[Ammi]

When campaigners unveiled a sculpture in honour of Mary Wollstonecraft, they expressed hope that it would “start a conversation”.

Unfortunately, the conversation revolved around why the sculptor, Maggi Hambling, had chosen to represent the “mother of feminism” as what one critic described as looking “like someone stuck a Barbie doll on top of a kebab”.

To the horror of academics, Hambling produced a naked “Everywoman” with a model’s physique, standing atop a silvery mass. It prompted many to ask why famous men are never commemorated without their clothes.

“Who on earth saw the design for this and thought, ‘Yes, the woman who wrote The Vindication of the Rights of Woman would love this’?” asked Dr Amanda Dillon of the University of East Anglia.

“Have we ever, EVER had a statue of a major male thinker that looked a) nothing like them and b) like a Pornhub Christmas decoration?” said Dr Louise Raw, the historian.

Prof Amanda Vickery, the historian and television presenter, tweeted: “Wollstonecraft insisted women were equal souls. WHY a nude?” And Emily Cock, lecturer at Cardiff University’s School of History, remarked: “Finally, public acknowledgement that women in the eighteenth century were stark naked and extremely small.”

Caroline Criado Perez, the feminist campaigner, called the piece “a colossal waste”, saying: This feels disrespectful to Wollstonecraft herself and isn’t that the most important part?”

Dr Una McIlvenna, a senior lecturer in history at the University of Melbourne, joking shared a picture on social media of a naked male model and captioned it: “Here’s a statue I just made to honour the memory of John Lennon.”

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https://uk.yahoo.com/news/mary-wolls...001949559.html