Raising the Skirt: The Unsung Power of the Vagina

Product Information

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.” 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. WHAT: The ProCreate Project, the Museum of Motherhood and the Mom Egg Review are partnering for bi-monthly on-line presentations featuring M.A.M.A. – Mothers are Making Art. I wish I had been told these stories as a girl. Stories fostering a sense of pride and potency in being female. Stories valuing female genitalia, valuing girls and women. I like to imagine a world where every girl and woman knows these stories of how powerful it is to have a vagina. I have collected many ‘raising the skirt’ stories but I know there are more out there – if you have an account of how mighty the vagina is from your culture’s mythology, history or folklore then please share it with me.

Megan Fox at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards held at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, California on August 9, 2009 7. Paris Hilton Victoria Justice remains fabulous in Rebecca Minkoff’s gladiator sandals while narrowly escaping a wardrobe malfunction. The vagina is the ultimate symbol of female power. Sexual power, creative power and the power to prevent harm. For too long, though, the true extent of vaginal power has been ignored, hidden and misrepresented. Zeitlin, Froma I. (1982) Cultic models of the female: Rites of Dionysos and Demeter, Arethusa. pp.144–145.Geraldine Sealey. "Naked Ploy Is Latest Threat in Oil Wars". ABC News. Archived from the original on 2018-07-01 . Retrieved 2019-11-03. Tanya Burr at the ‘Iron Man 3’ UK premiere held at the Odeon Leicester Square in London, England on April 18, 2013 16. Myleene Klass 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 culturally framed gesture of lifting the skirt or kilt Copy of a Hellenistic Aphrodite Kallipygos at The Hermitage in St. Petersburg.

Katy Perry experiencing skirt uplift at ‘The Smurfs’ world premiere at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on July 24, 2011 3. Beyonce She is also the author of The Man Who Saw the Future: a biography of William Lilly, the story of the world famous seventeenth-century astrologer whose celestial forecasts enthralled the nation and changed the course of the English Civil War, and how the Establishment attempted to silence him and astrology for good (Watkins, 2015). Kristen Bell looking embarrassed while holding her dress down at the “Veronica Mars” premiere in Hollywood, California on March 12, 2014 20. Lindsay Lohan Hairston, Julia L. (Autumn 2000) "Skirting the Issue: Machiavelli's Caterina Sforza", Renaissance Quarterly. Vol. 53, No. 3., pp.687–712. I felt rejuvenated after such a great weekend. Everything was so good for me, I would like to say that it was one of the best experiences I ever had in England.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. Reveals the ancient and newfound powers of the vagina. It is full of mystery and secrets and truth. If we only knew what we had under our skirts! Learn the story – read this book,’ Eve Ensler, author: The Vagina Monologues. 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 Victoria Justice exiting the Rebecca Minkoff fashion show held during New York Fashion Week in New York City on February 7, 2014 18. Kimberley Garner

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. Stoichita, Victor I.; Anna Maria Coderch. (1999) Goya: The Last Carnival, Reaktion Books. pp.118. ISBN 1-86189-045-1 Here’s the wind laughing at Tanya Burr’s efforts to keep it together at the ‘Iron Man 3’ UK premiere. I’m also on a mission to empower girls and women – ensuring we grow up confident and proud of what we have between our legs. I believe a vital first step in achieving this is using positive, respectful language for our genitals, that’s why I am campaigning too add the word verenda to the dictionary as the positive, respectful word for the vagina; it means the parts inspiring awe, respect or reverence. Please do sign and share my petition at www.change.org/SayVerenda and let’s change the world one word at a time. The wind chooses no one: not even a queenly title can protect a woman from its powers to create potentially embarrassing situations.

Jennifer Aniston with a windblown skirt situation at the ‘We’re the Millers’ premiere held at the Odeon West End in London, England on August 14, 2013 5. Cameron Diaz Born in North East England (UK), Nicola Canavan has been performing and showing work nationally and internationally since 2007 within programmes such as Momentum Festival (Brussels), ]performance s p a c e[ (London), Inbetween Time Festival (Bristol), City of Women (Ljubljana) and SPILL National Platform (Ipswitch). She has collaborated with Photographer Predrag Pajdic, Photographer & Film Maker Manuel Vason, artists Kris Canavan (Husband) and Ernst Fischer and has recently been awarded the Artsadmin Bursary and the Artists International Development Fund from Arts Council England and the British Council. Paris Hilton looking out over the balcony of her beach house in Malibu, California on August 18, 2007 8. Kourtney Kardashian 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. Marcovich, M. (September 1986) "Demeter, Baubo, Iacchus, and a Redactor", Vigiliae Christianae. Vol. 40, No. 3. pp.294–301.

Thomson De Grummond, Nancy. (2006) Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology. ISBN 1-931707-86-3 Moreover, as my book Raising the Skirt reveals, the tales of vaginal valour from history and modern day activists are not the only ‘raising the skirt’ tales to tell your daughters, nieces, grand-daughters and friends. Twenty-first century science has its own ‘raising the skirt’ stories; they are equally potent and empowering, and they too reveal the power of the feminine. In 2014, DIY projects took many forms, from the creation of a temporary biker gang in Cambridge, astrology in Yorkshire Sculpture Park an eavesdropping in Bournemouth, a workshop for assholes in Glasgow and a superhero weekender in Colchester. Between them they covered diverse subjects of investigation including chance, plagiarism, archives, the weather, criticism, feminism, participation, ageing, documentation, wage and much more. Documentation from Johanna Linsley and Rebecca Louise Collins' DIY Stolen Voices can be found on Tumblr. WHEN: The 1st and the 15th of each month words and images will highlight the joy and the challenges of being both a mother and an artist.RAISING THE SKIRT: THE UNSUNG POWER OF THE VAGINA reveals this revolutionary view of female genitalia and points the way to a new understanding of what it means to be female. An inspiration for millennia, the vagina is actually a muscular marvel of engineering – sensitive and strong, fluid and flexible. Far from being a passive vessel, female genitalia control the most important role of all: the survival of the species.