Never Marry a Woman with Big Feet- Women in Proverbs from Around the World PDF
Preview Never Marry a Woman with Big Feet- Women in Proverbs from Around the World
Never Marry a... 29-04-2006 17:15 Pagina 1 Never Marry a Woman with Big Feet Never Marry a... 29-04-2006 17:15 Pagina 2 Never Marry a... 29-04-2006 17:15 Pagina 3 Never Marry a Woman with Big Feet Women in Proverbs from Around the World Mineke Schipper Amsterdam University Press Never Marry a... 29-04-2006 17:15 Pagina 4 Cover design: Mesika Design, Hilversum Lay-out: Het Steen Typografie, Maarssen isbn-13 978 5356 863 7 isbn-10 90 5356 863 8 nur617 First published in 2004 by Yale University Press © Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 2006; this new edition without an- thologies All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book. Never Marry a... 29-04-2006 17:15 Pagina 5 TO OUR FOREMOTHERS Never Marry a... 29-04-2006 17:15 Pagina 6 Never Marry a... 29-04-2006 17:15 Pagina 7 Contents Acknowledgments 11 Prologue 13 The Mother of All Sciences 13 Creation and Procreation 14 Collecting and Questioning 17 Proverbs and Their Impact 21 Legacies 21 Media 23 Features 25 Changing Contexts, Constant Cores 28 1 The Female Body 31 From Head to Foot 31 Stature and Appearance 32 Body and Soul 36 Head and Neck 37 Brains 40 Eyes 42 Nose and Ears 45 Lips, Mouth, Teeth, Tongue 46 Shoulders and Arms 48 Hands and Fingers 49 Sex Characteristics 53 Nursing Breasts and Breasts as Objects of Desire 56 Womb 60 Vagina 62 Buttocks 63 Legs, Knees, Feet 64 Beauty and Beautifying 68 Radiance 68 The Impact of Female Attraction 70 Belles 72 Beauty versus Intelligence 79 Never Marry a... 29-04-2006 17:15 Pagina 8 Transience 79 Outer Beauty and Inner Qualities 80 Ugliness 81 Fatal Allurements 85 2 Phases of Life 87 Girls, Daughters, Brides 87 A Boy or a Girl? 87 Bride Wealth and Dowry 91 Virginity and Virtue 94 Spinsters 98 Wedding Day 99 Wedlock 103 Wives, Co-wives, Widows 104 Wives 104 Good or Bad? 105 The ‘Good’ Wife 106 ‘Wickedness’ 108 Co-Wives 110 Why an Extra Wife? 112 Hierarchies Among Wives 113 Problems and Disillusions 116 Widows 118 Death of Wife, Death of Husband 118 Loss and Sorrow 121 Widows’ Tears 123 Slander 124 Remarrying 125 Mothers and Mothers-in-law 128 Mothers 128 Uniqueness 128 Ideal Children and Worrying Mothers 131 Mothers and Children, Mothers and Sons 133 Mothers and Daughters 135 Who Is Taking Care of the Mother? 137 Motherless 138 Mothers-in-Law versus Daughters-in-Law 140 Rivals 142 Newly Arrived 143 Revenge 145 Never Marry a... 29-04-2006 17:15 Pagina 9 Death and the Mother-in-Law 147 Old Age 148 Grandmothers and Old Women 149 Good Old Age 150 Bad Old Age 153 Old Age Behaviour 155 Decrepitude and Death 159 Status and Authority 161 3 Basics of Life 163 Love 163 Falling in Love 164 The Logic of Love 167 Love in Marriage 169 Love and Other Men’s Wives 173 Bitter Worries and Sweet Words 174 Sex 178 Private Parts 178 Desire 180 Pleasure 185 The First Time and Next 188 Heavenly Delight 192 Fertility, Pregnancy, Childbirth 194 Sterility 194 Fertility 197 Pregnancy 200 Childbirth and Childbed 202 4 Female Power 207 Verbal Talent 209 An Inborn Quality? 210 The Jewel of Silence 211 Work 212 ‘Woman’s Work’ 213 Cookery 218 Cleaning 222 Crafts 223 Never-Ending Hard Work 225 What to Do Without a Wife? 229
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