In this book Barbara Freitag, a lecturer in intercultural studies at Dublin City University, investigates the mystery of ‘sheela-nagigs’—rather bizarre, crudely carved images of women with prominently displayed genitalia, whose exact significance has long puzzled scholars. Since first brought to scholarly attention in Ireland over 160 years ago, sheelas have generated interpretations ranging from origins as pagan fertility figures to representations of the Irish Sovereignty goddess to medieval clerical admonitions against the dangers of lust. In this study Freitag presents all these scholarly views of the sheelas, and more.