Well...I'm sure most of us have now heard of the Australian Defense Force being allowed by a school principle to 'prowl' a primary school yard in search of 'soldiers'.

The Principle accompanied the Australian Defense Force speaker on his wanderings.

I can't help but feel more than a tad uncomfortable about this.

Perhaps Fractelle's idea is a good one- to just ban the lot, including chaplains.

More than anything, this represents an appalling lapse of judgment on the part of all concerned. The original subject - is Henson's art in fact child pornography in a latte/chardonnay disguise - can no longer be the issue. As Boaz indicated in his opener to this thread, we are now in the territory of perverts who 'prowl' a primary school yard in search of 'models'. His quotes, by the way.

Which has effectively closed the discussion.

Any defence of Henson is now tainted with imagery - however inaccurate - of his lurking outside schools, perving on small girls.

I don't know whose idea it was that this represents acceptable behaviour - perhaps they thought that conducting the research in the company of the (female) school head was sufficient to protect themselves from innuendo.

At best, it was stupidly naive. Given the reaction to the exhibition a couple of months ago, recklessly so.

At worst, it was a deliberate attempt to raise an arrogant two fingers to the artist's critics, assuming an artist's total exemption from the need to consider public response to his actions.

A shabby tale, all round.

JW, Bill Henson does not only photograph nudes.

For a start, half his work is landscapes, sans people. When he photographs children and adolescents, they are usually clothed, but sometimes naked or half naked.

I'm not attaching any opinion to that statement, but just trying to correct what appears to be a factual misunderstanding among some posters.

What is also obscured by the resuscitated moral panic is that Henson attended the school at the invitation of the principal, prior to the recent brouhaha. If there was an error of judgement, I'd suggest it was on the part of the principal, although who was to know last year that Australia would be in the grip of a moral panic this year?

I agree with those who suggest that there is more to be concerned about in the activities of the thousands of school chaplains, RE instructors etc who operate in schools largely unsupervised.

V, if you read my post "accurately", you'll find that my comments are based on whether or not the purpose of the visit was to suss out potential nude child models. If it "was" then my comments are appropriate and responsible. I pointed out not all news reports are accurate, and I pointed out the visit by the artist may not have been accurately reported. I did NOT say he ONLY paints nude children..... virtually ANYONE knows that. Come on now!

Dear Veronika,

I've taken your comments on board.
And am willing to give Henson the
benefit of the doubt re- my earlier
"mega bucks," and self promotion
argument.

I don't really know what motivates
Henson. I was merely making assumptions,
and as you pointed out, possibly wrong
ones.

However, having said that,
I do agree with Pericles and other posters
who have stated that, Henson's "prowling" school
yards, looking for child models,( considering the
previous controversy), was either extreme
arrogance or naivety, or both.

The man should have known better, as should
the School Principal.

I, as a parent, would
not be happy with the situation.