Is Michelangelo's David pornographic?

[MissVantaBlack]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65071989

A Florida head teacher has resigned following complaints from parents that their children were exposed to pornography during a lesson where they were shown a picture of Michelangelo's David.

Is the statue pornographic?

No it’s not, obviously. This is typical American right-wing, fundamentalist philistinism and nut-jobbery.

Yes, I was surprised by the impact - the outdoors copy just isn't the same.
And Donatello's bronze David is amazing too - goodness knows what the Florida philistines would make of that!

Seeing Donatello's David made my heart leap.

I remember visiting Clearwater, Florida when my daughter was 4. The motel had a pool and another English couple were staying with twin girls the same age. All three girls got fed up of their bathing suits and were soon splashing away naked (this was 23 years ago). Myself and the twins parents didn’t see this as a problem, until two little old American ladies made a derogatory comment about it, they were disgusted.

let’s hope they don’t watch Naked Attraction 🤣, wow that would blow their minds. They do seem to be quite prudish in certain parts of America. The old dears were from Wisconsin, they also thought the UK was attached to the rest of Europe 🤷‍♀️, unbelievable!

The V&A has a Donetello exhibition at the moment - the 'bronze' David is a copy but apparently a good one.

www.standard.co.uk/culture/exhibitions/donatello-sculpting-the-renaissance-v-and-a-victoria-and-albert-museum-review-b1058419.html

oh thank you! I didn't know about this but will hopefully be in London before the exhibition's end date. It looks wonderful.

It's actually disgusting to try to blame the gay/trans community for this, especially if you're not American and have no idea what you're talking about.

This is just old-fashioned American religious fundamentalism and prudity. And Florida has always been a total basket case.

I'm in the US (not Florida) and the BBC have missed a few contextual details on this story.

First of all, Tallahassee Classical School is a private school which markets itself as conservative and has its own set of internal rules. I'm not sure why the BBC is linking this story with the bill being debated in the Florida Senate, which applies to public (state) schools only.

It was the school's own rules that required that the lesson that included Michelangelo be preceded by a notification to parents. Hope Carrasquilla, the Principal who resigned, agreed that the procedure was not followed and took responsibility for the failure. The School Board Chair who asked for Carrasquilla's resignation said that there had been multiple issues with her performing her job duties and declined to comment further based on legal advice (which is sensible in this case as Carrasquilla may bring a lawsuit for constructive dismissal).

So yes, the standards of the school are peculiar and not typical of a US public school, but it's not clear that the request for Carrasquilla to resign was inappropriate.

Of course it's fucking not.

Dumb question.

It's a much better representation of a penis than most porn!

Apparently in the US it's fine to use school children as collateral damage in the gun debate but heaven forbid they should be exposed to classical culture......

I suspect there’s more to this than is being reported, but also … Florida.

You know it isn’t.

I blame God for putting the cookies in full view like that, what was he thinking of?

Thank you @Teddeh , that does clarify things a little.

To the posters who thought I genuinely didn't know whether or not this statue is pornographic - the question was tongue in cheek, asked to stimulate discussion, and not because I truly thought there was any doubt on the matter!

It is interesting, though, to consider why, for example, children's beauty pageants are OK but classical art isn't. It must be that the subset of Americans who approve of children's beauty pageants etc is different to the subset who view Michelangelo's David (or indeed the packet of Tyrell's crisps that a poster linked to upthread) as pornographic. Perhaps the situation is more nuanced than it appears and you have to have grown up in Florida to understand the subtlety.

Of course it isn't.

Florida.

Considering they're parents the squeamishness over a naked penis seems a bit odd. How did they conceive those children?

Although I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. DM used to curl into a tiny ball of embarrassment when S.E.X was even hinted at.

Of course it's not pornographic. It's a naked human body. We all have them.
If people can only see a penis, then it's their thoughts that are perverted.

I feel for the kids whose parents think like this.

No. This is a completely ludicrous reaction but not at all surprising given that it's happened in Florida. Parts of the USA are going so far backwards, that they're frightening to anyone who isn't male, white, & Christian.

This post is not entirely accurate. The school is not private. It is a public (state) charter school. Charter schools in Florida are public schools that operate under a contract which frees them from many regulations created for traditional public schools, but they are still state schools.

pointythings · 25/03/2023 11:07
Lots of things have been raised in Westminster - given who's running it right now anything they say should be taken with a pound of salt. The person who raised this in Parliament was Miriam Cates, who is generally very religious, and she used this piece of hearsay when she raised the matter. At the very least she should have fact checked it.

This is politically motivated

The concerns being raised by parents in the U.K. about what their children are being taught in RSE lessons are real and coming from the parents not Westminster.
https://safeschoolsallianceuk.net/2023/03/27/bad-rse-in-schools-where-is-the-evidence/

As to Michelangelo’s statue of David, I don’t think any teacher in the U.K. would be sacked for showing it. It certainly is not pornographic.

American purity culture strikes again

The very parents complaining about this have likely wanked ‘til they’re muscle-bound to Porn Hub.