Sexy Moms Through the Ages

by Anne Semans

If the notion of a "sexy mom" strikes you as odd, consider the esteemed status erotic mamas enjoyed in ancient civilizations. Below is an excerpt from The Mother's Guide to Sex by Anne Semans and Cathy Winks.

Any mother embarrassed by or afraid of her sexual nature need only look to the myths of ancient cultures for reassurance that her sexuality is not only natural, it is positively divine. Before humankind had any idea of men’s role in procreation, women’s ability to reproduce was viewed as magical, and the world itself was envisioned as the creation of a Great Mother. Early agrarian civilizations linked female reproduction to the earth’s fertility. Even after the connection between semen and pregnancy became clear, goddess worship continued to flourish. The Great Mother was joined by a male consort, often a young god whose life cycle paralleled the annual seasonal cycle; he died when the crops died, and was resurrected through sexual reunion with the goddess, thereby making the land fertile again.

The Venus figurines
Among the oldest examples of ancient civilizations’ reverence for female fertility are the Venus figurines (circa 20,000 BC), small statuettes of women with exaggerated stomachs, butts, breasts, thighs and clearly-delineated vulvas. Historians debate whether they are fertility symbols, representations of the Great Mother, or Paleolithic porn, but our favorite theory posits them as self-portraits carved by pregnant women, which would explain the enlarged view of the breasts and belly and relative insignificance of the feet or limbs. In other words, maybe these figurines are the Stone Age equivalent of a proud mom-to-be’s Polaroid snapshot!

Inanna
The Sumerian civilization of Mesopotamia was the first to produce written texts (circa 2,300 BC), many of which hymn the praises of a supreme sexy mama. Inanna, the Queen of Heaven (also known by the name Ishtar), was goddess of love, procreation, and fertility. Ancient hymns describe how the young Inanna revels in her sexuality: “rejoicing at her wondrous vulva, the young woman applauded herself.” The sacred marriage between Inanna and her lover and consort, the shepherd Dumuzi, is celebrated in explicit, erotic verse. He shaped my loins with his fair hands, The shepherd Dumuzi filled my lap with cream and milk, He stroked my pubic hair, He watered my womb, He laid his hand on my holy vulva. He caressed me on the bed.

Inanna’s priestesses recreated this sacred marriage bed with the reigning king every New Year, thereby revesting the king’s power and ensuring fertility in the land and its people. Children born of these couplings were considered semi-divine. Would that Sumerian sexual attitudes had survived into the modern-day: sexual intercourse and prostitution were considered sacred acts, masturbation was believed to enhance potency, and anal intercourse was practiced by high priestesses as a means of contraception.

Isis
Isis, the most beloved of Egyptian goddesses, was worshipped in ancient Egypt and throughout the Hellenistic world. Although Pharaohs themselves were considered divine, their power ultimately issued from Isis, a powerful Mother Goddess, who is often depicted with Pharaohs suckling at her breast. One of the best-known stories of Isis tells of her marriage to her beloved consort and twin brother Osiris. The two engage in divine incest while still in their mother’s womb (Pharonic succession was based on marriage between brothers and sisters). They fall hopelessly in love, marry, and rule over a great civilization until their jealous brother Seth murders Osiris. Isis seeks far and wide for her husband. In some versions of the story his body has been torn into many pieces, and she is able to find every piece except for his penis. Undeterred, she fashions a penis from clay, and impregnates herself with it before restoring Osiris to life. The son she conceives is Horus, whose wife Hathor, the cow-goddess, is known as “mistress of the vulva,” ruling fertility, conception, and childbirth.

The Mother's Guide to Sex by Anne Semans and Cathy Winks (Three Rivers Press, copyright 2001)