Teeth & Vagina Dentata [film, phenomenons, cake]

I watched Teeth (2008) last night with my girlfriend. Yes, that whole movie about a girl with teeth in her vagina doing (horrid!) damage to the males she encounters. Basically, a man's worst nightmare.

While we were watching it, we were actually surprised. The film was done a lot better than either of us thought it would be and we actually enjoyed it (even me, the penis-possessor of the pair!); the film wasn't just a vagina-chewing-penis horror flick that most seem to expect in line with the Scream-born modern era horrorgore without a story line, and wasn't pornographic or overly gory as I thought it might be.

I admit I don't have much faith in modern horror.

M. commented on the cinematography and the well-thought out shots (as opposed to most modern horror films, people!) and I enjoyed the purposeful pacing and the fact that they actually explored the real cultural phenomenon of vagina dentata without being exploitative in any way.

Note: this film could be triggering to some, watch with caution.



"Vagina dentata" is a male cross-cultural myth seen in numerous cultures around the world (Native American, Greek, African, Egyptian, etc.) in which the man is afraid of inserting his penis into a woman's vagina for fear of his penis being injured by the supposed toothed vagina.

From The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets by Barbara Walker:

"Toothed vagina," the classic symbol of men's fear of sex, expressing the unconscious belief that a woman may eat or castrate her partner during intercourse. Frued said, "Probably no male human being is spared the terrifying shock of threatened castration at the sight of female genitals." But he had the reason wrong. The real reason for this "terrifying shock" is a mouth-symbolism, now recognized universally in myth and fantasy: "It is well-known in psychiatry that both males and females fantasize as a mouth the female's entranceway to the vagina."

When I did a Google image search for "vagina dentata," the only blog-appropriate images were cakes. Yes, cakes inspired by the film.

If you'd like to see a more "adult" photo, click here.

Vagina Dentata cake via Cakes and Comics and Cartwheels.

Another vagina dentata cake via Miss Cakehead's Flickr stream:

Cakes are not the only culinary items adorning the vagina these days; click here for an earlier post with a recipe for Vagina Muff-ins.

Even if you are not a baker, at least click to see what a muff-in looks like!

Vagina Muff-ins.

These muffins look delicious, and not only because they are vagina muff-ins. I want to try and make these sometime. Not having an oven makes the whole baking thing difficult.


What you'll need:

2 eggs, beaten

3 very ripe bananas, mashed

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup Splenda

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease or line 10 muffin cups.

2. In a medium bowl, combine eggs and bananas. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, salt, sugar and baking soda. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture. Pour batter into prepared muffin cups.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Read the story behind these muffins here at PastaQueen's blog.

Sexism in Advertising: Your Vagina is a Void

Women's genitals are not portrayed with nearly the same reference, respect, and even admiration that the male phallus is given in media and throughout society in general. Here is (another) sexist vag-negative ad that just reinforces womens' already low genital self esteem.

Read more about it here on Feministing.