Professor Sarah Phillips, in Politics of the American Environment, trying to prompt commentary on the painting at right, after cautious musings about “closing” and “movement”:
“Does pink have a gendered element to it?” [silence].
“This is kind of awkward, but I think we need to see this as a virginal landscape.”
Class squirms. Then she really does it.
“I think we need to see an opening. A rosy opening.”
20 Comments
@Hmmm now that I look, the pink mountain at the center could be the pleasure mound, and the darker mountains on the left and right could be her thighs – as seen from the angle where I stare up at my special lady friend after sucking on her toes.
Or something. That’s all I got.
@Actually My GF’s vajayjay looks exactly like that
@Is that what I’ll look like when I hit puberty?
@vaginitis you guys are missing the whole point of this. it’s a magic-eye picture.
if you cross your eyes and move away slowly it looks like a sailboat. a sailboat with naked chicks. naked chicks with rosy openings.
@I was there …and I had no idea what she was talking about. That’s why I hate doing or listening to analyses of works of art. Much of the time (especially if you’re a professor), you can pull pretty much anything out of your ass and someone will say, “Oh, I could see where you get that from.”
And the opening here — assuming you’re referring to the area between the clouds and the mountains — is YELLOW! If that’s what a vagina looks like, then I’ve been seriously misled by my high school health teachers (among other people, now including Sarah Phillips).
@It's It’s amazing how seeing it after thinking ‘vaginal’ completely ruins the painting.
@propers number 11 is funnier than the original post. congratulations, #11.
on another note, i had philips and recall her consistent efforts to elicit feminist and communist analyses of US History from the class…she seemed shocked whenever people bucked the dogma [eg criticizing the great society or giving reagan credit. for anything. ever.]
@Savonarola actually-
the last sentence was intentional, i’m glad someone picked up on it…
but, the rest of it is basically accurate, if a little incomplete…
@Except that you forget there’s a difference between science and art. In science, sure, there is no deeper meaning to a sunset’s pinkness than what you describe, but in art an artist’s choice of colors can absolutely have a gendered significance, or any other type of significance.
In any case though, I really don’t see anything “vaginal” about this piece. Anyway, great story Bwog. Keep em comin!
@Maude Lebowski Does the female form make you uncomfortable, Mr. Lebowski?
…
My art has been commended as strongly vaginal.
@cml this was so unsettling.
@very funny thanks bwog
@wuss a really gutsy post, anonymous
@Savonarola the pink does NOT have a gendered element to it. contrary to the professor’s statement, sunsets actually look pink because of a physical explanation. let’s see if i can furnish it…
the reason we see colors in the sky is because the molecules in the atmosphere are wobbled by the incoming electromagnetic radiation. this is similar to beach ball floating back and forth on the waves. the characteristic wobbling (specifically, the acceleration) causes the atoms to radiate light themselves, as a consequence of maxwell’s equations. despite the light coming in at all frequencies (colors), because the radiation formula is very strongly frequency dependent (small frequencies radiate much more), the blue colors radiate much more…this is why the sky is blue. now the reason we see pinks and reds is that during sunset, the rays are coming in tangent to the earth’s surface…thus it must pass through a much longer stretch of atmosphere (a quick sketch might help). thus, since the blue frequencies interact the most, most of them are removed by random scattering through so much atmosphere, and all that is left are the reds and pinks.
that professor should stop over-analyzing.
@Hurr There is nothing either good nor bad, but thinking makes it so.
Your final statement was so incongruently and unintentionally hilarious that I couldn’t resist what I felt was an appropriate quote.
@Your Your tuition dollars at work.
@lol thank you bwog. this is why i read you. now back to my serious classes.
@wait is this the sarah silverman sideways lip vagina again?
@ahhhh Ohhhhhh it’s a sunset!
@meh I appreciate it when professors try to do the whole multimedia thing, but not when it forces them to rush through the last half of their lectures in fifteen minutes. And anyway, this really wasn’t that squirm/giggle-inducing (virginal landscape! the novelty!) compared to discussions in a lot of other classes.