Are you My mummy?

[pasithea]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/06/090626-us-mummies-video-ap.html

...

Fascinating how there are at least three possibilities they don't even seem to consider. I mean, even mummies of young boys are typically depicted with a beard.

Perhaps the person was intersexed or transgendered. Most non-judeochristian have been pretty accepting of trans* people instead of burning them as witches.

Or maybe the real lady Hors wanted to escape her life and a body double guard was sacrificed and buried so that she could escape.

Or perhaps the embalmer really really wanted his brother to survive well in the afterlife and figured no one would know once the wrapping was on.

I dunno. I guess the penis=man thing sort of bugs me. I can't think of any mummies that are depicted as withered and aged. The sarcophagus generally seems to portray the occupant in the prime of their life; how they wish to be seen and the body they wanted to live in for eternity even if it was the body they no longer had on the mortal plane. What if that is the case here and our culture has just robbed this person of her eternal identity?

EDIT: Seems I was right. Listen to the person speaking here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brooklyn_museum/3655744562/in/set-72157620271417600/

Fucking mainstream America
WE FUCKING EXIST!!!

Comments

[dv-girl.livejournal.com]

You're spot on for the last bit. A few years ago, I posted a big long rant about Paul and at some other point, when dealing with someone going on about how 'persecuted' christians are by having to tolerate gays and political correctness and whatnot, I went into a big rant about how the biggest persecutors of 'good christians' have traditionally been mainstream christians and cited the eradication of the Cathars as an example.

I'm not sure having read about groups like the Cathars have been entirely good for me though. Due to *bad family relationship stuff and spending a lot of time on/around the reservations when I was younger, where the 'joke' was: "What's missionary position?" ... "That's where one Christian holds you down while another rapes you." I have historically had a LOT of very aggressive negativity towards Christians. So hearing that modern christians had wiped out other groups of 'decent' christians really didn't do much for me.

But that stuff is really all a bunch of excuses for judgmental thinking and forming negative preconceptions about people, so I've been actively working on fixing that for a while. About six months ago, I built a new mental model for myself that has a much more tolerant and forgiving view of Christianity and lets go of about 99% of the anger and 70% of the condescension. Not perfect, but progress.

However, I don't think that even perfect acceptance would greatly change my saying stuff like that. I understand and respect sacred space, but in my own space, I don't feel a great need for restraint. I think any god that's worth anything would have a pretty solid sense of humor and take it as it was meant, and honestly, as an artist, Jesus just isn't very much fun to draw compared to many of the other gods.

[enochsmiles.livejournal.com]

I understand and respect sacred space, but in my own space, I don't feel a great need for restraint.

I fully respect that. I hope you didn't take my comment the wrong way; my goal was not to inspire restraint, but hopefully to impart some perspective or understanding.

I think that what happened to the Gnostics and the Manicheans and the Cathars and the Arians &c. would likely have happened in similar ways to any of the other religions you wistfully wish were the dominant religion. The simple fact of history is that a peaceful philosophy of life is always going to struggle for survival against a violent philosophy. Look at contemporary Islam, for example -- they're about 500 years behind Christianity in their political evolution, and the backdrop is rather different than the 1500s, but the similarities are there.

The Cathars may be gone; the last perfecti may be hundreds of years buried. But their influence survived, and with it, the true spirit of the teachings of Jesus and the many other rabbis of his school. Between the lines and buried in the sand for millennia, perhaps, but as long as I can offer sound examples as to why the Southern Baptists are not anything like the historical Christians in belief or action, I feel compelled to. If these kinds of replies bother you (they don't seem to) let me know and I'll stop.

I think any god that's worth anything would have a pretty solid sense of humor and take it as it was meant, and honestly, as an artist, Jesus just isn't very much fun to draw compared to many of the other gods.

*snort* Well, you got me on that one. :)