# Is this statue too provocative? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 29, 2023, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337 "2023-04-29T03:12:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337/1 "2023-04-29T03:12:27Z")
After the ridiculous _David_ affair, I must say I kind of like this Italian statue. Some disagree. > **[‘Too provocative’ mermaid statue causes stir in southern Italy](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/28/too-provocative-mermaid-statue-causes-stir-in-southern-italy)** > > Art school headteacher hails ‘tribute to the great majority of women who are curvy’ amid social media uproar ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337/2 "2023-04-29T03:22:04Z")
I don’t get how the geometry of the butt-crack works out with that tail. With humans, the split goes down and divides the legs. What’s going on here with just the one tail? The Starbucks siren could have a proper gluteal cleft, with her split tail: [![](https://cdn.freebiesupply.com/logos/large/2x/starbucks-coffee-logo-png-transparent.png) ](https://cdn.freebiesupply.com/logos/large/2x/starbucks-coffee-logo-png-transparent.png) How does this one work? ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337/3 "2023-04-29T03:32:23Z")
Lots of animals have just have one tail. I haven’t seen a mess of mermaids. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337/4 "2023-04-29T03:47:55Z")
The town needs to start a tradition of writing little prayers to Poseidon and tucking them in there. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337/5 "2023-04-29T04:17:31Z")
Well, now we know where the penis shaped iceberg was heading. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337/6 "2023-04-29T06:57:17Z")
If you put that same statue in a video game people would be claiming it demeans women though. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337/7 "2023-04-29T07:40:25Z")
I have no problem with the statue on moral grounds or anything. I just think to be accurate, since the bottom half of a mermaid is fish, she should have a cloaca, not a hiney. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337/8 "2023-04-29T07:46:49Z")
I’ve never understood the attraction of mermaids. The lower half of a mermaid being a fish is inconvenient in many ways. But even worse are the mermaids where the upper half is a fish. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337/9 "2023-04-29T07:57:07Z")
Really? I’ve always found inverted mermaids quite sexy. Big eyes, big pouty mouth… ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337/10 "2023-04-29T10:59:48Z")
It was originally mermaid porn. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337/11 "2023-04-29T11:10:18Z")
I have no taste in art. I also am not so much of a bluenose. Were I to encounter such a statue, I would look, giggle, and move on. Besides, touristy area are supposed to have various monstrosities. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337/12 "2023-04-29T11:21:57Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > But even worse are the mermaids where the upper half is a fish. You got something against fishhead? 😉 (Courtesy of a friend’s interpretation of [Shel Silverstein.](https://genius.com/Shel-silverstein-the-mermaid-lyrics)) ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337/13 "2023-04-29T11:36:55Z")
(FYI, my comment was a reference to skit comedy, but I still can’t post a YouTube link) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337/14 "2023-04-29T12:18:18Z")
I don’t think it’s “too provocative”: After all, nude human women are a popular subject of statuary and other art. But I do think it’s ridiculous. Aside from the issue of how a mermaid has a human butt at all, the breasts are not, as the art-school head claims, “a tribute to the majority of women who are curvy”. Most natural breasts aren’t nearly that large, and even of those that are, they’re not shaped that way. And “It would have been very bad if we had represented a woman who was extremely skinny.”? Aside from the breasts and butt, this mermaid is skinny. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337/15 "2023-04-29T12:20:17Z")
[Moderating] Oh, and this thread is probably a better fit for Cafe Society, being about a work of art, and all. I’ll move it. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337/16 "2023-04-29T12:20:21Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Well, now we know where the penis shaped iceberg was heading. For those who missed this…. > **[Iceberg lovers go wild over viral photos of the 'dickie berg' off...](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/oddly-shaped-iceberg-nl-1.6825578)** > > A man from Dildo, N.L., has captured the attention of already-enthralled iceberg lovers after photographing an oddly shaped hunk off the coast of Newfoundland. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337/17 "2023-04-29T12:33:57Z")
It’s not provocative in the sense of “challenging, edgy”. It’s just tasteless. To me, cis female, it looks like a person sitting on a pair of beach balls, cradling a pair of bowling balls. My perception is that most things called “a tribute to curvy women” created by a man or men, are going to be, essentially, pornography, whether arty or not. There must be exceptions but they aren’t coming to mind. Fishy or not, it’s going to be about exaggerated body parts that titillate men. Relevant: [a blog piece about mermaids as female archetype.](https://lithub.com/the-mermaid-cest-moi-rewriting-the-story-of-a-universal-myth/) Mermaids as a pan-global myth of water as feminine, the mermaid as a product of the male gaze. If you like that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337/18 "2023-04-29T14:47:59Z")
From the article: > “It looks like a mermaid with two silicone breasts and, above all, a huge arse never seen before on a mermaid. At least not any I know.” How many mermaids does he know? If people are just put off by the butts and boobs then, sure. Claiming some “That’s not how a mermaid _should_ be!” thing seems silly. There’s no canonical reference (much less biological) to where the fishy tail needs to start and I’ve seen images where the scales start from under the groin to clear up over the breasts (eliminating the need for starfish/clamshell bras). ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337/19 "2023-04-29T14:58:43Z")
Exactly! Curvy here means exaggerated hips and bust with a tiny waist. So last century. If they want to honor curvy women where is she, the modern curvy women, the ones with fuller rounder figures of all proportions? And the butt cheeks on the piece are so comical as are the cannon shot they’re cradling. I’d give it a B- ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337/20 "2023-04-29T15:13:14Z")
I prefer [The Little Mermaid](https://mermaidsofearth.com/mermaid-statues-mermaid-sculptures/public/the-little-mermaid-statue-copenhagen/) statue in Copenhagen. It’s a work of art with broad appeal, based on the popular Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, often retold in different times and settings. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-statue-too-provocative/983337.md?page=2)