Les statues-menhirs du Rouergue et du Haut-Languedoc : la posture des jambes et la technique de représentation des effigies féminines et masculines

Wex (1993) observes through the statuary of great historical cultures how body language appears to reflect the evolution of the respective status of man and woman. On the other hand, Serres (1997) reports that the feminine statues-menhirs of his so called groupe rouergat are represented with legs spread out, while masculine statues show broad as well as narrow postures. We examined this observation more systematically and further applied to it the properly ethological reading grid of Wex as a contribution to the history of gender relationships. A preliminary quantitative analysis aimed to determine which attributes give certainty about the sexual identity of the statues-menhirs. Special attention is given to the figures who underwent a gender change.