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The fear of women is a phenomenon that has captivated the imagination of people everywhere. From movies like Alien (Creed, 1986) and Basic Instinct, to the folklore of peoples from South America, North America, India, Siberia, Polynesia, and Australia (the list can go on), the danger perceived of women is of a sexual nature. This fear manifests itself in the form of symbols, specifically symbols that suggest the danger of the female genitalia itself. Probably the most direct and violent of these symbols is the vagina dentata motif F547.1.1.1 This motif occurs in a widespread geographical area, as well as crosses the lines of social and economic differences. In one form or another, the vagina dentata motif exists as a representation of the fear of castration inside the vagina.
This article explores how psychoanalytic theory, when coupled with folkloristic data,2 can explain the origins of fears through the analysis of symbols. Both psychoanalysts and folklorists have made various attempts to explore the depths of the dangerous feminine in analyzing the vagina dentata motif. For example, Abraham (1923) studies the spider as a devouring vaginal symbol in dreams and relates this to the “angry mother” or “woman with a penis” scenario. In these cases, the vagina castrates in order to compensate for being “castrated” (Abraham, 1923). More recently, Legman (1964) gives evidence of the vagina dentata motif in the northern European context in the form of a crab inside the vagina. Other related motifs include the piranha (Chagnon, 1968) inside the vagina, as well as motif K1222 snake or eel introduced inside the vagina, and the Poison Damsel motif K582 (Penzer, 1952).
Solimar Otero is a bibliographer for the Anthropology Department, U.C. Berkeley, and a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, Folklore Department.
Address correspondence to Solimar Otero, The University of Pennsylvania, Department of Folklore and Folklife, 3440 Market