What I find strange is that almost no conversation is taboo now regarding sex, gender, sexual health, etc. This is certainly progress.
At the same time it seems as if attraction, flirting, and sexuality has all now seemingly become verboten.
For the photographer and the model a photo like this can be sexualized too (but not necessarily).
It seems silly to explicitly deny that a young, seemingly attractive topless woman sitting on the beach in nothing but a bikini bottom wouldn't illicit any sexual response in viewer's brains. Our pattern matching primate brains are essentially hard-wired to detect and respond to biologically suitable mates at a glance. A couple of millennia of civilisation doesn't change that.
I would say that there is nothing remotely offensive or unsuitable in that photo, if considered by itself, instead.
Same when a woman gets a boob out to feed a baby. No erotic at all unless you are some creep.
I believe it is more the behavior, context and baseline than the actual nudity that triggers us. For instance I wouldn't notice some moderately attractive women in very short skirts and crop top in a danceclub because the club would be full of lightly dressed women. However I would if she is the only one dressed like this in the street while most people have regular pants and a jacket and it would probably trigger something inside that wouldn't in another context.
Also a male teenager might have a different view on this than most adults.
This would be incredibly risque in the past
https://www.cmc.edu/news/every-picture-tells-a-story
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-playboy-centerfold...
The main issue with Lena photo is that it:
- it is still used everywhere without the consent of the rights owner
- it is still used everywhere without the consent AND MORE IMPORTANTLY regardless of the wishes of the ex model Lena Forsén. She has said several times that she wishes she would have been better compensated for the usage it has had.
I guess that makes a huge difference with that picture used to promote photoshop once. While the video and picture aren't lost, and are occasionally mentioned against as part of computer history, they aren't widely in use as of today against the wishes of the photographer and the subject.
But the other part is changing or tightening morals, in part due to a conservative morality police PrOtEcTiNg ThE cHiLdReN, in part due to cold, hard cash - that is, making a movie PG means more people will watch it.
Note that that's not only a US thing; media is multinational, and some countries are stricter when it comes to morality / decency / sexualization.
That said, it's not universal. At the same time, people of many age categories watch porn in public. Some people have no shame about these things. It's confusing times where both inclusion and sexualization / objectification exist in parallel.