Bellatrix S
Except it isn't 'date rape' when they come into his presence willingly, knowing what's going to happen beforehand, and not caring in the slightest
I agree. Sadly the Triple Goddess is stereotyped. I never see an overweight sexy Mother Goddess like myself ;)
By the gods, I could not agree with you more! What bothers me the most in all of this is the cultural hijacking that is so prevalent within the new age and pagan movements today.
There was a discussion about this going on a website that I go to often and people didn't seem to mind stealing the cultures of others. There was even one who saw Native American spirituality with Wicca and Zoroastrianism was a great thing.
It does seem that more people are becoming mindful of this though. Maybe this will become a thing of the past along with Z Budapest's hateful thinking.
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