Honoring the “Mother of Feminism” With a Naked Titty Statue?
Who Thought That Was a Good Idea?
The world’s first-ever memorial to Mary Wollstonecraft, the “mother of feminism” was unveiled in London this week, more than 200 years after her death. The sculpture, by British artist Maggi Hambling, was met with criticism for depicting a naked female figure.
Not just any naked female figure. A young, thin, toned, naked hottie.
Wollstonecraft was an important philosopher and educationalist best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, published in 1792.
Honoring this serious 19th century thinker with a naked titty statue?
Whose idea was that?
Why, Maggi Hambling, the artist who won the competition to create the sculpture. Which, according to the artist, “personifies a spirit,” and “is a clear contrast to the countless sculptures of stuffy men placed on lofty pedestals.”
She got that right. Statutes of famous dudes are never this fuckable.
To make things worse? Hambling justified honoring Mary W with a statue of a naked hottie by saying, “as far as I know, she’s more or less the shape we’d all like to be.”
Just in case anyone had any doubts about whether this artist, chosen to honor an important feminist, has a single fucking clue about feminism.
Or about breaking new ground when it comes to public art.
As writer Imogine Hermes Gowar commented, “nameless, nude, and conventionally attractive is the only way women have ever been acceptable in public sculpture. This was a chance to break from those conventions, no?”
If so, it was a chance the artist chose not to take.
The Smartasses of Twitter, of course, are having a field day with this:
Ok I want a statue of William Shakespeare with his dingdong out and I want it now.
We need to get the statue’s dimensions and start designing and delivering endless outfits for her.
What part of this statue am I supposed to rub for good luck?
The runner up in the design-a-Wollstonecroft statue contest was a far more conventional (and dignified) statue of a (fully-clothed) woman, holding a pen, standing beside a small stack of books.
There’s no question which of the two statues Wollstonecraft herself would have preferred. The existing statue would undoubtedly have confused, horrified and embarrassed her.
Which means that the real underlying message of this statute is:
Fuck You, Mary Wollstonecraft!
I’m all in favor of controversial art, but I think that a basic rule of thumb for public statuary should be to refrain from doing it with a representation that the person you’re trying to honor would find appalling.
What to do?
Once again, Twitter has the answer!
L Harris suggests:
Shall we crowd fund for the melting of Mary Wollstonecraft’s statue and its remolding as an actual celebration of her work and life, not her tits?
Sounds good to me.
In the meantime?
In the unlikely event of my ever being commemorated by a statue, I want to be fully clothed. Specifically, please dress me in yoga pants and my “Nevertheless She Persisted” T-shirt, with a cup of coffee in one hand and the other hand thumbing my nose at the patriarchy.
What should your commemorative statue look like? Tell me in a response to this essay.
Writing Coach and editor-for-hire Roz Warren, who writes for everyone from the Funny Times to the New York Times, can help you improve and publish your work. Drop her a line at [email protected]. (That’s Ros with an “s,” not a “z.”)
