Jan Kott
THE SEXUAL TRIANGLE
On the model of Levi-Strauss's well-known "culinary tri–
angle" one could conceive of a primal triangle with Life on the side of
Culture, Death on the side of Nature, and whose apex corresponds to
Sex and Food, the two mediators between life and death.
SIiiX, FOOD
CUL.TURJ!
~
LIFE '--_ _ ___ ___.....)DI!ATH
~NATUfG
This primordial triangle is the homologue of the sexual triangle
whose vertices correspond to Mouth, Genitals, Anus, defining a
semantic system of relations and oppositions (exchanges, symbolic
identifications, correlations and inversions) between bodily functions
and their linguistic and mythic designations. Corresponding to the
fundamental opposition Mouth / Anus are the consecutive analogues of
the oppositions voice/ noise, breathing/ farting, and eating/ excreting.
"To excrete" is parallel with "to vomit" and is the inverse of "to eat."
Corresponding
to
the opposition Mouth / Anus is the second funda–
mental opposition-between nourishment and excrement.
