Freud’s essay on the Medusa’s Head particularly the virgin Athene wearing it on her armor as a warning set me thinking about direct castration through the vagina itself or Vagina Dentata – toothed vagina in Latin, is a folklore tale that says the vagina contains teeth and the resulting intercourse with it will result in pain or castration.
However, these two contemporary theories by, Camilla Pagila and Stephen. J. Ducat offer a more modern view on the myth. They are both suggesting that this fear exists because the vagina diminishes or emasculates the penis once it has entered it and completed intercourse.
“The toothed vagina is no sexist hallucination: every penis is made less by every vagina, just as mankind, male and female, is devoured by mother nature.”
Paglia, C. (1991). Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson, NY:Vintage; p. 47
“these myths express the threat sexual intercourse poses for men who, although entering triumphantly, always leave diminished”
Ducat, S, J. (2004). The Wimp Factor. Boston: Beacon Press. pp. 115-149.
Upon getting a clearer grasp on Vagina Dentata I endeavored to create my own representation upon the myth. Creating a female form out of clay I then cast it in a rubber mold. Into this rubber mold I added water clear resin and imbedded an X-Ray of a pair of teeth. The X-Rays I choose however were not of clean healthy teeth but of diseased, incomplete sets. I wanted to add an element of fear and repulsion. This is contrasted by the tactile smooth resin, which invites you pick it up touch and caress it.
Upon looking at the finished article it struck me that it looked like the poster from the film teeth – It tells the story about a abstinent Christian girl who finds out that she has a set of teeth that offer her an advantage when she is the object of male violence. This takes an aspect of the folklore tale – warning men against rape and uses it to empower the female in the face of adversity.
Trailer for the 2007 film ‘Teeth’
