Bought a print I love, DH is worried it's racist

[NC4T]

Saw it on IG and loved it. Purchased it for the laundry room corridor, but it's arrived and DH is a little worried it might be racist. I can't see how. To me, it's a mum finding a few minutes of calm in the chaos and I love her babies little sleeping face.

We are white Jewish, for cultural context.

What do you think?

Actually I put on a wash whilst naked last night now I remember. The machine was almost full and I stuck my clothes Id been wearing in before going for a bath.
I actually am naked quite a lot at home and I'm not a hippy, I don't think!

Spaniel ears!!

I didn’t say I couldn’t find any clothes at all in my post? I mentioned knickers. And even if all my clothes were in the wash, would that mean poverty? They could be 101 reasons as to why all my clothes were in the wash but it wouldn’t necessarily mean I were on the poverty line

I think if every single thing you own, inc your underwear, all fits in one wash then you're either a very minimalist person or yes have financial problems. Very few people with no financial issues can put all their clothes and underwear in just one wash and are forced to stand naked whilst it completes its cycle. Not in real life anyway.

I've just remembered, my mate's Danish dad used to stroll around the house naked all the time - even when we were visiting as teens.

I think this thread does say a lot about cultural norms - but it's not a race thing, it's a Danish vs British thing.

Most of the posters on this thread will be British. The artist is Danish. We are MUCH more prudish about being naked, so lots of people here think you need a reason to be naked (e.g. poor) rather than you just fancied being naked for a bit.

In Denmark perhaps it doesn't have the same connotations at all. The woman in the pic is obviously at home. And she's naked. So what?

I think if every single thing you own, inc your underwear, all fits in one wash then you're either a very minimalist person or yes have financial problems. Very few people with no financial issues can put all their clothes and underwear in just one wash and are forced to stand naked whilst it completes its cycle. Not in real life anyway.

I'm finding this discussion re whether the scene depicted could ever actually happen and the whataboutery dissection of it very funny.

I'm just imagining you furiously telling Dali that you've never known a clock to melt.

I think if every single thing you own, inc your underwear, all fits in one wash then you're either a very minimalist person or yes have financial problems.

Where on earth do you get that interpretation from? Do you really not understand the idea that all your decent clothes might be backed up in the washing pile? They don't have to fit in the machine at once!

Is this idea so strange to you?

It doesn't mean you're poor, it means you're time poor / have priorities other than washing (like the baby).

Incidentally I've got loads of clothes, but when I became a mum I put on a fair bit of weight (pretty standard) and found I had a small selection of clothes I actually wanted to wear.

I think if every single thing you own, inc your underwear, all fits in one wash then you're either a very minimalist person or yes have financial problems.

No one has actually said this....

I’ve had times when breastfeeding (even when not, ill with a bug achieves the same results) where I would sit pretty much naked because I haven’t caught up with the washing and therefore everything I own is in the laundry basket. Not everything I own will go into the machine... but to get any clothes to wear I would need to put a wash on, that does not equate poor.

I think if every single thing you own, inc your underwear, all fits in one wash then you're either a very minimalist person or yes have financial problems. Very few people with no financial issues can put all their clothes and underwear in just one wash and are forced to stand naked whilst it completes its cycle. Not in real life anyway.

Okay to make you happy not everything she owned but maybe the majority of stuff that’s suitable for the house or maybe just maybe couldn’t be bothered to rush and go to get dressed.

And even if all my clothes were in the wash, would that mean poverty

Ah right, clearly I'm being too literal again and the poster didn't mean ALL her clothes. 🤣

And yes, all my underwear could fit into one washing machine. Knickers and bras? How would they not? The drum of the washing machine is quite a substantial size.

I think nearly everyone's underwear could fit in one wash..,but maybe again it's the literal thing.

Possibly you could help me out by posting what you actually mean?

I'm sure its all very jolly for a man to walk around his home in Den mark naked. Thats not the point is it?

Its nothing to do with being prudish.

in this chilly climate ( mostly) do we really wash our clothes and read a book? er no

The whataboutery is amazing.......

The woman in OP's print could be Jewish or Muslim (or even both...).

It seems so obviously a celebration of the ordinary female form, to me, with a bit of wry motherhood & domestic management humour thrown in.

(There A LOT of relaxed nudity hits if you google "Jewish nudist")

If I draped myself over the washing machine like that my OH would think it was an invitation and I would soon be putting more comments on the Germaine Greer thread
.

lol

Don’t like it. I kind of do find it a bit National Geographic, exotic women from far flung climes as exhibits.

Its nothing to do with being prudish

It's got everything to do with it! The artist is Danish.

We're (mostly) British and applying our own cultural norms to interpreting the meaning of this picture.

As there are different attitudes to nudity in Denmark this is very relevant!

e.g.

"The easiness that Danes show when dealing with nudity can be stunning for people who are not familiar with this culture. But being naked is not a matter of promiscuity. It rather indicates that many Danes seem to be more content with themselves and less worried about how they look."

“We are not told to feel ashamed of our body”
“To me, at least, being naked doesn’t mean anything”, Alexander says and guesses that the same is true for most Danes: “I think basically everyone has this relaxed attitude towards the body, in public rooms at least, because it serves a pragmatic purpose. We are not told to feel ashamed of our body.”

Researchers have proven Alexander’s impression. When asking a group of university students from England and Denmark how they perceived their body, half of the Danes said they felt it was “just right”, but only one third of the English students answered the same. Danes seem to be more satisfied with their body image – a factor that comes with higher self-esteem."

www.jutlandstation.dk/uncovered-nudity-not-taboo-danish-society/

Or, this:

"a survey conducted by the University of Zürich has shown that Danes are the most shameless people in the world. A mere 1.62 per cent of Danes suffer fromgelotophobia - fear of ridicule - the lowest proportion of the population in any country surveyed.

In the UK, we have the highest number of people with the phobia. As a Brit who was also raised a Catholic and went to an all-girls school, I’m practically a lost, hyper-repressed cause. So moving to Denmark proved quite the eye opener. From the encouragement of office-based sing-alongs to a large emphasis on public nudity and a big appreciation for alcohol, Danes seem to be raised utterly uninhibited."

www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/life/welcome-to-denmark---the-most-shameless-nation-on-the-planet/

I guess you'll have to decide, OP, if you can live with any of the visitors to your home misinterpreting what the piece means to you. Personally, I don't often hang out next to friends' washing machines or in their utility rooms, so not likely I'd see it in another person's house.

If you wanted an item for 'racist' reasons, I imagine it would be more obvious & overt... a Confederate flag in living room, maybe?

I'm originally from Kenya/South Africa (for context). I can't figure out whether or not to be uncomfortable with the image depicted. To my mind a baby worn in that way - sleeping, wrapped around a woman's back in a nondescript bit of fabric - is the near-exclusive preserve of poor, black women in Africa. And she's been juxtaposed with a quintessentially Western scene, and depicted as having (the luxury of) free time to herself, reading a book. Is it, all mums are desperate for a bit of a break? The experience of motherhood is universal? Something else?

This'd be a very different conversation if she was using an ErgoBaby.

And I've no idea where to start on her nudity.

ok the Danish thing blah blah......its not to do with the nudity, I couldn't give a about what the Danes do or dont do behind closed doors.

Its an image of a naked black woman with a baby tied to her back. Stop and think for a minute....would this be acceptable for any other race, never mind the funny pictures of women with tits out blah blah.

Its about race. It stinks.

OP, like you I find the picture very restful for some reason.

Check out the other prints, there are all skin tones with their bits out.

It's nothing to do with race and its' not sexist. Its just an image of a mother finally taking a few minutes of "me time".

For all we know the baby could have thrown up all over her and she had to strip and wash her clothes and couldn't be arsed to get dressed as she was alone in the house so decided to have read whilst all was quiet.

If people think it's racist/ sexist, it says more about them than the print.

I love the print of the mum brushing her teeth as well. Cheeky smile!