{"id":4602,"date":"2023-04-28T10:54:15","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T17:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juliafriedman.org\/?p=4602"},"modified":"2023-04-28T11:02:02","modified_gmt":"2023-04-28T18:02:02","slug":"who-is-afraid-of-risque-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juliafriedman.org\/?p=4602","title":{"rendered":"Who is afraid of risqu\u00e9 art?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"430\" src=\"https:\/\/juliafriedman.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Screen-Shot-2023-04-28-at-10.29.32-AM-1-400x430.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4604\" srcset=\"https:\/\/juliafriedman.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Screen-Shot-2023-04-28-at-10.29.32-AM-1-400x430.png 400w, https:\/\/juliafriedman.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Screen-Shot-2023-04-28-at-10.29.32-AM-1-768x826.png 768w, https:\/\/juliafriedman.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Screen-Shot-2023-04-28-at-10.29.32-AM-1.png 872w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">A lifetime ago, Gore Vidal published two searing essays about sexual morality in the respective contexts of law and politics. Vidal lobbed his critical grenades from publications whose very existence was a testament to the efficacy of the First Amendment. In 1965, \u201cSex and the Law\u201d appeared in the\u00a0<em>Partisan Review<\/em>, a journal started by the Communist Party USA-affiliated John Reed Club. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The hedonistic\u00a0<em>Playboy\u00a0<\/em>magazine, which printed \u201cSex is Politics\u201d in 1979, aimed to undo mainstream mores. In these two essays, Vidal argued that sex, including pornography, was the \u201chottest of buttons\u201d in politics, and that the prudery of \u201cdead-letter laws,\u201d then still on the books, was rooted in outdated religious prejudice. \u201cWhen the Cromwells fell,\u201d he wrote, \u201cthe disgruntled Puritans left England for Holland (not because they were persecuted for their religious beliefs but because they were forbidden to persecute others for\u00a0<em>their<\/em>beliefs).\u201d Once in North America, the Puritans fulfilled their goal of creating a \u201cquasi-theocratic society,\u201d the morality of which had distinctly Old Testament origins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are nearly a quarter of the way into the 21st century, but despite most people\u2019s tolerant self-image, moral censorship of the visual arts remains a problem. Neither the conservative Right nor the progressive Left are ready to embrace&nbsp;<em>Playboy<\/em>\u2019s proposition that morality is a matter for the individual conscience. Across the political spectrum, accusations of indecency provoked by the alleged overexposure of human flesh can still lead to furious controversy and even suppression of the offending material. In&nbsp;a 1996&nbsp;<em>Vanity Fair&nbsp;<\/em>essay&nbsp;about&nbsp;<em>The People vs. Larry Flynt<\/em>, Christopher Hitchens correctly observed that \u201cthe \u2018righteous and violent\u2019 American culture war is for real.\u201d But two recent instances of moral uproar (from the Right on one occasion, and from the Left on another) confirm that the opposing sides can at least concur on the topic of risqu\u00e9 art. Both want it hidden from view to avoid traumatizing the audience and wider society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To read the entire article click <a href=\"https:\/\/quillette.com\/2023\/04\/28\/nudity-and-nonconsensual-viewing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The question of whether an artwork is offensive is now determined by the least generous interpretation of the most sensitive viewer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[945],"tags":[838,1118,1119,1120,1122,1048,1123,1121],"class_list":["post-4602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-history","tag-censorship","tag-christopher-hitchens","tag-gore-vidal","tag-hugh-hefner","tag-michelangelo","tag-pornography","tag-taravat-talepasand","tag-the-simpsons"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Who is afraid of risqu\u00e9 art? 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