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Top-level
So we all begin on the same page, here's a couple of human vulvas. While everyone looks a little different down below, from the front you will see pubic hair (unless it's been removed), a "pudendal cleft" where the labia majora meet, and in 50% of people some labia minora and/or clitoral hood. Courtesy of The Labia Library. 29 comments
What we're talking about today when we discuss Barbie crotch in art is a trend among European artists to depict the vulva as featurelessly and hairlessly as a Barbie doll. After the Bath by Pierre Carrier-Belleuse, 1896, Zoullas collection We can actually tell you the name of the person responsible for starting the Barbie crotch style in western art: Praxiteles. You can't complain to his manager, because Praxiteles lived and died in the 4th century BCE. Also his manager might have been Alexander the Great, who's probably too busy to listen. At the time Praxiteles was working, Greek sculpture had certain conventions. Men were depicted heroically nude, dicks out. Meanwhile, sculptures of women were always clothed. Praxiteles decided to mix things up. Working on a sculpture for the Temple of Aphrodite at Knidos, Praxiteles made the decision to depict Aphrodite as nude, emerging from a bath. Roman copy of the Aphrodite of Knidos. Museo Nazionale Romano, Ludovisi collection The Aphrodite of Knidos sculpture was an immediate sensation. It became a tourist attraction - people would flock to see the naked Aphrodite. Over time, numerous copies were made of Praxiteles's famous sculpture as everyone wanted a nude Aphrodite in their temple, too. Although Aphrodite's hand obscures the pubic area, we can see behind the hand, and see that this hugely influential, game-changing sculpture had Barbie crotch. 1. The Aphrodite at the Museo Nazionale Romano, from a different angle The original Aphrodite of Knidos has been lost, so we can't say for sure if it was Praxiteles's intention to give Aphrodite a Barbie crotch as a stylistic choice. It may be that he didn't bother because it was under a hand anyway. Or because the sculpture was displayed painted, it's entirely possible that the pudendal cleft was painted on. There wouldn't have been pubic hair on the sculpture, because the ancient Greeks absolutely hated body hair in art, on all genders. The Aphrodite of Knidos established the canonical to depict the female form in art. And many European cultures have a major fixation on the ancient Greeks being the pinnacle of art, civilisation and culture, so the influence of Praxiteles has persisted for millennia. The hand barely obscuring the hairless, featureless Barbie crotch has been highly popular in artistic depictions of women. Sleeping Venus by Giorgione, circa 1510, Gemäldegalerie, Dresden. Likewise, the double standard, established in ancient Greek sculpture, of depicting penises on the male figures but Barbie crotch on women also persisted. Christ, Adam and Eve, detail from The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, circa 1480-1505, Museo del Prado While artists, both now and in the past, have subverted the Barbie crotch and depicted labia majora, pudendal clefts and pubic hair in their work, Barbie crotch remains highly prevalent. Take, for example, the Pioneer plaque, the first depiction of a vulva in space. Carl Sagan said that the Barbie crotch design was influenced by the way ancient Greeks depicted vulvas. https://masto.ai/@vagina_museum/110747221983351656 In the era of airbrushing and photoshopping, the Barbie crotch aesthetic has extended to photos of actual humans, such as this 2021 photo from Kendall Jenner's Instagram. The ancient Greek influence of the Barbie crotch has ultimately influenced us for millennia as to the "correct" way to depict a vulva. And it's highly incorrect. It would take a polymath genius such as Barbie herself to undo the damage. @vagina_museum finding baby dolls for toddlers with external genitalia was very tricky. @vagina_museum  @vagina_museum Is it ever considered that women with their hand in their crotch/over their crotch may have just indulged in masturbation?  @vagina_museum@masto.ai Wasn't the depiction of pubic hair the key difference between "normal" Art and Pornography until the turn of the 20th century? "The original Aphrodite of Knidos has been lost, so we can't say for sure if it was Praxiteles's intention to give Aphrodite a Barbie crotch as a stylistic choice." You can't say for sure if he gave Aphrodite a Barbie crotch *at all*. As the original statue was lost, it might as well have been anatomically correct.  @vagina_museum There is some bias here though because over the years many of those sculptures have been destroyed and it's plausible to assume that people with a christian ideology might have put more effort into destroying sculptures depicting vulvae. So it's not sure if the Greek did not want to depict them as prominently as penises, of if they did but they were not conserved as well. @vagina_museum me: "my boobs aren't good enough, because they're too conic in shape and pointy-outey!" "We can actually tell you the name of the person responsible for starting the Barbie crotch style in western art: Praxiteles." But the picture you use to illustrate that, shows something else. The statue has her hand in front of the crotch, so whether it is anatomically correct is hidden from view.  @sibrosan @vagina_museum You have obviously only read this one post from the thread. |
Gregory's Server
We'll also add this caveat: Barbie is a toy. Doll toys historically have not been anatomically correct. Also, no gendered double standard exists in Barbieland: Ken is as featureless downstairs as his girlfriend. Barbie crotch in dolls is gender-neutral.
2nd century Roman doll, displayed at the Centrale Montemartini