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    1. Having done life drawing at art school, I suspect anyone who thinks there is a safeguarding issue involved is a sexually repressed weirdo who has never spent a single second in a life drawing class and has absolutely no idea what is involved.

    2. maybe I’m missing something but isn’t the point in life drawing classes, that you can see the life?

    3. AutumnSunshiiine on

      If the concern is that children might see or walk into the room, just cover the windows and put a latch on the door so it can only be opened from the inside once the class has started.

      Having done life drawing classes it would be difficult for kids to accidentally see, as it was difficult for the entire class to get a clear view to draw from.

    4. ihavebeenmostly on

      As a parent you should be able to explain to your child why there is a naked person in a room being drawn. If you cannot do so in such a way that would inform and educate your child about the world around them then absolutely fuck you and good luck to your sprog.

    5. It’s actually really dangerous and unhealthy to teach kids that makes bodies are automatically sexualised

      I’ve been taking my kids to art galleries and museums all their lives. There’s lots of naked bodies in classical art. 

    6. >”Tony Swann, who ran a daytime life drawing class at the Hampstead Community Centre, was asked to either move to the evening or clothe its naked models as it was being held between two children’s sessions”

      Reasonable. Do it somewhere else or at a different time

    7. When I was in my teens we had a life drawing class and well, before that I wasn’t sure how it would go. There were two models – a young woman and an older man – and I’d wondered how people would react to seeing that in person.

      The models seemed comfortable doing it, and from my point of view (and the overall class reaction) it was all nonchalant. It was a professional environment, yes even with a naked woman in her early 20’s in a room full of teenage boys. There is nothing sexy about it at all.

      So the question is – who raised these concerns? Everyone present in that classroom (teacher, model, pupils) didn’t give a shit, they all had a job to do. Conservative parents maybe? A nude model in a life drawing class is nothing like watching porn. It’s art. For me it’s in the same vein as looking at nude sculptures. People need to get a grip.

    8. static_tensions on

      I went to a life drawing class once and 0 out of 30+ class members drew the guy’s nob. We all drew everything except for the guy’s nob. He looked awfully proud of his nob too but nobody was inspired by it.

    9. Every 12 year old child should be forced to draw a naked old person. An hour of that and they’d be transformed in attitude before having the chance to become a toxic teenage tosser.

    10. GreatBritishHedgehog on

      This doesn’t feel like it’s about kids

      I get the sense some fundamentalist religious person has complained and as usual, won, for fear of kicking a bees nest

    11. can you imagine if a child actually saw a naked person omg, the horror, the tragedy, condemned to a lifetime of therapy and self flagellation

    12. Society as definitely gone prudish when it comes to nudity.

      I suspect it’s the cultural influence of our transatlantic cousins.

    13. I_ALWAYS_UPVOTE_CATS on

      Wait til people hear about nudist beaches. You can avoid taking your kids to a nudist beach if it bothers you, just like you can avoid taking your kids into the room before the drawing class has finished.

      Not that any of the parents have actually complained.

    14. Rumour has it that people (even children) are born without clothes. Horrifying when you think about it.

    15. My girlfriend models at life drawing classes regularly and I have to say at first I thought it was a bit of a red flag.

      She begged me to come down to a class and just see how it all works as she knew I was abit uneasy about it. Being at the drawing event in person really changed my perspective on the whole thing and I saw my girlfriend in a different light.

      After the session the whole class went to a bar nearby and showed each other their work, it was weird looking at all these different paintings of my girlfriend’s vagina, lol.. watercolors, inks, charcoals… they had it all. I did feel like a bit of a cuck tbh but at the end of the day I was the one going home with her 😉

      To finish off I would also like to mention that there was creepy guys in the class that kept asking her for “private sessions” but my girlfriend outrighted refused. There was another guy who kept inviting her round for sessions and dinner and wine… and then tried to make a move on her.

    16. Decreasing social liberalism is one of the most depressing things about the UK right now. We keep having moral panics about harmless things like this which have been going on for decades but only now are suddenly deemed to be unacceptable because a few people kicked up a fuss about it.

    17. ronjeremys_sausage on

      Lot of people talking about religion when there’s no mention of it in the article. Is it too hard to believe that the average parent doesn’t want their child to unnecessarily see a naked old man or woman?

    18. Christ, children in some places are watching their parents being blown up and dismembered. I think in terms of trauma, that rates a bit higher than seeing a bare naked man or woman holding a pose for a drawing class.