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Stephanie Says's avatar

Michael, thank you for the article and for raising the questions. I was speculating on this topic specifically a couple weeks ago - why have male nudes all but disappeared from art? They stopped during the impressionist period, so around the 1860s.

I'm a female figure model (photographic and live art - I model 30 hours a a week) and I'm a photographer. I have done both for 15 years. I'm a survivor of incest and other childhood traumas, so when I make my own art work, I make nude self portraits to process my emotions. They are NOT well-received on social media. In fact, Instagram and Facebook have continually removed and flagged the posting of tasteful fine art nudes; but all of the p*rn images I see when I scroll are just fine to keep recommending. Just today, I posted that I had a tintype (self-portrait with one exposed breast) accepted as a finalist into a juried photo festival (the image is on their flier), but Instagram removed my content. My account is not recommended nor shown in any searches, yet I am still a major threat.

A friend shared that nude artwork I texted to him iPhone to iPhone came with 3 warnings - "This could be sensitive. Are you sure you want to view? Nude photos and videos can be used to hurt people. Once you view this, you can't unsee it." and "It's your choice, but make sure you feel safe." It now appears this type of censorship is no longer limited to public platforms but is occurring peer-to-peer via Apple phones and Verizon networks.

It seems more apropos that currently, not religion, corporations and social media are behind the attacks against all nude bodies being depicted in safe, empowering ways. If the nude body can be used and exploited, they're all in, but when a body is reclaimed and shown as beautiful, as empowered, as filled with life, perfectly imperfect, that's triggering to corporations and their profits. If we don't hate ourselves, we won't buy products to change and improve ourselves, and they'll make less money. If we don't hate ourselves, we won't spend hours scrolling on social media instead of creating art.

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Georgie Girl's avatar

I, a straight Xennial woman, have only started admiring the beauty of the male form over the past couple of years. I mention my generation for the same reason you did -- purity culture really did a number on us, whether we were church-going or not, eh? And some of us (okay, me) are still unravelling all of that to find out who we really are underneath, who or what we find beautiful, and to learn to be sexual people without feeling guilt.

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