Phallus

A phallus is a penis. Any object that visually resembles a penis or acts as a symbol for it may also be referred to as a phallus; however, such objects are more correctly referred to as being phallic. Such symbols often represent the fertility and cultural implications that are associated with the male sexual organ.

Etymology

Via Latin, and Greek φαλλος, from Indo-European *bhļ--no-, from root *bhel- "to inflate, swell"; compare Old Norse boli = "bull", Old English bulluc = "bullock", Greek φαλλη = "whale". ^*

In physical anatomy

The term phallus refers to the erect male penis. It is sometimes also used to refer to the clitoris of a female, particularly during fetal development before sexual differentiation is evident.

It also refers to the male sexual organ of certain birds, which differs anatomically from a true (i.e. mammalian) penis; see Bird anatomy.

In art

Ancient sculptures of phalli have been found in many parts of the world, notably among the vestiges of ancient Greece and Rome; it is also common in India where the phallus (i.e. lingam) is a symbol of Shiva.

The Hohle phallus, a 28,000-year-old siltstone phallus discovered in the Hohle Fels cave and first assembled in 2005, is among the oldest phallic representations known.

Shakespeare often incorporated phallic symbols into his plays; swords and knives, for example, were phallic symbols representing the masculinity of their wielders.

In religion

In anthropology, phallicism or phallic worship refers to the ritual adoration of the human penis, or the phallus. Elements of phallicism have been found in many cultures, including Ancient Greece, certain Hindu sects in India and in Sumeria.

Shaivism

The Lingam, or Linga by some etymologists, is still used in Shaivism as a symbol for the worship of the Hindu God Shiva. The use of this symbol as an object of worship is a timeless tradition in India. Mainstream scholars connect the origin of the lingam to the early Indus Valley civilisation and to phallic worship in earlier prehistoric times. The lingam is usually found with the Yoni, the symbol for the female sexual organ. However, the lingam is not regarded by Hindus as a phallic structure but as an abstract symbol of the formless God, who is beyond the sensory perception of man.

Ancient Greece

In traditional Greek mythology, Hermes was considered to be a phallic deity associated with male fertility prior to being the messenger god. His offspring Pan was often portrayed as having a constant erection.

Priapus was a Greek god of fertility whose symbol was an exaggerated phallus. The son of Aphrodite and either Dionysus or Adonis, he was the protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens, and male genitalia. His name is the origin of the medical term priapism.

Ancient Scandinavia

The Norse god Freyr was a phallic deity, representing male fertility and love.

The short story Völsa þáttr describes a family of Norwegians worshipping a conserved horse's penis.

Ancient Rome

Ancient Romans wore phallic jewelry as talismans against the evil eye.

In psychoanalysis

The symbolic version of the phallus, a phallic symbol is meant to represent male generative powers. According to Sigmund Freud's theory of psychoanalysis, while males possess a penis, no one can possess the symbolic phallus. Jacques Lacan's Ecrits: A Selection includes an essay titled The Significance of the Phallus which articulates the difference between "being" and "having" the phallus. Men are positioned as men insofar as they are seen to have the phallus. Women, not having the phallus, are seen to "be" the phallus, within a heterosexual framework. The symbolic phallus is the concept of being the ultimate man, and having this is compared to having the divine gift of God.

In "Gender Trouble", Judith Butler explores Freud's and Lacan's discussions of the symbolic phallus by pointing out the connection between the phallus and the penis. She writes, "The law requires conformity to its own notion of 'nature'. It gains its legitimacy through the binary and asymmetrical naturalization of bodies in which the phallus, though clearly not identical to the penis, deploys the penis as its naturalized instrument and sign" (135). In Bodies that Matter, she further explores the possibilities for the phallus in her discussion of The Lesbian Phallus. If, as she notes, Freud enumerates a set of analogies and substitutions that rhetorically affirm the fundamental transferability of the phallus from the penis elsewhere, then any number of other things might come to stand in for the phallus (62).

In gender studies

In cultural terms, phallocentrism is used to describe a male-centered doctrine or behavior, and sometimes refers to patriarchy, while gynocentrism is used to describe female-centered doctrine or behavior, and sometimes refers to matriarchy. Furthermore, the term yonic has often been used to describe something as vaginal and is considered the counterpart to the term phallic.

In fiction

In the novel The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown describes the Eiffel Tower as a thousand-foot phallus.

Notes

References

Sexology | Sexuality and society | Symbols | psychoanalysis | Penis

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