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Phallic and Yonic Symbols and the Vagina Dentata

Remember, a symbol is when one thing stands for/represents something else. A

symbol can be a word or phrase that that signifies an object or event which in turn signifies

something beyond itself. Ex. A peacock symbolizes pride / the rising sun symbolizes birth/

the setting sun symbolizes death. A dove might be a symbol of love or peace or innocence or

all three at the same time. Symbols are culturally specific which means the symbolic

meanings might vary from one culture to another culture. Even within a culture, a symbol can

have multiple meanings and the reader sometimes has to play a guessing game trying to

figure out what the specific symbol’s specific meanings are in the text he or she is trying to

interpret.

1. A phallic symbol – represents the male penis (and testes) – symbolizes male

power, male fertility, and male sexuality, and the power of the establishment/ the power

of civilization. So, a phallic symbol is something that looks like the male penis and or testes.

Phallic symbols are traditionally associated with actions such as cutting, ripping, tearing,

penetration, exchange of fluids, and explosions. Some examples of phallic symbols are the

following: towers, planes, submarines, bullets, guns, swords, knives, fingers, arms, feet, legs,

forks, tridents, fireworks, antlers, magic wands, seeds, snakes, and teeth etc. Almost all tools

are phallic symbols re: hammers, saws, nails, wrenches, screwdrivers, and screws etc.

Since phallic symbols represent male power in some form, the power of the phallic

symbol transfers to the person holding/using the symbol. What happens to the symbol reflects

what is happening to the person holding/using the symbol. So, if a person holds a gun, he/she

is connected to the power of the establishment. If the person tries to fire the gun, but the gun

jams and does not fire, the person has lost power through the failure of the phallic symbol. If

the person’s gun is taken away from him/her by someone else, that first person has also lost

power through the loss of the phallic symbol. However, the second person who took the gun

away has now gained additional power because of the possession of the phallic symbol.

There are certain words to describe what happens to a character who has lost power

through the loss or misuse or breaking of a phallic symbol. This idea of power associated

with the penis or phallic symbol can be found in the English language. We say that a person

has become emasculated (taken away his/her male power) or has been symbolically castrated

(loss of testicles). A person who has lost his/her connection to the phallic symbol has been

made impotent. “Impotent” is made up of two root words: “im” which means “no” and

“potent” which means “power.” Thus, a person who is impotent has no power. The traditional

meaning of impotent means a man who cannot get an erection; therefore, you can see the

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power connected to using a phallic symbol (penis) correctly re: getting an erection equals

male power. Often, the bigger the phallic symbol, the more power is associated with the

phallic symbol. If you watch a movie and two characters pull swords on each other, the

bigger sword is often seen as more powerful because it is a bigger phallic symbol. If the first

character breaks the second character’s sword, then the first character has become more

powerful and the second character has become emasculated/ less powerful/ impotent/

symbolically castrated. In Game of Thrones, the throne in King’s Landing is made up of

swords that have been melted down from all the swords captured from conquered kingdoms.

Thus, the throne is a powerful phallic symbol that represents the power taken from fallen

enemies.

Teeth are interesting phallic symbols because they also tend to be associated with

predators in horror. However, teeth are also primitive phallic symbols. In Cabin in the

Woods, when Jules kisses the wolf’s head and then sucks on the fang (primitive phallic

symbol), she is symbolically giving the wolf oral sex or a blow job because she is sucking on

its phallic symbol. That is why kissing the wolf’s head is a form of pseudo-bestiality re:

symbolic sex with animals. That is why Jules is punished so harshly in the film because of

her symbolic crossing of boundaries between human and animal.

Rice is also an interesting phallic symbol that represents male fertility. An older

custom during weddings in western culture was often to throw rice at the bride and groom to

ensure the fertility of the marriage. Since, rice is a phallic symbol, symbolically the wedding

guests were throwing semen at the couple to fertilize them. Trees are interesting phallic

symbols as well. In western culture, the tree is seen as a symbol of civilization re: the family

tree, the Tree of Life, the Tree of Knowledge etc. However, in the wilderness, there is often a

sense of how tall and powerful the trees are compared to human beings. In that context, trees

in the wilderness represent the power of the wilderness. If a human being uses an axe (phallic

symbol) to chop down a tree (symbol of wilderness), that shows the human trying to destroy

or control the power of the “other”/wilderness. That is why you always have to think about

context when trying to figure out how symbols are being used in literature.

In “The Rats in the Walls” by Lovecraft, we will read about a pagan Mother Goddess

named Cybele and her consort (husband) Atys. There is a religious ritual that is performed in

this pagan religion which requires Atys to be castrated (his testicles – his phallic symbols of

male sexuality and male fertility are cut off). Atys’ testicles then fall into the earth along with

his blood (which symbolizes life/power). Violets (purple flowers) grow out of the earth (a

yonic symbol which represents the uterus/body of the Mother Earth) from Atys’ bloody

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testicles. Testicles contain semen which is the Latin word for seed. Thus, the ritual castration

of Atys becomes a symbol for planting seeds into the earth in order to grow crops which is

important for farming.

One of the interesting things we will analyze is whether a phallic symbol is primitive

or more technologically advanced. A low-tech or primitive phallic symbol still connects a

character to the power of civilization but it is a weaker connection. However, a high tech

phallic symbol connects a character more strongly to the power of civilization. The more

primitive phallic or yonic symbols a character uses in horror, the more “other” the character

is, and the more difficulty he/she will have returning back to civilization. The more high tech

phallic symbols a character uses, the more strongly he/she is connected to civilization and the

better the chance of returning back to civilization.

Because fire is connected to civilization, fire is also connected to male power and is a

phallic symbol re: a torch/ a flashlight/ fireworks/ the sun. However, in The Descent, Sarah

uses primitive fire re: a torch while Juno uses mainly a high tech light. Sarah also kills mainly

with primitive phallic symbols re: a tooth, a bone, her foot, and her fingers. Juno tends to kill

with a knife or an axe which are more high tech phallic symbols although she kills once with

her arms. Overall, that means Sarah is less connected to the power of the

establishment/civilization than Juno is. Therefore, at the end of the film, Sarah remains

trapped in the cave while Juno is able to reconnect back to the morality of civilization and

sacrifice herself to give Sarah a chance to escape.

2. A yonic symbol – represents the female vagina or uterus – symbolize female

power, female fertility, and female sexuality, and the power of wilderness/the power of

the “other.” So, a yonic symbol is something that can be compared to/looks like a vagina or

a uterus (empty container-type image that is where a baby grows inside a woman). Yonic

symbols are traditionally associated with actions such as female fertility and female sexuality.

Yonic symbols are usually not as aggressive as phallic symbols. One thing that can be

confusing about yonic symbols is that they can be round, oval, or container-type images.

Some examples of yonic symbols are the following: flowers, pearls, rings, shoes (containers

for the feet), the moon, bowls, cups, spoons, eggs, the earth, caves, round rocks, tunnels, and

water etc.

Eggs are interesting yonic symbols because they represent symbols of fertility but also

transfer their yonic meaning to other things. For instance, a woman is often compared to a

hen in western culture; she cackles (an English verb used to describe the noise hens make). A

bunch of older women having a party is called a hen party. A young, attractive woman is

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called a chick. A man who struts around and shows off his male sexuality is called a rooster

(phallic symbol) or a cock (another word for rooster but also used for penis). Thus, hens and

chicks are yonic symbols because of their connection to the egg and roosters are phallic

symbols.

In the movie Long Weekend (2008, Director: Jamie Blanks), a woman takes a bird’s

egg (yonic symbol) out of its nest (yonic symbol) and smashes the egg onto the ground. This

broken egg symbolically represents the woman’s loss of fertility as the viewer realizes the

woman had an abortion. (She could also have been angry at having had a miscarriage or

having trouble conceiving her own child but the abortion is what the truth is in this situation).

The bird is angry at the woman and picks up the woman’s shoe (yonic symbol) and drops the

shoe into the fire (phallic symbol). Thus, by reading/interpreting the symbols, the viewer

realizes the woman will be destroyed (re: her shoe represents her) by the establishment (fire)

for her abortion (broken egg) and the bird will probably be the tool used to punish the

woman.

The sun is round which might make you think the sun is a yonic symbol but since the

sun is a fire symbol, the sun is connected back to the power of the establishment. However,

the moon is a yonic symbol. The moon is on a 28-day cycle like women re: menstruation and

the moon controls the tides of the ocean and water is a yonic symbol. So, there actually are a

lot of connections already in western literature between the sun being connected to male

power and the power of civilization and the moon being connected with female power and

the power of the wilderness. For instance, werewolves change according to the changing

shape of the moon re: full moon. Frequently, in horror, moonlight is associated with monsters

as they come out at night (darkness/wilderness). Since water reflects and water is a yonic

symbol, another thing that reflects, a mirror, is also a yonic symbol.

Since yonic symbols represent female power in some form, the power of the yonic

symbol transfers to the person holding/using the symbol. What happens to the symbol reflects

what is happening to the person holding/using the symbol. So, if a person holds a round rock,

he/she is connected to the power of the “other” or wilderness. So, in The Descent, when

Sarah kills Beth with a rock, Sarah connects to the power of the “other” in order to kill. That

means that Sarah connects strongly to the power of wilderness in her first kill and shows why

she keeps degenerating further away from the establishment as she connects to passion in her

kills. The cave in The Descent is a yonic symbol (symbol of female power/power of the

“other.” When the women squeeze themselves through the tight tunnels, they are wet and

covered with slimy substances. This imagery is meant to make the viewer think the women

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are being born as they leave behind one life to be reborn in the new life. The earth then

quakes and shakes as if the earth is giving birth and the women pop out of the tunnel into the

main part of the cave to realize they have been trapped inside. Even at the end, when Sarah

hallucinates wiggling her way out of the exit hole of the cave, that is a birthing image as she

moves out of one world into another. She also screams at the waterfalls (yonic symbol) to

show further her rebirth/transformation as she moves through the wilderness back towards the

road and civilization.

Since yonic symbols are associated with the power of the “other” or female power,

they connect characters to the wilderness. However, some yonic symbols can be high tech

such as in Splice where a monster (part-human/part-animal) is grown in an incubator (yonic

symbol/ symbolic uterus). However, the incubator despite being a piece of sophisticated

technology is still a yonic symbol.

3. A vagina dentata means a vagina with teeth – the vagina dentata symbol

represents a combination of yonic and phallic power. The vagina dentata is often but not

exclusively used to represent the female monster who represents the power of the “other”

combined with the power of the establishment.

Many monsters have aspects that represent the vagina dentata. For instance, the cave

in The Descent is a combination of a mouth (yonic image) with the teeth – the stone rocks

that hang down from the ceiling of the cave (phallic image). Thus, the cave is like a vagina

dentata ready to devour the women who have walked inside it.

In Cabin in the Woods, the little ballet dancer monster has a face that is just rows of

teeth – that is a vagina dentata image. The bear trap in Cabin in the Woods is also a symbolic

vagina dentata which the zombies use as a weapon against Jules and Curt and Holden. The

bear trap is oval/circular with teeth so it combines yonic and phallic power.

In Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides, there is a scene where sailors are in

a boat (a container/yonic image) on the water (yonic image) and there are mermaids

swimming around and singing to them. The sailors jump into the water and the mermaids

open up their mouths to reveal massive teeth (phallic image/predator). The mermaids then kill

the sailors because the mermaids are monsters who are predators. Remember, teeth are

phallic symbols but also symbols of predators so here the two meanings are combined.

In general, piranha and sharks are basically floating vagina dentata – they combine

phallic and yonic power with their mouths full of teeth. Even in The Descent, when the

monsters open up their mouths to use their sonar, their mouths become symbolic vagina

dentata and reveal the power of the monster as they can use the power of the “other” with the

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power of the establishment re: teeth/claws which are primitive phallic symbols. In horror,

when the “other” can use the power associated with the wilderness as well as the power

associated with civilization, human beings will have trouble surviving.