Yet another totally unobjectionable art-history blog has been branded with a “Content Warning” by Google, in response to unnamed readers' complaints. The complaints presumably were directed against the sites (including Femme Femme Femme, which I wrote about earlier) because they sometimes feature paintings of female nudes, like the fine one above by Paul S. Brown.
Shocking, isn't it?
Brown also deals in food-related pornography, as in the scandalous still-life below, with its provocative depiction of “virgin” olive oil. At least he had the decency to leave the skins on the onions.
The latest victim of Google's slander is The American Gallery, where I first encountered Brown's work, but I'm sure it won't be the last. I suspect that the complaints come from either pranksters or religious kooks, but Google should be roundly condemned for letting them get away with it. The blogging community really needs to rally around and put a stop to this nonsense. Trust me, if you have a blog hosted by Google, this could happen to you.
Personally, I'm worried that impressionable young children will run across these “content warnings” and get the idea that there's something shameful about the female body and its celebration by artists throughout history. The female nude in fine-art history is about the only thing our culture has left to set against the iconographic degradation of women in most modern popular entertainment.