Last Summer I visited a Caixaforum exhibition about sports in Ancient Greece ("Agón! La competición en la Antigua Grecia"), and I couldn't help but see - as is usual with Ancient Greece - a number of glaring double standards regarding how men and women were depicted in the statues and paintings.
Women are often conforming to patriarchal modesty mindsets, shown way more covered than their male counterparts, with anke-length tunics and himations that covered them fully when going out (meanwhile, men saunter around in the statues and paintings with bare torsos and stark naked, no problem):
She's fully covered in a himation and ankle-length tunic, with her hair up (and only partially covered, I guess we should be thankful about that)...He's stark naked as if it were the most normal thing in the world (and not afraid of anyone calling him 'immodest' or fearing harassment, either!). Thank you, double standards.
A similar situation to the Greek exhibits in the Museo Nacional Arquelógico:
A similar situation to the Greek exhibits in the Museo Nacional Arquelógico:
"It's also worth mentioning that, while Greek male depictions are often of men with bare torsos, bare legs or fully nude, bare female torsos in the exhibit were pretty rare, mostly associated with female idols or the marriage section (the case of the female torso above). Greek women's clothing was actually very restrictive (patriarchal 'modesty' mindset acting as a way to control and repress women's autonomy and sexuality), something that many people, accustomed to seeing female nudes in Greek statues and idealized depictions of Greek fashion, may not be familiar with. Short tunics were only acceptable in places such as Sparta, ankle-length tunics were the norm. Hairstyles where the hair was partially or completely covered by a cloth or headscarf were also common (open hair or even loose strands were hardly worn), and women, especially married women, had to cover their head at least partially, and wrap themselves in an himation (mantle) when going out - when they were actually allowed to be out, that is. Not dissimilar to the idea of today's burkas, the himation is 'a garment of decorous modesty' which disguised the shape of the woman's body in public, and which Hetairai also used as 'provocation' (in the same way veiling is used in 'exotic dancing' in the Near East). This is quite a different idea from the idealized woman wearing the light tunic that we're so accustomed to seeing in Neoclassical and modern depictions of Greek culture, and not at all dissimilar from the religious-based head and body coverings typical of Patriarchal Monotheistic (and also polytheistic, in some cases) religions." (post)
The only time they seem to show naked women is primarily in the case of goddesses associated with sexuality, such as Aphrodite. This is not a case of honouring female sexuality and the divine feminine, however, seeing as these depictions are consistently shown in a rather male-gaze-y way (with objectified, passive poses instead of depictions of a powerful goddess whose body and sexuality are not owned by any man). Many of these depictions also conform to patriarchal misogynistic ideas of 'modesty' and 'purity' as well - showing the naked goddess (of sexuality, no less!) covering her genitalia and breasts with her hands and arms, with her legs well close together and shoulders hunched in a semi-stooping pose that gives 0% powerful vibes to anyone (let us remember that meanwhile all dudes are sporting their nakedness, very much including genitalia, no problem).
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| Definitely not how a powerful goddess should look like |
Meanwhile, goddesses such as Astarté and Ishtar, the original Middle East inspirations for Aphrodite, goddesses of fertility and sexuality, are usually depicted in actually powerful and non-objectified poses and with no need to 'modestly' hide their nakedness (which in this case is not there in order to be sexualized, but rather a depiction of the divine feminine, which is not intended for the male gaze):
However, side note - The industry of the 'sacred prostitution' which flourished as part of the cult of these goddesses was very much a patriarchal issue, seeing as we're talking about a exploitative sex trade where the beneficients are always men (it was also often linked to trafficking, exploiting young girls and women from lower classes). In theory these goddesses' sexuality is powerful and has full autonomy because it's not owned by any man, and no man dictates it - but in reality the society in these cases was equally a patriarchy, so objectification and sex trade obviously and sadly happened. These prostitution practices, by the way, should also be in direct contradiction with fertility and sexuality goddess cults - Exploiting female sexuality for male pleasure has literally nothing to do with the free and powerful female sexuality symbolized by these goddesses, and is literally the very opposite of what the 'divine feminine' is all about (which is not being obligated to have sex with whomever asked because you 'represented the goddess's sexuality' - a fine example of how patriarchy twists everything for its own gain, which includes exploiting women under the pretence of 'serving a goddess' and 'honouring female sexuality').
As for today, "thanks" to neoliberal 'feminism' those concepts have been further twisted up, to the extent of calling sexual exploitation such as the sacred prostitution industry (and the sex industry in general) "empowering" and even "feminist".
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| I know, Bill, I know |
Which yeah, angers me quite a lot. But back to the exhibition -
There were also your typical patriarchal gender roles, such as women not being allowed to participate or watch most sports games and competitions, or women loving going for water to the well because it was the only freaking moment they had to socialize and have a chat (meanwhile, men had male-exclusive banquets, sports, the theater, etc, etc). "The women had to catch a moment to chat in between domestic chores" - Women have to dig for a brief chat while still working, men have plenty of leisure time. Another charming double standard.
There was also a depiction of the Amazons, a refreshing breath of air of empowered, active women, albeit demonized by the patriarchal Greeks, who were hella offended that these women chose to avoid the company of men in order to get stuff done (seeing as the alternative is to talk to women for five seconds while drawing water from the well, and then working the rest of the time plus catering to various men's tirannical wishes - who would not choose to be with the Amazons, come on).
