Feminists

janterry

(4,429 posts) Thu Oct 7, 2021, 11:17 AM Oct 2021

Italian Statue of Scantily Clad Worker Draws Controversy: An 'Offense to Women'

The latest public monument to draw a bitter outcry is a sexually suggestive statue of a female field worker in Italy, which was accused of promoting sexism by politicians this week.

The bronze statue, which depicts a young woman wearing a transparent, body-hugging dress, was presented on Saturday in a ceremony attended by a mostly male audience, including former prime minister Giuseppe Conte, in the city of Sapri, in Italy’s southern Campania region. Created by sculptor Emanuele Stifano, it is a tribute to the 19th-century poem “La Spigolatrice di Sapri” (The Gleaner of Sapri) by Luigi Mercantini, which tells the story of Carlo Pisacane, an early socialist thinker who led a failed attempt to liberate the Bourbon Kingdom of Naples.

picture at link
https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/sapri-italy-monument-sexism-allegations-1234605053/

9 replies

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Italian Statue of Scantily Clad Worker Draws Controversy: An 'Offense to Women' (Original Post) janterry Oct 2021 OP

Artistically, I find that pretty amazing to have portrayed in bronze and very lifelike. hlthe2b Oct 2021 #1

It's weird. There's no way to know she works in the field. jimfields33 Oct 2021 #3

Ugh. That's the message the artist thought embodied the worker? Budi Oct 2021 #2

Yes, someone needs to get some clothes on that woman. Irish_Dem Oct 2021 #4

he says if it were his choice, she would have been naked janterry Oct 2021 #5

I think Ashcroft has a line on where to buy curtains... ret5hd Oct 2021 #6

if it was roman/greek from antiiquity ppl would be celebrating it nt msongs Oct 2021 #7

ironic that so many hundreds of years later, janterry Oct 2021 #8

If that were the focus of the rendering, yes, I would. It was not, but rather to show a farm laborer hlthe2b Oct 2021 #9

hlthe2b

(107,155 posts)

1. Artistically, I find that pretty amazing to have portrayed in bronze and very lifelike.

Reply to janterry (Original post)

Thu Oct 7, 2021, 11:31 AM

Oct 2021

That said, the sexualizing and objectifying in the depiction of a female field worker disturbs me as well. I'd say it is pretty clear what they were going for.

sigh...

jimfields33

(19,382 posts)

3. It's weird. There's no way to know she works in the field.

Reply to hlthe2b (Reply #1)

Thu Oct 7, 2021, 11:36 AM

Oct 2021

I highly doubt she would wear that working out in the fields. I’m all for art, but this makes no sense.

Budi

(15,325 posts)

2. Ugh. That's the message the artist thought embodied the worker?

Reply to janterry (Original post)

Thu Oct 7, 2021, 11:31 AM

Oct 2021

Why that?
WHY!

Maybe someone will honor her dignity & finish dressing her.

JFC

Irish_Dem

(60,687 posts)

4. Yes, someone needs to get some clothes on that woman.

Reply to Budi (Reply #2)

Thu Oct 7, 2021, 11:45 AM

Oct 2021

Most women go to work fully dressed.

janterry

(4,429 posts)

5. he says if it were his choice, she would have been naked

Reply to Budi (Reply #2)

Thu Oct 7, 2021, 12:05 PM

Oct 2021

ret5hd

(21,320 posts)

6. I think Ashcroft has a line on where to buy curtains...

Reply to Budi (Reply #2)

Thu Oct 7, 2021, 12:44 PM

Oct 2021

for just such a use.

msongs

(70,360 posts)

7. if it was roman/greek from antiiquity ppl would be celebrating it nt

Reply to janterry (Original post)

Thu Oct 7, 2021, 01:46 PM

Oct 2021

janterry

(4,429 posts)

8. ironic that so many hundreds of years later,

Reply to msongs (Reply #7)

Thu Oct 7, 2021, 02:01 PM

Oct 2021

we're still objectified - just like those roman/greek women --who had no real rights in their society.

I suppose if this were pure art - well. That's okay. But, this statue was supposed to honor woman working in the field.

hlthe2b

(107,155 posts)

9. If that were the focus of the rendering, yes, I would. It was not, but rather to show a farm laborer

Reply to msongs (Reply #7)

Thu Oct 7, 2021, 02:13 PM

Oct 2021

Do you really think this woman was portrayed as she appeared (or, rather how the men commissioning the art WANTED her to appear)? Big difference. I have no problem with nudity in art (and I already commented on the positive artistic aspects of this piece). I do have a problem with exploitation.

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