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So yesterday I went to the National Museum of Archeology and History, and there I learned many things. Among them, this: that sucking your king's nipples was an ancient Irish form of submission to him. And if your nipples were mutilated (they found a preserved bog man with his nipples cut), that effectively made you ineligble for kingship.
And I thought, Well, that's fascinating, where on earth does that come from? I haven't seen it anywhere else in monarchy studies. And then my brain goes Oh my god GENDER! and starts to flip out about the gendered significance of such an act. Whoa. It's like a whole other thesis waiting to happen. (So of course I wrote a four paragraph email to Dr E about it.)
The best part might have been explaining the word 'nipples' to Charlotte, whose native language is not English, when she asked what I saw at the museum. There was a lot of, um, gesture involved.
Also, I have now used the word 'nipples' more times in one post than I ever have. In fact I don't think I've ever used it before. Or probably ever will (unless I get on some research kick & decide I need to talk about this more...unlikely). (Like most words, it just gets sillier the more you use it, but it's sort of an inherently silly word anyway. I mean. Nipples.)
And I thought, Well, that's fascinating, where on earth does that come from? I haven't seen it anywhere else in monarchy studies. And then my brain goes Oh my god GENDER! and starts to flip out about the gendered significance of such an act. Whoa. It's like a whole other thesis waiting to happen. (So of course I wrote a four paragraph email to Dr E about it.)
The best part might have been explaining the word 'nipples' to Charlotte, whose native language is not English, when she asked what I saw at the museum. There was a lot of, um, gesture involved.
Also, I have now used the word 'nipples' more times in one post than I ever have. In fact I don't think I've ever used it before. Or probably ever will (unless I get on some research kick & decide I need to talk about this more...unlikely). (Like most words, it just gets sillier the more you use it, but it's sort of an inherently silly word anyway. I mean. Nipples.)
