“In his essay, ‘The Bravery of Women,’ Plutarch describes an event in which a group of women altered the outcome of a war by simply lifting their skirts. During battle, the Persians fled the advancing forces but were abruptly halted by a large crowd of women, who all raised their skirts to flash their naked genitals. Shocked and perhaps shamed by this sudden exposure, the army turned back to face their enemies and succeeded.

There’s a Catalan saying in Catherine Blackledge’s book, The Story of V: A Natural History of Female Sexuality. It’s this: “The sea calms down if it sees a woman’s cunt” (la mar es posa bona si veu el cony d’una dona); that is, the vulva has the power to stop storms.”

- Christina Voss (F/lthyGorgeousTh/ngs)

Image: Engraving of the devil defeated by the skirtlift. By Charles Eisen for an edition of Jean de La Fontaine’s Fables.

January 13, 2010, 3:43am