The "Vagina Dentata" and the "Immaculatus Uterus Divini Fontis"

Author(s): Jill Raitt

Source: Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 48, No. 3 (Sep., 1980), pp. 415-431
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1462869
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TheJournalof theAmericanAcademyof Religion,XLVIII/3,

The VaginaDentataand the

ImmaculatusUterusDiviniFontis
Jill Raitt

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this article is to explore two primordialimages
which have provided a foundation for the caricaturesof woman that
are dominant in Christian theology and practice, the images of the
uterus
vaginadentata("vagina-with-teeth")and that of the immaculatus
divinifontis("immaculatewomb of the divine font"). In her treatment
of the vagina dentata, which she interprets as an expression of the
universalmale fear of the "castratingfemale," the authorconsidersthe
manifestations of the image in Christian church history, what has
happenedto women who have been the objects of the fear represented
by the image, and how the male-dominatedchurchhas neutralizedthe
female threat.
While one might initiallysuppose that the immaculatus
uterusdivini
fontis provides a positive counterpartfor the decidedly negative image
of the vaginadentata,the authorasserts that it is in realitya symbol of
woman as an utterlypassiverecipient.
In the last section of the article, the author argues that the use of
the metaphorof the perilousjourney to describe life derives from the
myth of the vaginadentataand from the myths of birth and rebirth
related to it. She goes on to consider the possibility of viewing life
through an image drawn from woman's experience of herself and
suggests that the cosmic egg might be such an image. Finally, the
articleexplores the implicationsof this image shift.

Jill Raitt is Associate Professor of HistoricalTheology at the Divinity School,

Duke University, and President-Electof the AAR. She is the author of The
EucharisticTheologyof TheodoreBeza (1972) as well as of articles in various
journals.The present articlewas first presentedat PittsburghTheologicalSeminaryon April 6, 1979.

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JillRaitt

n thisessay,I shallexaminetwoprimordial
imagesthatunderlie

the caricaturesof womanthat dominatein Christiantheology

and praxis.The first is the vaginadentata,or "vagina-withteeth."The secondis the roundvessel, the brimmingbowl, or as the
Easterliturgynames the baptismalfont, the immaculatus
uterusdivini
wombof the divinefont."
fontis,the "immaculate
The vaginadentataor "vagina-with-teeth"
is an ancient, widely
known,if not widelydiscussed,mythicaltheme.It is also the subjectof
male dreamsand fears. It is one of the most basic
twentieth-century
notionsunderlyingmen's fearof women.The vaginadentatavisualizes,
for males,the fearof entryinto the unknown,of the darkdangersthat
must be controlledin the ambivalentmysterythatis woman.The teeth
must be removed!If the teeth are not removed,the malefearsthathis
penis or testicles,or both, will be shearedaway.Fromthis primalfear
emergethe storiesand figurinesthat have been repeatedfrom earliest
times to the present,from New Zealandto North Americato India
(Elwin, 1943; 1949:354-55;O'Flaherty,1980:203).When we have
lookedat some of these storiesandpracticesbasedon these stories,we
shallask, first,in whatformsthey reappearin Christianchurchhistory;
second, what happensto women who are objectsof such fear; third,
how the male-dominatedchurch neutralizesthe female threat; and
fourth,whatcan be done to correctthe distortionthata one-sidedand
falsely-foundedinterpretationof the basic male-femalerelationhas
thrustuponus all.
I. The VaginaDentata

I shallbeginby tellingstories.The firstis a BaigastoryfromIndia.

There was a Baigagirl who looked so fierce and angry, as if there was
magic in her, that for all her beauty, no one daredto marryher. But she
was full of passion and longed for men. She had many lovers,
but-though she did not know it-she had three teeth in her vagina,and
whenevershe went to a man she cut his penis into three pieces. After a
time she grew so beautifulthat the landlordof the village determinedto
marry her on condition that she allowed four of his servants to have
intercoursewith her first. To this she agreed, and the landlordfirst sent
in a Brahminto her-and he lost his penis. Then he sent a Gond, but the
Gond said, "I am only a poor man and I am too shy to do this while you
are lookingat me." He covered the girl's face with a cloth. The two other
servants, a Baigaand an Agaria,crept quietly into the room. The Gond
held the girl down, and the Baiga thrust his flint into her vagina and
knocked out one of the teeth. The Agariainserted his tongs and pulled
out the other two. The girl wept with the pain, but she was consoled
when the landlord came in and said that he would now marry her
immediately.(Elwin, 1943:439-40)

The second is an AmericanIndianstory.

VaginaDentata

417

Then Coyote said: "We will make a woman of a deer." Then they
killed a deer. They put it undera blanketof tules. It was entirelycovered.
When the morningstar came it got up. It was a person (yokots) now. It
was a woman. Coyote said: "I will sleep with her." That night he slept
with her. In the morning he was dead. The woman was not hurt. The
prairiefalcon took a sharp water kress (kapi). He said: "Stick it in his
anus and he will get up." One of them put it in. Coyote got up hurriedly.
"Ah, I was sleepy," he said. He said: "Thatis not good. It is not sweet.
All men will die. We shall have to do it differently."Then he killed her.
He left her under the blanketover night. Then he said: "To-nightI will
try it again." Then he slept with her. In the morning he got up early.
"That is all right." he said. "This is good. We will let it be like that."
This is how peoplecame to be: deer was the mother. (Long:220)

A thirdstoryprovidesanotheraspectof the sametheme.The tale is of

the deathof Maui,the Maoritamerof the sun andthe sea:
Then Maui asked his father, "Whatis my ancestressHine-nui-te-po
like?" He answered, "What you see yonder shining so brightlyred are
her eyes. And her teeth are as sharpand hardas pieces of volcanicglass.
Her body is like that of a man. And as for the pupilsof her eyes, they are
jasper.And her hairis like the tanglesof long seaweed.And her mouth is
like that of a barracouta."

Mauirecountedhis greatdeeds and determinedto slay Hine-nui-te-po

andso assureeverlastinglife to all people:
The young hero went forth to look for companionsto accompany
him upon this enterprise.There came to him for companions,the small
robin, and the large robin, and the thrush, and the yellow-hammer,and
every kind of little bird, and the water-wagtail.These all assembled
together,and they all startedwith Mauiin the evening, and arrivedat the
dwellingof Hine-nui-te-po,and found her fast asleep.
Then Mauiaddressedthem all, "My little friends,now if you see me
creep into this old chieftainess,do not laugh at what you see. Nay, nay,
do not, I prayyou, but when I have got altogetherinside her, andjust as
I am coming out of her mouth, then you may shout with laughterif you
please." His little friends, who were frightenedat what they saw, replied,
"Oh, sir, you will certainlybe killed." He answeredthem, "If you burst
out laughingat me as soon as I get inside her, you will wake her up, and
she will certainlykill me at once, but if you do not laugh until I am quite
inside her, and am on the point of coming out of her mouth, I shall live,
and Hine-nui-te-powill die." His little friends answered, "Go on then,
bravesir, but praytake good care of yourself."
Then the young hero started off. He twisted the strings of his
weapontight roundhis wrist,and went into the house. He strippedoff his
clothes, and the skin on his hips looked mottledand beautifulas that of a
mackerel, from the tattoo marks, cut on it with the chisel of Uetonga,
and he enteredthe old chieftainess.
The little birdsnow screwedup their tiny cheeks, trying to suppress
their laughter.At last the little Tiwakawakacould no longer keep it in,
and laughed out loud, with its merry, cheerful note. This woke the old
womanup. She opened her eyes, startedup, and killed Maui.
Thus died this Maui we have spoken of. But before he died he had
children,and sons were born to him....Accordingto the traditionsof the

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Jill Raitt
Maori, this was the cause of the introductionof death into the world.
(Hinenui-te-po was the goddess of death. If Maui had passed safely
through her, then no more human beings would have died, but death
itself would have been destroyed.)We express it by saying, "The waterwagtaillaughingat Maui-tiki-tiki-oTarangamade Hine-nui-te-posqueeze
him to death." And we have this proverb,"Men make heirs, but death
carriesthem off." (Eliade:142-44)

It does not take a great deal of psychological sophistication to

understandwhat is at work in these stories. Men fear women. They fear
that in intercoursewith women they may be castrated,that they may be
laughed at, that they may die. The woman's power must therefore be
neutralizedby "pullingthe teeth" from her vagina or by killing her first
and then remakingher as a nonthreatening,procreativepartner.
The myth passes into Judaeo-Christianliteraturein the apocryphal
book of Tobit. In this story, Tobias, son of Tobit, is led by the Angel
Gabriel to marry Sarah, daughter of Raguel. "Sarahwas reproachedby
her father's maids, because she had been given to seven husbands, and
the evil demon Asmodeus had slain each of them, before he had been
with her as his wife" (3:7-8). Deeply grieved, Sarahconsideredhanging
herself, but instead turned to prayer:"Thou knowest, O Lord, that I am
innocent of any sin with man....Alreadyseven husbands of mine are
dead. Why should I live?"(3:14-15). Sarah's prayerwas heard. When
she and Tobias were married,prudentRaguel dug a grave while Tobias,
following Gabriel'sinstructions,burned the heart and liver of a miraculous fish upon the live ashes of incense. The smoke drove the demon
Asmodeus to the remotest parts of Egypt where the angel bound him
(8:1-3). Tobias then prayed,expressingthe sincerityof his intentions in
marryingSarah.Earlyin the morning Raguel checked on the pair, found
them sleeping, joyfully ordered the grave closed and prepareda fourteen-day weddingfeast (8:4-9)!
In this instance, the dangerous young woman is exorcised and the
jealous demon driven away.The crude earliermyths have been spiritualized, but in a direction dangerous for women. Sarah is not unlike a
"poison maiden"whose embrace, or sometimes even her sweat, is fatal.
The likeness of the poison maiden to the vaginadentatais marked by
both Elwin (1943:447)and Wendy O'Flaherty(187).
Let us examine this phenomenon further. Students of the history of
religion have long been aware of a peculiarityof feminine symbols as
over against masculinesymbols. Great symbols, e.g., water and sky, are
frequently androgynous,i.e., they have the potential to become either
male or female. When cultures begin to elaborateupon creationstories,
symbols break into masculine and feminine. At this point, the masculine symbols become primarily"positive," e.g., Law and Order; bright
blue, unchangingsky (dayus, deus, day); the right side (dextera,dexterous). The feminine symbols retain ambiguity, but the "negative" side
dominates, e.g., Chaos; dark, hidden pools full of mystery and danger,
salty oceans hiding threateningdangersand fearfulpowers, opaqueearth

VaginaDentata

419

that must be husbanded,tamed;night, the left side (sinistra,sinister).

Underthe sky, the earthbroodsand breeds,bringingforthboth good
andevil offspring./1/In short,masculinesymbolstend to becomeclear,
rational,seed-sowers,originsof law and order.Ambiguityentersin the
legislator'sneed to enforce, so that war gods are both terribleand
protective.Butone knowswhatto expectfroma wargod, dependingon
whetherone is friend or foe. Femininesymbolsremainmysterious,
cavernous,unpredictable,
dangerous:at once life-bearingand deathdealing.
Whathas happenedhere?Withregardto theiractualsexualpowers,
both male and female retain ambiguities.If the male organs are
exterior,i.e., visibleor clearand erectable,thatis, potent,they are also
vulnerableand deflatable,that is, impotentand subjectto derision.If
the female organsare interior,i.e., invisible,mysterious,and always
ready,thatis, alwayspotential,they arealso vulnerable,thatis, rapable.
are not gatheredup in the developing
But all of these characteristics
masculineand femininesymbols.The negativeside of the masculine
symbolsis suppressed;the negativeside of the femininesymbolsis
exaggeratedand even renderedterribleby the projectiononto the
feminineof the killingnegativemasculine,i.e., of an invaginatedpenis
aculeatusor toothor snake(Elwin,1943:452;1949:355).
ErichNeumann/2/ uses are
Althoughthe Jungianinterpretations
too influencedby male dominatedpsychological
structuresto be taken
as guidesin our search,we mayneverthelessuse the objectiveinformation, the stories and picturesthat Neumannhas reproduced.Of the
vaginadentatawe learnthat "the destructiveside of the Feminine,the
destructiveand deadlywomb,appearsmost frequentlyin the achetypal
formof a mouthbristlingwithteeth. Thismotifof the vaginadentatais
most distinctin the mythologyof the NorthAmericanIndians....ameat
eatingfish inhabitsthe vaginaof the TerribleMother;the hero is the
man who overcomesthe TerribleMother,breaksthe teeth out of her
vagina,andso makesher into a woman"(168).Neumanncontinuesby
identifyingthe teeth with the negativemasculine.Now while I grant
that I am dealingwithcomplexpsychological
notions,I wantto look at
the facts of the myths and their influenceas simplyas possible-and,
obviously,as a womanwho has (1) neverexperienced,dreamedabout,
or foundcrediblein any sense, a vaginadentata,and (2) not foundthe
"Mother"to be anymoreterriblethanthe "Father"./3/
II. Pullingthe Teeth
WolfgangLederer,M.D., in his book TheFearof Women,has a
chapterentitled "A Snappingof Teeth." The chapteris repletewith
myths of the vaginadentataand storiesof how, in fact, women were
and are treated as a result. Lederer says that the myth is "incredibly
prevalent." A hero must break out the teeth to make women safe for

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JillRaitt

intercourse.In fact, in many societies virgins were defloweredby

someone other than their husbands.The toothbreaker
hero may be a
relative,a priest,or a man speciallyappointedto the task. Or all the
male weddingguests may lie with the bridethe firstnight to disseminate her awful,concentratedpower./4/Obviously,the bride'sreaction
customis not recorded!I willnot repeatall the stories,
to this barbaric
but I will relatewhat becamecustomaryin some places.The Nandi
tribes of Africa feared that the clitoris was a tooth and practiced
is practiced
clitoridectomy.
Amongthe Dogon of Africa,clitoridectomy
for more subtlereasons,but fear of the equalityof the woman,of her
"maleness,"is neverthelessexpressed:"Theclitorisof the girlis in fact
a symbolictwin, a male makeshiftwith which she cannotreproduce
herself,andwhich,on the contrary,willpreventher frommatingwitha
man.Justas God sawthe earth'sorganrise againsthim, so a manwho
triedto mate with an unexcisedwomanwouldbe frustratedby opposition froman organclaimingto be his equal"(Griaule:158).
is the twin of circumcision.
Both
Amongthe Dogon, clitoridectomy
are
at
but
the
sentence
is
interestoperations performed puberty,
closing
ing in that it seems to implya sense in whichcircumcisionis not so
necessaryas excisionof the female:"Thereare, therefore,a numberof
andexcision:the need
differentreasonsfor the practicesof circumcision
to rid the child (at puberty)of an evil force;the need for him to paya
blood-debt,andto payit once andfor all in termsof sex; to these may
be addedthe feeling that, for the sake of fellowship,a man, like a
frees the
woman, should suffer in his sex" (159-60). "Circumcision
childfromthe elementof femininity,but not completely.He stillhas its
shadow [of the female], which is like a diminishedfemale soul and
whichhe shareswiththe lizard.The shadowis stupid,whereasthe soul
[male]is intelligent"(160).
Manyof the storiesindicatethat when the
"teeth" are broken out, the woman no longer experiencessexual
pleasure;in fact, the operationcan result in pain for the rest of the
woman'slife.
In an excruciatingly
frankchapter,MaryDaly quotesJ. A. Verzin,
is performedandwhatit meansin
M.D., to describehow clitoridectomy
terms of continuingpain (156)./5/ "Excision"is there describedas
removalof the entireclitoriswiththe labiaminoraandsome or most of
the externalgenitalia.Two other types of more cruel and debilitating,
are given from Verzin'sarticontinuallypainful"femalecircumcision"
cle. Both includeinfibulation,a scarringand, in effect, closingof the
vaginawhichmust be cut open for intercourseand childdelivery.This
is indeeda killingand remakingof the woman,deprivingher of sexual
pleasureand reducingher to a reproductiveinstrumentof her husband'spleasure.The operationitself,done on girlsapproaching
puberty,
is horrifying,done withoutanesthesiaand never with surgicallysharp
and cleaninstruments(163). Whyis this done? To renderthe woman
harmlessto men.

VaginaDentata

421

Women are then cut and shaped, quite literally,into a "female

character"as definedby men. Whateverseems to be "male"in them
must be cut away.Althoughin some storiesthe vaginais thoughtto be
inhabitedby a poisonoussnake, in all cases the phallicnatureof the
dangerouspartof the female sex organis stressed.Womenare then
bound into a female character.If women dare to be aggressive,to
wanderbeyondthe boundariesset for them, whetherin Africanvillages
or in moresubtlymale-dominated
societies,they arejudgedbeyondthe
in
and
pale
punishedby gang-rape, the firstcase physically(Daly:chap.
in
the
secondcasein farmoresubtle,but no less realforms.On the
5),
otherhand,the breakingof the teeth by the maleis itselfan adventure,
as Lederercorrectlyinterprets:"The breakingof the vaginalteeth by
in the darkand hiddendepthsof the vagina,is
the hero, accomplished
the exactequivalentof the heroicjourneyinto the underworld
and the
the
of
hell-bound
Cerberus
toothy
by Herakles.Darkness,
taming
depth,deathandwoman-they belongtogether"(49). The theme of the
masculinejourneyis one to whichI shallreturn.
I have indicatedthe universalfearof the "castrating
female"andthe
effortsto pull her teeth, that is, take awayher powerand changeher
from a witch to a woman, from a powerful"other" to a docile,
tractable,domesticatedproperty.How are these male notions of the
in churchhistory?
femaleinterpreted
The Tamingof Eve
Tertullian,as is now too well known,calledwomanthe gate of hell.
He was not speakingas a Christiantheologian,althoughI'm sure he
thoughthe was, and so othershave understoodhim to have spoken.
of womanas "devourNo, Tertullianwasvoicingan ancientcorrelation
er." Female goddesses, driven underground,became hell's keepers
from Izanagiof Japanto Kore/Persephone.
It is not astonishing,then,
that when medievalChristiandefendersof orthodoxy,both doctrinal
and moral, equated heretics and witches, or rather looked upon
witchcraftas a particularly
dreadfulform of heresy, the devil became
prominentas the objectof witchworship.Fromthen on, male witches
almostdisappeared,
sincecoituswiththe devil, a rite of femalewitches,
becamea primarycharacteristic
of witchdedication.
Two authorsof workson witchcraft,H. R. Trevor-Roper
and J. B.
Russell,admitthatthe "realreasonfor the persecutionlies deeperthan
the reasongiven,"but Trevor-Roper
pusheshis analysisno fartherthan
social nonconformity.Russell goes deeper:"The fear of women lies
deepin the mythicconsciousnessof men. The assortedconceptsbehind
this feararecommonlyrecognized-Ido not proposeto discusshere the
formsof the hag, the phallicmother,or the fertilekillerthat populate
the mythologies of the world; it seems probable that the Inquisitors'

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Jill Raitt

idea of the female witch is an expressionof them. The Christian

traditionfrom the very beginningincorporatedthe ancient fear of
women"(283).
This ancientfear of women is focusedon the anatomyand sexual
functioningof women,so mysteriousandthereforethreateningto men.
An explicitlocus of men's fearof womenoccursin a sixteenth-century
medicaltextbook,influencedby the second-century
physicianGalen.An
Italiananatomist,ProsperoBorgarucci
wrote:"Natureplacedthe female
testiclesinternally....Woman
is a most arrogantand extremelyintractable animal;andshe wouldbe worseif she cameto realizethatshe is no
less perfectandno less fit to wearbreechesthanman....Ibelievethatis
why nature,whileendowingher withwhatis necessaryfor our procreation, did so in such a way as to keep her from perceivingand
her sufficientperfection.On the contrary....to
checkwomascertaining
continual
nature
to
so
desire
an's
dominate,
arrangedthings that every
time she thinks of her supposedlack, she may be humbled and
shamed"(121-22).
A carefulreadingof this text revealsthe same mentalitythat we
have noted in the mythsof the vaginadentata.Womanhas everything,
testiclesandpenis,as wellas wombandbreasts.She is ableto dominate
(readcastrate)males and so nature(readman) keeps her ignorantof
her "sufficientperfection,"indeed continuallymakesher feel inferior
text repeatsattitudesof earlier
(read castratesherfirst). Borgarucci's
Of the latter,the most egregious
writers,bothmedicalandecclesiastical.
areHeinrichKramerandJacobSprenger,the two Dominicaninquisitors
who wrotethe MalleusMaleficarum,
which,as Russellnotes, has to do
with femaleevildoers,since the genderof maleficarum
is feminineand
not genderinclusive.Surprisingly,
however, the treatisecontainsone
chapter,16, entitled"Ofthreewaysin whichmen andnot womenmay
be discoveredto be addictedto witchcraft...."
But these are exceptions
and, contraryto Latin grammar,do not change maleficaruminto
malejicorum.
Addressingthe issue of "whya greaternumberof witches
is found in the fragilesex than amongmen," the Dominicansassert,
among much else equallyabsurd:"Whatelse is womanbut a foe to
friendship,an unescapablepunishment,a necessaryevil, a natural
temptation,a desirablecalamity,a domesticdanger,a delectabledetriment, an evil of nature,paintedwithfaircolors!"And furtheron: "All
witchcraftcomes from carnallust, which is in women insatiable.See
ProverbsXXX: there are three things that are never satisfied,yea a
fourththing which says not, It is enough:that is, the mouthof the
womb.Whereforefor the sake of fulfillingtheirlusts they consorteven
withdevils"(28-29; emphasismine)./6/ The Malleuspassagethen ends
"Andblessedbe the Highestwho has so farpreservedthe
triumphantly:
malesex fromso greata crime:for sinceHe waswillingto be bornand
to sufferfor us, thereforeHe has grantedto men this privilege."

VaginaDentata

423

Among other horrible deeds, witches can enchant a man so that

he-and others-is convinced that he has lost his penis. The witch gathered penises and kept them in boxes where they moved about and were
fed on corn! The deprivedmale had then to cajole or force the witch to
return him his lost "member." "For a certain man tells that, when he
had lost his member, he approacheda known witch to ask her to restore
it to him. She told the afflictedman to climb a certaintree, and that he
might take which he liked out of a nest in which there were several
members. And when he tried to take a big one, the witch said: You
must not take that one; adding, because it belonged to a parish priest"
(93).
Nor was there any way out for an accused witch. Indeed, Joan of
Arc's trial-and Joan illustrates the fate of women who dress and act
like men-follows the pattern of "promise her anything, get her to
confess, then burn her," advocatedby the authors of Malleus (213-21).
Life was promised for a confession including the names of other
witches, but then the judge either withheld from the accused the fact
that her life would be lived in prison on bread and water or he turned
the case over to another judge who felt free to sentence her to death.
These are some of the dreadful things done to women because of the
supposed powers projectedonto them by male fantasy.
Are we beyond such fantasies? Lederer writes: " I have also heard
many men report on dreams in which they had lost their penis, or
attributeda normal or invaginatedpenis to a woman; I do not recall a
woman ever reportinga dream in which she herself had a penis" (215).
And again: "A patient of mine, a highly skilled engineer, recently
compared the vagina to the rotating drum of a rock-crushing
machine....and another, also mechanicallyinclined, imagined a set of
rotating knives, as in a meat grinder" (217). I suggest that this male
projection of the male's own fragile-potentsex onto women, and his
fear that woman's use of it could nullify his position, make him
unnecessary, castrate him, lies behind the male inability to deal constructively and positively with the mysterious "otherness" of women.
The male reaction is to "kill her first" as coyote killed deerwoman.
Psychologically,this has meant the inability to see women as other
human persons and the locking of women into mythical stereotypes.
From the primalfear expressed in the vaginadentatastories has come
the cruel treatment of women by which their teeth were pulled (clitoridectomy, both actual and psychological). After such an operation,
women became tractable,tamed, obedient daughtersand faithfulwives.
The images lie at the base of ecclesiastical symbols of women.
Woman is not allowed to be simply herself, rather she may be a virgin,
i.e., on the way to tame masculinity through asexuality: "As long as
woman exists for birth and children, she is as different from man (vir)
as body is from soul. But once she wishes to serve Christmore than the
world, she will cease to be a woman and will be called 'man' (vir), since

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Jill Raitt

we all desire to progress 'to the perfect man"' (Coyle:59). Or she is a

mother, i.e., described in relation to a child, a relationshipwhich in
itself is ambiguous, but at least results in "tying her down" to a
domestic hearth. Or she is a whore, a temptress, a destroyer of reason
and a diverter of ambition, in short, an obstacle. That these are unreal
projections helps us to understand why sermons, art, treatises, etc.,
denigratewomen or set them on pillarsmarked "virgin/mother"where
they are safely out of the way. Yet in dealing with individualwomen,
these same authors often write quite differently,as may be observed in
letters to women from Augustine, Ignatius of Loyola, and others. But
the experience of these men with intelligent, balanced women never
seems to alter the stereotypes.The fear of woman dominates, and these
"exceptional"women are instead labelled "virile" or "manly," that is,
they are endowed with those masculine virtues which are noncompetitive/aggressive: intelligence, honesty, bravery, etc. But should these
same women move into competition with men, should they "forget
their place," they will be quicklydubbed unfeminine and "mannish"in
the bad sense. They will need to have that assertive nature, that long
tooth, pulled out of them "for their own good" and for "the good of
the species."
III. Immaculatusuterusdivinifontis
In the hope of providing a "positive" feminine image in Christian
history, I turned to the baptismalfont and the blessing given it in the
Easter liturgy. The following prayer of blessing is from the Holy
SaturdayEaster Vigil and dates at least from the sixth century, with
parts of it coming from the second century. "May the Holy Spirit, by
the secret admixture of his power (numinis,earlier luminis) fecundate
this water preparedfor the regeneration of men (hominis): so that,
having been conceived by sanctification,a heavenly progeny, reborn
into a new creature, may emerge from the immaculate womb of the
divine font" (my translation). After more prayers, the celebrant sinks
the paschal candle, lit earlier in the ceremony, three times into the
water, singing each time: "May the power (virtus) of the Holy Spirit
descend into this full font." With the candle standing upright in the
font, the priest breathes three times upon the water and continues:
"And fecundate the whole substance of this water with the effect of
regeneration."The explicit sexuality of this liturgicalaction is startling.
The editors of the St. Andrew Bible Missal felt it necessary to omit the
dippingrubricand instead introducedthe accompanyingprayerwith this
explanation:"The gestures which are made from now on were introduced long after the prayers. They represent an effort arising in
medieval Europe to demonstrate the meaning of the ancient formula."
It is a puritanavoidance of describingin print, and of making excuses
for what the editors must have felt was a crass gesture.

VaginaDentata

425

The immaculatebowl, waiting to be filled, is a male understanding

of a useful, even laudablevirgin-mother.Mary and the church are both
understood behind this language.The openness, passivity, and shallowness of this bowl, or in ancient times, baptismalpool, declare that it is
not armed with teeth. There is no dark threatening passage to be
daringly penetrated here! All is quiet, clean, clear, welcoming, and
placid. And yet birth remains mysterious; so the numinalpower of the
Holy Spirit, considered here as male, is the mysterious regenerative
force. The water and its bowl remain utterly passive. They are only
media for the action of the male Christand the male Spiritwhose power
over both bowl and wateris absolute.
This, I submit, is the clericalmodel for women who are wives and
mothers. Intractableas they are, women must somehow be either
reborn as men or reduced to limpid, and limp, passivity.They are to be
convenient, nonthreateningmedia for the inpouringof male seed which
they are to keep safe and nourish, passively, without contaminatingthat
seed with anything of themselves. The immaculatusuterusdivinifontis is
the ecclesiasticaldream to offset the nightmareof the vaginadentata.
When I began to write this essay, I had committed myself to dealing
with one negative and one positive image. I was determined to offset
the terrible vagina dentata with something gentle and hopeful. But it
wasn't working.Why? Because I had bought the valuations "negative"
and "positive." I was aware of fighting the "negative" valuation and
based my battle on the fact that biologically,vaginas have no teeth. But
the "positive" valuation of the uterus I did not question. Once again I
had fallen into the trapof "accommodating"to the culture which names
me and my sexual equipment accordingto male perceptions.How hard
it is for us women to climb the fences of our "culture" (or their
culture) and to stand beyond the pale! Why shouldn't it be difficult?
The punishmentfor wanderingfrom our safe, father/husbandprotected
hearth, for venturing forth, is gang rape. I was afraidto be an irritating
feminist. After I had dealt with the vaginadentata,I felt I had somehow
to placatereaderswith the limpid, gentle, sweet "brimmingbowl." I did
not want to be labelledan "adventuress,"or wanton woman who, when
she leaves the compound, "gets what she deserves" when she is
assaulted. The adventurer-heroeswould undoubtedly correct the evil
adventuress!
Why should I accept, and deliver to others, the male notion that the
baby-producingwomb is "positive"? To say so is not to praise the
womb, but to render negative whatever is not-womb. Womb has
become a symbol of a passive recipientin this context. It is a bowl, like
the baptismalfont, into which water is poured and a candle is lowered.
It producesnothing of itself but is made to be filled.

Jill Raitt

426

IV. Correctingthe Distortion

The journey theme is one of the most ancient means of describing
life. Religions are called ways or paths, from the shaman's perilous
journey through the three worlds, through the Tao and the mystic way.
Along this way, one must pass through hell, through earthly temptations and trials, and even, as in St. Paul, do battle with the powers of
the air. The way is charted through a three-storied universe which
broke the ancient circularityof realityinto horizontaland verticalplanes
and lines. These perilousjourneys through dark passages are, I think,
derived from the myth of the vaginadentataas well as from that of birth
and rebirthrelatedto it. In fact, Elwin makes that very point by quoting
several passagesfrom G. Roheim in which "the hero of the folk-talehas
frequentlyto pass through crushing rocks or smiting doors and usually
he does not come quite unscathed from the ordeal." Among the
examples which follow are several from Homer,/7/ and others from
Asia and America.In one of the other tales, a door cuts off the finger of
the hero as he pulls his magic staff from its place holding the door ajar.
The hero then meets "a woman whose vagina is full of teeth." The
hero uses his same magic staff to breakout the teeth. Roheim's analysis
is that the closing door and the toothy vagina mean the same thing. The
danger of intercoursein Roheim's last example is Maui, the Maorihero
killed tryingto pass throughthe vagina of the terriblegoddess.
The journey theme, it seems to me, is fundamentallya male image
in myths all over the world. The lone hero or the lonely leader must
prove himself courageousand thus, and thusonly, win the fair maid, the
treasure, and the kingdom. How many of our own fairy tales and
chivalrous legends portrayan eager hero who must go through many
perils and eventually kill the dragon (pull the teeth) in order to win the
fair young maid and her treasure (the brimmingbowl)?
Would it not be possible to consider life under an image drawnfrom
woman's experience of herself as well as from the male "rite of
passage"?Could not the cosmic egg be such an image? It is one of the
earliest myths of cosmogenesis. On this model, there would be no
overcoming of a negatively conceived chaos by a positively viewed
principle of law and order; no thrusting of a spear into frightening
depths; no splittingof Tiamat by the war god Marduk.There would be
no journey through perilous passages, but rather a slow unfolding of
what is within the shell to the multiplicity of the universe. It is a
passageless birth. Its symbol is the circle or the lotus with neither
beginning nor end, but rather an enfolding and an unfolding. The
ancient uroborus, snake though it be, yet holds its tail in its mouth and
encirclesreality,retainingits androgynousambiguity.
Perhapswe do not have to develop our women's stories and images
out of whole cloth. The earliest symbols we know may be congenial to

VaginaDentata

427

women because, perhaps,they are from women. And they may prove to
be congenialto the whole human race, male as well as female.
Even our church history preserves some of these insights. The
amazing twelfth-centuryrenaissance owed much to the rediscovery of
nature and the celebrationof microcosm-macrocosm,or the little circle
concentrating within itself, like the cosmic egg, the contents and
complexities of the larger circle of the universe. The twelfth century
owed as much to this development as it did to the destructivecrusades.
The mystics saw this and, breakingimages, spoke as did Bernardand
Juliana of Norwich, of God the Mother and Jesus the Mother. Later,
out of the same microcosmic-macrocosmicinsight, Jacob Boehme saw
the beauty of wisdom, Sophia, and the primordiallypositive role of the
female. It is not as though women had to leave behind everything and
start totally afresh. We can explore creativelythose myths and symbols
which we sense are true to our own nature. Then we can begin to own
our past, our psyche and ourselves as women and so lay a solid
foundation for the creative work to which we are urged by increasing
numbers of our sisters and some of our brothers.
Imagine what such a round relationalmodel would do to our stories
and ways of envisioning life./8/ It would mean that the "hero" would
cease to mount his chargerand, spear in hand, gallop off to conquer,
overcome, and snatch a trophy (virgin and treasure) as a reward.
Instead, to be human would mean to unfold the potential in each one
within society. It would mean protectingand developingthe gifts of each
in relation to others. There would be no competition because there
would be no individual prize. No one would be able to benefit at
another's expense because each would understand that it is only in
relational and contextual development of the whole that each one is
enriched. This sort of model would support the basic notion of the
mystical body of Christ in which each member is vitally affected by the
injuryor development of other members.
Our language, our culture, our fairy tales, the fundamentalshapers
of our consciousness as we grow up, might then speak of mutual
development of talents rather than of competition; of growing in
relation rather than "getting ahead." Then the story of creation might
sound something like this one which I wrote four years ago,/9/ without
fully understandingwhere it came from, and with which I conclude.
In the beginning was the all-encompassingDiversity who felt
compassiongrow powerfullywithin her. Order,yet unenlivened,searched
for being. Diversity called Order to her and embraced him. Of her
compassionand Order'sneed, life stirred.
Why should not the female genitrix be called Diversity, ratherthan
Chaos? Why should not Diversity be God, rather than Sky-Father?
What, after all, is Order all by its lonesome self? What poems were
writtenby Law?Why should anyone aspirefor greatnessunless there is a
potencyfor expression?Of what sex are the shapinghands of this world?

428

Jill Raitt
a lineargeometrical
Order,afterthe Greekfashion,is considered
figure,
it mustlie inert,perfectlyuninspired
and uninspiring.
Whatit needs is
Diversityto makeit swell out of its closedmind.Diversityshall call
Orderforth.It shalllose its rigiduprightcontroland enterthe ecstatic
dreamof becoming,andso togetherthe two shallfindlife, andnew life
shallgrowin Diversityfromtheircomingtogether.
In the beginningwasDiversityandthe Ordering
Wordwaswithher
and in her, the daughterWisdomgrew to birth, springingto earth,
playingamongus, creating,callingus into beingandinto responsibility,
andthe gloryof growingintowomenand
offeringthe fruitof knowledge
men who know themselvesas images of the procreativeprinciples,
love.
DiversityandLogos,whotogetherarea godheadbreathing

NOTES
The author wishes to thank Wendy Doniger O'Flahertyfor her encouragement and generous help in locating texts, especially the Verrier Elwin
material, and for her suggestions for revision. Thanks are also due to Anne
JacobsonShutte, CharlesH. Long, and Lloyd Baileyfor their suggestions.
/1/
See, for example, Gen. 49:25: "blessingsof heaven above, blessings of
the deep that couches beneath." See Wakeman: 86-92, esp. 88. Wakeman
likens Tehom (The Deep) to Nahash as a sea monster. The ambiguity of
Tehom retains that of Tiamat, its mythical counterpart.Even though blessings
are invoked in Gen. 49:25, the "deep that couches beneath" is similar to "the
greatdragonthat lies (couches) in the midst of his streams"or the demon lying
at the door, sin lying in wait. (Ez. 29:3 and Gen. 4:7b). Tehom, however, is
feminine, in fact, the queen of the netherworld (Wakeman:89).My colleague,
Lloyd Bailey, suggested I consult Wakeman with regard to the Gen. 49:25
passagewhich was itself broughtto my attentionby WendyO'Flaherty.
/2/
Both Naomi Goldenbergand Carol Christhave expressed their profound
distrustof Jungiananalysisin Anima 3 (Spring 1977); see especiallypp. 15-16,
66-68.
/3/
Here I take exception to Nancy Friday'sMy Mother,My Self (New York:
Dell, 1977) and in general to the continual blaming of the mother for the
psychologicalproblems of her offspring.It is time, I think, for psychology to
take another look at parents, both of them, and their effect upon the children
without the burden of Freud's mother-complex or the nineteenth century
middle class familyas normative.
/4/
This may be the forerunnerof the custom today of the "right"of male
guests to kiss the bride. On gang rape and its uses, see Brownmiller,chap. 9:
"The Myth of the Heroic Rapist."

429

VaginaDentata

/5/
Daly quotes Verzin's "Sequelae of Female Circumcision"in Tropical
Doctor (October1975), p. 163.
The biblical passage, Proverbs 30:15-16, has been a difficult one in
/6/
which biblicalscholarsfind ambiguitiesin the translationsof the Hebrew and in
Septuagint variations. Kramer and Sprenger would probably have used the
et quartum,quodnunquamdicit:
Vulgate, which reads: (15) Triasunt insaturabilia,
Sufficit! (16) Infernus,et os vulvae,et terra, quae non satiaturaqua; ignis vero
nunquamdicit:Sufficit!Cf. Migne, P.L. 28:1338. In the original biblical texts,
womb is modified in a sense which I take to mean barren. In the Hebrew
context, it is not "carnallust" which never says "Enough!"but the desire of a
barrenwoman to conceive.
/7/
Odyssey,12:85-100. Scylla is the ultimate nightmare,a female monster
armed with tentaclesand six mouths, each lined with three rows of teeth.
For the desirabilityof circularityover "patriarchalpyramids"see Neal,
/8/
especially p. 119: "we are beginning to feel the demand for a new symbol of
unity; a symbol that is circularand not pyramidal."Neal's point is that the
father is the cultural apex not only of families, but of business, politics, and
internationalrelations.
Partof my responseto a paperread at the Divinity School, Universityof
/9/
Chicago, May 1, 1975. I have changed "Matrix"to "Diversity"in this "myth"
after conversationswith Wendy O'Flahertyand Elizabeth Dobson Gray, who
honors Diversity in her book, Why the Green Nigger? (Wellesley, MA:
RoundtablePress, 1979).

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