In a store in Norway I saw boxes of nappies for sale. On the cover of the box was a picture of a naked baby girl lying on her back with legs spread. That is a natural posture for a baby needing a change. However, such a picture would be unlikely to be shown on a similar product in Australia.

Norway seems to have a healthier attitude toward sex.

Gollum: << CJ Moron [dribble] >>

Still smarting, old chap?

I think you're a shining example for other whingeing Poms, bean counters and other assorted wingnuts. Keep up the good work!

david f,

I hope the nappy the baby girl was lying on was the new one she was to wear, not the old one to be discarded.

From what I've heard most of Europe has a healthier attitude to nudity. The English speaking world's dislike of nudity comes from Victorian England.

Now I read that the journalist, David Marr realises that he's actually the one that's done damage to the children in Henson's photographs.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24493582-2,00.html

I've been trying to say that all the time. Who here had heard of Bill Henson before all this? I hadn't.

Hi Polycarp,
Don’t forget that the principal of the school also has a great reputation and was respected by parents. Would parents need to give consent for every visitor that enters the school or would it be sufficient to leave the judgment of visitors up to the principal?

From Canberra Times: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/parents-back-henson-over-school-scouting/1326276.aspx
"Parents of children at the primary school where photographer Bill Henson scouted the playground for models have supported the artist and the principal's decision to allow him into the school. St Kilda Park Primary School council president David Myer said the school backed former principal Sue Knight who escorted Mr Henson around the school last year."
As a parent I’d prefer to rely on the principal’s reputation and judgment.

Artists can also approach people, including children, in the street.
In fact, when I was about 15, I was approached by a photographer in a city’s major shopping street and asked if I was interested in visiting his studio to pose as a paid model, but that I would have to have my parents’ consent first.

I was very interested as the pay was far much better than my weekend job at a jeans shop and the work seemed interesting. When I came home, all excited about the offer, my mother contacted the artist and found out that some of the photos would be (semi) nude and wouldn’t give her consent.

I remember being very angry with that and contacted the photographer myself to say that I wanted to pose without my mother’s consent, but he insisted I needed parental consent. No amount of tantrumming was going to change my mother’s mind or the artist’s.

Funnily enough when I was 16 she had no problem with me modeling lingerie for a fashion house because she thought that was a decent job. When I questioned her, she reasoned that the intent of the fashion house was to sell lingerie, but that the artist was out to sell ‘me’.
I didn’t agree because it is ART that a legitimate artist sells, not the souls or bodies of their models

Philo,
If Bill Henson acted illegally, then why isn’t he in jail? You can’t make such judgments or you’d be no better than cunning old fury.
From Alice in Wonderland:
”I am the judge, I am the jury,” said cunning old fury.
”I’ll try the whole cause and condemn you to death.”

Dear Celivia...

Henson is not in Jail because AT THE TIME what he did was only morally reprehensible, not illegal.

IT IS NOW ILLEGAL so officially and lawfully "Henson would be a is a sleaze and a criminal" if he does the exact same thing today.

The laws in NSW have just been tightened to include child nudity.
The artistic defense is now INVALID.. and hip hip hoooooray I say.. I don't care how much these bent artistic types whine and moan.. the law is the law and they will get a full dose of it if they do the wrong thing.
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