... to wonder if these pictures are offensive?

[MrsPeacockInTheLibrary]

There were shared by an artist on a Facebook group. I think they seem offensive in some sense - but then I have also been told I am too sensitive and overthink everything. I also wonder if the original intention of the author matters, or the geographical origin of the pictures in relation to what is the style of humour captured.

I am trying to be more aware of when to "get over myself" so I would be interested to see what others think.

YABU - they are not offensive at all
YANBU - I can see what you mean

I’ve seen these and I think they are gorgeous

I don’t find them offensive but the style of drawing is old fashioned and reminds me of the old seaside post cards

I see them as a bit of a parody.

They do remind me of some postcards I have seen in antique shops, by a well known artist, particularly the bathtub picture, but they look altered in some way.
Do you know who the artist is or where the pics are from OP?

I find them repulsive, but not offensive.

The cauldron doesn't help. I would echo reductive - it's hard to look at those images and not see how those women were depicted at their worse but never their best - as though they are as one dimensional as the stereotype - same for images of coal miners, labourers, etc.

They're horrible but not offensive.

It's a bit of a representation of a long gone era. My Gran did used to warm her arse like that!

It's how life used to be. If you are offended by knowing that, fair enough, but the pictures, not offensive in the least!

There are a series of them under a collection - they are each separate prints.

Here is the artist and the website I discovered in the link under the Facebook post.

It is depicting women in the north east who are called 'hinnies.'
He says: this is a series I have created of Pinnie Hinnies, which tries and recaptures my memories of growing up as a child in the small mining village of Pegswood in Northumberland.

The term "Hinnies" is a local name for woman in the North East, and were know to wear a variety of pinnies or aprons, hence the name of the series Pinnie Hinnies."

www.jans-art.co.uk/pinnie_hinnies_art.html

I think "caricature" (style of illustration) when I look at them though.

My eyes are definitely offended.

They're cartoons. Completely innocuous. It's fairly telling that you had to ask if you should be offended 🤦‍♀️

I think they are amusing, I can see why some would think they are similar to the saucy postcards. I just see them as a humorous reflection of times past. When people had only coal fires to heat houses, no bathrooms and chatted to their neighbours over the garden fence.

His get out clause, or disclaimer, is that he is trying to recapture his memories from childhood.
How children view things is very different to how adults do.

I think they're very unattractive but in a way that I can't quite put my finger on. The blurb makes it sound as though the artist was coming at it from an affectionate, nostalgic angle. Without that, I would have assumed that the artist was a patronising snob.

They remind me of the way my Gran lived - the coal fire, that style of clock on the mantelpiece, the coal scuttle, neighbour smoking, rag and bone man coming round, and kids in a tin bath all definitely featured in her life. They may be stereotyped but it's arisen from actual life, in a very different era, and makes me a little sad and nostalgic all at once.

His get out clause, or disclaimer, is that he is trying to recapture his memories from childhood.
How children view things is very different to how adults do.

Then his focus on (over exaggerated?) breasts and nipples is concerning.

@1066vegan

I think they're very unattractive but in a way that I can't quite put my finger on. The blurb makes it sound as though the artist was coming at it from an affectionate, nostalgic angle. Without that, I would have assumed that the artist was a patronising snob.

Interesting 1066, thank you! Good point. That links to what I said about I wondered if the original intention of the artist mattered.

They are seaside type depictions. They remind me of that other one with the woman in the tiny daisy bikini which gets shared about as charming.

There is another woman depicted in the series and she is represented fairly normally with no wrinkling stockings or poking nipples. The images are not not to my taste but they seem to be a depiction of a particular woman or type of woman. Not offensive as such

@DumbledoreAskedCalmly
Are you advertising these for said artist, or do you genuinely find them offensive ?
There just seems to be an awful lot of ‘product placement ‘ on mumsnet at the moment.😊

The artist was trying to captures memories his childhood in a mining village. If my GG was alive (apart from the fact she never smoked), they'd probably remind her of the 'good old days'. The only one in the series I don't like is Pinnie Hinnies Nettie but apart from that they are absolutely harmless and totally unoffensive. I am most interested in why you picked those four to portray the series and not, for example the coal images which, should you wish to be fair in asking for opinions, truly encapsulated life as it was. Nothing wrong with memories and that was life for the majority of people, it shouldn't be swept under the carpet never to be seen again and indeed the strength and tenaciousness of these women really should be celebrated.

It’s ok to to find then offensive. You need other people to have the same opinion for you to feel offended. So if you find them offensive that’s ok and is a valid reaction.

I would just like to jump on to correct something. The use of hinny in North East Engalnd is not confined to women . It is a term of endearment which could be used for a man, woman or child. It's use now is sadly declining, like many other of the area's dialect words.

@bridgetreilly

Who do you think they are offending?

Another good question on what I am trying to explore. I think they might be reductive/stereotypical of women and how our bodies are objectified.

I have said elsewhere I now see offensive was not the right word to use to capture what I was wondering about.

They remind me of the Roy Barraclough and Les Dawson sketches Cissie and Ada. Not offensive, quite old fashioned but I think affectionately rendered.