Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Feminism: chat

Original poster

Statue to honour Wollstonecraft

719 replies

MedusasBadHairDay · 10/11/2020 01:08

www.theguardian.com/books/2020/nov/10/mary-wollstonecraft-finally-honoured-with-statue-after-200-years

It's a naked woman..

Currently reading A Vindication of the Rights of Woman for an OU course, and - unless the tone changes dramatically in the second half of it - I'm not seeing how an idealised nude is the right statue to convey anything about her?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
46
Butterer · 10/11/2020 23:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

littlbrowndog · 10/11/2020 23:31

Which was a good one about why girls would relate to a naked woman on a lump or why they would even understand the link at all

littlbrowndog · 10/11/2020 23:30

Why was she sittin* back like someone was going to, attack her

The presenter gave her all the help to get her points over but Tracey only had one

justasking111 · 10/11/2020 23:29

@littlbrowndog

Yeah it’s new it’s new it’s radical.

It’s new it’s new it’s radical !!

No it’s just a naked women. As ever on statues or paintings.

Fuck all new or radical about.

The emperors new clothes springs to mind.
littlbrowndog · 10/11/2020 23:28

Tracey was shite

justasking111 · 10/11/2020 23:28

I think the woman in green was very tight lipped not igniting a debate in any way which was a shame.

littlbrowndog · 10/11/2020 23:28

Yeah it’s new it’s new it’s radical.

It’s new it’s new it’s radical !!

No it’s just a naked women. As ever on statues or paintings.

Fuck all new or radical about.

PhoebeSnow · 10/11/2020 23:27

Sorry Tracey King was her name.

PhoebeSnow · 10/11/2020 23:26

The woman in the green whose name I didn’t catch is making great points on this “thing “ at the moment.

Butterer · 10/11/2020 23:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

janetmendoza · 10/11/2020 23:21

I really don't like it and I'm looking around for the equivalents of Charles Darwin or Winston Churchill starkers. Sorry - starkers in spirit.

goodbyetrump · 10/11/2020 23:19

I havent RTFT but I would contribute to a crowdfunder to clothe this awful statue

Butterer · 10/11/2020 23:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Enough4me · 10/11/2020 23:15

Barbie body, transformer robot head. Makes me feel sad for the missed opportunity for a strong and authentic statue.

HecatesCats · 10/11/2020 23:13

Correction: Mary Wollstonecraft didn't die 'in' childbirth, but of septicaemia days afterwards.

HecatesCats · 10/11/2020 23:09

Just going to scream into the void on that one. MW died in childbirth, MS miscarried, one gave birth to her own death, the other gave birth to a dead child. Alongside Prometheus and Galvanism, these were the kind of influences feeding into Frankenstein, as well as the 'unnatural' 'rise' of women. There's no trans narrative to be found here. It's about biology. This sort of nonsense makes me despair.

Butterer · 10/11/2020 23:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Melroses · 10/11/2020 23:09

Two articles in The Times - one by Lucy Bannerman, and a comment piece by Rachel Campbell-Johnston.

Butterer · 10/11/2020 23:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HecatesCats · 10/11/2020 23:05

Clearly lit crit has moved on since my day Hmm

HecatesCats · 10/11/2020 23:05

But WTAF?

littlbrowndog · 10/11/2020 23:04

Omg butters. Omg.

See my eyes 👀. They are rolling

HecatesCats · 10/11/2020 23:02

Think we cross posted there Butterer

Butterer · 10/11/2020 22:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HecatesCats · 10/11/2020 22:56

I absolutely love this by Paula Rego (it's of herself) - it's called "The Artist in Her Studio"

I love it too Butterer, thanks for sharing.

I've been thinking more about the statue and I actually think that Mary Shelley would have been as mortified by it as her mother MW. When I was at uni studying Frankenstein one of the ways we viewed it (Prometheus aside) was in the context of Mary Shelley's painful understanding of female biology and the idea of the 'unnatural birth': her mother died 11 days after she gave birth to her (Mary Wollstonecraft's death came about because of her biology - I wonder if students are still allowed to discuss this), plus Mary Shelley herself suffered a miscarriage prior to writing Frankenstein. MS was well aware of the precarious nature of birth when writing her masterpiece - that one might give birth to one's own death, or indeed to death. It feels like a really strange metaphor to have chosen for MW. It feels so shallow for so many reasons beyond the pert breasts.