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If Aslan Were Trans, We’d Be OK
Girl-voice lions are mighty and their sacrifices are meaningful
A few days ago, The Federalist, a Washington-based, right-wing media outlet, published Meg Marie Johnson’s complaint that Bernini’s “‘Rape of Proserpina’…depicts a disturbing amount of nudity and sexual violence.”
She doesn’t mention the three-headed dog, which is the best part.
Some people say this Baroque statue is good. Johnson sums up their argument as “because, you know, it’s art. It’s beautiful and depicts truth about tragedy and the human experience, so therefore it is also good.”
She maintains a competing position: Artists today should avoid depicting nudity because it tends to objectify its subjects to some degree. Plus, “a number of Christian men I’ve known have expressed discomfort” viewing it, and even Tolstoy complained about “outrageous female nudity” in art. She does take a moment to reassure us that she’s not advocating taking a “sledgehammer” to Bernini’s statue; she just wants us to “reassess” how we appreciate art and how we’re “honoring God and womanhood.”
