Saturday, October 22, 2005

Cypriot Sexism

Is it just me, or is the following description of Cyprus Air's "Sunmiles" program indicative of a distinctive sexism viz. the Greek pantheon?

Members travelling on Cyprus Airways flights and aircraft, accumulate points
which can be exchanged for free tickets in the Apollo Business class or in the
Aphrodite Economy class and for upgrading to Business class.


From Aphrodite to Apollo is an upgrade? I'm sorry, but I'd much rather be "the goddess of love, beauty, and sexual rapture" than some closet-case who falls in love with stupid boys who kill their pet dear (check out these articles on Aphrodite and Apollo to know what I'm talking about). Plus, if you are Aphrodite then you get to be the subject of a million "Naissance de Venus" (Birth of Venus) paintings, and you'd get to sleep with Adonis (I'd have never cheated on Hephaestos, especially not with Adonis of all people, but I think most of YOU would have, lol).

More apropos to Cyprus Air, it appears that this was the island where Aphrodite was taken after she emerged from the sea -- you'd think the airline could give her some credit for being the hometown deity!

Here are two Naissance de Venus paintings: on the left, the most famous one, by Botticelli (now Florence, from 1485); on the right, one by Cabanel (Paris, 1863), which I like much more, and which is usually spoken-of in comparison to to Manet's "Dejeuner sur l'herbe," done in the same year (below, now in Paris). The comparison is used to contrast the kinds of art that the traditional Ecole des Beaux-Arts jurists looked for in its Salon participants, Cabanel being accepted to the 1863 exhibition, and Manet being rejected. Incidentally, the Cabanel and Manet paintings now hang together in the same museum in Paris (the Musee D'Orsay).

VC