#BTFocus – Exploitation is the problem . . . A Christian perspective on nudity in art

We have been exposed to two schools of thought on nudity in art. The first holds to the notion that there is a place for nudity in art as mankind was nude in the garden of Eden. Therefore, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with nudity. The second holds to the notion that nudity in art is tantamount to pornography as it exploits the female form.

We believe that the truth is somewhere in between these diverging viewpoints. To frame our discussion, we will be using the term art to encompass all work that springs forth from the expression and application of human creative skill and imagination. This means art can be visual (paintings, sculptures, etc.), performing (dance, singing, etc.), literary (poems, novels, etc.) or any combination of these (media, film, etc.). In this essay, we will be focusing on visual art and film.

Laura Greenfield, in her 2018 documentary Generation Wealth, explores the moral decay occurring in America as a result of its culture of greed. She investigates the commodification of the human body that occurs in unchecked capitalism, highlighting the industries developed around the exploitation of the female form.

One such industry showcased is the strip clubs in Atlanta. The most jarring element is that the women are completely naked. They are as clothed as they were when they left their mothers’ wombs. The women in these establishments wear no bras or tiny underwear in which patrons can stuff money. Rather, the money is thrown at them while they gyrate on poles and against each other with their genitalia exposed.

This directly contradicts filmic depictions of the strip clubs. The 2014 buddy cop comedy Ride Along directed by Tim Story is an example of this contradiction. When this film depicts scenes inside Atlanta’s strip clubs, the women are scantily clad in bikinis and lingerie. Some might consider the portrayal of women in Ride Along as vulgar. However, when one holds it up against the exhibition of flesh by strippers in reality, we see that the strippers in Ride Along are very much clothed. Here, art ascribes more dignity to the female form than it is afforded in reality.

We can see that while art reflects reality, it is not reality. Art is tamer than reality. If we perceive artistic depictions as offensive, we ought to be mindful that reality is often worse.

Nudity in art is not inherently vulgar, as there is a profound difference between nudity and pornography. Nudity in art is about the perfection of forms. Take, for example, Michelangelo’s sculpture David, which is a 5.17 metre statue of the second king of Israel. The statue of David is portraying the idealised form of a man. It does not humanise the historical character, rather it objectifies him. This objectification, however, is not as an object of pleasure and desire but as an ideal and aspiration.

In the Christian tradition, God created man and saw that it was good. We were beautiful in our naked, pre-sin form. Therefore, it is profoundly beneficial to be able to interact with the human body in a way that does not degenerate into pornography. Religious art does not portray the nudity of Jesus nor the saints because these are holy people. Even the portrayal of the virgin Mary breastfeeding is discrete. There is a reason why Orthodox iconography seems flat. It is seen as a form of communication and is meant to have holy beauty, not human beauty.

A better way of looking at nudity in art is to ask the question: ‘Does it lead to sin (lust)?’ If not, then we do not believe that there is anything inherently wrong with it. There are multiple depictions of nudity in art that portray seduction and desire while at no point being vulgar or sexually evocative.

The difficulty Christians may be encountering when seeing nudity in art is coming to grasp the notion of being in the world, but not of the world. The place of Christians is not to stop the world from showcasing its sin. Instead, Christians ought to show the world the solution to its sin. However, you cannot show someone a solution if you do not know what the problem is. We are called to be in the world, so we know what the problem is. But we are not to be of it, in that we are not to partake in sinful actions.

The problem the church faces is an intrinsic human weakness. It is the same weakness that caused Adam and Eve to fall from grace. We want to solve the problem of sin, but we cannot. Trying to do so is the equivalent of trying to be God, as only God can solve the problem of sin. Even in our best attempts, all we are doing is using a sanitary napkin to clean a pool of blood while ignoring the gaping wound that is the source.

God, along with medical science, says to stop the bleeding from the source (i.e. deal with the sin) then clean up the blood (i.e. remedy the sinful actions). Rather than telling secular artists what they should and should not create, we should dethrone the false god of pride in our lives and destroy the idols of greed, lust and vanity. Thereby, we show secular artists a better way and a better kind of art; one that edifies instead of exploits.

Jade Gibbons is an arts and business graduate with a keen interest in social issues and film-making.