According to Mythologist Joseph Campbell the earliest art forms of the male always represent them dressed or in some sort of a costume.  Women are found in these little figurines (meant to be displayed on a shrine at home) completely naked.  "This says something about the psychological and consequently mythical values of, respectively, the male and the female presences.  The woman is immediately mythic in herself and is experienced as such, not only as the source and giver of life, but also in the magic of her touch and presence.  The accord of her seasons with the cycles of the moon is a matter of mystery too.  Whereas the male, costumed, is one who has gained his powers and represents some specific, limited, social role or function.  In infancy --as both Freud and Jung have pointed out--the mother is experienced as a power of nature and the father as the authority of society.  The mother has brought forth the child, provides it with nourishment, and in the infant's imagination may appear also (like the witch of Hansel and Gretel) as a consuming mother, threatening to swallow her product back.  The father is, then, the initiator, not only inducting the boy into his social role, but also, as representing to his daughter her first and foremost experience of the character of the male, awakening her to her social role as female to male.  The paleolithic Venuses (figurines) have been found in the precincts always of domestic hearths, while the figurines of the costumed males, on the other hand, appear in deep dark interiors of the painted temple-caves, among the wonderfully pictured animal herds." (J. Campbell, Myths to Live By, p36)  The men were further put into roles of shaman, hunter, and conductor of initiation rites.  These people come from a grazing culture where there is spacious room.  "These nomadic tribes , living by killing, have been generally of a warlike character,  Supported and protected by the hunting skills and battle courage of their males, they are dominated necessarily by a masculine psychology, male-oriented mythology , and appreciation of individual valor." (J. Campbell, Ibid, p.41)

It is important to point out that geography plays a major factor in the development of myths.  In tropical jungles a totally different order of nature prevails. As a result we see a different psychology and mythology emerge.  More on that in the next blog.