Ancient Nude Art - is it pornography?

Question

Do you consider ancient nude statues, figurines, paintings, drawings, etc., pornography?  
Inspired from a recent news story regarding parent uproar over a picture of Michelangelo's David statue causing a school principal to resign, but I don't want to limit debate to just ancient Roman or Greek statues. I'd prefer to include art in other mediums and from other ancient cultures as well. For the sake of this debate, exclude art that is depicting any sex act - this is just about nudity.

Accepted Answer

Nudity is not inherently sexual. Unless a nude body is engaged in sexual activities, nudity in itself is not sexual.

Answer

No, of course not. 
I’m considerably more disturbed by those wanting to censor access to classical art, literature, and accurate history than I am by non sexual nudity.

Answer

Not at all.
It’s so sad how many pieces of art have been ruined by fig leaves, or whatever else, to cover up different areas of the body throughout history.  
Seeing bodies as shameful bothers me, it teaches we all have something wrong with us. 
Having sexual emotions (and yes sexual attraction is an emotion) upon seeing art that is not depicted in a way in order to elicit those emotions…to me is fine, however, acting upon those feelings outside of any context where appropriate is the problem imo.  And to me, the need to cover this art up is acting in response to sexual attraction and covering it up due to shame of the same.  
The goal of pornography is to elicit sexual feelings which imo is not at all the goal of this art.

Answer

No. I love art and this is something I feel pretty strongly about. I've taken my son to several museums with nude art and it's no big deal at all. 
But I was also reading about this and it sounds like less of an uproar and more of an excuse for the school board to force the principle out. Administration forgot to send a letter advising parents their kids would be seeing a picture of David, only two parents complained afterwards, and the board forced the principle to resign. 
Also worth noting this was a charter school with a classical curriculum, of course classical works of art are included in the curriculum. They had taught David every year before this but always sent out a notification to parents beforehand so they could opt out. I think forcing the principle to resign was an extreme reaction to a couple of parental complaints and could have been resolved differently, so likely there were politics involved too and the board wanted the principle out before this.

Answer

Ancient pornography exists, but David isn't it.

Answer

I think a big part of it is the artist's intent. Were they just depicting the aesthetic beauty of a human body? Then no. If they were making art with the intent of arousing and titilating people, then yes, it is technically porn. I don't think people should be ashamed of or afraid to see naked bodies though.

Ancient Nude Art - is it pornography?

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