"Female and Male Fertility Figures"
Woollengong, Australia, undated
Natural pigments on conglomerate rock
It's rare to find both female and male fertility figures represented in such close proximity. Scholars have determined, however, that these are depictions of popular entertainers at fertility festivals, rather than the gods and goddesses themselves. The one on the left with the unnaturally developed bust is called a "brit-uh-nei" in the aborigine language, and was believed to have been used to lure young girls into joining a particular cult where such artificial enhancement was practiced. The figure is frequently found with the symbols for mind-destroying noise nearby.
The male figures, frozen in synchronized motion, represent a tribal group of young males of dubious sexual orientation, as indicated by their exaggerated, yet inert, organs. The position of the stylized left hands would seem to indicate that they are waving off the attentions of the female "brit-uh-nei" while the position of the right hands leads the viewer to believe that they have other methods of obtaining sexual fulfillment. This makes it problematic that they were also used to attract cults of young girls, as was originally thought.
