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Women's bodies make the cut for modeling many times more often than men. This seems to have been true throughout history. One might argue that a woman's more curvy and shapely form has better lines for the eyes to follow than the generally more boxy lines of the male form.

I would question whether a woman's perspective on this might be the same. It appears only too obvious that the selection of the woman's body, especially nude body, is the form of choice of the prevailing majority of artists. Historically, men have outnumbered women in this category by a wide berth. Leonardo, Michelangelo, Degas, Dali, Picasso, and the list goes on and on without a female in sight for many of the artistic centuries of the bygone days.

While it is unlikely that anyone would object to calling a feminine form beautiful, putting it out over and over for inspection may seem a bit over the top. When science called on the human form to illustrate the golden ratio, it was a man that was picked. Afterall, if we're going to have a form represent what we feel is the magic number of God, we wouldn't want a woman.

I'm not a sexist. I don't think it is necessary to plead for equal time for one gender over the other. Certainly, the artist has the right to pick the subject to be drawn, painted, or photographed. However, perhaps a little thought could be given to the message that is sent here. That message being that woman are only good to look at and not much else. Most of society knows that this is a falacy. Now, maybe it's time to consider rectifying the situation in art.

Learn more about this author, Allen Teal.
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