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Vagina dentata is Latin for toothed vagina. The tale is frequently told as a cautionary tale warning of the dangers of sex with strange women.

Cultural basis

The vagina dentata appears in the myths of several cultures, most notably in several North American Indian tribes. Erich Neumann relays one such myth in which “A meat-eating fish inhabits the vagina of the Terrible Mother; the hero is the man who overcomes the Terrible Mother, breaks the teeth out of her vagina, and so makes her into a woman.”

The vagina dentata has proven a captivating image for many artists and writers, particularly among surrealist or psycho-analytic works.

Although this myth is associated with the fear of castration, it is often falsely attributed to Sigmund Freud. Freud never mentions the term in any of his psychoanalytic work and it runs counter to his own ideas about castration. For Freud, the vagina signifies the fear of castration because the young (male) child assumes that women once had a penis that is now absent. The vagina, then, is the result of castration, not the cause of it.

The myth expresses the threat sexual intercourse poses for men who, although entering triumphantly, always leave diminished. There may also be parallels between the myth and ancient marriage laws that protected women as the property of a man.

Barbara Walker has speculated that this myth gave rise to the medieval European depiction of the opening of Hell as a giant mouth.

Anti-rape female condom

In 2005, inventor Sonette Ehlers introduced the "Rapex", an anti-rape female condom which can be inserted into the vaginal canal like a diaphragm. The product is lined with hairs which attach to a rapist's penis and which must be surgically removed. In an article about the Rapex, Ehlers stated that she was inspired to invent the device after meeting a victim who told her, "If only I had teeth down there."

Vagina dentata in popular culture

This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles.

• The web comic strip Queen of Wands included a musical tribute (sung to the tune of Hakuna Matata) to the phenomenon.
• In the South American Indian Toba-Pilaga myth of "the origin of women", a group of women with toothed vaginas appear from the sky and steal the men's meat from their roofs, though eventually the men "get the better of the toothed vaginas", as do the men in a similar Wichí myth.
• In the popular list of "50 REASONS WHY RETURN OF THE JEDI SUCKS" on the internet, the 50th and final reason is "The Sarlacc Pit as Freud's Vagina Dentate".
• One of the The Perry Bible Fellowship cartoons is about a female looking alien who has a fanged mouth instead of a vagina.
• In the series of "Burgess n Melces" by Melibe Mukade, many "dimroids" appears, the girls exchanged the position of mouth and vagina.
• In the Clone Manga webcomic Tomoyo42's Room it is implied that Tomoyo may have this as Sakura is bitten while sniffing there. It was able to bite even though she was still wearing underclothing. It could in theory be on her right inner thigh too.
• In the ArenaNet's CORPG Guild Wars Nightfall, the mother of all Stygian demons, the "Dreadspawn Maw", is a giant pulsating, tentacled and toothed orifice, which is heavily implied to be a vagina dentata.

References

1. Neumann, Erich (1955). The Great Mother. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 168. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
2. Simon, B.; Blass, R.B. (1991). Cambridge Companion to Freud: The development and vicissitudes of Freud's ideas on the Oedipus Complex. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-3779-X. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help)
3. Ducat, Stephen J. (2004). The Wimp Factor. Boston: Beacon Press. pp. 115–149.
4. Dixon, Robyn (2005). "Controversy in South Africa over device to snare rapists". Retrieved 2006-03-16. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
5. Aeire (2004). "Queen of Wands". Retrieved 2006-03-16. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
6. Lévi-Strauss, Claude (1975). The Raw and the Cooked: Introduction to a Science of Mythology: I (Le Cru et le Cuit). New York: Harper Colophon. pp. 113–114. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
7. Vebber, Dan (2001). "50 REASONS WHY RETURN OF THE JEDI SUCKS". Retrieved 2006-03-16. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
8. http://www.pbfcomics.com/?cid=0PBF41029BC-Nice_Try_Zarflax.jpg#43
9. http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/4883560120/
10. http://manga.clone-army.org/t42r.php?page=133&lang=
11. http://wiki.guildwars.com/Dreadspawn_Maw

See also

• Teeth (film) - 2007 Sundance film

External links

• Dr. Dean Edell Health Central
• Cumbersnatch, a Flash cartoon by Dean Packis

• Sexual urban legends