Raising the Skirt: The Unsung Power of the Vagina

Product Information

In Gaelic and Greek mythology, groups of women raised their skirts en masse to defeat Irish sun god Cúchulain and Greek hero Bellerophon, respectively. Ancient and modern history relate how women deploy the raising the skirt gesture in protest and as a military tactic. In 551 BCE, collective vulval display changed the outcome of war between the forces of Media and Persia; in nineteenth-century China, rows of older women would stand on the top of the city wall and expose their genitals to frighten off enemies. Jennifer Aniston is a seasoned pro: she foresaw what the wind would do before anything damaging to her image could happen. Here’s the wind laughing at Tanya Burr’s efforts to keep it together at the ‘Iron Man 3’ UK premiere.

Pócs, Éva (2018). "Shirts, Cloaks and Nudity: Data on the Symbolic Aspects of Clothing Srajce, ogrinjala in golota: simbolični vidiki oblačil". Studia mythologica Slavica. 21: 57-95. doi: 10.3986/sms.v21i0.7067. Zeitlin, Froma I. (1982) Cultic models of the female: Rites of Dionysos and Demeter, Arethusa. pp.144–145. She also believes girls should be aware of the ancient stories about the power of female genitalia. “Imagine a world where as girls we’re told these incredible stories – in mythology about the goddesses raising their skirts, and in doing so making the world fertile again, or they raise their skirts and they can defeat armies,” she says. “We all know about Bellerophon and Pegasus the winged horse, but we don’t know about the women who raised their skirts to the hero and the winged horse and vanquished them. I tell my daughter all these things because I feel like it will make a difference.” I collect ‘Raising the Skirt’ stories: stories about women lifting their skirts to reveal their vaginas and making a vast array of extraordinary actions happen: averting evil, protecting families and communities and conferring fertility to the land and people. Demi Lovato has her skirt lifted while performing for Good Morning America’s Summer Concert Series at Central Park in New York City on July 6, 2012 13. Lily Allen

13. Lily Allen

This DIY was a really powerful experience for me; the sensitivity and openness of the artists enabled us to have in depth discussions of a level that I have not had the opportunity to experience since my DIY10. Thank you LADA for encouraging these developmental events, which enable artists to really grow from working with each other in a supportive environment. WHY: We are determined to explore the extraordinary experiences of mothers and how, by means of channeling these new and powerful energies a person can cultivate both motherhood and art. However, support is needed and awareness must be raised to facilitate this process and to finally empower it. Egyptian, Greek and Japanese mythology all highlight how the act of ana-suromai can be used as a catalyst to break a sombre mood or static state and restore harmony and fertility to the world. Hathor, goddess of joy, love and sexuality exposes her genitalia to her father, sun god Ra, to mollify him and cause the wheels of government to turn again. Chicago is the Windy City, but that makes no difference to Lindsay Lohan who had her skirt lifted up by the strong gusts of wind bouncing off the high-rise buildings in New York. There is an inherent contradiction between the physical demands Canavan places upon her body and the stillness that is matched by the slow passage of time.

To read Andrea O’Reilly’s piece on Feminist Motherhood go to our link here, and read her piece also live online at ProCreate Project. Art and Performance by Nicola Canavan: Raising the Skirt

17. Victoria Justice

Aileen Ajootian. "Hermaphroditos ανασυρόμενος: Revealing the Body" (PDF). University of Mississippi. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-16 . Retrieved 2012-08-01. Questions: Miriam Robbins Dexter on the Power of Female Display". UCLA Program on Central Asia. October 6, 2010. Archived from the original on September 19, 2015 . Retrieved 2012-08-01.

Imagine a world where girls and women are told stories fostering a sense of pride and potency in what it means to have a vagina. Stories valuing female genitalia; stories revealing the vagina to be the ultimate symbol of female power. These stories exist: they are ‘raising the skirt’ stories. Everyone with a vagina should know them. I think there’s there’s a moment that every person born with a vagina shares, and that is when you realise that you are treated differently to people who have a penis, that you are not treated with the same level of respect,” she says. “I do think women were all wounded in some way. We feel negative about our genitalia, because it seems to be the source of why we are treated differently.” The vagina is the ultimate symbol of female power. Sexual power, creative power and apotropaic power – the power to prevent harm. For too long, though, the true extent of vaginal power has been ignored, hidden and misrepresented. Kourtney Kardashian on the balcony of Eden Roc Hotel in Miami, Florida on October 11, 2012 9. Kelly Brook That says it all really, that the only thing worth writing about the vagina was its diseases,” she says. “You could get all sorts of histories about the phallus, the different festivals, all celebrating male virility. There was this aching gap where there was nothing about the woman, so I pretty much walked into a publishing deal.”

3. Beyonce

I personally loved the diverting and not-knowing – I couldn't have approached it any other way – too unsure and ambivalent about my place in all this stuff. It is all resonating and slotting into things but won't settle and that's a good thing – its stuff not to be 'parked' but worried at or over or about – fretted on. For this project I am interested in bringing together a group of women who can who can bring strength to the circle to form an Anasyrma Army – those with interesting anecdotes, information and threads. This dialogue and unity will form the foundations of the action, which we will carry out together as a performance to camera and a public action. Hard lesson learned for Kourtney Kardashian: no more twirling on windy hotel balconies where there are cameras everywhere on the lower floors! Geraldine Sealey. "Naked Ploy Is Latest Threat in Oil Wars". ABC News. Archived from the original on 2018-07-01 . Retrieved 2019-11-03.