Nude women in the media

[Skwim]

I got into a discussion with a fellow worker at the theater I volunteer at about Playboy magazine's decision to bring back pictures of nude women. He contends that depictions of nude women in an artistic medium are just as bad as actual photos. Forgetting about his evaluation of "bad," do you think depictions of nude women and photos of nude women are comparable?

Why or why not?


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[Servant_of_the_One1]

I think its disrespectful and dehumanizes women using them sex objects.

 

[suncowiam]

I think its disrespectful and dehumanizes women using them sex objects.

why don't you ask the objects what they think?

 

[suncowiam]

depends on the context

 

[BioStudent]

I think its disrespectful and dehumanizes women using them sex objects.

Setting playboy aside for a second, is a nude woman always a sex object? Is that true of men as well? Why or why not?

 

[metis]

Forgetting about his evaluation of "bad," do you think depictions of nude women and photos of nude women are comparable?

Not at all-- context is important. Heck many of the art works in the Vatican have nudes.

 

[metis]

I think its disrespectful and dehumanizes women using them sex objects.

But that's only the case if one somehow only sees nudes in a sexual manner. The problem is not with the art work, but it may be with some viewing the art work and thinking "sex".

 

[Skwim]

I think its disrespectful and dehumanizes women using them sex objects.

So, do you feel that Goya's famous Naked Maja Qualifies?

Spoiler: Naked Maja

Be forewarned, the above contains full frontal nudity​

 

[Sunstone]

There is nothing about nudity in itself that magically turns people into sex objects. But nudity in the arts is a complex subject. There are instances in which an artist has used nudity to titillate his or her audience, which is almost synonymous with turning someone into a sex object. Hollywood is famous for using nudity in that manner.

But Hollywood aside, nudity is quite often used in the arts in ways that are not meant to reduce the nude person to a sex object. Most often, it seems to be used simply to invoke some feeling or appreciation for the beauty of the human form.

But in other instances it has far more complex missions, such as to symbolically suggest something about an ideal or concept represented by the nude person. For instance, there was a period in American arts when it was almost commonplace to represent truth as a nude woman in order to suggest that "Truth is naked and unadorned", or some similar idea.

 

[Sunstone]

I think its disrespectful and dehumanizes women using them sex objects.

You are obviously unfamiliar with the nudes of Botticelli, to name just one artist.

 

[Skwim]

There is nothing about nudity in itself that magically turns people into sex objects. But nudity in the arts is a complex subject. There are instances in which an artist has used nudity to titillate his or her audience, which is almost synonymous with turning someone into a sex object. Hollywood is famous for using nudity in that manner.

Curious, do you feel sexual titillation is bad?


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[Sunstone]

Curious, do you feel sexual titillation is bad?


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When you portray a man or woman in such a way that your only goal is to sexually titillate your audience, you almost always reduce them to sex objects in the process.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Forgetting about his evaluation of "bad," do you think depictions of nude women and photos of nude women are comparable?

Why or why not?

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Not in general, but they can be, depending on the purpose of the particular photo/piece, and how well that purpose was executed.

As with many things, disapproval of nudity generally reveals far more about the person who holds that view, than it does about nudity or anything else. Prudishness and general discomfort with nudity and sex seems to be making somewhat of a comeback these days. I chalk it mostly up to too much exposure to non-contextual messages of political correctness, along with a general decrease in actual, face-to-face socialization due to people being addicted to little screens and simulated interaction.

 

[McBell]

depends on the context

What he said

 

[McBell]

Setting playboy aside for a second, is a nude woman always a sex object? Is that true of men as well? Why or why not?

For some people, yes, women are a sex object.
If said woman is nude, it is upteen times worse for them.

The problem here is that it is the "some people" who have the problem.
Not the women.
Not even the nude women.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

My niece recently played a carrot in a play. I almost called child protective services on my brother for letting her be objectified like that.

 

[bobhikes]

I got into a discussion with a fellow worker at the theater I volunteer at about Playboy magazine's decision to bring back pictures of nude women. He contends that depictions of nude women in an artistic medium are just as bad as actual photos. Forgetting about his evaluation of "bad," do you think depictions of nude women and photos of nude women are comparable?

Why or why not?


.

Yes I believe they are comparable because they become objects of the mind but I don't believe they are necessarily bad.

 

[Valjean]

I think its disrespectful and dehumanizes women using them sex objects.

I think equating nudity with sex says a lot about you.

I'm also curious why nude modeling would be more dehumanizing and disrespectful than a person dressed as a hot dog outside a fast food restaurant.
And what's wrong with being portrayed as a sex object? Is there something shameful about sex?

I see people portrayed as various stereotypes all the time: Cowboys, businessmen, construction workers, cops; are they being disrespected and dehumanized?

 

[The Kilted Heathen]

Honestly, I think nudity needs to be more normalized. We're far too prudish about it.

 

[Brickjectivity]

...do you think depictions of nude women and photos of nude women are comparable?

Why or why not?

Nudity in the media is partly a reaction against a kind of dishonesty about sex that has prevailed for a long time. Some people lived their entire lives not knowing that people had sex! So the difference between and actual photo and a depiction of the nude woman is that the photo looks real but the depiction does not. A depiction can be denied. You can say "That's not real." The photo is harder to deny.