Porn Rocks

Ooh la la.

Researchers have discovered illustrations of female anatomy in a rock shelter in France that date back 37,000 years.

It is “the oldest evidence of any kind of graphic imagery,” said Randall White, an anthropologist at New York University and one of the researchers working on the project.

The drawings include what appear to be images of the female vulva, illustrated by circles with small slits on one side. “You see this again and again and again,” Dr. White said.   There are also very simple images, in profile, of animals, including horses and lionlike big cats, he said.– NYTimes

Study Questions

1. Why is it unsurprising — even predictable — that this primitive erotic artwork is located in France?  Because it’s art, because it’s erotic, or a combination of these?  Discuss your response without using the word “surrender.”
2. Do you think it is more likely that the artist(s) was (were) male or female, or, if a collaboration, were both genders involved?   Which gender is more likely to draw obscenities on walls today?  Use your response in a discussion of evolution, or the lack of it.
3. If the National Endowment for the Arts had been around back then, would this project qualify for a grant?  Would a handful of conservative Congressman then cite the artwork as an obscene waste of taxpayer money and try to shut down the NEA?  Use your response in a discussion of evolution, or the lack of it.  Again.
4. What’s wrong with this sentence fragment: “The drawings include what appear to be images of the female vulva…..”    What does this say about newspapers’ efforts to save money by firing proofreaders?
5. Why do you suppose that the wall also featured drawings of animals?  Is there a natural connection between, say, a vulva and a big cat?  Discuss your response without using the word “pussy.”  Or, never mind.  It’s almost summer.  Go ahead and say whatever you want.

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