The female physiognomy through Elucidation of the secrets of lawful intercourse of al-Shayzarī (XIII)
Abstract
In any theocratic and monotheistic system, the female image is represented as a sexual entity, reduced to its most material and physical dimension, avoiding any intellectual or psychological peculiarity. The objective of the following article is to describe and analyze the categorization, without any modesty, of women according to their sexual aptitude and, for this, we focus on the physiognomic text bequeathed by the Syrian writer al-Shayzarī (13th century) in his compendium sexual Kitāb al-Īḍāḥ fī asrār al-nikāḥ (Elucidation of the secrets of lawful intercourse). After a brief introduction to the Arabic and Islamic concept of physiognomy, we analyze the methodology that our author follows, namely, the expressive, ethnic and zoological method, when referring to female physiognomy.
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