Thursday 26 June 2008

Baby's Bum Censored!

Asda Birthday Cake: 21 Today (2008) I.C. enhancedI'm not posting this as a work of art, although it's arguably more artistic than a lot of the tripe in Tate Modern, but as a work of censorship. When Gail Jordan gave this old photo of her son David to staff at Asda to print on David's 21st birthday cake, she was shocked when they refused to process it because of David's bare bottom, which they claimed was pornographic! So a star had to be placed on his bum to hide it. Note the sexism of the decorations: booze and a football on blue icing. (Pink for girls and no football?) It's no wonder so many young people in the UK think it's normal to get drunk. If we need censorship, let's ban Asda from promoting booze on its birthday cakes. Alcoholism and drunken disorder pose a far graver threat to our society than babies' bare bums.

2 Comments:

At 26/6/08, Blogger ian gordon said...

My mother (Old lady of 80+) took a picture of her pride and joy grandchildren similar to this (equally decent), only to have Boots staff question her. Broke her heart.

I once did a painting of a male nude. Not erotic. Simply a figure painting. Photobucket promptly removed it.

 
At 27/6/08, Blogger Unknown said...

Hi, Ian

I'll bet Granny was shocked. This political correctness - or is it child-abuse paranoia? - has gone too far when a traditional photo such as the one on that cake is viewed as potential porn.

It seems to me absolutely natural that proud parents or grannies should take photos of their kids, sometimes in the nude on the beach or in the bath. How on earth such joyous photos can be confused with porn is beyond me.

Ditto for art. Classical sculpture is all about presenting the naked human body - young, old, male, female - as something of great beauty to be admired. Check out my Coxsoft Art website for some lovely neoclassical nude sculptures.

Glad I'm not with Photobucket! Maybe your painting was too good and they thought it was a photo. Freud gets away with nudes by making them look ugly and by slapping on the paint so sloppily that it's obvious they're paintings.

 

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