Abstract
Abstract
This poem engages The Venus of Willendorf as a cultural lens to examine body image, stigma, and self-perception. Juxtaposing the prehistoric figurine with Fernando Botero’s sculptures and the speaker’s personal experiences, the text situates the plus-sized body within a lineage of artistic representation. While forms once revered as symbols of fertility and vitality are today often stigmatized, the poem highlights the tension between historical celebration and contemporary marginalization. Through moments of rejection, self-scrutiny, and maternal counsel, the narrative shifts from internalized shame toward the reclamation of the body as a site of dignity and resilience. Invoking the Venus of Willendorf as both metaphor and counter-discourse, the work critiques reductive beauty norms and reframes the body as volumetric, creative, and beautiful. In doing so, it challenges entrenched stereotypes and advances an ethic of compassion that resists cultural stigma.
Recommended Citation
Agrawal, Nidhi
(2026)
"The Venus of Willendorf,"
Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine: Vol. 11:
Iss.
1, Article 15.
Available at:
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/survive_thrive/vol11/iss1/15