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You are more likely to see what you like to see. Here is one example, an excerpt from Women’s work: The first 20,000 years by Elizabeth Wayland Barber (W.W. Norton & Co., New York, 1994):

Close analysis of the musculature of the famous Venus de Milo - the ancient Greek statue of Aphrodite found on the island of Melos in 1820 and now in the Louvre - shows that she couldn’t hold her drapery even before the statue lost its arms. Why? She was holding both arms out (fig. 10.1). One, the left, she held high and a little back, counterbalancing its weight by curving her body. The other she held out in front of herself at about chest level; her gaze rests about where the hand would be. In those positions lies a story. Modern art critics are not often aware of it, but this was a pose painfully familiar to women in ancient Greek society. They spent many hours holding a distaff loaded with fiber high in the left while working the thread and spindle with the more "dexterous" right, out in front where it could be watched. This Aphrodite (or Venus, as the Romans called her) was spinning.

We have other statues of Aphrodite with the arms similarly placed, although the distaff and spindle, which would have been sculpted from more perishable materials, are not preserved. We also possess several vase paintings of women spinning that show a similar positioning of the implements (cf. figs. 1.3 and 9.4).

Venus de Milo : spinning?

Why should the goddess of love and procreation be a spinner?

Why, indeed? Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty and sexual rapture. According to the writings on her, Aphrodite loved and was loved by many gods and mortals; nothing could deter Aphrodite from her extramarital activities. Among her mortal lovers, the most famous was Adonis. Perhaps the most celebrated of Aphrodite's affairs was her relationship with Ares, the god of war. Aphrodite had a festival of her own, the Aphrodisia: sexual intercourse with her priestesses was considered just one of the methods of worship.

Now, let’s assume that I am writing the book Sexuality of Gods, The first 15 billion years. Then, of course, I’m very much into Aphrodite’s body and mind. Here is what I see from the close analysis of the musculature of the famous Venus de Milo. Obviously, statue’s missing arms did not hold the drapery: the lower body curving is typical of the body movement aiming the drapery to slide all the way down. She was holding both arms out: one, the left, she held high and a little back, on the shoulder of her current lover (e.g. Adonis), and with the other (the more dexterous right) she was holding Adonis’ "spindle". Her gaze rests about where the dexterous hand would be, naturally. In those positions lies the story.

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