Diversity Rules Magazine

Stu is a re red university professor who taught and conducted research related to human diversity issues for more than 30 years. His first college job, in 1964, was posing naked for art classes— he s ll poses part- me. He was a successful author of college text- books. "Lights On—Clothes Off" 'Confessions of an Unabashed Ex- hibi onist' is his first novel. Stu welcomes comments and ques ons related to his column or book. His email: stuauthor@gmail.com. My mother used the smallest burner and the lowest se ng while roas ng eggplant on our gas stove. She carefully turned that reddish-brown orb o en. When it was done Mom sliced it and slathered the pieces with bu er and sprinkled them with cheese. Yum- my! I loved eggplant when I was a child but now—I hate it. An ar st with stunning talent, Jung Yang, shared his outrage with me when he complained that some of his art has been censored, work which many people had said was simply glorious. His remarks followed the removal of one of his pain ngs from social media due to the nudity it contained. "This is my original art piece," Yang said. "I wanted to express who I am as a queer ar st and how I want to explore my imagina- on on canvas. Ar sts have the right to express and create." It was clear from our conversa on that he was disappointed and angry. Ar sts do have the right to create what they desire. The current problem is the eggplant parade. I'm sure that everyone has seen, across social media, the use of eggplants to cover parts of bodies. I'm not talking about concealing something that may be rat- ed as pornographic or hateful. I'm simply expressing my outrage that an eggplant or some scribbled lines or some stars are used to destroy our viewing and enjoyment of legi mate, healthy and talented art. I'll go a step beyond that. Even if we don't consider a piece of art or a professionally created photo to be great, we have the need to view it and make our own judgement. And we have the right to see the image as the ar st created it—as it was intended it to be viewed and appreciated. Fortunately, I've seen plenty of incredible figura ve pain ngs, photos and sculptures without eggplants. I've always been swept away by the nude figure and have never been visually interrupted or dismayed by a vagina or a penis. I'm s ll in awe of being for- tunate enough to have viewed the wall and ceiling pain ngs, images filled with nudes, in the Va can. I rejoice that I stood just feet away mesmerized by the statue of David in Florence. The breasts in the pain ngs were not covered. David's penis was not covered. And I treasure the nude art created by Andy Warhol. All of us who have been marveled by nudes, created in the past by incredible ar sts and photog- raphers, have never seen an eggplant destroying the figure's beauty. However, censorship is currently alive and well in our society. Wait, I should not have said "well" as I do think it's not well, it's horrible. Censorship is destroy- ing our ability to view art as intended by the ar st and our right to form our own opinion. I o en pose sans clothing for ar sts and photog- raphers. If one of them asks me to hide my penis (they have joined the eggplant genera on) I'm out of there. And it would disappoint me if they share or sell their work tagged with an eggplant. When art- ists, friends and readers of this column request to see photos from my posing, no worries, they will see it all. So feel free to ask. I never want to see another ugly eggplant covering the beauty of the body. And I vow to never eat egg- plant again. Your comments regarding my column or any topic re- lated to "Sans Clothing" are welcomed. Thanks, 'Stu' stuauthor@gmail.com 8 | Diversity Rules Magazine | May 2021 Sans Clothing By Stu Schwartz

• Cover