Statue to honour Wollstonecraft

[MedusasBadHairDay]

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?

That ‘every woman’ (with a 24inch waist...) is tiny! If I was reborn I’d want to be FUCKING MASSIVE!

Shit statue. Maggie can do one.

LOL 😆

twitter.com/kate_scottow80/status/1326232721388089345?s=21

@IdblowJonSnow

Bloody hell, that's so typical. What a disappointing and unimaginative representation. Anyone feel like they're banging their head against a brick wall?

Yep ...

So naked woman = empowerment. How unoriginal and insulting.

It's a fucking disgrace. Iconic woman reduced to little, tiny naked afterthought.

Reminds me of these

I really hate it. It doesn't seem to work either in conceptually, scale or impact. Very disappointing. It should be more uplifting and inspiring.

I wasn't that keen on the other choice either to be honest.

Great thread on twitter of inspiring statues of women
twitter.com/AudreySuffolk/status/1326178502828314625

Great thrread, Mollyollydolly.

Here's a link to AVOTROW, if anyone wants to read it. Just reading the intro, about Wollstonecraft's life. A drunken, abusive father. And a best friend called ... Fanny Blood. Honest.

archive.org/details/vindicationofrig00wolliala/page/vi/mode/2up

This recent statue has managed to keep her kit on

It's in the Times now with blokes cracking jokes about the bush in the comments.

What planet do the people involved with producing this live on? It's created an online record of ridicule which will follow Mary around in history now. Grim.

It is on the news BBC now. The organisers say it personifies the spirit rather than depicts the individual. Critics have called it a colossal waste disrespectful and pointed out statues of notable men always seem to be fully clothed.

being debated on newsnight

Shouldn't Wollstonecraft's book be called A Vindication of the Rights of A Vulva Person? Thinking of the thread on vulva people and the fact that the new synonym for the old meaning of 'woman' appears to be a vulva person or a uterus haver or a person with a cervix and so on.

😂😂😂😂

It’s bloody awful! Frankly an eyesore.
What a wasted opportunity and a waste of money. The other piece was far better, more appropriate and I liked, in particular, the small pile of books featured.

The organisers say it personifies the spirit rather than depicts the individual.

Maybe that was the intent, but if so it fails to achieve its objective.

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.

Think we cross posted there Butterer

Omg butters. Omg.

See my eyes 👀. They are rolling

But WTAF?

Clearly lit crit has moved on since my day