Larvatus Prodeo

This post is a joint effort with Cassie Hampden, a postgraduate student in psychology.

One of the issues raised in the Henson brouhaha is the issue of the consent of the children modelling for the photographs, with one judge arguing whether it was really possible for consent to be granted and speculating about the possibility of a lawsuit if a model, later in life, regrets being photographed naked as a teenager.

In that context, a recent story on the 7.30 Report provides a rather interesting counterpoint. It’s a feel-good story about a 17-year-old girl, from a working-class background in a working-class Victorian town, who overcame both these barriers and a battle with anorexia and depression to win a national “Brain Bee” - essentially, a neurology quiz contest for later-year high school students. Through this success, she’s had the opportunity to do work experience at the Howard Florey Institute at Melbourne University, and travel to Montreal for the world final of the contest.

This is a wonderful achievement; and no doubt the horizons opened to her will lead in many interesting directions. But the way her story was told was unsettling on several levels.

Continue reading ‘Baring breasts vs. baring souls’