General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"Statue of Guy in His Underwear Causes Brief Controversy at Wellesley College"
http://newsfeed.time.com/2014/02/05/very-realistic-statue-of-a-guy-in-his-underwear-causes-a-brief-controversy-at-wellesley-college/Getting to interact with art is one of the great pleasures of being human. Right now on Wellesley Colleges campus there is a very lifelike piece of art just begging for people to interact with it. Its a statue of a pasty man, wearing only his underwear, with his arms outstretched.
The statue is called Sleepwalker and its part of an art exhibit at the colleges Davis Museum, the Boston Globe explains. Its been placed in a high-traffic zone right in the center of campus.
Several students at the all-womens college are very upset about it. A petition to remove the uncomfortable and potentially triggering statue put up without student consent has earned more than 340 signatures. The petition explains:
"This highly lifelike sculpture has, within just a few hours of its outdoor installation, become a source of apprehension, fear, and triggering thoughts regarding sexual assault for many members of our campus community. While it may appear humorous, or thought-provoking to some, it has already become a source of undue stress for many Wellesley College students, the majority of whom live, study, and work in this space."
Davis Museum director Lisa Fischman explained on the colleges website that the statue was meant to inspire narrative, by encouraging people to interact with it and provoking dialogue. And indeed, while some members of the community were outraged, others seemed to appreciate the unexpected public installation.
I find it disturbing, but in a good way, English professor Sarah Wall-Randell told the Boston Globe. I think its meant to be off-putting its a schlumpy guy in underpants in an all-women environment.
Read more: Statue of Guy in Underwear at Wellesley College Is Very Life-Like | TIME.com http://newsfeed.time.com/2014/02/05/very-realistic-statue-of-a-guy-in-his-underwear-causes-a-brief-controversy-at-wellesley-college/#ixzz2sZ1KH0co
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)HockeyMom
(14,337 posts)that has to be a major part of all the controversy
Hekate
(90,714 posts)Good grief. Not what I want to see on my way to classes.
SMC22307
(8,090 posts)I want to throw a blanket over him and get him someplace warm. I find some of the students' reactions peculiar.
Hekate
(90,714 posts)snooper2
(30,151 posts)I think he is saying, "Brains!"
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)See so many funny scenario's people could play with this character, some art is begging for interaction.
Weird ass creation...
MADem
(135,425 posts)lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)Once you know that it's not really a kid and she's not really running/flying her kite across the street in front of you, it's okay.
opiate69
(10,129 posts)marions ghost
(19,841 posts)---
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)If it is determined to be an outrage perpetuated by the patriarchy I will expect a lot more interest.
NutmegYankee
(16,199 posts)If a half naked woman statue was placed by the road, I highly doubt a single college age male would complain.
JI7
(89,252 posts)happen the same amount of time as males against females ?
lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)fer serious.
I think there may be other problems with a hyperrealistic underwear-clad sleepwalker statue affixed to the sidewalk adjacent to the roadway though; e.g. "Holy shit! That guy's gonna get hypothermia! Call 911!"
Sissyk
(12,665 posts)I looks like what it is, doesn't it? A underwear clad, briefs at that, sleepwalker out in below freezing weather. Below freezing. Shrinkage.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)that was specifically mentioned
"become a source of apprehension, fear, and triggering thoughts regarding sexual assault for many members of our campus community."
SMC22307
(8,090 posts)Maybe two.
Wonder if there might be more interest if the guy weren't so "schlumpy."
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)SMC22307
(8,090 posts)I've been here since early 2013--not exactly the most prolific of posters, eh?
1000words
(7,051 posts)All kinds. Some are pleasant, some not. I think it's weird, but hardly merits removal.
Xyzse
(8,217 posts)Either way, the art work was not placed in there with consent of the student body.
It is their school, they pay in to it, they are free to complain.
Now I don't really care if they take it out or not, as I am ambivalent about it. I tend to think that art should be protected and they are welcome to install it wherever they want in their property. However, as a matter of taste, that is dependent on the ones looking at it, they too are welcome to complain.
MADem
(135,425 posts)The student body isn't consulted on every activity that happens at most schools.
They are, as you point out, free to complain, and they're also free to disenroll and matriculate somewhere else. I kinda think they'd want to stay put, though--that school has a great rep, and a degree from there has no small amount of cachet.
I think the statue is very well done--it's hyper-realistic, complex, can fool the eye, and kickstart discussion. Beats the hell out of some halfassed ball on a triangle or some other simplistic installation.
I'd definitely place zombie make up on that thing now and then.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)My only reaction is that it makes me feel cold, seeing that dude in his underwear in the snow.
sendero
(28,552 posts).. and yes I can see how it could upset someone. It belongs in a museum or somewhere that folks are expecting to be challenged, not in the middle of a campus.
1000words
(7,051 posts)... that look like a semi-naked stalker, yes.
1000words
(7,051 posts)Others don't interpret it that way. Hell, the name "Sleepwalker" opens up a myriad of interpretations alone.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)This one is even more disgusting:
At the very least someone should put some boxer-briefs on him.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)a pasty, middle-aged man sleep walking in his underwear on the campus of an all-women's college that has seen many sexual assaults is the equivalent of a piece by Michelangelo?
Oh, if only I could justify things as well as you can. I could take food out of the mouths of starving children and explain how it motivates them to become more successful.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)It's just so totally weird. How do people come up with this stuff? Give me some nice old-fashioned oil paintings and normal statues any day.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)thinking with their fiduciary brains, and not with the ones capable of higher intellect. Research the story and get back to me.
NutmegYankee
(16,199 posts)He couldn't deal with the exposed breast.
SMC22307
(8,090 posts)who needs help. At least according to this woman.
Wonder what the intent of this piece really is. "Exposure"? "Empathy"? "Down with Big Pharma"?
JI7
(89,252 posts)SMC22307
(8,090 posts)Or maybe he suffers from a psychological disorder, or migraines, or drug use, and is prone to sleepwalking.
I still see a man who needs to be covered with a warm blanket or coat and gently guided back to bed.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)SMC22307
(8,090 posts)Aerows
(39,961 posts)I need some now!
SMC22307
(8,090 posts)Of course, I have the cheese, but no celery. Isn't that *always* the way?
I have the celery and no cheese . I LOVE it.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)to allow it to be shown.
SMC22307
(8,090 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)People who watch that show will get what I'm saying...
Perhaps the intent of the piece is that even Molesley can be taken down a further peg (and who would think that were possible?) when reduced to his Hanes, and nothing more!
SMC22307
(8,090 posts)And Mr. Carson can sure as hell deliver a line!
MADem
(135,425 posts)I had teachers as a kid who had the very same no-nonsense manner!
MADem
(135,425 posts)MicaelS
(8,747 posts)To see people's reaction, or in this case to see women's reaction to a man in his underwear in a public setting, not some "safe" place women are "expecting to be challenged."
Aerows
(39,961 posts)Upsetting, and unsettling. Especially where there have been a lot of sexual assaults. But hey, any excuse to have a middle aged man in his underwear in front of women, because that is extremely sexy and exposes them to the good things they have in store for them in life!
Aerows
(39,961 posts)where several women have been stalked a raped. You have to wonder, at times, if the university is thinking with their academic brains or their fiduciary ones. My money goes with the latter, no pun intended.
1000words
(7,051 posts)Last edited Thu Feb 6, 2014, 09:09 PM - Edit history (1)
... and you will likely find a statue honoring Vietnam veterans. Now, I'm sure there are many vets suffering from PTSD who don't appreciate it the way most do.
JI7
(89,252 posts)to attack them ?
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)JI7
(89,252 posts)Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)judging by many of the posts here.
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)Aerows
(39,961 posts)can't wait to see a middle aged man in his underwear. How could they not?
1000words
(7,051 posts)Did you conduct a poll?
SMC22307
(8,090 posts)Last edited Thu Feb 6, 2014, 07:58 PM - Edit history (1)
That's how one English professor referred to our pasty friend.
Edit: Schlumpy, not schlubby!
JI7
(89,252 posts)and was more like a stone statue.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)Granted, they are usually fairly small, but still.
JI7
(89,252 posts)or anything like that.
it's about a realistic looking person in an environment that is out of place for the way it's dressed.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Know what I'm sayin'?
SMC22307
(8,090 posts)not so much that it's an underwear-clad man sleepwalking across campus?
I'm not trying to argue with you, just trying to understand different perspectives.
JI7
(89,252 posts)SMC22307
(8,090 posts)That is, if you see him as vulnerable.
Would he even be seen as creepy in either of those settings?
Aerows
(39,961 posts)if the vanity that accompanied it didn't come with a huge donation?
SMC22307
(8,090 posts)Aerows
(39,961 posts)that is not well-received, uh, okay. Glamor-shots weren't about vanity, either.
Now pass me the Laughing Cow wedges! They are delicious. (Something we both agree upon!)
SMC22307
(8,090 posts)Well, it has elicited responses, many responses. And it's being discussed in Time, the Boston Globe, CBS, USA Today, so is it really futile? I am finding this interesting now -- the "he's creepy" versus the "he's vulnerable" camps. And it's been well received by some, not others.
Glamor shots? Now *those* were just dopey.
Happy to share!
Now I'm craving Laughing Cow.
Excuse the drool.
SMC22307
(8,090 posts)Could have made a real dinner if I weren't sitting on my ass discussing an underwear statue while watching Big Bang Theory. Oh, well. At least I was productive at work!
SMC22307
(8,090 posts)CTyankee
(63,912 posts)ACK!
MicaelS
(8,747 posts)If some women react badly to a nearly naked, seriously ill looking man, in the middle of winter weather, I'd say those women are the ones that have the problem. God forbid it was a real man, with a real illness on that campus, in that environment. He would probably be dead, very quickly.
JI7
(89,252 posts)Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)JI7
(89,252 posts)it might be different if it was a hot day at the beach or something where one knows why a guy might be dressed that way.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)If someone gets scared looking at it, perhaps it will cause that person to reflect on why he or she is having that reaction.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)I find it creepy in a "almost dead guy walking around like a zombie" way. If I saw it and didn't know it was a statue, I'd call 911 for an ambulance and check to see how he was.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)whose modus operandi is to run through the campus in the snow naked except for their briefs.
This statue is horrifyingly evocative of the typical campus rapist.
JI7
(89,252 posts)this thread reads like many wingnuts who are always attacking colleges with mostly liberal women.
there are many fucked up perverts. and it's stupid to compare the one that looks real to one that everyone knows is a statue.
Vashta Nerada
(3,922 posts)JI7
(89,252 posts)Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)SMC22307
(8,090 posts)Dr. Strange
(25,921 posts)And stay out of the shadows.
That's from a TV show, in case you're wondering.
Vashta Nerada
(3,922 posts)bobclark86
(1,415 posts)They need to go hang out in the art department more... if he had a gun and a boner, I'd still say keep it. Just like art students who paint pictures of vaginas with their own menstrual blood.
BTW, how many rapes are there on an all-girl campus? I thought the point of an all-girl school was NOT having penises around...
gollygee
(22,336 posts)they are not obligated to keep it.
1000words
(7,051 posts)350 signed a petition to have it removed
Sen. Walter Sobchak
(8,692 posts)The upset would probably be equally as traumatized seeing a FedEx delivery man.
MADem
(135,425 posts)I'll bet they're having a blast!
Now, if the statue looked like THIS, I could understand a bit of trauma:
...but that poor statue fellow, he just looks dazed and confused...and sound asleep!
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)The "selfies" are their attempt to desl with the fear and revulsion.
Sen. Walter Sobchak
(8,692 posts)bobclark86
(1,415 posts)Apparently somebody likes it, otherwise it wouldn't be there...
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)cliffordu
(30,994 posts)Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)Where is his tan?
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Seriously, though, man... If you're over 25, for the love of all that is holy... Wear boxers.
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)But those who do know hold me in high, or sometimes low, and hairy, esteem.
It's really not unusual for institutions of higher edumacation.
adirondacker
(2,921 posts)Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Sissyk
(12,665 posts)You need a warning on that pic.
Throd
(7,208 posts)Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)"Starving artists", my ass!
The Straight Story
(48,121 posts)with a gun sculpted to his side and have him smoking as he sits atop a pitbull that is breast feeding her pups. All standing on a mound of olive garden wrappers and boxes of corn flakes. Throw in a religious symbol around his neck and people would run screaming.
uncle ray
(3,156 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)They showed him on the news the other day...he looked rather helpless and pathetic with the snow flying!
:large
MadrasT
(7,237 posts)That person does not look threatening to me. He looks like he needs help. I want to give him a blanket and a warm place to lie down. And a cup a coffee.
HappyMe
(20,277 posts)Get him inside where it's warm and give him some nice hot soup.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)#1 --It's art. It is NOT real. Duh but Important Point. NOT real.
#2 --It is meant to provoke discussion. Check.
#3 --It is not offensive except that it brings up disturbing fears in some--fears which are normal but usually suppressed. Others have no fear but feel a twinge of "poor thing." It's that crossover between Person and Thing that is so interesting. And many go sleepwalking through life, unable to see.
#4 --There are so many ugly and distasteful things in all our fields of view every time we leave our doors or go out on the internets. But we have no control over them. We have to cope.
#5 --It's temporary.
-----------
These young women who have a problem with this need to get exposed to art more often. I don't say that someone who has had a bad experience with men should LIKE this. Nobody has to like it. But they should be mature enough to deal with it's existence in the small space of the body in which all of us find ourselves as humans.
--------------
Personally I think it's brilliant. But I'm biased towards Art.
And (more importantly) Ambiguity.
for the sleeping man