Artwork / Crime Against Nature / She Wears the Pants (Spotted Hyena)

painting of a female spotted hyena
Gwenn Seemel
She Wears the Pants (Spotted Hyena)
2012
acrylic on panel
10 x 10 inches

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I admit it: as I worked on the face in this painting, I was thinking of the subject of this portrait. I wanted to make the hyena look as sympathetic as possible. Below is the text from the book Crime Against Nature that goes with this image.

Some girls have penises.

Female spotted hyenas dominate the pack. Their genitals resemble the males’ genitals, and they use their penises socially, with one individual’s erection signifying submission to another individual. This kind of genitalia tends to make both mating with males and childbirth complicated.

wildlife painting by Gwenn Seemel
detail image