‘And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.’

Adam and Eve were not ashamed or embarrassed by their nudity, so why is it that a majority of society is today?

When we receive visitors to the Conquer Gear stall we gain a variety of reactions from our ‘vaj-apple’ t-shirt.  Some laugh awkwardly, some laugh with amusement and then there are some who stare at it in sheer surprise and do not know how to react at all.  Why has a design of a vagina depicted in an apple become ‘awkward’.  We all have something down there so why let it shame us?

If this awesome t-shirt had been around in Ancient Egypt, we would have sold out!  Women in Ancient Egypt were respected and viewed as being just as paramount as men were in society.  This was due to the simple fact that women could bear children.  They brought life into the world.  This pride was amplified by Cleopatra herself in Shakespeare’s ‘Antony and Cleopatra’.  On the news of Antony’s death, Cleopatra chooses to kill herself with poisonous asps (are these the snakes from the garden of Eden?) which are bought in a basket of figs.  Figs were representations for vaginas. Note how it is not a basket of apples.  Nowhere in the story of Adam and Eve does it state that the ‘forbidden fruit’ is an apple.  Food for thought there.

Did you know: In many pre Abrahamic religions, many of the gods were seen as female because they were life givers. Fertility and motherhood being the creators of life. Male gods were often the destroyers associated with war destruction and death.

Did you know: The forbidden fruit could have been a grape, fig, mushroom or many other interpretations. It was never expressly told as an apple, It was a translation of the word mălum which means evil but is very similar to the word borrowed from greek meaning apple!

This link has led to a use of the image and word apple throughout western society when talking of adam and eve. If this meaning we think of as a “truth” has been made from the original text then what other meanings have been lost or gained through male interpretations from old language over the years! In fact this is where the term adams apple comes from; supposedly showing how the apple got stuck in adams throat as he ate the forbidden fruit.

The well known painting of ‘Adam and Eve’ by Lucas Cranach from 1526 shows the stereotypical scene of Adam and Eve hanging out by the tree of knowledge, being tempted by the forbidden fruit.  Classic.  Yet in this painting it is clear they have not eaten the fruit.  I see no apple cores on the ground.  So why has Cranach covered up their ‘shame’ before their eating the fruit?  Surely they would be naked, but this is our shame reflected in the painting choice.

Lucas-Cranach-the-Elder-Adam-and-Eve (Incidentally have you noticed that adam and eve are always painted with belly buttons?)

As a former art student, it does intrigue me as to why a majority of art consisting of the human form is covered up.  When studying art from GCSE level to university, life drawing is compulsory.  A naked human in front of you.  The human body is one of the most natural and original images in the world.  The artist Egon Schiele was known for his work being shocking to society as most of the people in his images were ‘exposed’.  The main themes he covered in his work were ‘sex, death and discovery’.  Why were people shocked by this?  They are three guaranteed things in life (also with taxes sadly).  I say ‘good on you Egon’ for waking up society a bit and reminding us that we are only human.

All this is fascinating and this is just the start of it, don’t get me started on Lilith Adam’s first wife but that’s a story for another time.

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