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Podcast: Today In History with The Retrospectors
Episode: Madonna's Naked Photos
Description:
Berated by the tabloids as exhibitionist pornography, Madonna’s coffee table book, ‘Sex’, quickly sold out upon its release on 21st October, 1992.
Influenced by artists Robert Mapplethorpe and Cindy Sherman, the book included images of full-frontal nudity, simulated gay sex, mixed race couples, threesomes and trans imagery. Madonna vigorously defended it, in a series of interviews, as a portrayal of female sexuality.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly ask if Madonna was fighting an uphill battle to be taken seriously; debate whether the book was art, a smutty publicity stunt… or both; an...