The Good Shepherd refers to Jesus and, more symbolically, to an accepting form of authority. It is sometimes used as the name for Christian churches that position themselves as welcoming to queer people. In this sense, it can symbolize queer acceptance as well as a broader acceptance of “others.” The sacrificial lamb is a fundamental figure in Christian symbolism, particularly within the doctrine of atonement, which refers to the sacrifice of Christ. In Christianity (the New Testament), the lamb functions as both an embodiment of sacrifice and a symbol of salvation. The sheep herd represents conformity and the loss of individuality within a collective. It also suggests powerlessness under a sovereign authority.

I use the shepherd and sheep herd dynamic to play on patriarchal powers, with the sacrificial lamb representing women as figures used and sacrificed for the “salvation of the sins of man.” What is framed as purity, goodness, and moral sacrifice is in fact a system that enforces male desire and sexual entitlement through control over women’s bodies.

This structure finds an unexpected parallel in the staging of femininity in early twentieth-century performance. Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., creator of the Ziegfeld Follies, curated a spectacle of hand-selected women arranged into highly choreographed displays. Using standardized costumes, uniform appearance, and synchronized movement, the performers were shaped into a singular visual ideal, one that Ziegfeld defined and controlled. In this sense, he operated as both arbiter of the “ideal American woman,” and gatekeeper of their aesthetic value, consolidating authority over which bodies were selected, seen, and valued. 

Like a shepherd presiding over a flock, Ziegfeld’s power lay not only in selection but in visibility: he determined who appeared, how they appeared, and therefore what was culturally legible as desirable. The individuality of each performer was subsumed into a collective image, revealing how systems of control can mirror broader structures of social and symbolic power. 

The semantic distinction between "meat", which is reserved for animals, and "flesh”, which is used in religious iconography to connote the body of Christ, can be challenged by anatomical reality. The structural parallels between human and animal bodies, specifically human versus sheep, reveal shared formal principles like fractals in their mathematical growth patterns. A closer examination of skin and muscle tissue across species significantly reduces the perceived biological differences. Ultimately, this structural similarity suggests that the religious connotations of the body can be seen as a universal material of sacrifice and embodiment. In this way I hope to critique the imagined hierarchy between animal and human. 

The Men’s Bathhouse, 1498

Albrecht Dürer (German, b. 1471)

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