Venus (Patreon)

Kurzgesagt is this really great thing. If you haven't checked them out, give them a look on YouTube. Essentially, they're a collective of researchers, writers, illustrators, and animators who spend boatloads of time making these original (and frequently adorable) videos on a huge variety of topics that run the gamut from social science, to health and medicine, space, speculative technology, politics, economics — basically, deep dives into subjects that deserve deep dives. All done with exceptional research and as little bias as possible. 

One of their episodes speculated that a more balanced calendar could be one that's a little re-vamped. A large percentage of the world uses the standard-issue Gregorian calendar (January, February, etc), and if there's one that most folks generally go by, its that one. The reason we have the years (1492, 1776, 1969, 2020) we have is basically based around the observation of the birth of Christ. Most of us say BC and AD (Before Christ and Anno Domini), but a lot of folks who are a bit more secular say BCE and CE (Before the Common Era and Common Era).

Anyway, this video was a fun little thought piece, and proposed that, since the establishments of civilizations started about 12,000 years ago (best we can tell), that we should use that as a "Year Zero," and call the past 12,020 years HE (or, the Human Era). Check out their channel if you are looking for a new way to binge away the time. 

Anyway, needless to say, humans have been around for a lot longer than that — it's just that we were hunters and foragers who happened to exist on this planet, as opposed to the dominant, terraforming creatures we are today.

Going back twice as far, in the midst of those nomadic days, we weren't too horribly different than we are now, which is kind of a cool thing to think about. We were still having conversations with one another, fire was something we could create and control, we hung out with dogs, things like that. We weren't completely cave people, and some of these early humans could actually find themselves dedicating their efforts to creating pretty things instead of simply surviving. Creativity has been a part of us for a long time (I'm thinking of plant-dye drawings in caves of stick figures gathered around a mammoth).

And at some point, we started figuring out that sculpture was a pretty cool idea, too. 

I suppose the reason most conventional "religions" took off the way they did was because we finally found ourselves in communities that were large enough for ideas to be widely disseminated among large groups in a standardized fashion. Before 12,020 years ago, we were mostly small, wandering tribes.

But, we were still humans, and humans have an instinctual need to revere something. So, we took reverence, mixed it with art, and all around the world, took to making these little statuettes of women. I take this as a bit of a compliment... women are pretty freaking awesome.

These figurines were about as far away from Barbie as you could get. They weren't slender. They were round, and curvy, and fertile, and productive — representations of conduits who were likely extremely valued in the communities of say, 30,000 years ago, when bad fevers or saber-toothed tigers could take out a large swath of your tribe over time. 

I like Venus statues. They represent an ideal of something. And, on a selfish note, since I kind of align with the ideal they represent (at least in a purely physical sense)... yeah. I take them as a sort of nod that my body isn't madness in a general human sense. Just a modern one. 

A new friend sent over this picture, which I am reposting here, pretty much because I think it's interesting.

It reminded me of an artist friend of mine who, years back, asked me if I might be inclined to serve as a model of sorts for a project he wanted to do. Basically, a modern interpretation of statues very much like these. He was a cool guy, and not at all weird about it, so I appreciated the thought, but I declined. This was a few years ago, after all, my breasts had only recently stopped exploding in size, and I was still profoundly self-conscious. As many of my longtime readers know, this insecurity has taken a long time to get over, and it's still a work in progress.

That being said... If I had it to do again, knowing what I know now? I would have absolutely jumped at his offer. I think it would have been really cool to see what his interpretation would have been (he was an amazing sculptor, actually). After all, I've been lucky enough to have made the acquaintances of some artists here in the online lands, and have really enjoyed collaborating in that regard. Plus, shit... I gotta say, it's actually kinda fun to be a muse. Isn't it funny, the things we regret?

Ah, well. A similar opportunity will present itself at some point. Life is a meandering thing, and it's always a little more flavorful when you surround yourself with eccentric creatives. 

Oh, by the way... my favorite of the 9 Venuses above? Lespugue, all the way. Girl be thikk. :-P What's yours?