May 22, 2006
Art Museum Nudes
This week I got an email from a reader upset about the picture of a nude woman on my website. Her question to me was "Why is there a picture of a naked woman on your website for children?"
It took me a while to realize that the picture she was objecting to was Rembrandt's Bethseba in Her Bath, which hangs at the Lourve in Paris, and is also on display at my Surfnetkids site.
We've been to the Lourve with our kids. To be honest, I don't remember seeing that partiular Rembrandt, but we saw plenty of other nudes.
What do you think? Is it appropriate to take kids to an art museum that displays nudes?
Answer the following poll, and then leave a comment about why you voted the why you did.
You can post your comments below. Thanks!
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Posted by Barbara J. Feldman at May 22, 2006 1:21 PM | Comments (4)
Unfortunately, our so-called free and liberated western society has maintained an incredibly prudish and drastically outdated set of morals re this issue. Children constantly exposed to the idea that the unclothed human body is pornographic are highly likely to develop psychological difficulties which will interfere with their emotional growth into happy, well-adjusted adults, capable of raising happy, well-adjusted children of their own. In today's world, quite obviously, children already have more than enough problems to deal with. We certainly, as hopefully enlightened adults, do not need to add additional burdens to their normal growth and development!
Posted by: william mulholland on August 19, 2007 10:31 PMJust like most prudish Americans! What is wrong with the human body? Is it crude/ugly when nude and butiful when closed? When tasteful a nude sceen is as artistic as any other.
Posted by: R maure on November 1, 2006 9:46 PMNudity is not obscene. However, views in the USA are different. So much effort is spent hiding anything nude from children (movies, magazines, television). C'mon, appreciate the artwork as a masterpiece. If a reader views it as 'wrong', maybe they should examine why they feel it is wrong, before they fire off emails forcing their views onto others.
Posted by: Karen on September 7, 2006 4:27 PMUmm....I thought this website was for TEACHERS who are looking for websites and lesson ideas, not children. Of course, I would always screen any site, reccommended or otherwise, before sharing with children.
Sounds like the reader has the wrong idea about a number of things...websites like yours and art in general. Maybe she/he should do some research about the difference between pornography and timeless classics!
