The goddess of aunties?
May. 26th, 2012 10:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ikhet_sekhmetDiscussing Artemis, Bodil Hjerrild notes the apparent contradiction between her virginity and her role as protectress of women in childbirth, children, and young wild animals. Echoing an idea I think I've encountered somewhere else, "Her virginity has to be understood rather as a conservation of power and maybe a concentration of fertile energy that may be spread instead to nature and the people who worship her."
My brain being what it is, I connected this to come stuff I've been reading about the significance of shared childcare in human evolution, in particular a recent New Scientist article about middle age, and I quote: "Research suggests that a human child requires resources to be provided by multiple adults - almost certainly more than two young parents.' One study of hunter-gatherers found that "each couple requires the help of an additional 1.3 non-reproducing adults to provide for their children."
The article's idea was that the need for extra caregivers could explain why humans keep going strong after the age of menopause, but it struck me that it could also explain the persistence of many other categories of "non-reproducing adults" amongst human populations. Perhaps, for example, Artemis is the patroness of batty old aunties like myself. :)
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Bainbridge, David. Marvellous Middle Age. New Scientist 2855, 8 March 2012, pp 49-51.
Hjerrild, Bodil. Near Eastern Equivalents to Artemis. Acta Hyperborea 12 2009, pp 41-49.
My brain being what it is, I connected this to come stuff I've been reading about the significance of shared childcare in human evolution, in particular a recent New Scientist article about middle age, and I quote: "Research suggests that a human child requires resources to be provided by multiple adults - almost certainly more than two young parents.' One study of hunter-gatherers found that "each couple requires the help of an additional 1.3 non-reproducing adults to provide for their children."
The article's idea was that the need for extra caregivers could explain why humans keep going strong after the age of menopause, but it struck me that it could also explain the persistence of many other categories of "non-reproducing adults" amongst human populations. Perhaps, for example, Artemis is the patroness of batty old aunties like myself. :)
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Bainbridge, David. Marvellous Middle Age. New Scientist 2855, 8 March 2012, pp 49-51.
Hjerrild, Bodil. Near Eastern Equivalents to Artemis. Acta Hyperborea 12 2009, pp 41-49.
