we also don't know how many men felt encouraged in their sexism upon encountering this image.
while the image didn't make men sexist, it undoubtedly helped normalize that view among those coming across it during their work.
context matters. if you read playboy at home, that's on you, but if it is found in the breakroom at an office then it has an effect on everyone working there.
You state this as a fact but it's just your opinion.
You state this as a fact but it's just your opinion.
The part that was cropped looks like a normal portrait photo.
how about if someone recognized the phto as coming from playboy and making a remark about that and some men laugh about it. a women knowing why they are laughing could feel uncomfortable about that.
I just don't see your point at all.
https://www.wired.com/story/finding-lena-the-patron-saint-of...
> In her view, the photograph is an immense accomplishment that just happened to take on a life of its own. “I’m really proud of that picture,” she said.
Probably more harm has been done by the internet mob demanding she feel a certain way about her picture, than any harm done by the image itself.
To be fair, very few other racy pictures of women have been canonicalized like that, either; about the only pictures I can think of are paintings, specifically the Mona Lisa, which is hardly racy, and Boticelli’s Birth of Venus, which I suppose you might look at as racy, though I wouldn’t particularly. There’s a couple other non-picture works of art that are canonicalized in that way, but aren’t themselves pictures – Michaelangelo’s David as mentioned in a sibling comment is a good example. But then, even though the canonicalization makes them into something else, it is usually based on upon perceived artistic importance, the Lenna is a different and arguably sui generis phenomenon.
[0] a scan of the full centerfold is included in this piece (NSFW, obviously): https://kevinrye.net/index_files/1972_playboy_magazine_the_l...
If you had a point, you wouldn't need to behave this way. (As opposed to some other people who disagree with me in this thread, who do have a point, and don't feel compelled to do this.)
(Not arguing for using a photo of someone who minds it.)
The full image from which it is clipped is, at a minimum, erotic photography (where the boundary with pornography is…well, opinions differ considerably.)
But, yeah, the crop that has become known as “the Lenna” isn’t (considered on its own) even that.