As everyone knows, I hate and oppose the current proliferation of images and narratives implying that women are weak, passive and vulnerable by nature. Not long ago I wrote about anatomical fundamentalism, illustrated with a nice anime of a spider woman who may not have a penis but she is certainly scary. Now as a mid-August doldrums celebration, I offer these images from a not-so-far-off past, not to say that man-eating is better but to remind us all that our present zeitgeist is only that and will pass. It’s proof that the idea that we are always progressing is wrong.
In the 1950s even girl children could be powerful!
None of these accuse women of deadliness on account of carrying disease – that collection is marvellous for different reasons.
–Laura Agustín, the Naked Anthropologist