ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on a few specific elements that emerge within the 'Power of Women' images in the sixteenth century, the effect of which is to render their misogynistic messages especially explicit, in the process taking the topos to a new level of critique of women's supposed lustful and deceitful behaviour and exposing the male body to frightening possibilities. It focuses on the representation of the male body in the corpus of 'Power of Women' images, with particular reference to the Old Testament story of Judith. Johannes Ladenspelder's Judith is depicted in the act of beheading her people's mortal enemy, the Assyrian general Holofernes. The juxtaposition of the scenes of seduction and deception and the elision of their meaning serve to assimilate Judith with this naked prostitute and leave no doubt as to the identification of Judith as a dangerous woman who has seduced and then overpowered and emasculated her male partner.
