The Hidden Side of the Bottom

Pulse

oi-Staff

By Super Admin

Tuesday, May 31, 2011, 15:49

French fascination with the bottom has been laid bare, thanks to a new documentary and book that document how 'les fesses' have contributed to civilization.

Mixing views of top psychoanalysts, philosophers, scientists and artists, La Face Cachee des Fesses (The Hidden Side of the Bottom) charts the importance of 'derrière' in bipedal locomotion.

"They are present in daily life and yet they have never been considered a serious subject of study in their own right," claim the authors of La Face Cachee des Fesses.
The bottom line is that, the film says, without our Gluteus Maximus, humans would never have come down from the trees.

Claudine Cohen, science historian at Paris' Higher School of Social Sciences said that the gluteal muscles are unique to humans, enabling bipedal locomotion. Its size and strength developed to fulfill an essential human need and that is an erect posture and walking.

The documentary will be broadcast on the Franco German channel, Arte. An accompanying book will be on sale in all French museum shops starting this week.

Edward Lucie Smith, an art historian, pointed out that though we have a special relationship with this part of the body. there is no exact English translation for the word covering the thighs, the bottom and the loins.