SF Chron exposes topfree carving

Merry-go-topless:
nude figure on zoo carousel



Look for my cover story this Sunday in the Chronicle pink section about classic local carousels.

The Bay Area is a merry-go-round destination region (who knew?) with six carousels from the early 20th Century that are operational and open to the public.
I had a good time taking my 4-year-old on the road and riding each of them, including four of the carousels in one day -- driving from San Francisco to Santa Cruz to Los Gatos.


[...]
My most unexpected discovery by far was the
half-naked woman
on the saddle of a lion at the San Francisco Zoo's
Eugene Friend Carousel.

Among the many artistic details on these old carousels, I had seen several female human faces carved on the backs of other animals. But this figure shows considerably more skin. It's like riding tandem on a lion with Halle Berry from "Swordfish."

This is usually where the parenting blogger manufactures some outrage,
but I love the fact that generations of San Francisco children will see their first naked woman [other than mom] on a merry-go-round.
In a less progressive community, the morality police would have painted a bikini on her several decades ago.
.....

A few other observations:

1. I had no idea people in the early 1920s were this cool.
Where else did they carve naked topless people.
Their mailboxes? Their cars?

2. While the zoo no doubt will plan some sort of capital-raising campaign to name the nude carousel woman, I've decided to call her Lola.

3. She looks kind of like a "Circle of Friends"-era Minnie Driver, which is definitely a good thing. The last thing I want carved on my carousel is a half-naked anorexic-looking woman. Nude women on merry-go-round animals should never contribute to young girls' negative body image issues.

4. [....]
Look for my story this Sunday, along with ratings of the best carousels in the Bay Area --
only on The Poop [a blog at sfGate.com].
...
Posted
[ on http://www.sfgate.com]
By: Peter Hartlaub
July 10 2009 at 02:02 PM

Listed Under: New Zoo Review!
.....


[ SUN meows:

Hartlaub can't seem to understand that
being a bare-breasted female
[ topless, or topfree]
ISN'T equivalent to being "naked".

At first,
he labels the topfree image as
"half-naked".
Later, he goes off the deep end,
into inflammatory exaggeration--
"children will see their first naked woman..."

[ Are these kids who don't get to watch
Bay 2 Breakers? ]

In some medieval lands,
still stuck in the 18th century or earlier,
hysterical prudes apply the
"naked" label
to ANY degree of skin --
even to men
wearing swim-trunks;
even to women who aren't fully veiled.

Why can't Hartlaub keep
his terms accurate?
]
............................








......
[idiocy fwd by SUN and CALL:]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SaveFreedom
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nakity/
SUN, P.O.Box 426937-SUN, SF, CA 94142-6937
Toward aphroditic nakitopias!
.........