談女陰再現：圖像的脈絡

On the vulva representation: An image context study

女陰再現的視覺資料歷史長還，自石器時代起即普遍存在人類不同文化的塑像或岩雕等遺存中，從女陰的記號辨識出人類最早是以女性的身體再現人類的形象，以手持大小的信物、墜飾或岩雕圖像，將文字出現以前的女陰以形象記錄下來，留下後世各種空間無限的臆測，而多聚焦停留在象徵生殖與性方面的需求祈願。中世紀以後女陰再現成為城堡與公共建築上裝飾的大型結界，守護著家園，但自西方哲學家亞里斯多德等人與基督教會對女「生的貶抑繼之，女陰再現與主流價值心照不宣的矛盾並存，顯示人類對女陰再現的視覺力量抱持著複雜難解的態度；到近代佛洛伊德「陰莖崇拜」等學說建構的體系，至今男性普遍享用著社會上「男尊女卑」，家庭中「重男輕女」的優渥境遇，對女性化特質的詆毀貶抑與歧視，形塑幾千年女性普這無法在男性單一性別至上的堅實壁壘中，尋求與性別平衡的支點。二十世紀中期以後因女性主義加速女權的進程，鼓舞了女性繼啟蒙時代以來所爭取的性別平等，女性藝術家在此波衝擊裡反省歷經千年的性別壓抑，紛紛將這潛伏幾十個世紀的女陰再現搬上檯面干犯觸法，公然以展現女陰視覺力量的各種創作形式論述女性應有的同等尊嚴，在「陰莖」所代表的父權社會價值中逆轉觀看的位置。二十世紀中期以後，女性藝術家以女陰再現的藝術形式回應千年來的父權話語，在視覺藝術領域中以身體力行復興這個石器時代的女陰文脈，向父權社會發聲，期許以人道的議題喚起男女平權的社會。

The representation of vulva image holds a profound history since Paleolithic age. The archeological remains of palm size vulva figurines and vulva petroglyph in the cave prevailed all over human cultures chronically and geographically across the globe before written history. The identifiable carved vulva sign presented female figure is the first human representation made by human which left various interpretation focus on to invoke sexual and prolific wish by the scholars. Through the entire western medieval times, the vulva representation, were found as the decoration parts attached to the castles and communal buildings, from a pocket size token to a large decoration, function as enchanted shelter and homeland guardian mark. Even so, the misogynous rhetoric dated back from Hellenistic philosophers sequentially followed by Christian church, the vulva representation and the mainstream value coexistence is a tacit contradiction reveals the complicated vulva complex of human nature. The Freudian’s“Phallic worship”paradigms continue to intensify the superior masculine substantially affirmed the rhetoric enhanced women to claim for equal right in the masculine superiority predicament. Feminist accelerate the process of female right movement in the middle of 20th century dated back from the Enlightenment age and encouraged female artists reflect the chronicle gender suppress lead the art creation to evoke the lurking vulva representation transgress the secular norm since Christian era and claim for social fairness as the counterpart of patriarchy“phallus”to reverse the way of seeing. It is as a nostalgic revival of vulva representation context echoes back from prehistory and speak up for contemporary female, a signification of female autonomy from male dominant and to be self-referential that contemporary female artists create vulva rhetoric to strike against and strive for sexual equivalence with the expectation of evoke humanity concern.