APHRODITE goddess

APHRODITE sex symbol

APHRODITE objet d'art

Aphrodite's sanctity in Greek culture was inextricably linked to the compelling and mysterious forces of sexual passion. In the modern Western world, however, it is difficult for us to understand this combination of the sacred and the sexual. The traditional images of women that are presented to us are either Madonna or whore, good wife or bad seductress, sacred and untouchable or sexual and defiled. Somewhere between these poles lies the female body in art, admired and fetishized.

Here, three views of an ancient statue of Aphrodite:
an aesthetic ideal, an objectified body, and a figure of religious awe.

Try not to stare.

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