The Naked Truth

Anti-Wokeness and David’s Penis

By James Preston Allen, Publisher

The recent ousting of a Florida school principal over objections by parents at the Tallahassee Classical Charter School reveals a lot about the idiocy of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ anti-wokeness campaign and many of his followers. The dispute, if you haven’t heard about it, was over an art lesson featuring a photo of Michelangelo’s David — a Renaissance masterpiece. Yes, this idealized depiction of “David”, the same one referenced in the Bible, is a study in human form that’s completely nude in the classical GrecoRoman tradition. It’s been around since the 16th century and millions of people have gazed upon this larger-than-life figure and his penis in full glory. Anyone who is half literate has seen a picture.

Oh, the shock and the horror! A picture of male genitalia in an art appreciation class. What will these commie-liberals do next? Parents complained about sixth-grade students being shown an image of the nude sculpture, with one describing it as “pornographic.” I mean it’s not even erect (the offending portion that is). And let me remind you that by sixth-grade most students have already had sex education classes.

So, for these “shocked” parents I suggest that they just do a quick review of the last 2,500 years of Western art starting with the Greeks and Romans, moving forward to the Italian Renaissance, French Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassical and Romantic periods. Artists have always been fascinated by the naked human form — it’s nothing new. If you walk around Paris, France, there’s hundreds of naked statues in public places and no one gives it a hoot or second thought — except perhaps some uptight Americans who want to shelter their children ... from what?

I remember being at the Musée d’Orsay looking at the gallery featuring Gustave Courbet’s painting The Origin of the World. It is a provocative icon of modern art. Painted in 1866 by an artist who shocked contemporaries with his tough depictions of real life, it can still shock today. It portrays a woman’s thighs, torso, part of one breast — and, at the center of attention, her genitals. I remember a young father escorting his children through this gallery with the young son looking up and noticing, “Dad that looks like mommy when she gets out of the shower.” The father quickly ushered his child onwards. This painting is more than a prurient exercise. It was a bold early feminist statement.

This reminds me of a few episodes right here in California. Most locals are familiar with the fountain of Neptune out at Malaga Cove Plaza. It’s been there since 1930 and was brought here from Florence, Italy. It is sculpted in that very same classic Renaissance style of white marble with the god of the sea holding a trident on top, surrounded by half naked mermaids spouting water from their breasts. Quite sensual and provocative, it was considered sophisticated in the 1920s. I never gave it much thought before it was renovated some 40 years later after the statue was vandalized. The city of Palos Verdes decided to place a fig leaf over Neptune’s genitalia — however, the squirting female breasts were still ok!

I always thought that decision was backward and a prudish case of false modesty– just around the corner of the Peninsula was the notorious nude beach, which was used for decades. It is now closed to such naturists for some of the very same puritanical reasons. We can’t have naked people swimming next to Terranea resort across from the Glass Church now can we?

And even just below Malaga Cove there used to be the best place for teenagers to go skinny dipping after dark — perhaps it still is?

Then there’s the famous case of the LA artist, Conner Everts, who in 1966 was indicted and prosecuted by the LA District Attorney for “pornography” after hosting an exhibition at a gallery on La Cienega Boulevard featuring a painting of a vagina.

In that case, it was famously recorded that when Everts’ ACLU attorney brought in images of Pablo Picasso’s work to defend his client, the judge opined from the bench, “Picasso! Well we all know his work is pornographic.”

Everts was convicted, of course. But he won on appeal on First Amendment grounds. One might say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder but that the protection of free expression takes priority over your right to be offended.

And lastly there’s the example of the original San Pedro coffee house called The Golden Ass that was on Sixth Street in Pedro, long before Starbucks discovered coffee. It was part of the Bohemian culture of beat poets, folk music and artists. A legacy that persists to this very day.

Well, at one point, the owner displayed a painting of a naked woman in the window and the matrons of the local morality league freaked out! This was pretty much like what they did to the San Pedro topless bar, Bronco Billy’s 20

Publisher/Executive Editor James Preston Allen james@randomlengthsnews.com

Assoc. Publisher/Production

Coordinator Suzanne Matsumiya

“A newspaper is not just for reporting the news as it is, but to make people mad enough to do something about it.”

—Mark Twain Vol. XLIIII : No. 7

Random Lengths News is a publication of Beacon Light Press, LLC years later and what got that charter school principal ousted in Florida last week.

Published every two weeks for the Harbor Area communities of San Pedro, RPV, Lomita, Harbor City, Wilmington, Carson and Long Beach.

The thing is, when the religious right don’t have anything better to do, they pick a fight over culture, especially visual art. The Republicans’ culture wars and Fox News’ anti-wokeness are just more distractions because they have nothing better to offer.

I’ll close by adding they have been losing the culture war ever since Elvis Presley started to Shake Rattle and Roll after Chuck Berry and Fats Domino invented rock n’ roll in the 1950s. If the sculpture of David was made out of black marble, it probably would be arrested and shot in Missouri or Texas and outlawed by all red states in the USA.

The naked truth is that anyone who has been conscious for the past 70 years has seen some or all of this before and recognizes it for what it really is, a much ado about nothing — intended to distract us from what’s actually being done.

Second Thoughts

I fully expect that some few readers will find that the use of the words “penis” and “vagina” in this column offensive and will complain that this is obscene. I will remind them that these same words, and many others, are commonly found in Webster’s Dictionary that is readily available in any public school library available to children of all ages. No one has accused Webster’s of being “obscene” yet.