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Okay I have seen the Mary Wollstonecraft statue.
I have many questions and they all start with why
Like, even the nakedness aside*, maybe having an image that would be actually recognisable as her might have been nice?
Statues of men are all about preserving an idealised likeness. They become recognisable across mediums. Maybe that would be nice?
*As much as I love to see full bush representation on a female nude, I'm not sure this is the exact statue on which to go for it.
Why are we undressing her, a person who was alive and very much not keen on being at the behest of others? The implication is that, by creating her, the person Mary Wollstonecraft, as naked, we're removing her bodily agency. Because she's dead, she can't argue back.
If a person chooses to pose nude for a public monument, that is their choice and they have agency as a participant. At best, this is naked fanfic of a historical figure. At worst, it's exploitation of the body of a woman who cannot consent.
