"To go back to the beginning - or l'origine du monde, as Courbet entitled his boundary-breaking legs-akimbo vista - the vadge wasn't smelly or rude. No, it was life-affirming, iconic, divine even, and invested with symbolism that we can barely begin to imagine. Skirt-lifting was significant for centuries: in India, the gesture was meant to disperse evil influences, while in ancient Egypt, women did it to multiply crop yield. On 17th-century drinking mugs, depictions can be found of a confrontation between an exposed vagina and a reeling Satan."

review by Joanna Briscoe of The Story of V
by Catherine Blackledge
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Guardian Unlimited Books August 30, 2003
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link TMFTML