The issue of sex relations in Australian myths - the "matryoshka principle"

This paper discusses the ambiguity of sex identity within Aboriginal mythology. Male/female relations are the main point of the well-known Wawilag Sisters myth from Arnhem Land, based on aseries of equivalent mythical unions: the penis in the vagina (male in female) = the serpent in the hut (female in male) = subincised penis (female in male). The effect of such equivalencies may be compared to a 'matryoshka' doll: the male (child) in the female (sisters) which is male (serpent), which in a way also renders the male symbols into female (this is why the serpent is calle "pregnant"). The basis of such a construction may be understood as the creation of a series of transformations male>female>male>female etc., which eventually leads to realisation of the exchange of female with male blood, their equipoise is necessary for initiation ceremonies.