Venus symbol
The Venus symbol (♀) is a depiction of a circle with a small cross below it. The symbol is historically associated with the Roman goddess Venus or the Greek goddess Aphrodite. It has a Unicode designation of U+2640, and is used in various media to represent things associated in some way with the mythological character, including:
- The female sex[1]
- The planet Venus
- The chemical element copper
- Feminism in philosophy and sociology
- The female connector in a pair of mating connectors or fasteners
Origin
There are different symbols that represent different genders, groups, etc., The Venus symbol is the specific symbol[1] used to represent women. The sign of Venus came from the planet and in relation to Roman mythology where the goddess of Venus (Aphrodite in Greek mythology) and Mars (Ares in Greek Mythology)[2] are discussed often. When many see the symbol, they automatically think it represents just women; however, today the symbol is sued to represent feminism, equality for women, and essentially is a symbol of pride. The venus symbol made one of its first appearance as a gender symbol in an article published in 1962 titled "The Origin of the Male and Female Symbols of Biology[3]". A widely held belief is that it represents a hand mirror (originally often made of bronze), with the top half of the symbol representing the actual mirror, and the bottom half representing the handle of the mirror. However, another plausible origin of the symbol is it being a contraction of script Greek.[1]
See also
- Classical planets in Western alchemy
- Mars symbol
- Gender symbol
- The ankh, an Egyptian hieroglyph resembling the Venus symbol
References
- 1 2 Stearn, William T. (May 1962). "The Origin of the Male and Female Symbols of Biology". Taxon 11 (4): 109–113. doi:10.2307/1217734.