fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2079 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2079 ⌋

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Okay, so I was reading a blog reviewing different series, and I started noticing a trend of "and the use of phallic weapons such as (insert any form of practical weapon known to man)" and would add on how it represented something or another. Sometimes it would say something like it was sexist for having a female character using a gun, which is a phallic symbol and therefore empowering the woman through masculinity or something.

That irritated me because it's kinda hard to get away from phallic symbolism with the majority of weapons, unless you get into bombs, traps or chemical warfare. Most common weapons used in fiction have length and/or have the ability to penetrate a person's body. What would even be a weapon that was the opposite of phallic? Some sort of vice or clamp?

Are they relying heavily on the Freudian logic or is there a point?

Edited 2012-09-12 00:27 (UTC)

Everything is phallic if you look at it right/wrong.

It's mostly just on the logic that all weapons are invasive, I think.

I think anything that envelopes or encompasses a victim might be considered feminine. Smothering? Drowning is often seen as a symbol for death/birth/rebirth. Anything receptive, like a pit or a hole you fall into. Not weapons, but things that could be weaponized. Strangling, like with a garrotte?

You can get into more things like elements and humors, where anything projective is considered masculine, and anything receptive is conidered feminine..

They are relying heavily on fruedian logic, but have no real point.

"this thing reminds me of a body part!"

This simile only works for EVERY FUCKING THING THAT EVER WAS EVER.

The best I can think of are grenades. They are round and bulbous, and make HOLES!

This fucking argument. It's completely backwards.

It's not weapons that are phallic, it's that penises are weapon-like. They're both designed to penetrate. And in the case of guns, propel material in a forward trajectory.

Blame the laws of physics. And evolution, for resulting in the most effective way to impregnate someone based on those laws of physics.

Edited 2012-09-12 00:51 (UTC)

ALL THE APPLAUSES!

I've always hated those arguments. I'm a woman and I think the bigger the sword the cooler it is and it's off-putting when people say a character is overcompensating for something. It's just cool shit people. God I hate Freud.

Sling and stone? Brass knuckles? Throwing stars? Poison? Garrote? Fists?

Anyway, most weapons designed to fly through the air are proportionally long and thin (arrows, spears, missiles, etc.). The barrels of guns are generally designed to maximize velocity and accuracy. Most things designed to be swung (clubs, bats, nunchucks, swords, etc.) are long to extend reach or to increase angular momentum.

Xena's chakram immediately comes to mind for me...

Really though I think the "all weapons are phallic symbols" thing is stupid.

There's a song I know that should answer your question. Please sing it to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it"

If it's longer than it's wide it's a penis
If it's longer than it's wide it's a penis
If it's longer than it's wide when you turn it on its side
If it's longer than it's wide it's a penis

I think most weapons look phallic because they have to be for practical reasons? Guns need long barrels because it directs where the bullet goes, for example. Things with long handles are easy to grip and help you put force behind a swing. It's not that way because the maker wanted it to look like a penis, I don't think it. That's just how they work with physics.

Although what about a slingshot? And a sling? I don't think either of those are particularly phallic. You could even say that a slingshot looks kind of like a vagina or something if you squint and...see it that way because you want to.

IDK, I think sometimes if you're obsessed with seeing the world as full of -isms and privilege it's easy to make ANYTHING the sign of some sort of patriarchy or oppression. (Not saying that patriarchy and oppression don't exist, but...sometimes a gun or a sword really IS just a gun or a sword.)

If you have to pierce a body, I guess that weapon has to be phallic-ish in shape. But if you're talking about, let's say... evisceration, that's not exactly the case. Or inflicting blows with your hands/feet/elbows, or strangling with a noose or whatever. Piercing weaponry being the only kind worth mentioning seems a bit uncreative and rather reaching imo, unless the imagery is intentional.

and yo-yos. i think i remember reading about those being weapons. what symbolic imagery—

I don't care what anyone says, but bear trap vaginas or mystical scary portal cooches are AWESOME.

Even bombs are phallic, I mean have you seen the V2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2) the Germans used in WW2?

[ SECRET POST #2079 ]

Are all weapons phallic?

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