Delray Beach, Florida (The Weekly Vice) – A bronze sculpture of a nude family outside the Addison Plaza shopping center is drawing protests from parents and a local PTA at a nearby elementary school.
The sculpture which has been titled “Journey to the New” has been previously displayed at other local areas. It is supposed to represent the emigration of Russian and Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Many people, however, are taking note of something else they see emigrating into their neighborhood. Anatomically correct statuary.
Parents of children who attend the nearby school complain that the sculpture is inappropriate. The PTA of that school has emailed parents asking them to complain.
Parent Jeffrey Cohen has been quoted as saying “My daughter has been joking about it. She shouldn’t be talking to me about this.”
The statue's designer, Iitzik Asher, is no stranger to controversy. The Boca Raton City Council forced Asher in 1995 to cover the “private parts” of several of his sculptures with cardboard fig leaves, which were later removed.
The Weekly Vice Opinion:
Okay, let’s keep our kids totally in the dark about anything even remotely sexual. A sculpture displaying some subtle nudity is not going to scar our children for life. If you as a parent aren’t willing to talk about sex with your kids, you are going to be in for a world of hurt when they get older.
James E.
The Weekly Vice
www.theweeklyvice.com
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12 comments:
This isn't even about sex! The sculpture isn't even vaguely sexual. Sex and nudity are not interchangeable. It's called human anatomy... we all have it! Sheesh.
I'm not advocating people running around naked, or even women running around topless. I'm just saying, an anatomically correct sculpture of a nude family that has NOTHING to do with sex shouldn't be that big a deal. What are these parents afraid of -- that their kids will see an artistic rendering of a wang or a pair of boobies and will run out and hump the first person they see?
And I'm a parent (my kids are 5 and 1 1/2)!
Moral: People are dumb.
Well said Venus D.
[If they were anatomically correct Americans they would be 60 pounds overweight.]
Parents could use this art work to provide healthy, needful discussions about sexual differences in men and women.
these statues are not pornographic in any way... don't these parents have myspaces to moniter or something? so your kid now knows what a naked body looks like? wow.. stop the presses...
it just isn't that serious in my opinion. the earlier these kids learn about the body and sex, the less likely they are to become a teenage statistic.
Up in arms over this statue while pervs whack off unstopped at the pools near Disney World?
http://www.theweeklyvice.com/2009/07/david-shapiro-wanted-to-play-in-pool.html
Danny has it right its a crazy parade.
What exactly is "sexual" about three people standing there naked?
I wonder if the parents of some these potentially scarred children would take issue with their children reading a classic novel like "Catcher in the Rye" or "Of Mice and Men," which both contain naughty, filthy words. Or if they'd be opposed to a field trip to the museum, where their precious widdle babbies might be exposed to the art of the Rennaisance or the sculptures by early Egyptians - both of which feature lots of boobies and peeps.
This is why so many teenagers have lousy body images - we teach them to believe the body in its natural state is a dirty thing that should be covered, lest the good Lawd doth damn us to the fiery pits o' hell.
YES! Delray Beach finally made the news. The only things we usually have are rich retirees and the world's biggest sober living community.
Finally, word is getting out - we are really just a bunch of yuppie prudes here.
It's in Florida so if it were truly provocative it would be surrounded by the pervs and drenched in enough Jizz to shampoo a buffalo.
I've got nothing against nudity, but just to play devil's advocate: "Journey to the New", it's called. Unless the Jews emigrated naked, maybe the sculptor should either rethink the title or the content. I'm just sayin'...
Really? Does florida have bigger fish to fry? I don't know,.... roaming meth labs and rogue Burmese pythons. Any one that considers it perverse should perhaps take a class in art/culture. Is it any wonder why the rest of world thinks we are idiots?
There's one thing you should realize: outrage is never in short supply. I'm sure they are just as angry about the man jerking off in front of kids as they are they are the statue, only the county didn't tell the former he could do it. (And then there's the whole were the Jews naked thing mentioned above.) Mind you, I'm not agreeing with them, just putting it in perspective. Honestly, I'd be more up in arms over the fact that the statue is just ugly, but that's just me.
I find it ironic that people are complaining about these statues yet pornography is accepted in this society.
Perhaps if people were taught openly healthy attitudes about nudity and healthy loving sexuality there would be less attraction to pornography in this world?
Parent Jeffrey Cohen has been quoted as saying “My daughter has been joking about it. She shouldn’t be talking to me about this.”
Really? So who do you suppose She should be talking to, dad???
People get all bent out of shape for nothing anymore.
It's art. Get over it.
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