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| ==In psychoanalysis== | ==In psychoanalysis== | ||
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| The symbolic version of the phallus, a phallic symbol is meant to represent male generative powers. According to ]'s theory of ], while males possess a penis, no one can possess the symbolic phallus. ]'s ''Ecrits: A Selection'' includes an essay titled ''The Significance of the Phallus'' which articulates the difference between "being" and "having" the phallus. Men are positioned as men insofar as they are seen to have the phallus. Women, not having the phallus, are seen to "be" the phallus. The symbolic phallus is the concept of being the ultimate man, and having this is compared to having the divine gift of God. {{Clarifyme|date=June 2008}} | |||
| In ''Gender Trouble'', ] explores Freud's and Lacan's discussions of the symbolic phallus by pointing out the connection between the phallus and the penis. She writes, "The law requires conformity to its own notion of 'nature'. It gains its legitimacy through the binary and asymmetrical naturalization of bodies in which the phallus, though clearly not identical to the penis, deploys the penis as its naturalized instrument and sign" (135). In ''Bodies that Matter'', she further explores the possibilities for the phallus in her discussion of ''The Lesbian Phallus''. If, as she notes, Freud enumerates a set of analogies and substitutions that rhetorically affirm the fundamental transferability of the phallus from the penis elsewhere, then any number of other things might come to stand in for the phallus (62). {{Clarifyme|date=June 2008}} | |||
| ==In fiction== | |||
| Phallic symbolism can be perceived in a wide range of fiction and other ] works (in particular when analyzed in the context of ], although frequently that view is unconfirmed or unsanctioned by the creators). | |||
| ==Gallery== | ==Gallery== | ||
Revision as of 16:01, 21 November 2008
This article is about the symbol of the erect penis. For the male sex organ, see penis. For the mushroom, see Phallus (genus).- Ithyphallic redirects here. See Ithyphallic (album) for the album by 'Nile'.
Phallus can refer to an erect penis, or to an object shaped like a penis. The word comes from the Greek:φαλλός, erect penis.
In art
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Ancient and modern sculptures of phalloi have been found in many parts of the world, notably among the vestiges of ancient Greece and Rome. See also the Most Phallic Building contest for modern examples of phallic designs. In many ancient culture, phallic structures symbolized wellness and good health.
The Hohle phallus, a 28,000-year-old siltstone phallus discovered in the Hohle Fels cave and first assembled in 2005, is among the oldest phallic representations known..
Ancient Egypt
The Ancient Egyptians related the cult of phallus with Osiris. When Osiris' body was cut in 13 pieces, Seth scattered them all over Egypt and his wife Isis retrieved all of them except one, his penis, which was swallowed by a fish (see the Legend of Osiris and Isis).
The phallus was a symbol of fertility, and the god Min was often depicted ithyphallic (with an erect penis).
Ancient Greece
In traditional Greek mythology, Hermes, god of boundaries and exchange (popularly the messenger god) was considered to be a phallic deity by association with representations of him on herms (pillars) featuring a phallus. There is no scholarly consensus on this depiction and it would be speculation to consider Hermes a type of fertility god.
Pan, son of Hermes, was often depicted as having an exaggerated erect phallus.
Priapus was a Greek god of fertility whose symbol was an exaggerated phallus. The son of Aphrodite and either Dionysus or Adonis, according to different forms of the original myth, he was the protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens, and male genitalia. His name is the origin of the medical term priapism.
Ancient Japan
The Mara Kannon shrine （麻羅観音 or まらかんのん）in Nagato city, Yamaguchi prefecture, is one of many fertility shrines in Japan that still exist today. Also present in festivals such as the Danjiri Matsuri （だんじり祭）in Kishiwada city, Osaka prefecture, and the Kanamara Matsuri, in Kawasaki city, though historically phallus adoration was more widespread.
Ancient Rome
Ancient Romans wore phallic jewelry as talismans against the evil eye.
Ancient Scandinavia
The Norse god Freyr was a phallic deity, representing male fertility and love.
The short story Völsa þáttr describes a family of Norwegians worshipping a preserved horse penis.
Balkans
Kuker is a divinity personifying fecundity, sometimes in Bulgaria and Serbia it is a plural divinity. In Bulgaria, a ritual spectacle of spring (a sort of carnival performed by Kukeri) takes place after a scenario of folk theatre, in which Kuker's role is interpreted by a man attired in a sheep- or goat-pelt, wearing a horned mask and girded with a large wooden phallus. During the ritual, various physiological acts are interpreted, including the sexual act, as a symbol of the god's sacred marriage, while the symbolical wife, appearing pregnant, mimes the pains of giving birth. This ritual inaugurates the labours of the fields (ploughing, sowing) and is carried out with the participation of numerous allegorical personages, among which is the Emperor and his entourage.
India
In Tantric Shaivism a symbolic marker, the lingam is used for worship of the Hindu God Shiva. In related art the linga or lingam is the depiction of Shiva for example: mukhalinga) or cosmic pillar.This pillar is the worship focus of the Hindu temple, and is often situated within a yoni, indicating a balance between male and female creative energies. Fertility is not the limit of reference derived from these sculptures, more generally they may refer to abstract principles of creation. Tantrism should not be generalized to all forms of Hindu worship.
Christopher Isherwood addresses the misinterpretation of the linga as a sex symbol as follows —
It has been claimed by some foreign scholars that the linga and its surrounding basin are sexual symbols, representing the male and the female organs respectively. Well — anything can be regarded as a symbol of anything; that much is obvious. There are people who have chosen to see sexual symbolism in the spire and the font of a Christian church. But Christians do not recognize this symbolism; and even the most hostile critics of Christianity cannot pretend that it is a sex-cult. The same is true of the cult of Shiva.
It does not even seem probable that the linga was sexual in its origin. For we find, in the history both of Hinduism and Buddhism, that poor devotees were accustomed to dedicate to God a model of a temple or tope (a dome-shaped monument) in imitation of wealthy devotees who dedicated full-sized buildings. So the linga may well have begun as a monument in miniature.…One of the greatest causes of misunderstanding of Hinduism by foreign scholars is perhaps a subconsciously respected tradition that God must be one sex only, or at least only one sex at a time.
North & South America
Figures of Kokopelli and Itzamna (as the Mayan tonsured maize god) in Pre-Columbian America often include phallic content.
In psychoanalysis
| This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Phallus" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Gallery
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The Egyptian God Min
Notes
- http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=phallus&searchmode=none
- Amos, Jonathan (2005-07-25). "Ancient phallus unearthed in cave". BBC News. Retrieved 2006-07-08.
- Kernbach, Victor (1989). Dicţionar de Mitologie Generală. Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică şi Enciclopedică. ISBN 973-29-0030-X.
- Isherwood, Christopher. Ramakrishna and his disciples. pp. p.48.
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References
- Honour, Hugh (1999). The Visual Arts: A History. New York: H.N. Abrams. ISBN 0-810-93935-5.
- Keuls, Eva C. (1985). The Reign of the Phallus. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-520-07929-9.
- Kernbach, Victor (1989). Dicţionar de Mitologie Generală. Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică şi Enciclopedică. ISBN 973-29-0030-X.
- Leick, Gwendolyn (1994). Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-06534-8.
- Lyons, Andrew P. (2004). Irregular Connections: A History of Anthropology and Sexuality. U Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-8036-X.
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