Some bodily attitudes always show the opposition between important concepts in human life.
The straight is male: the whole morale of the Mediterranean societies can be summarized in the word "right" or "straight." "Stay Straight" means "to be a man of honor, looking straight at me, look in the face."
The Pythagorean table of opposites, as shown in the Metaphysics of Aristotle, seems to show that the Greeks had associated the male, the right, the light and the good together, and similarly the female, the curve, the darkness and the ugly. In the Medioeval writings soul-body matching was treated very much: “stand up right " indicated the rightness of soul, while “being twisted and bent” was a sign of a indirect spirit, but also “to be tamed and bent” because “bend the person is an act that proves to bend and humiliate the soul”.
In the Bible a pharisee expresses his devotion praying in the temple standing straight, while the publican pray humbly curved before God.
