Gregory's ServerThe 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.
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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.  |
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
2. Roman copy of Aphrodite of Knidos at Glyptothek, Munich.