<< So far, I think Louie has got as close to the reason most nudes are women as anyone has. But the original premise that Stempel wrote was a bit off. Photography just followed what paint artists had established for centuries before: The woman as a nude is more interesting. Well, I guess the word "interesting" is an assumption. But the woman has always been the predominant nude figure in art for a long time.>> A couple of decades ago there were similar things said to explain why there were no male strippers. Now "Chippendales" and thier ilk are big business. Using the status quo to prove an assumption that explains the status quo is fraught with risk. The world is not yet ready for Todgers on page 3 - that does not mean it will never be (oh, In the British Museum, London there are plenty of ancient artifacts that depect both M and F in all thier glory ... <<<We shoot what we know, to a large extent. That certainly is the basis on which I evaluate a photograph: how well does it please me as an individual with my own life experience. If I came from a different background, my likes would be different.>>> Mmmm ... not that I shoot nudes but if I did I would feel less embarrassed "in a bar" telling people I specialised in glamour photography (of women) than men ... <<< We could always make a case for this being a homophobic type of thing. Or not wanting to be thought of as the guy who shoots other guys. >>> Yup, that's exactly what I was getting at ... <<< But there's more. As Chris pointed out, many (I'm not sure I would say most), photographers of nude women are female. >>> Most is a GROSS overstatement. There is in this PC world though a liberal dose of "inverse sexism". Women photographers can use the "I'm a woman" defense to thier advantage - of course they are not "exploiting women". Though who are thier customers in the main? Male or female? __________________________________________________________________________ Join Freeserve http://www.freeserve.com/time/ Winner of the 2003 Internet Service Providers' Association awards for Best Unmetered ISP and Best Consumer Application.
