Venus of Willendorf Response

 This article makes me think about how different centuries view sex appeal. Even today, most of our society would generalize “Venus of Willendorf” as an unattractive woman. I think talking about this figure and reading about it makes me think of how society judges beauty on attractiveness and physical appeal. The author says, “specialness is indicated by her obesity” which I think is interesting because he made her obese on purpose, and it makes me wonder why the creator chose to make her in that exclusive way.

I think “Venus” was used to identify this statue as a symbol of women and their sexuality. Venus is a symbol of sexual love and beauty and the fact that this statuette is exposed to her naked body, the name suits very well. Also, many countries started naming their nude statuettes as some sort of “Venus” due to their exposure and exquisiteness. This term “Venus” is somewhat problematic because not all “Venus’s” have the same body shape and attractiveness. Some cultures embrace the natural body of “Venus of Willendorf” and some cultures embrace Rome’s “Capitoline Venus”, both completely different body types. The name Venus to the “Venus of Willendorf” statue is a sarcastic joke for the men because she is not as beautiful as the other women who seem much thinner and more attractive. The name “Venus” is a troubled named at times because some cultures and certain people have different views on attractiveness. Especially because “Venus” is meaning desirable, some men and women have different opinions on what is attractive and what is not. The “Venus” of Willendorf is supposed to represent the Mother of Goddess, natural beauty. The writer of this article defines beauty as attractiveness of physical and sexual traits that appeals to the eye. As centuries went on, the view of what “natural” meant soon changed. Today’s society views beauty on attractiveness just like older cultures. A good example of todays view of beauty, is the brand “Venus” razors. Whenever I see a commercial on T.V I think of how they want you to buy their razors so your clean shave will make you more attractive, therefore making you beautiful to everyone. We define beauty today to the most maximal extent, appearance and sexual appeal. In “Venus of Willendorf” case, I personally would probably never stop to look at this statue but now that I’ve read a little bit about this statue I feel knowing the background makes the statue more significant and now knowing it holds a different meaning for me, the purpose of this statue is to show a different type of natural beauty and not just what everyone thinks natural beauty is.