BellaOnline Forums Family Moms Kids & Nude Art

I think you bring up a great distinction. If you look at a naked statue done back in Roman times, you're not thinking about sex really. You're looking at the amazing ability of the sculptor to recreate the human form. But if you look at a Playboy photo of a woman in tight leather with a whip, it was obviously put together with the sole intention of arousing somebody. There's a big difference. But that difference is partially in *your mind* because of how you were raised - that a naked body is not INNATELY a bad thing.

I think it would be really sad if we had to avoid completely the human body just because humans are capable of having sex. Humans are capable of *lots* of things. Just because a beautiful flower could be used to poison someone doesn't mean we can't appreciate the beauty of the flower. Life is way too short to avoid looking at works of beauty because some segment of the population gets "other ideas" when they see them.

Young men I know that are raised to think "nakedness is normal" don't look at a Roman statue with lustful thoughts. It's a statue of something normal! If a boy is raised in an environment that any sight of skin is "forbidden" and therefore is aroused by a Roman statue, isn't that more a condemnation of the way he was raised than the statue itself?

Hi! Who says kids can't see nude art?
My sister is 14, I'm 13, and we're home schooled. Often on "field trips" we go to museums and there is a lot of nude art there to see. It's no biggy, mom talks about the painting style, or the sculpters use of material, not if it's right or wrong to show nudity in the museum.As for books that show how to draw the human body, I've seen lots of them at the library. Again, it's no biggy.

if you are very secrative about nudeity (and to a lesser extent) too open about nudity early on it will only polerize them later on!